Pickups for my Schecter C-1 classic...???

guitarkid

guitarkid

New member
Hey everyone,

A few weeks ago I got killer deal on a Schecter C-1 classic, I love the guitar and it plays awesome but I don't like the tone. It doesn't have the original SD pickups, the prev. owner replaced them with Lace Alumitones (it also has a Bigsby Tremolo on it). The alumitones have a great clean tone but I didn't like them for any high gain stuff. I thought I had decided what pickups to put in it, I was planning on puttting a SH-4 JB in the bridge and a SH-2 Jazz in the neck (thats what this model comes stock with) but then I did some reading on here and found that people say that the JB doesn't sound good in mahogany bodys. The guitar has a neck-through body with 25 1/2 scale maple neck with stripes of walnut going through it and a rosewood fretboard and mahogany wings. Since the guitar has a 25 1/2 fender scale neck and also the maple/walnut neck going through the mahogany body would that work well with a JB? If not could someone suggest what pickups to put in it? I'm using it as my main guitar for a christian rock band I'm in. We mostly play hard rock stuff & some metalish stuff lol ,but I am also on the music team at my church and want something that will also work for contemporary christian music. So I want something that will sound good for rock and everything above but also with a good clean tone. I was also planning on coil tapping both pickups so I want something that will work well with that too.

I would be greatful for any suggestions! Thanks! :)
 
Re: Pickups for my Schecter C-1 classic...???

Well, that depends on what you want from the pickups in relation to the guitar's natural tone. Do you want to amplify the acoustic tone or do you want to reshape the guitar's acoustic tone?

Is it bass-heavy and you want to cut it back some? Is it bright and you want it to be less-bright but retain the mids and bass? Is it midrangey with little bass and treble and you want everything evened out?

Once you've got that sorted out, have a look through the Tone Chart:
http://www.seymourduncan.com/comparetones

And look at the EQ ratings (B/M/T) and resistance (kHz) for each pickup and decide from there.


Offhand, I'd say use a Custom in the bridge and a 59 or Jazz in the neck, but that's just me, and the way I pick, and the amplification I use.
 
Re: Pickups for my Schecter C-1 classic...???

Pearly Gates neck,
C8 bridge, or P-Rails

The best combination for what you want.
 
Re: Pickups for my Schecter C-1 classic...???

Hey there guitarkid :)

I had one of those as my last guitar before the Carvin Bolt that I have now. Good guitar, and with the right electronics, is pretty versatile and toneful. For relatively not a whole lot of money, you can turn one of these into a real tone monster. :)

I went through 4 different pickup changes on that guitar, and also tried this "PRS Rotary"-styled wiring modification (using this replacement 5-way superswitch). Learned a lot about guitar wiring in the process too, with help from the awesome and knowledgeable people in these forums of course! ;-) There's nothing wrong with the stock 5-way Schaller P-Style Megaswitch, I just wanted to be able to try different wiring combinations with a switch whose circuit was not hard-wired...it was a great learning experience for me.

I can definitely say that I was at my happiest with that guitar when I had a '59 in the neck (I just don't like the SH-2 Jazz Model, not beefy enough for me) and either a JB or Custom 8 in the bridge. BTW - in case you don't know, a Custom 8 is any of the Duncan Custom models (SH-5, SH-11, SH-14) with the magnet swapped out for an Alnico 8 magnet. It's not a stock Duncan pickup offering - if you ask around in The Trading Post, every now and then someone will have one for sale, or you can simply get any of the Custom models listed above used and buy an Alnico 8 magnet and do the swap yourself (and there's lots of people here who've done that themselves who can help you with that too...I've never done it but it looks easy enough). If you like the JB but find the highs a bit too harsh, you can also do this Alnico 8 magnet swap to it - many here have reported good things about it.

An important thing to bear in mind with the C-1 Classic is that while the other woods play a part to varying degrees, the two largest contributors (at least, IMHO) to the tonality of this guitar are the maple thru-neck (maple providing long and bright, singing sustain, while the neck-thru construction gives added mid-range) and the rosewood fingerboard (adding some warmth). This is the way my ears hear it, but YMMV.

Hope this helps. By the way, I too am a worship leader at my church, and I can vouch that the C-1 Classic is an excellent and versatile choice for it. I sold mine because I simply prefer a Strat-styled guitar for what I do. Blessings to you brother! :)
 
Last edited:
Re: Pickups for my Schecter C-1 classic...???

guitarkid said:
Hey everyone,

A few weeks ago I got killer deal on a Schecter C-1 classic, I love the guitar and it plays awesome but I don't like the tone. It doesn't have the original SD pickups, the prev. owner replaced them with Lace Alumitones (it also has a Bigsby Tremolo on it). The alumitones have a great clean tone but I didn't like them for any high gain stuff. I thought I had decided what pickups to put in it, I was planning on puttting a SH-4 JB in the bridge and a SH-2 Jazz in the neck (thats what this model comes stock with) but then I did some reading on here and found that people say that the JB doesn't sound good in mahogany bodys. The guitar has a neck-through body with 25 1/2 scale maple neck with stripes of walnut going through it and a rosewood fretboard and mahogany wings. Since the guitar has a 25 1/2 fender scale neck and also the maple/walnut neck going through the mahogany body would that work well with a JB? If not could someone suggest what pickups to put in it? I'm using it as my main guitar for a christian rock band I'm in. We mostly play hard rock stuff & some metalish stuff lol ,but I am also on the music team at my church and want something that will also work for contemporary christian music. So I want something that will sound good for rock and everything above but also with a good clean tone. I was also planning on coil tapping both pickups so I want something that will work well with that too.

I would be greatful for any suggestions! Thanks! :)
Click to expand...

Keep in mind, the guitar does come stock with JB/Jazz. So you can always swap out the lace and revert back to the original setup? I prefer the JB/59 setup works the best for any style/genre. Other than that maybe some A2Pros?
 
Re: Pickups for my Schecter C-1 classic...???

guitarkid said:
people say that the JB doesn't sound good in mahogany bodys. The guitar has a neck-through body with 25 1/2 scale maple neck with stripes of walnut going through it and a rosewood fretboard and mahogany wings.
Click to expand...

With neck-through guitars, because the pickups are mounted in the same piece of wood that forms the neck, the body wings wood has much less impact on the tone than the neck wood. Imagine it, if you will, as a maple-body guitar with possibly a tad more warmth.
 
Re: Pickups for my Schecter C-1 classic...???

SH-5 Duncan Custom or 500T for bridge and SH-1 '59 for neck. You cannot go wrong with these going from sweet and crisp cleans to rip-your-face-off metal.

I didn't like SH-4 JB as bridge in my Schecter C-1. It sounded weird and and somewhat undefined to my ears or maybe it lacked punch. 500T, on the other hand, is the holy grail of pickups to me when I play high gain stuff. Definition, nasty grittiness, punch, and clarity is all there. SH-1 '59 works very well, well, for pretty much anything. Solos, cleans, riffing... though it may get a little muddy on a few chords, but it's no biggie. There also might be some volume loss when switching between the two pickups, but it's not very big and it's nothing that a boost on on board or pedal can't fix.

Bottom line is that the setup that I've talked about works well for heavy metal, as well as, different, lighter types of music. Do not forget that the tone control works magic on your guitar. I was astonished myself what it can do when I was playing cleans.

Of course, the choice is yours to make. :)
 
Re: Pickups for my Schecter C-1 classic...???

mwalluk said:
Keep in mind, the guitar does come stock with JB/Jazz. So you can always swap out the lace and revert back to the original setup? I prefer the JB/59 setup works the best for any style/genre.
Click to expand...

With a JB/JazzN, I'd put an A8 or A2 in the JB, and sell the Jazz and get a '59, PG, or A2P for the neck. They have much more personality & color.
 
Re: Pickups for my Schecter C-1 classic...???

In a guitar like yours, I'd use a PATB-3 in the bridge and a PG in the neck. That's assuming that you use Marshall style amps for your dirty tones.
 
Re: Pickups for my Schecter C-1 classic...???

for what its worth:
I have a Schecter C1 Plus with a Seth Lover in the neck - sounds awesome.
and a Pearly Gates in the bridge - sounds a tad bright to me and not very versatile.

I'm watching for an Alnico II Pro or Custom Custom on the bay for the bridge....

Schecter C-1 Plus
 
Re: Pickups for my Schecter C-1 classic...???

Dude, I gotta stop looking at this thread, the more and more I see that Schecter the more and more I want to buy a c1 classic and tweak it out like that
 
Re: Pickups for my Schecter C-1 classic...???

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone! There are so many I don't know what to put in it now. Lol ;)
 
Re: Pickups for my Schecter C-1 classic...???

Confused? Then listen.....:)

Put a Custom 5/Pearly Gates neck in it.

It's almost impossible not to love a PGn in a maple/mahogany guitar.

Same with the Custom 5. I'm betting you'll love it, but if not, you can always swap the magnet out for a ceramic or A8. But you'll probably dig the C5/PGn. If I had to choose one stock SD set that will always sound killer in a Gibson/PRS/Schecter C-1 type guitar, it'd be that set.
 
Re: Pickups for my Schecter C-1 classic...???

Gearjoneser: Thoughs are actually the pickups I am considering! I think I am set on getting a Pearly Gates for the neck (I was also thinking a 59 but I want something I can coil tap & the 59 doesn't have a four conductor wire), For the bridge probably the SH-5. Also wondering, would the "SH-15 Alternative 8" be close to the same as a custom 8? Oh and I play through a Peavey Windsor 100watt stack (kinda like a Marshall Jcm800) for gigs, and I just play through a Line 6 Spider II 75watt for church.
 
Re: Pickups for my Schecter C-1 classic...???

I am thinking the 59 will be good for both clean and distortion, as for the PG and connot say as I have not used one though they sound interesting. As for the JB here is my obsevation. Mind you this was in a chambered les paul style guitar (that I no longer own). I found the JB to have what I call a "gritty tone" for rythym. Not in a bad sounding way, but not what I wanted either. Now for leads in the bridge position I thought it sounded very nice. Had a bit of a singing tone to it. since your guitar is a lttle bit different than that you may like it. I don't remeber how it sounded clean, but MOST high output humbukers don't sound good on clean to me. hope this helps a little.
 
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