Need Help On Pick Up Replacements

[esecnarf]

I have a beautifully hand crafted LP Replica that is almost completely hollowed out. The body thickness is about a half inch thicker than a regular LP. It has a very nice tone but I would like to see if I can change the pickups and or caps to get a fuller and warmer tone. The guitars tone sounds a little "Hollow" to me,,I guess maybe because it is hollow...I am attaching a pic of the chambered mahogany body of the guitar and a pic of the completed guitar. The carved top wood of the guitar is maple. The pickups have no wood under them. Is there something I can do to this guitar or some pickups out there that would give this guitar some richness. I was wondering if I could place something under the existing pickups to transfer some vibes down through to the guitars body. The guitar is an outstanding player,,,just needs some warmth....

 

[Rand-O-Monium]

Re: Need Help On Pick Up Replacements

Wow.

Damn.

 

[jimijames]

Re: Need Help On Pick Up Replacements

That is a gorgeous guitar.

You don't need anything under the pickups to 'transfer vibrations' or anything. AFAIK the pickup itself doesn't need to vibrate to sound good (archtop jazz guitars being a good example).

What pickups are in there now? If it's a custom build I imagine they're going to be nicer than your average gibson 490T (or whatever they use) combo. If you've put that kind of money into the guitar it may be wise to call the custom shop and tell them what you want. I've also had great success with JS Moore pickups but the lead time is fairly ridiculous (hey, the man winds amazing pickups and sells them for less than I paid for my PG set) so keep that in mind.

Maybe try the seth lover? A2Pro? I really, really like the pearly gates in a les paul but they're not the warmest of pickups. I feel like the PG/Custom set would sound good but again, you're looking for something darker.

Do you play with the tone control a lot? That might be worth looking into as a low-cost alternative to pickup swaps. Also, if you don't mind pulling out the magnets you could swap to A2.

 

[esecnarf]

Re: Need Help On Pick Up Replacements

Thank you very much for your response. The pickups in the guitar are made by Will Boggs and are suppose to be a "Special Brew". This is what the builder had mentioned in his thread listed in My Les Paul Forum as he was building the guitar. So I really don't know any info on the pickups except for that. The guitar is a real nice player but due to it being chambered as shown, I feel it loses a lot of its warmness. I do use the Tone Control,,,but it just doesn't get me where I would like to be. I think having Alnico 2 Pickups would possibly help. I never thought about swapping the magnets. I will have to look into that to see if I can do that myself without ruining the pickups.....or maybe I should just bite the bullet and get a Set Of Seth Lover Alnico 2's. I will have to think about it....Thanks again for the info..............

 

[GuitarStv]

Re: Need Help On Pick Up Replacements

Have you played around with the pickup height to try and adjust them the way you want it to sound?

 

[jeremy]

Re: Need Help On Pick Up Replacements

with a guitar that hollow there isnt gonna be a ton of bottom end and if the maple cap is normal thickness its going to add a lot of color to the tone. you say you want a warmer, fuller tone. is the top end too sharp? lacking mids? lacking bottom?

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Need Help On Pick Up Replacements

Since the guitar is largely hollow with a "sound post" to support the bridge, it might be better to think of it like a small ES-175 or -330.

I suggest vintage output "PAF" style humbuckers with Alnico 4 magnets rather than A2 or polished A5.