New Seymour Duncan pickups for a Music Man EVH

Welcome to the site.

Does that have the original pickups in it? Those sounded amazing.

What do you not like about the current set in the guitar and what is the end goal for a new set?
 
Welcome to the group. What are you going after? Keep in mind that the tables on Seymour Duncans will have to be modified to fit in the pickup cavity.

If you don't want to snip the tabs, and want the sound without shelling out a lot for pickups (used pickups from that guitar go for a pretty penny when they show up and sell fast) grab a DiMarzio Tone Zone or Air Zone for the bridge and an Air Norton for the neck and call it a day.
 
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many people love those pups. what are you trying to get out of the guitar that you arent now?
 
Hahaha, yes they love the Pups but not the body and neck (third post), thanks for the welcome. and prompt responses
 
Welcome to the group. What are you going after? Keep in mind that the tables on Seymour Duncans will have to be modified to fit in the pickup cavity.

If you don't want to snip the tabs, and want the sound without shelling out a lot for pickups (used pickups from that guitar go for a pretty penny when they show up and sell fast) grab a DiMarzio Tone Zone or Air Zone for the bridge and an Air Norton for the neck and call it a day.

Ok, great and thank you.

Just trying to know if SD have similar pickups if not I will be grabbing some DiMarzio's
 
apparently i was typing slooowly

if it was mine id put a sentient neck and patb3 bridge or seth neck and custom custom bridge. what tones are you trying to get out of it? the tone zone/air norton is kinda close to what would have come in it
 
apparently i was typing slooowly

if it was mine id put a sentient neck and patb3 bridge or seth neck and custom custom bridge. what tones are you trying to get out of it? the tone zone/air norton is kinda close to what would have come in it

Trying to get the same sound / vibe but with SD's, will check your recommendations.
 
As mentioned, just be aware you will need to modify the tabs on the SDs to fit in the cavities, and after you modify them they won't qualify for the 21 day exchange.

I will 3rd (or 4th, whatever) getting the DMZs and calling it a day, that will be as close as you are going to get to the original pickups, I like SD and DMZ, but they are quite different IMHO, not much model cross over.

If you want something a little different but still similar to the originals, I would go with a Norton in the bridge and the Air Norton in the neck, the un-aired Norton is one of my favorite bridge pups.
 
As mentioned, just be aware you will need to modify the tabs on the SDs to fit in the cavities, and after you modify them they won't qualify for the 21 day exchange.

I will 3rd (or 4th, whatever) getting the DMZs and calling it a day, that will be as close as you are going to get to the original pickups, I like SD and DMZ, but they are quite different IMHO, not much model cross over.

If you want something a little different but still similar to the originals, I would go with a Norton in the bridge and the Air Norton in the neck, the un-aired Norton is one of my favorite bridge pups.

Thank you!, will check your options too.
 
Welcome to the group. What are you going after? Keep in mind that the tables on Seymour Duncans will have to be modified to fit in the pickup cavity.

If you don't want to snip the tabs, and want the sound without shelling out a lot for pickups (used pickups from that guitar go for a pretty penny when they show up and sell fast) grab a DiMarzio Tone Zone or Air Zone for the bridge and an Air Norton for the neck and call it a day.

How do you know the tabs would need snipped? Is it common knowledge around this particular model?
 
I don't know about the neck but in the DiMarzio EVH article it says the pickup it was designed after(in the bridge,)was a JB that had the string caught under the coil during a show damaging it in a way that eddie liked. You should read the ''remembering eddie van halen' article on the DiMarzio website. I can't remember off hand but it will tell you more about the sound of the damaged JB that eddie liked so much. Maybe get a custom JB made it to hit all the properties that the damaged one had. Or the custom shop sells a frankenstein humbucker set that was approved by EVH designed for his tone.
 
As much as I love Seymour Duncan pickups, I probably wouldn't go that route if it were me. Personally, I would either get a set of EVH Wolfgangs, Pariah Poundcakes, or Planet Tone Poundcakes.
 
How do you know the tabs would need snipped? Is it common knowledge around this particular model?

The pickup route on the body is routed to match that of the tabs on the stock DiMarzios, rounded off pointy shape. They are not square. It should be common knowledge by now considering it hit the market 30 years ago and hasn't changed aside from the name and the switch location.
 
I don't know about the neck but in the DiMarzio EVH article it says the pickup it was designed after(in the bridge,)was a JB that had the string caught under the coil during a show damaging it in a way that eddie liked. You should read the ''remembering eddie van halen' article on the DiMarzio website. I can't remember off hand but it will tell you more about the sound of the damaged JB that eddie liked so much. Maybe get a custom JB made it to hit all the properties that the damaged one had. Or the custom shop sells a frankenstein humbucker set that was approved by EVH designed for his tone.

I think that to get the "damage" exactly as Ed's, will be difficult. And yes i'm looking the custom shop Pickups too - Thanks!
 
As much as I love Seymour Duncan pickups, I probably wouldn't go that route if it were me. Personally, I would either get a set of EVH Wolfgangs, Pariah Poundcakes, or Planet Tone Poundcakes.

Wow, never heard of Pariah or Planet Tone.. Will check them right now!
 
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If you were to order specific models from the Custom Shop, they could always cut the tabs so they fit. You can also swap the baseplate out to one with the correct tabs. This is one of those areas where there are no standards, and that EVH model was made with very specific pickups.
Honestly, I'd try to find someone selling a set of the very pickups that are missing from your guitar.
 
i'll second the pariah poundcakes as a great choice. The Dimarzio AT-1 would be similar to the original pickups as well. i'm not a fan of the neck humbucker in the EBMM EVH to be honest so i never tried to recreate it!
 
I had to look up Planet Tone, great prices but long lead unless you pay an expedite charge, and the are in Commerce City, just outside of Denver.

The only thing that bugs me about his website is that he lists DC resistance as "output", ugh.
 
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