Looking for help finding replacement pickups for Godin xtSA

[ripper]

Hello everybody.
I would like to ask for advice/help with finding the ideal replacement pickups for my Godin xtSA. I have owned this 3-voice guitar for some time and think its only drawback is the stock pickups, especially the single-coil (it's H-S-H configuration). I would like to replace all three pups - both the humbuckers and the SC - for as much balanced and versatile combination as possible, since I need the guitar to be my main workhorse. As for the styles, my playing ranges from pop and pop-rock to classic metal (no tuned-down stuff).

Here's what I would appreciate in the pickups:

NECK HUMBUCKER:
Smooth sound with good sustain, somewhere in between Slash and Santana. Not too harsh. It should work very well when coil-tapped (I would love to install Seymour Duncan Triple Shot splitting system with both humbuckers), needs thus a 4-conductor cable. I was originally thinking of Duncan's APH-1 Alnico II Pro (but that's for mahogany LesPauls) and then of SH-1'59 (with 4-conductor cable):
http://www.seymourduncan.com/products/electric/humbucker/alnico_ii_pro_s_1/
http://www.seymourduncan.com/products/electric/humbucker/vintage/59_model_sh1_an/
A friend of mine suggested Pearly Gates:
http://www.seymourduncan.com/products/electric/humbucker/vintage/shpg1_pearly_ga/
Wouldn't Pearly Gates be too gritty, especially with a guitar that is not as warm as LesPauls? The Godin is rather bright, after all.

BRIDGE HUMBUCKER
The bridge HB should deliver good rock tones, decent sounding palm-mutes, but it should perform well with cleans, too (no mud, please). Again, it should give very good results when coil-split. Is that possible with the given guitar? I was considering SH-5 or TB-5, respectively (it's a tremolo-based guitar):
http://www.seymourduncan.com/products/electric/humbucker/progressive/sh5_duncan_cust/
But somebody turned my head into the direction of SH-11/TB-11 Custom Custom since it's intended for use with brighter instruments.
http://www.seymourduncan.com/products/electric/humbucker/progressive/sh11_custom_cus/
Would that one do the trick? How does it perform when coil-tapped?

SINGLE-COIL
I have no idea what to choose. I would love the pickup to be quiet (the stock SC is noisy as hell) and SC-sounding at the same time which is probably an unreal dream, right? SOmething in the style of SCN, maybe? I'm lost here... It should be balanced with the humbuckers (output-wise) and first of all, it has do deliver good quack in-betweens when combined with either coil-split humbucker - those bell-like tones. Is that possible at all?

As for the Godin's woods (rather a bright construction tonewise):
- silver leaf maple center with poplar wings
- mahogany neck
- ebony fingerboard
link:
http://www.godinguitars.com/godinxtsap.htm

I will be very thankful for your opinion and recommendations - thank you so much in advance!

 

[Despair]

Re: Looking for help finding replacement pickups for Godin xtSA

Hello everybody.
I would like to ask for advice/help with finding the ideal replacement pickups for my Godin xtSA. I have owned this 3-voice guitar for some time and think its only drawback is the stock pickups, especially the single-coil (it's H-S-H configuration). I would like to replace all three pups - both the humbuckers and the SC - for as much balanced and versatile combination as possible, since I need the guitar to be my main workhorse. As for the styles, my playing ranges from pop and pop-rock to classic metal (no tuned-down stuff).

That's a curious design, maple body core with poplar wings, but a mahogany neck? I've never played one, but you say it's a bright guitar, so I think you are on the right track with Alnico II Pro neck and Custom Custom bridge. Some people complain the Custom Custom's bass is too sloppy for palm mutes, but that's usually in warmer guitars. I've heard people get amazing classic rock sounds with the Custom Custom. CC is supposed to split pretty well (tap is when you take a 2nd lead off a coil before finishing winding it, rare pickups have both splits & taps, so it's confusing to call splitting tapping. </pedant>).

If palm mutes don't work on the CC, swap the A2 magnet for an A8, and that will give tons more bass and tighten it up. You might even start there (probably need to make sure that's a TB, not SH model, though).

I'd go with a Classic Stack Plus in the middle, it's about as close as you can currently get to a conventional single coil while still cancelling hum... And when you disable the hum cancelling, it's supposed to be indistinguishable from the pickup it's based on (wanting to say SSL-1, but drawing a blank on it). On a 5-way, you can configure it to disable the hum-cancelling coil on the 2 & 4 positions.

If you are serious about Triple Shots, you might want to look at the P-Rails, but that might be too bright in the guitar. Maybe you could special order one with A2 magnets, but I don't know what the upcharge for that would be.