Pickups for semihollow guitar?

U

unique name

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A friend and I are building a semi hollow thinline-type guitar with a walnut or mahogany body and a flat maple top. We want a blues rock- hard rock tone and are considering hb-p90 config and a dual hb config. What humbuckers and/or p90s would sound good (especially WLH, PG, Antiquity p90, etc etc)? Thanks in advance
 
Re: Pickups for semihollow guitar?

welcome to the forum!

will you have separate controls like a gibson or shared controls like a tele?
 
Re: Pickups for semihollow guitar?

unique name said:
A friend and I are building a semi hollow thinline-type guitar with a walnut or mahogany body and a flat maple top. We want a blues rock- hard rock tone and are considering hb-p90 config and a dual hb config. What humbuckers and/or p90s would sound good (especially WLH, PG, Antiquity p90, etc etc)? Thanks in advance
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I assembled a Semi-Hollow Strat (Mahogany body with Spruce Top) and from my experience looking for the same tone you will want something on the hotter side. The dynamics of a Semi-Hollow are amazing–awesome rich full tone but the mild Alnico II Strat Set I had in mine sounded more dull and very underwhelming. Put a set of higher output Alnico V pickups in and night and day difference! Best of luck on the project!

View attachment 67986
 
Re: Pickups for semihollow guitar?

treyhaislip said:
I assembled a Semi-Hollow Strat (Mahogany body with Spruce Top) and from my experience looking for the same tone you will want something on the hotter side. The dynamics of a Semi-Hollow are amazing–awesome rich full tone but the mild Alnico II Strat Set I had in mine sounded more dull and very underwhelming. Put a set of higher output Alnico V pickups in and night and day difference! Best of luck on the project!

View attachment 67986
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Alright I'll keep that in mind, it definitely narrows down the options, Thanks!

Beautiful guitar btw.
 
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Re: Pickups for semihollow guitar?

unique name said:
Alright I'll keep that in mind, it definitely narrows down the options, Thanks!

Beautiful guitar btw.
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Thanks!

Others might disagree with me, but its just from my experience "hotter" pickups are better in Semi-Hollow than low output...

I think the Pearly Gates Set sounds something you would love! Forum bros have raved about the Whole Lotta Set also, sounds like it might be a good choice as well.
 
Re: Pickups for semihollow guitar?

I did a hollow body Korina charvel Floyd type with an EVH Wolfgang pickup in the bridge and I'm digging it
 
Re: Pickups for semihollow guitar?

i usually prefer lower output pups in my semi-hollowbody guitars. when you say blues rock/hard rock what are you talking about? amp have plenty of gain? i have the wlh set in a maple top/chambered alder body guitar and i think it sounds great
 
Re: Pickups for semihollow guitar?

jeremy said:
i usually prefer lower output pups in my semi-hollowbody guitars. when you say blues rock/hard rock what are you talking about? amp have plenty of gain? i have the wlh set in a maple top/chambered alder body guitar and i think it sounds great
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+1. Definitely lower output, like a good PAF: Seth, A2P, or WLH for warmer tones, '59's for sharp high ends.
 
Re: Pickups for semihollow guitar?

jeremy said:
i usually prefer lower output pups in my semi-hollowbody guitars. when you say blues rock/hard rock what are you talking about? amp have plenty of gain? i have the wlh set in a maple top/chambered alder body guitar and i think it sounds great
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The amp is a vox combo with a tube preamp which has a ton of settings. If I crank the gain and set it to one of the harder style preferences then it can go pretty high but I can also get a nice, vintage bluesy overdrive going.
 
Re: Pickups for semihollow guitar?

treyhaislip -
Not to go off topic, as I want to use a P90, in the neck or mid slot on 1 of my partocasters, a bright strong P90, but, hey, please, tell me how much that guitar weighs. I am so impressed with that guitar of yours if I really told you how cool I though it was, well, it would sound like I was hitting on you. It is, for lack of a "new" word - f'ing Awesome. I want that.
Also a good P90, but that is the PO's thread, so I'll just listen on that part.
Beautiful guitar,
Steven
 
Re: Pickups for semihollow guitar?

wait and see what the inherent tonal qualities of the guitar are acoustically, then have a think about pickups to complement/supplement its tone.
 
Re: Pickups for semihollow guitar?

SJ318 said:
treyhaislip -
Not to go off topic, as I want to use a P90, in the neck or mid slot on 1 of my partocasters, a bright strong P90, but, hey, please, tell me how much that guitar weighs. I am so impressed with that guitar of yours if I really told you how cool I though it was, well, it would sound like I was hitting on you. It is, for lack of a "new" word - f'ing Awesome. I want that.
Also a good P90, but that is the PO's thread, so I'll just listen on that part.
Beautiful guitar,
Steven
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Thank you very much! It was a super fun project and is actually about to get new pickups as I found a rare Bill Lawrence L-250XL for the bridge and will pair it with 2 regular L-250s for the neck and mid. Although the body is Mahogany it is significantly lighter than your typical Mahogany guitar–body comes in around 3.5-4 pounds on mine. It has a Spruce top which light weight. The only thing I don't like about it is it doesn't have the Tummy Cut or Forearm Contour...so it gets uncomfortable after a while of playing.

And that is funny, I've been debating between a Tele or one of Gibsons BFG Les Pauls–has a P-90 in the Neck and a regular Humbucker (Burstbucker I believe?) in the Bridge.

Back to the OP, several people have mentioned Lower Output so I will say that while I still stand by my suggestion for something hotter than Low Output, I will add that even for guitars that are solid I prefer Moderate to High Output. And the Strat I posted had Single Coils which are a different animal than Humbuckers.

Best of luck on the project, Semi-Hollows are awesome guitars! If you can, please keep us posted!
 
Re: Pickups for semihollow guitar?

treyhaislip said:
Back to the OP, several people have mentioned Lower Output so I will say that while I still stand by my suggestion for something hotter than Low Output, I will add that even for guitars that are solid I prefer Moderate to High Output. And the Strat I posted had Single Coils which are a different animal than Humbuckers.

Best of luck on the project, Semi-Hollows are awesome guitars! If you can, please keep us posted!
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I think the current pickups I've picked out are sorta middle of the road, not blistering hot but not lacking. This is my first semi hollow guitar build so I'm okay with a little trial and error. Thanks for the input and I'll definitely post something once progress starts, though it might be a while since I have school and limited funds...
 
Re: Pickups for semihollow guitar?

unique name said:
I think the current pickups I've picked out are sorta middle of the road, not blistering hot but not lacking. This is my first semi hollow guitar build so I'm okay with a little trial and error. Thanks for the input and I'll definitely post something once progress starts, though it might be a while since I have school and limited funds...
Click to expand...

Middle of the road is a good way to go, I definitely wasn't recommending Seymour's El Diablo ;)

No worries at all, a lot of the projects posted here stretch a long time! ;)
 
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