Please recommend me pickups for my Hiram Bullock Cort guitar

[BetaCAM]

Hi,

I have the older Korean model which is considered better than the new one. Its got an extremely heavy body which my luthier believes is more likely to be Ash than swamp ash, it's as a heavy as a good Les Paul.

Other than that, its got the bird's eye maple neck and bird's eye maple fingerboard.

I just had it refretted with jumbo frets and this thing is unbelievable. I can't understand why they don't make this model with those kind of frets, it makes things a lot better as far as playability is concerned.

Anyway, I like the sound, but I need a little bit stronger humbuckers. Its got the Vintage Buckers from Mighty Mite, which aren't bad at all, simply they don't have enough output for me. The single coil isn't much of a concern for me as I don't use it that much so it can be left alone.

I'd like to get nickel covered pickups to maintain its sleek look.

What would you recommend?

Thanks!

 

[hamerfan]

Re: Please recommend me pickups for my Hiram Bullock Cort guitar

You should state what kind of music and what amp u use. You should also look into the electric dept. of your guitar and check whether the pots are 500k.
With a first shot i would say you should also consider active pickups if a strong signal is your concern.

For starters: http://www.seymourduncan.com/products/electric/humbucker/cutting-edge/lwmust_livewire/

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Please recommend me pickups for my Hiram Bullock Cort guitar

IMO, the actual problem may not be the output of the OEM Mighty Mite HBs so much as their lack of dynamic response compared to American pickups.

I suggest a Custom (Cer) for the bridge position and a covered '59 or Pearly Gates for the neck position. You might want to upgrade the central single coil too. How about an APS-1 or a Five-Two.

 

[BetaCAM]

Re: Please recommend me pickups for my Hiram Bullock Cort guitar

I play mostly middle to high gain stuff.

I want this guitar to have more emphasis on clean sounds and more towards the fusion realm as far as high gain, ala frank gambale, greg howe.

I have a jackson soloist which handles the Metal stuff so I want this guitar to be different. Maybe it's the lack of the dynamics from the pickups you've mentioned that bothers me than the output, you made a good point there.

I have 250K pots in the guitar.

My amp is Peavey Valveking 112 combo, with celestion V30 speaker.
When I'm home I mostly play directly to the amp. If I want to connect pedals I use my crunch box as lead pedal, bb preamp for overdrives and Ibanez CS9 chorus and Danecho delay.

 

[Butch Snyder]

Re: Please recommend me pickups for my Hiram Bullock Cort guitar

I play mostly middle to high gain stuff.

I want this guitar to have more emphasis on clean sounds and more towards the fusion realm as far as high gain, ala frank gambale, greg howe.

I have 250K pots in the guitar.

I have always been interested in the Hiram Bullock (RIP) model. It's an HSH but a little unique from the standard fare Super Strat. Personally, I would use a JB/Jazz combo. You can get the Hot Rodded Humbucker set (JB/Jazz combo) and save yourself a little money instead of getting each pickup separately. I recommend this based on the guitarists you listed as well as the fact that you use 250k pots. As far as the single coil, you should be okay leaving it in if you mainly use it in combination with the humbuckers. Of course, replacing it with something from Duncan would be a nice upgrade; but you can do that later.

Cheers,

 

[ChrisDowning]

Re: Please recommend me pickups for my Hiram Bullock Cort guitar

Ha - that was a while back - funny how these thing pop up again after the years - I've got a HB and I have a pair of P90 Phat Cats and an APS1 in the middle. That's not wholey worked out well as the P90s are pretty strong compared to a little strat alnico pup. So im changing the wiring to three way switch on the two identical bridge P90s and the middle RWRP start pup will be on its own circuit to the jack with a 250k pot on the way - so its a blend pup. The two P90s will be on the switch then a 500k pot to the jack - no tone.