Pickup for DARK guitar.

J

jangoux

New member
Hi everyone!

I have a Cort M600, which is a Mahogany guitar with a maple top. It sounds VERY VERY dark and so far i have not found a pickup that suits it well. I've used the Bareknuckle Rebel Yell (the best so far), EMG 81 and 85 (TOO dark, starved sounding) and the P-Rails (dark and lifeless) and I am searching for something else. I want something open and bright sounding. I was looking at many pickups and maybe the JB or the Custom/59 hybrid might be good options. The guitar will be mainly used for mid to hi gain rock tones and some versatility is welcome. \

Thanks everyone
Ivan
 
Re: Pickup for DARK guitar.

First ditch the tone pot from the axe. About bright pups, Bill Lawrence L500L (not the XL) and maybe full shred. But really EMG81 dark? you sure you didn't use 85 in the bridge?
 
Re: Pickup for DARK guitar.

Used both in the bridge and both sounded BAD. Also tried not using the tone pot on those pickups but it really needs something brighter.
 
Re: Pickup for DARK guitar.

500k pots usually works pretty well in mahogany/maple guitars. I've found that for a dark neck position in Les Paul style guitars that turning the pickup 180 degrees (screws toward the bridge) helps to give it a little more high end.
 
Re: Pickup for DARK guitar.

Also, what amp, pedals, etc are you using? If you are running pedals do you have the same problem when running straight into the amp?
 
Re: Pickup for DARK guitar.

Wow, if the 81 sounded dark I think ur just gonna have to deal with a dark guitar. Did you try the 18v mod on the EMGs? It will clean it up and brighten it a bit.
 
Re: Pickup for DARK guitar.

I insist with BL-L500L and full shred with no tone pots, and posibly 1meg vol pot. Also strings make a great diffrence and picks too, I find that Ultex picks give you a much brighter tone than say tortex picks
 
Re: Pickup for DARK guitar.

I would first review the hardware.

If it has a metric TOM, exchange for a Gotoh and make sure the posts aren't all wobbly. Loose posts is OK (you can't do better with a Nashville) but the important part is that if they are pressed down they aren't dampened. Possibly the anchors in the top are messed up to dampen the guitar, too.

The Pearly Gates is probably a good candidate for this guitar. I don't think anything more than awg42 can make you happy here.
 
Re: Pickup for DARK guitar.

metalmachine said:
screamin demon
Click to expand...
This pickup comes stock in ALL MAPLE guitars, which are notoriously bright. I owned 3 Lynch's (M1, Kami 4, and Kami 2) and can confirm this; the Demon is actually very neutral to dark sounding. It would never brighten up a dark guitar.
 
Re: Pickup for DARK guitar.

Full shred with ceramic mag, or even the stock full shred, both are very bright, and get rid of your tone pot. To me having a single volume makes a massive difference
 
Re: Pickup for DARK guitar.

TwilightOdyssey said:
This pickup comes stock in ALL MAPLE guitars, which are notoriously bright. I owned 3 Lynch's (M1, Kami 4, and Kami 2) and can confirm this; the Demon is actually very neutral to dark sounding. It would never brighten up a dark guitar.
Click to expand...

i just know its a lot brighter than any of my distrotions. also maple likes bright pickups. it has a lot of uppermids but not a lot of highs.
 
Re: Pickup for DARK guitar.

Hey guys,

Thanks for all your replies!

I tried changing the pot from 500k to a 1M (linear) I had at home and the improvement was HUGE. For the first time I heard some crunchyness on this guitar. I was already without a tone pot, due to the brightness it took away but it wasnt a night and day difference.

As for the other answers... The thing with the 81 is not that it is bright - To me it lacks bass which is kinda different. I dont know, it never feels right on my hands.

Regarding the Rebel Yell..it had this mid range bump on a particular frequency and that annoyed me a little bit on this guitar. It is now on my SG and it sounds much better - it fits the guitar much better.

Although my Cort sounds much better with the 1M, I am still not liking the P-Rails. Is it Ceramic or something? Ceramics never feel right to me. Anyway...Is there anything SD produces that works OK under mid to hi gain that splits well? The SH16 sounds very sexy to me..
 
Re: Pickup for DARK guitar.

Btw, will a lighter bridge really improve the tone? I read that an aluminum bridge will help with the brightness
 
Re: Pickup for DARK guitar.

jangoux said:
Btw, will a lighter bridge really improve the tone? I read that an aluminum bridge will help with the brightness
Click to expand...

Yeah it's a difference, it makes it a little more plingy. I didn't like it, though, I thought it makes a Les Paul un-lespaul-ish and a SG too bright.

Your TOM is more important, however, I think I already preached it above.

Going from 500 Kohm vol to 1 Mohm vol, with no changes in tone pot and full open pot, shouldn't have made much of a difference. I think you had some problem in your electronics there. Maybe try to run without anything until you dial things in.
 
Re: Pickup for DARK guitar.

uOpt said:
Yeah it's a difference, it makes it a little more plingy. I didn't like it, though, I thought it makes a Les Paul un-lespaul-ish and a SG too bright.

Your TOM is more important, however, I think I already preached it above.

Going from 500 Kohm vol to 1 Mohm vol, with no changes in tone pot and full open pot, shouldn't have made much of a difference. I think you had some problem in your electronics there. Maybe try to run without anything until you dial things in.
Click to expand...

Ok..metric bridge vs. gotoh ? Can you school me on that ?

Well, everything looks fine on the electronics and I may need to test the old pot with a multimeter to see if things were screwed up.
 
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