Pearly Gates and Custom Custom - But What Guitar?

cvansickle

cvansickle

New member
Howdy all! Happy holidays!

I have a Charvel So Cal guitar, one of those dual humbucker, maple neck Super Strats. Great playing guitar, but the stock pickups were meh. So I tried a pair of Duncan Custom 5 pickups I had lying around in it. Better, but still not what I'm after. The guitar is a tad too bright for my liking, and without a tone knob I need something creamier.

Here's my query: I'm thinking about switching to a Pearly Gates neck and a Custom Custom bridge setup. Has anyone tried this setup in a similar guitar, and if so what were your results? I have played Gibson SGs that had this setup in them, but those had rosewood fretboards and mahogany bodies, and shorter scale lengths. Am I going to get smooth, singing highs and thick mids with this setup in a Super Strat?

Thanks for reading.
 
Re: Pearly Gates and Custom Custom - But What Guitar?

I am a big fan of the PGn on mahogany guitars. I suspect that its "sizzle" may be too much on your Charvel. The obvious SD candidates are the Alnico II Pro and the '59n. I would also like to nominate the Antiquity HBs but I don't imagine that their covered look would suit the Charvel.
 
Re: Pearly Gates and Custom Custom - But What Guitar?

Well you're going to have naturally bright tonality with the maple board/neck and Floyded Alder body (at least brighter than say a mahogany/rosewood of any scale length with a tunamagic), so I'd suggest getting either a 250K Volume pot or a 500/250K concentric pot.

The Custom is darker than the CC, so you may want to try that.

And what was it you didn't like about the ToneZone/Evo combo these come with? I'm not a DiMarzio fan, but these were the only ones I ever liked, and thought they matched the SoCal more than the JB matched the Style 1.
 
Re: Pearly Gates and Custom Custom - But What Guitar?

The CC is MADE for bright stratty axes. The PG...not so much - however...

#1 Put the CC in the bridge, make sure 500k pots are there.
#2 Put the PG in the neck, and make sure you have quality pots that you are NOT afraid to use. I'd almost say put a 250 on the PG - but go with a 500 set on 7.

That combo can make some of the most awesome clean mixes with both pups on. How many volumes do you have for blending them?

I think you'll get some great bluesy/grindy tones from the neck and just awesome smoothness that still really cuts through.
 
Re: Pearly Gates and Custom Custom - But What Guitar?

DrNewcenstein said:
And what was it you didn't like about the ToneZone/Evo combo these come with?
Click to expand...
I found them pretty sterile, with no bottom and no mids. The Tone Zone was sort of okay, but the Evo neck was totally lifeless, IMO, and in the opinion of several others I played it for a few months back.

Aceman, there is only one volume pot and a three-way toggle for the pickups, no tone controls. I've thought about drilling the pickguard for a third hole, and installing a Stellartone ToneStyler I have in the parts drawer. Problem is, the two original holes are too close together, and adding another knob to this mix would look weird.
 
Re: Pearly Gates and Custom Custom - But What Guitar?

There's been posts about guys not being happy with a CC in warm woods, especially LP's. Like Aceman says, bright woods are better for the CC. Personally, I'd use a C8 with that PGN. Better output, tighter low end.
 
Re: Pearly Gates and Custom Custom - But What Guitar?

Yeah, they did hog all the room in the cavity with just a 3-way and a pot. That's why I recommended to use a dual-concentric if you want Tone control.

However, if you're got an external tone board on its own pot....


I'm actually digging the ToneZone and Evo, but then again, I'm running into a rack with 4 different preamps and a virtual ton of EQ so I can make them sound like anything I want :lol:


As and aside, and that said, I don't have enough EQ to make EMGs sound good :(
 
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