Opinions on humbuckers in Zemaitis Les Paul type guitar please

[El Teye]

Am making a copy of a metal front Zemaitis that I have. P/ups in the original are Gibson reissue PAF's: sound very good, very smooth, but (as usual) the neck p/u needs a treble boost, and the treble boost makes the bridge p/u too shrill sounding.

The Zemaitis is (and the copy will be) a more-or-Less Paul shaped guitar; all mahogany body and neck; ebony 24 fret fingerboard, and all aluminum hardware.

Am thinking of Seth Lover in bridge; Jazz in neck pos.
But maybe a Custom Custom (SH11) in neck instead (ceramic magnet I believe: like the old Gibson Super Humbucker - had them on a 73 SG one time: sold the SG but kept the p/ups - they screamed!)

And what makes the JB (SH4) so special for the bridge? On the Seymour tone page (sound samples) they don't sound so good to my taste.

Any suggestion very appreciated.

Teye

 

[jeremy]

Re: Opinions on humbuckers in Zemaitis Les Paul type guitar please

welcome to the forum!!

the custom custom has an alnico II magnet, the custom is the same pup with a ceramic magnet.
i think a seth in the neck with a jazz would work fine. how much metal is going to be on this guitar? in general that will brighten up the sound quite a bit

 

[Luke Duke]

Re: Opinions on humbuckers in Zemaitis Les Paul type guitar please

WELCOME TO THE FORUM TEYE!!

Wow a real live Demaitis that is incredibly cool man. If you were looking at a different pup for the Zemaitis take a look at the Jazz.

I'm a fan of Alnico 5 magnet pups in neck slot to clean up the mud inherent in a neck slot. I REALLY like the jazz. It cleaned up the neck slot of my Heritage beautifully. I'm kind of like Jeremy and was wondering how much metal there would be on this guitar. Jolly the "Les Paulologist" is a big fan of Jazz pups in both positions. Lots of different opinions on all this stuff though.

As far as the JB goes, I don't care for it that's why I ended up with an A2P in my bridge slot with my Jazz neck. I thought it sounded a bit shrill in my Heritage and compressed in a bad way. The reason so many people like it though is because it has a large high mids spike that cuts through.

The custom custom will definitely help you if you want to warm up the guitar. It is going to have smooth highs and a loose warm low end. The mids are going to be huge and drive the amp really well.

If you like the super humbuckers definitely look into the Custom. It is a high output pup with a ceramic magnet. It has good grind and a meaty thick tone.

Luke