Pickup choices for Klein Electric?

[Marzzz]

A Newbie here, I hope you all don't mind my asking a little advice.....

My guitar is a Klein Electric (the "lima bean on a stick") with a chambered swamp ash body, headless, SOLID (no truss) rosewood neck, 25 1/2" scale, Steinberger hardware (an "S-Trem"), and I string with D'Addario 10-46. My current pickups are Joe Bardens- Two-Tone HB (neck), Strat Deluxe (mid), and Two-Tone HB (bridge). I have one Vol and one Tone knob, and they pull to split the respective Pups. The guitar has not been modified since I bought it new in '97.

www.Kleinelectricguitars.com/Klein/index.html

Acoustically, my Klein sounds fantastic- full, wide, practically like a real acoustic. Plugged in (Mesa Boogie TriAxis with 2:90 poweramp (6L6's)), the treble sounds very "chimy" with either humbucker- I have difficulty making it "sing." The mids are scooped, sounding somewhat thin, but then the bass really kicks in when you are down on the low E string. Overall the guitar sounds kinda bright, very articulate, and I can't get a rolled off jazz tone to save my life- as soon as you turn the tone knob down past "8" the Bardens are DEAD. I find myself turning down the treble and boosting the midrange a lot.

The kind of tone I am looking for is more of a "singing" tone with more "thickness." The guitar needs to be warmer, smoother with more mids/low mids, the highs should sing without as much ringing. Within limitations, I want to get closer to the "Cause We Ended as Lovers" tone (yeah, I know JB used a JB, but he was playing a Les Paul...). When splitting pickups, I want a warm strat (Wind Cries Mary).

I am a one guitar kinda guy (it's a Klein thing), and the only other thing I might otherwise be able to do is switch out the chambered swamp ash for a solid alder, or possibly spruce body ($$$).

Based purely on research, I am thinking I may want to go with:

neck: APH-1 Alnico II Pro
mid: APS-2 Alnico II Pro
bridge: SH-11 Custom Custom

The stock pickups on a Klein (if I hadn't "upgraded" to Bardens) are Jazz (neck), Alnico II Pro (mid), '59 (bridge). I am waiting for a reply from Lorenzo German at Klein regarding pickups in his guitars, but in the meantime I would greatly appreciate your thoughts and input.....thanks!

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Pickup choices for Klein Electric?

A Newbie here, I hope you all don't mind my asking a little advice.....

My guitar is a Klein Electric (the "lima bean on a stick") with a chambered swamp ash body, headless, SOLID (no truss) rosewood neck, 25 1/2" scale, Steinberger hardware (an "S-Trem"), and I string with D'Addario 10-46. My current pickups are Joe Bardens- Two-Tone HB (neck), Strat Deluxe (mid), and Two-Tone HB (bridge). I have one Vol and one Tone knob, and they pull to split the respective Pups. The guitar has not been modified since I bought it new in '97.

www.Kleinelectricguitars.com/Klein/index.html

Acoustically, my Klein sounds fantastic- full, wide, practically like a real acoustic. Plugged in (Mesa Boogie TriAxis with 2:90 poweramp (6L6's)), the treble sounds very "chimy" with either humbucker- I have difficulty making it "sing." The mids are scooped, sounding somewhat thin, but then the bass really kicks in when you are down on the low E string. Overall the guitar sounds kinda bright, very articulate, and I can't get a rolled off jazz tone to save my life- as soon as you turn the tone knob down past "8" the Bardens are DEAD. I find myself turning down the treble and boosting the midrange a lot.

The kind of tone I am looking for is more of a "singing" tone with more "thickness." The guitar needs to be warmer, smoother with more mids/low mids, the highs should sing without as much ringing. Within limitations, I want to get closer to the "Cause We Ended as Lovers" tone (yeah, I know JB used a JB, but he was playing a Les Paul...). When splitting pickups, I want a warm strat (Wind Cries Mary).

I am a one guitar kinda guy (it's a Klein thing), and the only other thing I might otherwise be able to do is switch out the chambered swamp ash for a solid alder, or possibly spruce body ($$$).

Based purely on research, I am thinking I may want to go with:

neck: APH-1 Alnico II Pro
mid: APS-2 Alnico II Pro
bridge: SH-11 Custom Custom

The stock pickups on a Klein (if I hadn't "upgraded" to Bardens) are Jazz (neck), Alnico II Pro (mid), '59 (bridge). I am waiting for a reply from Lorenzo German at Klein regarding pickups in his guitars, but in the meantime I would greatly appreciate your thoughts and input.....thanks!

Try an Alnico II pro set with the APS in the middle or if you want the extra little kick in the bridge go with the CC...I think your really on to something with you ideas...

Welcome to the forum

the guy who invented fire

 

[Marzzz]

Re: Pickup choices for Klein Electric?

Thanks, I'll consider those also! Lorenzo is recommending humbuckers from Harmonic Design which I may also consider, but I am getting somewhat wary about "boutique" pickups....!

 

[mongrollo]

Re: Pickup choices for Klein Electric?

Based purely on research, I am thinking I may want to go with:

neck: APH-1 Alnico II Pro
mid: APS-2 Alnico II Pro
bridge: SH-11 Custom Custom

This looks like a killer combo! But I don't think you'll be able to get any warm strat tone from any split humbucker. The only chance it is to get a StagMAg humbuker which is made from two strat single coils. I have one and the tone split it is great. Main problem it is that the full humbucker tone it is far from a standar one, being too trebly and agressive for my tastes.

Another possibility it is to get a Phat Cat...

 

[Marzzz]

Re: Pickup choices for Klein Electric?

Actually, the strat tone is not as important, I just happen to have the switches to split the HB's already in place- something reasonably decent is fine. One tone I do find kinda fun is a bridge humbucker-single coil combination, but the full humbucker tone definitely takes precedence!

I have noticed some people here really like the APH-1/SH-11 combination, but they are using them in semi-hollowbodies or Les Pauls....it would be interesting to see if anyone is using this combo in a swamp ash strat, which is in a way the guitar my Klein most closely resembles (structurally, anyway....).

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Pickup choices for Klein Electric?

Actually, the strat tone is not as important, I just happen to have the switches to split the HB's already in place- something reasonably decent is fine. One tone I do find kinda fun is a bridge humbucker-single coil combination, but the full humbucker tone definitely takes precedence!

I have noticed some people here really like the APH-1/SH-11 combination, but they are using them in semi-hollowbodies or Les Pauls....it would be interesting to see if anyone is using this combo in a swamp ash strat, which is in a way the guitar my Klein most closely resembles (structurally, anyway....).

Hey bro,

I settled on the CC/A2Pro combo because, even though the guitar in question is constructed close to a Les Paul It sounded pretty bright and thin...these pups really warmed things up and made them much thicker! I would imagine based on the construction of your guitar it would do the same for you.