Neck match for Allan Holdsworth?

[Chistopher]

My friend has an Ibanez Jem that was modified to be an HH configuration. There is a somewhat interesting story behind it. The person who he bought it from bought it from a guy who sold it after it got struck by lightning. The pickguard was torched, the neck broke, and the neck pickup was destroyed. The bridge pickup, however was left relatively unharmed.

But anyway, my friend wants a neck pickup that can match with it, since he has no idea what was in the neck beforehand. He does now that he wants a custom shop pickup to go with it. Any suggestions? He plays AC/DC, Van Halen, Guns and Roses, Led Zeppelin, and Rolling Stones. I know most of their tones aren't from neck pickups on 25" scale alder superstrat with a Floyd Rose, but that's the type of music that he plays.

Also, bonus points if the pickup has an element of obscurity to it, meaning not everyone's first guess of pickup. Similar to the Holdsworth in that it's a good SD pickup, but most folk don't know about it.

 

[Masta' C]

Re: Neck match for Allan Holdsworth?

Have him call the Custom Shop and ask for a custom neck model to match the Holdsworth! If he's paying for custom, he might as well get something truly unique! Plus, MJ will know exactly what he needs...

 

[gregory]

Re: Neck match for Allan Holdsworth?

Put the Holdsworth in the neck and get a double-screw 59/Custom trembucker for the bridge.

The Holdsworth in the neck might help with the Jem having 24 frets.

 

[metalchurch79]

Re: Neck match for Allan Holdsworth?

The Holdsworth is a rather hot pickup (16k) to be using a 59/C in the bridge.
That being said I'd probably think of it as a JB and I'd prob have a double screw 59N or double screw Jazz made for the neck.

 

[gregory]

Re: Neck match for Allan Holdsworth?

Aw shucks, here I was thinking that I recently read that the Holdsworth bridge was a double-screw 59N.

 

[Chistopher]

Re: Neck match for Allan Holdsworth?

One thing I was considering was possibly a double screw 59 with the screws cut down to the baseplate. I thought this might help deal with the 59s bassiness. I could also do the same with a 59/custom hybrid and almost have a full shred/59 hybrid.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Neck match for Allan Holdsworth?

Isn't the Holdsworth (which isn't anything like he used the last 30 years of his life) based on a JB with double screws? If so, a Jazz would make sense here. You can use an Alnico II Pro if you want it warmer (due to the 24 frets and trem). Allan was using a neck 59 in the bridge for long time before his Carvin pickups were developed.

 

[Chistopher]

Re: Neck match for Allan Holdsworth?

Yep, I think the double screws is actually the only difference, but I'm not quite sure. I'm starting to consider the 78 neck now, that's somewhat similar to Alnico II Pro.

 

[metalchurch79]

Re: Neck match for Allan Holdsworth?

As far as the Seymour Holdsworth simply being a JB with double screws, I cannot answer that because I don't know the full specs of the Holdsworth. There were a few different Seymour versions, one with an A2 magnet (never had one and I don't know any other specs other than the A2 mag), and one with an A5 and 16k+ which is the one I had and just got rid of.

Prior to trading mine off, I was looking for a single coil neck pup to match it and I was down to the Lil '59 as my final choice, all the while simply treating it as a double screw JB.
I got mine because I wanted a Jake E. Lee tone which the '87 JBJ and the 2006 JB I had in it weren't even in the ballpark, so I did some digging and found that Jake used a Holdsworth as well as a Double Screw '59... being those were CS pickups I hit up eBay and scored mine for around $125 shipped and was very pleased with the tone right away.

I've read that Allan also used double screw 59's as well, but I've never known him to use a neck pickup for his older stuff, I'm sure he did later on in his career though...

Then the Carvin pickups came out afterward as stated... Never tried any of those....

So yea all that being said, I'm with you on the Double screw Jazz or Double screw '59N, because it will match cosmetically and also sonically. (If we are going on the presumption that the Holdsworth is simply a double screw JB) So really it makes sense because the JB/'59 and JB/Jazz are both tried and true pairs, but there are some other neck pickups that you can go custom shop on and make them double screw like maybe a Pearly Gates and the such...

 

[Chistopher]

Re: Neck match for Allan Holdsworth?

I was considering a double screw 78, because I usually use a Pearly Gates in the neck position on my Ibanez type guitars, and a 78 at least feels like an overwound PG. I'm not quite sure spec-wise how similar they are.

Also, does anyone know if the Holdsworth is polished or roughcast? It seems like it could certainly be helped with a roughcast magnet if it isn't already.

 

[metalchurch79]

Re: Neck match for Allan Holdsworth?

Good question, I honestly don't know, but mine was a long leg, paper label version so I guess whatever Seymour was using for their A5's back then would be a good guess.

I know there are at best only a handful of guys on here who own a Holdsworth or have owned one. I did a lot of reasearch and asked a lot of questions on here because of the lack of information available...

I see what you mean about wanting something different and that's awesome, hope you get it all sorted out!

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Neck match for Allan Holdsworth?

So the Holdsworth is an alnico 5 JB with two rows of pole piece screws?

I'd stick with alnico 5 for the neck pickup then.

Mixing alnico 2 necks and alnico 5 bridges hasn't worked well for me...and vice versa.

If the bridge is alnico 5 I'd go for an alnico 5 59n...maybe a Jazz n.

But for me, a 59n would be my first choice because I know I like them.

 

[Masta' C]

Re: Neck match for Allan Holdsworth?

There was no "A2" equipped Holdsworth made by Duncan. That misinformation came about because the Holdsworth has a noticeably smoother/rounded response than the stock JB and players were simply guessing and assuming "why" that was. Also, a "JB2" and a Holdsworth are very different.

The original Holdsworth was in actuality an ever-so-slightly overwound JB with the same A5 mag that the JB had and dual rows of fillister screws instead of the classic slug/screw arrangement. The result was a softer top end and mildly boosted mids without losing the core JB character and quality.

You can compare reviews for the Suhr DSH+ vs the Suhr SSH+, which is one of the closest pickups out there to the SD JB, to see just how much the pole pieces alone can affect the overall response of a wind (the DSH+ and SSH+ are identical to each other other than the pole piece change).

In the Custom Shop, MJ actually winds the Holdsworth a bit, dare I say, "hotter" today than most of the original versions from the 1980s. In other words, you can expect a modern, standard-spaced Custom Shop Holdsworth to regularly appear in the low 17K DCR range compared with an upper-16K wind for the original ones. Newer trem-spaced models regularly hit around 18K, which is noticeably higher than MJ currently winds/rewinds a JB, which typically ends up a tad over 17K in trem-spacing.

All that said, you can order a 59 with the dual-fillister coil setup as a "shop floor custom" if you want a great match for the Holdsworth without the Custom Shop price tag

 

[gregory]

Re: Neck match for Allan Holdsworth?

Sounds like you could order a double-screw Distortion and put your own A5 in it to get in the vicinity of the bridge pickup.

Wait, wouldn't the Invader get you that if you supplied your own fillisters too, or are the screws incompatible?

 

[Chistopher]

Re: Neck match for Allan Holdsworth?

I don't know about screw compatibility, but I do know the Invader neck has a capacitor to bleed of some of the bass. The issue with this selection is that I'm not that familiar with 24 fret guitars, so a lot of my experience is irrelevant here.
A side note is that a double screw distortion is more or less a Gibson Dirtyfingers, I haven't tried a double screw Distortion so I wouldn't be able to say for sure.

 

[gregory]

Re: Neck match for Allan Holdsworth?

If it's true that the bridge Invader is being shunted by a cap, it could be removed when you changed out the magnets.

 

[Chistopher]

Re: Neck match for Allan Holdsworth?

If I go that route, I think it would be better to just leave it in. I think I'm going to try the 59/Custom double screw first, maybe custom order it so that it's better suited for a 24 fretter.

 

[gregory]

Re: Neck match for Allan Holdsworth?

I think you've misunderstood me. I was thinking of ways to get something along the lines of a Holdsworth bridge without paying a premium.

If you thought I meant the Invader neck, it's not a treble bleed cap; it's a high-pass cap. One is in parallel, the other in series. They perform very different functions.

EDIT: If you wanted to bleed off bass, then you'd use a shunt inductor.

 

[Chistopher]

Re: Neck match for Allan Holdsworth?

That's what I meant, I just didn't describe it too well. I too suggested to my buddy the cheaper option, but he wanted something custom made.
I guess it's just more appealing to have something custom wound by the shop that basically wrote the book on pickup making over someguy mixing and matching parts in his shed.

 

[gregory]

Re: Neck match for Allan Holdsworth?

I guess it's just more appealing to have something custom wound by the shop that basically wrote the book on pickup making over someguy mixing and matching parts in his shed.

Using your very own hands to add your own personal "element of obscurity" to something that was manufactured by the company that basically wrote the book on pickup making and subsequently be inspired by it is all the more rewarding in my book.