pearly gates + surfers HSS - good combo?

[fergusdog]

I'm planning to replace the pickups in my super strat and don't have any experience with tone. I like the sound of the pearly gates humbucker and also the Antiquity II Surfer, but really not sure if they would go together, or if I'd be better off pairing the pearly gates with a couple Alnico Pro IIs, which sound a bit more neutral. Don't want to end up with a guitar that sounds a bit out there and has a sound I'd get bored with after a couple of months. Something that's versatile would be great, as I like all kinds of genres - from hard rock to funk, even jazz.

Opinions much appreciated.

 

[Securb]

It really depends on what your end game is for the guitar. There is no right or wrong way to select pickups. This combo could be the approach if you want to build a "Swiss army" guitar that can grab a range of tones. I have a Tele with a "surf" type of neck pickup and a hot humbucker in the bridge that work incredibly well together, an SD Hot Rails/TV Jones Classic combo. There are matched pickup sets that are known to work well together. However, a lot of us around here experiment and swap out different combos to get a range of tone options.

I would say just go for it. Also, start to investigate some wiring options that will expand the tonal pallet of the guitar. Series vs, parallel switching, coil splitting, phasing switching, and other wiring options will open up a world of tone for you.

I hope this helps.

 

[Clint 55]

That is an exceptional combo for a stratty tone. The surfers are an awesome strat pickup and the pg is the most stratty sounding hb. So the pickups will work together and the set will be good in its own way. The topics to think about are for a super strat, sometimes guys will go for pickups that are hum cancelling; or they will go for pickups that are neutral or neutral with some blended strat character rather than a full traditional strat sound if that makes sense.

 

[GuitarStv]

I think those pickups would work together. Is this going to be with two tone, master volume?

The surfers have traditional polepiece stagger, which makes them a lot less interesting to me. I don't like having the G string super loud and the high E too quiet. Unless you play a vintage radius instrument with a wound G, flat pole pieces will sound and work better for you.

 

[Ascension]

Will be the dissenting voice on this combo. I really like the Surfer !!'s and have a set in my Washburn USA Silverado. IMO the Gates is way to bright and crunchy in a Super Strat in particular with those Surfers. They work well in a 24.75 scale mahogany body and neck guitars but I have found the Gates to be overly bright and very harsh in a bolt on or neck through Super Strat. Also in my experience the Gates does not split well at all and gets really thin and harsh when split with a single. A much better combo would be to run a Perpetual Burn in the bridge with the Surfers. The Burn splits with a single better than any Duncan bridge humbucker I have tried so far plus will be bigger smoother and sweeter than a Gates in full humbucker mode. Yes have run both in the same Super Strat guitar BTW. The Burn is still in that guitar.
To show how well a Burn will split with a single this is a Burn in the bridge of my 17 Kiesel DC split with the Carvin AP 11 in the middle doing some clean country tones. Guitar will also rock HARD
at high gain with this combo!

 

[Ascension]

Same guitar Burn split with the AP11 same rig and going to full bucker at times on the Burn through the same PRS MT 15 as the clean clip.
A Perpetual Burn with a pair of singles is one of the most versatile pickup combos I have ever run. A Burn matches up VERY well with a pair of Surfers!

 

[Mincer]

Those are fantastic pickups that should work well together. You know more than you think.

 

[fergusdog]

Thanks for all the feedback - lots to think about.

I did plan to add a coil split option, just because I can, which has me rethinking the PG, but after researching it a bit more it seems the options are either a an underpowered coil-split single or an overpowered humbucker - which kind of makes sense really. Maybe a 78 would be a better pick, and I guess a very appropriate pick for a super-strat.

But I think my original question has been answered, now I can mull over alternative choices....

 

[Securb]

I did plan to add a coil split option, just because I can, which has me rethinking the PG

I have splits on a lot of humbuckers. The PG gives me the most realistic Strat tone out of all of them when split.

 

[ThreeChordWonder]

Every girl's crazy 'bout a SURF dressed man?

 

[jeremy]

surfers and pgb will work very well together. 250k pot for the volume, 250k tone for the singles, 500k tone for the bucker is what i would use