Need pickup for very thin sounding bridge

[Vincent]

I know I've posted this somewhere before, but I want to see if I can obtain a few more opinons before I make a purchase decision. I've got an Ibanez s-series with a floating floyd and a very tight but very thin and harsh sounding Dimarzio Evolution in the bridge. The guitar has a mahogany body that resonates nicely when played unplugged, but even unplugged, it sounds very thin and trebly.

I like the compressed tightness of the EVO sometimes when I want to let loose with the 'chugga chugga' thing but I really can't stand the thinness and lack of character that the bridge position has. Moreover, the guitar only sounds good when I play with the bass control on my amp turned right up. I would ditch the guitar, but I need a guitar with a floyd for my whammy work.

I need some suggestions badly, I've listened to the sound samples on the Duncan website, and these are my opinions so far:

JB - sounds great in my Les Paul but I don't think there's enough bass for this axe

Invader - muddy, good amount of bass, but I'm terrified of mud.

DD - harsh, just harsh

Custom - quite liked it, has a distinct motorcycle revving sound...lotsa balls

CC - nice, I was recommended this to fix the thin-ness problem, but I do worry that the buttery mids will sound loose.

So am I just impossible to please, or is there a solution to my problem? I need a pickup with enough bass to compensate for this guitar's trebliness, yet enough clarity, response and dynamics!!!

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Need pickup for very thin sounding bridge

I've learned that if your guitar isn't happening it's best to just sell it and get one that is. You don't seem to think to highly of that ax.

That said, I'd start with the Custom...and then use the 21 day exchange if you need to.

Lew

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Need pickup for very thin sounding bridge

Ibanez and Invaders are a killer combo.

 

[theodie]

Re: Need pickup for very thin sounding bridge

Go with the custom. Reason why, you seem to like the clips of it, With a magnet swap it becomes a custom custom or custom 5 so its like you have 3 pickups in one if you buy an alnico 2 and 5 magnet. You just have to swap them out. its pretty easy to do and magnets dont cost all that much.

 

[tone4days]

Re: Need pickup for very thin sounding bridge

i have a C5 in my S540 .. i chose it because i wanted to fix the exact same deficiency (too thin) .. i am pleased with the results .. maybe you would be too

good luck
t4d

 

[Vincent]

Re: Need pickup for very thin sounding bridge

Gee... the opinions of 4 very respected Toneologists on board!!! I guess I can't ask for much more...

Lew, unfortunately I live in Australia and there is no such thing as a 21 day guarantee here. Either I like the pickup, or I don't....and pickups here are very expensive, though I have a supplier on ebay whom can count on. BTW Lew, what other guitars would you suggest for heavy floyd work?

Just how difficult is it to swap magnets? I really don't want to be screwing up an expensive Duncan Custom. I remember reading a post somewhere and this forum brother posted a very detailed link/explanation on how to do it, but it involved wax and a lot of other work. Can you guys clarify?

Well so far it seems to be the custom or some custom variant. I guess half my problem is that after palying a Les Paul, everything else seems to sound very thin!!! I wonder if anyone else shares the same experience?

 

[Artie]

Re: Need pickup for very thin sounding bridge

Just how difficult is it to swap magnets? I really don't want to be screwing up an expensive Duncan Custom.

I felt the same way when I first started hanging out here. But its really not that difficult. By coincidence, here's a Custom that I "field stripped" some time ago, as a restoration project:

It's now living happily, and sonically, in my Peavey Patriot. (With no rust or corrosion.)

 

[rspst14]

Re: Need pickup for very thin sounding bridge

I agree with Lew, no pickup is going to turn a dud guitar into an amazing guitar. But if you plan on keeping it, I would recommend the Blues Trembucker, it's specifically designed for locking trem guitars, and it does a nice job of thickening up the sound without being too bright or too warm. The other pickup I'd recommend is the Rio Grande BBQ. It's the thickest sounding pickup I've tried, and I like it much better than the Duncan JB or Custom series.

Ryan

 

[BigBazz]

Re: Need pickup for very thin sounding bridge

i have a floyd on my strat, and the full shred sounds like it would fit your needs, if indeed the floyd is the actual problem, i have an evolution on my jem and though i dont like it much, its not as bad as you make out with the floyd trems.

 

[saladin]

Re: Need pickup for very thin sounding bridge

I agree with Lew, ditch the Ibanez.

 

[Vincent]

Re: Need pickup for very thin sounding bridge

Hmm...maybe I should ditch the Ibanez. I guess maybe the Evos aren't that bad, but combined with a floyd and a thin s-series body, it produces a very shrill, buzzy and 'non-open' sound, no matter how I EQ it.

I will investigate both the Custom and the Blues Trembucker options.

Just out of curiosity, what other guitar would be a good replacement for this one? I was looking at the Peavey Wolfgangs and even the specials look good. I've played one a few years ago and loved it. Any comments, anyone?

 

[theodie]

Re: Need pickup for very thin sounding bridge

Wolfgangs are outstanding guitars!! The specials are decent too. If I were you, I would go for a Jackson soloist though. I had an American wolfgang and a Jackson SL-4 (I still have the Jackson and always will have it) and I liked the Jackson alot more even though the Wolfgang was a really well built guitar also.

 

[ranalli]

Re: Need pickup for very thin sounding bridge

I wouldn't ditch the guitar just yet. There are bright guitars out there....doesn't mean they are crap...this is bad advice people are giving here IMO. Not every guitar is going to resonate like a darn Les Paul with all the same body and bottom end. Some of the BEST strats I've played were very bright and tinny when unplugged.


Furthermore, the EVO can definitely sound thin in an already bright guitar. Get a pickup with a ceramic mag without the bright top end and more push in the mids and bass. The Invader might be good for this but that might have too much output so Duncan really doesn't have much to offer here IMO. I'd go with a Super Distortion or Super3. I've used these pickup to beef up and take away the brightness of guitars that JB's and DD's just sound harsh in.

 

[Vincent]

Re: Need pickup for very thin sounding bridge

aarhh.... sell or not to sell, that is the question!!!

Due to my lack of experience probably... I'm inclined to say that everyone who has posted so far has a point....

True, the guitar can be balanced out by a slightly darker pickup

but also true - if the guitar just isn't 'happening' I should just get a new one...

How do the wolfgangs sound unplugged... is there a big difference in tone between the trem and non-trem models?

 

[BigBazz]

Re: Need pickup for very thin sounding bridge

Floating tremolo guitars dont have much contact with the strings vibration into the body so they can sound thin, a guitar thats directly connected to the body, like a telecaster/Les paul bridge will resonate better and have a better unplugged sound and warmer plugged in sound. i say dont ditch the guitar, looking at the ibanez site they look like really nice guitars, just get a warmer sounding pickup to go in the guitar, the invader has quite some bass frequencies, maybe it can warm up your guitar, though im not a fan of the invader, for my jem i have the same problem as you with my evo's though its not as bad as your problem seems to be, im going to replace the bridge and neck pickups, for the bridge either a Full Shred, a Distortion (both also trebly pickups but from experience the full shred on my floyd trem strat sounds amazing) or a Custom Custom (lots of mids help warm up the thin sound) and for the neck either a Jazz, 59 or a full shred(calm down the from the neck Evo's rediculous high output and muddy unfocused sound that it has).

 

[Johtosotku]

Re: Need pickup for very thin sounding bridge

Tone Zone fixed me up.

I had a thin 498t in my Gibson SG. TZ is simply awesome there. I can go into more details if you like. Maybe you could change the evolution for free for one of these?

 

[Vincent]

Re: Need pickup for very thin sounding bridge

Thax guys I will chec out several pups - Custom / Custom Custom, Super Distortion etc

 

[Mephis]

Re: Need pickup for very thin sounding bridge

Just out of curiosity, possibly stupidity, have you tried downtuning to D?

Try that with an invader in the bridge. If you don't want mud, click to the neck pup like I do on my BC Rich.


Downtuning my bronze guitar with the 81 thickened the tone up considerably.