Pickup for a strange Explorer

[HeavenSent]

Hello guys, this is my first post here. I was lurking these forums for quite some time, but only recently made an account. Okay, that was the introduction, let's get to business now xD

I have a custom made Explorer that was made by a friend of mine, it's a great guitar, rich in sustain and very playable. It has EMG 81 and 60 pickups, which are great for metal, but only for metal haha. I was thinking of replacing those EMG's with passives, and I'm mainly searching for this:

Bridge pickup - something that has good clarity under high gain, but that is also versatile and has solid clean tone

Neck pickup - mostly for crystal clear clean sound, I rarely use neck pickups under distortion

In most of my guitars I use Distortion/Jazz combo, and I can say I really like that setup, it gives me exactly what I need. The sort of a problem now is that all guitars with Distortion/Jazz setup that I have are guitars that are made of usual wood for guitars (Alder/Maple, Mahogany/Maple, All Mahogany), but this guitar is different. My friend kind of played with the parts haha, so he made the body of the guitar of very light Korina, glued in a maple neck, and placed Pau Ferro fingerboard on it. So it's like this:

Body: Korina
Neck: Maple
Fingerboard: Pau Ferro

My concern is will Distortion/Jazz set still sound good in this guitar, or should I look for something else? What are your thoughts on this? Thanks in advance for all your help, cheers guys!

 

[agentzero12]

Re: Pickup for a strange Explorer

Id say give it a try. I don't know exactly how it will go but I had a korina explorer and it reacted like mahogany. I like the jb in my gibby explorer but I stuck an a9 mag in it.

 

[DrNewcenstein]

Re: Pickup for a strange Explorer

Try working with the EMGs a little more. I can't imagine they're pushing your amp into constant overdrive, particularly the 60, which as I understand it, is the same pickup Kirk Hammett uses in his Rhoads for the clean parts to Call of Cthulu and Fade To Black, at the very least.

For Duncans, I'd go with either a JB/59 set, or a Custom/JB (JB in the neck).

 

[HeavenSent]

Re: Pickup for a strange Explorer

I just don't like the sound of EMG's, I don't like having a preamp coloring my tone. And don't you think JB would sound too muddy in the neck position since it's a hotter output pickup? I prefer having a clear sound in the neck position.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Pickup for a strange Explorer

The obvious question at this point, what amplification and pedals do you use with the strange Explorer?

 

[HeavenSent]

Re: Pickup for a strange Explorer

Well, I live in a small apartment, so at home I use Guitar Rig, but when I practice with my band in a studio I use Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier, sometimes old Peavey 5150 (depends on which studio we go to), with the ocassional use of Boss OD-3 pedal.

 

[Nacho8807]

Re: Pickup for a strange Explorer

I think you would still like the Distortion/Jazz combo. I don't think the woods used will be as much of a factor that you think it is.

 

[Gone_Shootin]

Re: Pickup for a strange Explorer

I don't know how they would work in your Explorer, but in my mahogany Gibson Explorer a Screamin' Demon in the bridge and a Pearly Gates Neck model in the neck is the cat's meow. The Gibson Burstbuckers I have in there now aren't bad either, but I like the SD/PGn combo a little better.

And this is playing cleans, bluesy stuff, classic rock, and metal through any of my heads (Splawn Pro Mod, Mesa Triple Rec, & a Marshall JVM410H).

 

[DrNewcenstein]

Re: Pickup for a strange Explorer

I just don't like the sound of EMG's, I don't like having a preamp coloring my tone. And don't you think JB would sound too muddy in the neck position since it's a hotter output pickup? I prefer having a clear sound in the neck position.

The internal preamp does nothing but boost the signal the pickups receive from the disturbance of the magnetic field.

As for the JB being muddy in the neck, I find it has a dark tone, but certainly not what I consider muddy. Single string distorted lines are clear, but not piercing, and yield a slight Strattish tone when wired for parallel.

With a Custom in the bridge, you can afford to back off your EQ's bass control so that the JB isn't overly dark.

 

[EDX]

Re: Pickup for a strange Explorer

a cool option is Dirty Fingers on the Bridge and a PG (bridge model) on the neck, these are pickups that mix well in my opinion, the fingers sounds good on mahogany and korina guitars, giving easily what you call for, just tweak the Eq and it responds, even my very resonant V could sound like a hammer or a saw thanks to it, the PGb does trick on the neck getting bright (since you use jazz on the neck wich gives sparkle to dark guitars).

an A5 or bite thicker A5 on the pearly gets its eq curve closer to the fingers curve

 

[HeavenSent]

Re: Pickup for a strange Explorer

Thanks for the replies guys, keep the suggestions coming! I also want to say that this guitar has a warm and bassy tone, with a lot of low mindrange also, so keep suggesting something that you think will sound good with these specs.

@Gone_Shootin I really love Screamin Demon, it's a great pickup. I'm also a big fan of George Lynch and his sound (my username can prove that), but I think I want something with just a little bit more output.

@DrNewcenstein Having a neck pickup that has higher output than bridge is a strange combination, but does not sound bad, I would like to hear JB in the neck! Might give it a try, I'll see!

@EDX Dirty Fingers is one hell of a pickup, haven't heard it in Korina guitar, but in Les Pauls it sounds amazing! Pearly Gates in neck seems like a good choice too, but I thought those have Alnico II's, not V's? Or am I wrong?

 

[CountFeedback]

Re: Pickup for a strange Explorer

I've been on a quest for "the pickup" for an explorer myself. I've got a traditional all Mahogany set neck, I've found that all the extra wood in an explorer does make it behave a little different than most guitars.
The Demon = super good at cleans, especially coil split to the hex screws, definitely stays defined under gain, wonderful lead sound, lacking a little bit in traditional warm woody mojo.
I like the 59bridge, right now I'me trying the Whole Lotta Humbuckers, both are great if you want a bit of classic mojo.
I luv a JB in the bridge but it didn't like my particular guitar.
The original Custom SH-5 totally rocks (it makes me want to play Joe Walsh but also 80s Metal) I'm not a fan of ceramic clean. Custom5 kind of sucked.

If you want clean & sparkle out of the neck Jazz is the way to go, lots of other things you can try if you want a little more woody blues mojo.
I like the 59n but verses the Jazz you do sacrifice clarity and even EQ for the 59 woody mojo.

 

[BloodRose]

Re: Pickup for a strange Explorer

In my Explorer, I run a Custom8 in the bridge (Custom pickup with magnet swapped to an alnico 8.) and I run a 59b model in the neck. Covers alot of tonal ground! Running the 59b in the neck gets alittle more "smokey blues" tone than just a standard 59. Yet, it still cleans up nicely. I recently had a guitar with a distortion/jb combo and I was suprised how cool the JB was in the neck. If you are looking for clean thru rock in the neck, go with a jazz or PG or 59. If you want to lay down ripping leads in the neck, the Jb is awesome!

 

[epi]

Re: Pickup for a strange Explorer

I like Jazz/Invader as a general combo I had it in a Epi SG of mine a while ago I am to poor to buy pickups or I would buy those again in a heart beat!!!

 

[agentzero12]

Re: Pickup for a strange Explorer

.
I luv a JB in the bridge but it didn't like my particular guitar.
.

I put an A9 magnet in the jb for my explorer and it RIPS!!! I love it in there.

 

[Falloffthebonetone]

Re: Pickup for a strange Explorer

JB/Jazz bro... Jb/Jazz. It's exactly what you described to a T.