Recommend SD pickups for my hollow body guitar

[gretsch6120]

I would like to change the pups on my Heritage 550, 17" complete hollow body guitar. I use this guitar to play bluesy country sorta stuff, not soft jazz. I wanna rock a little with it! I was thinking the Phat Cats, any ideas?

 

[scottish]

Re: Recommend SD pickups for my hollow body guitar

im kinda in the same boat as you, i am getting a custom thinline full hollowbody built, similar to the profile of trey anastasio's guitar and i want to know what kind of pups would suit it best since i cant find a set of schaller golden 50s. i guess it would depend on what kind of "rockin a little" you want to do. ive heard good things about the 59s in hollowbodys but i dunno if that would suit your sound and i am by no means an expert. ive built a few solid bodies but the sound in a hollowbody is gonna be dramatically different i would imagine.

 

[Reckless Abandon]

Re: Recommend SD pickups for my hollow body guitar

Phat Cats would sound great in it. '59 would also work great.

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: Recommend SD pickups for my hollow body guitar

Phat Cats set low in the rings in a hollowbody SCREAM old school country and rockabilly.

If you want to go hum cancelling, TV Jones' TV'trons would be worth looking into.

 

[tone4days]

Re: Recommend SD pickups for my hollow body guitar

set of seths is a nice call too

good luck
have fun
t4d

 

[gretsch6120]

Re: Recommend SD pickups for my hollow body guitar

Any other ideas?

 

[LesStrat]

Re: Recommend SD pickups for my hollow body guitar

Some have recommended the Pearly Gates. But I might follow t4d's advice if I change mine from the Phat Cats (good tone, but I don't like s/c hum).

 

[gretsch6120]

Re: Recommend SD pickups for my hollow body guitar

Pearly Gates in a hollowbody? How would a humbucker in the neck and a Phat Cat in the bridge do?

 

[Robert Delahunt]

Re: Recommend SD pickups for my hollow body guitar

I would like to change the pups on my Heritage 550, 17" complete hollow body guitar. I use this guitar to play bluesy country sorta stuff, not soft jazz. I wanna rock a little with it! I was thinking the Phat Cats, any ideas?

H-550 or HL-550 ?

If I was going to play country, and not Jazz, a set of Seth's or Antiquities would probably be what I'd get (just my 2 cents). If not, a set of A2P's would work, or a set of Jazz's, but I'm a total newb when it comes to semi-hollow / hollow.

EDIT: Wow, if it's maple top, back, and sides, dang, does it sound bright to you? I'd be tempted to go A2P set only because maple sounds very bright to my ears.

 

[gretsch6120]

Re: Recommend SD pickups for my hollow body guitar

Heritage H 550. What is a HL 550?

 

[gretsch6120]

Re: Recommend SD pickups for my hollow body guitar

What do y'all think about mixing a phat cat in the bridge and a jazz in the neck?

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: Recommend SD pickups for my hollow body guitar

What do y'all think about mixing a phat cat in the bridge and a jazz in the neck?

I've mixed a PCb and a PGn in my LP a while ago. It worked well. In fact, the PC was quite a bit louder than the PG, but I felt it lacked a bit of low end in comparison to the PG.

As far as a pair of PG's in a hollowbody, I did a pair of PG+ pickups in my Sheraton. Pretty cool for a Larry Carlton vibe, if you ask me.

 

[Dudey]

Re: Recommend SD pickups for my hollow body guitar

Have you considered the "old work horse" tried and true SH-1 "59" PAF pickup. This is an extremely versatile pickup and would more than cover your rock needs. Highly recommeded for your move into rock.

BTW Great guitar choice!!

 

[gretsch6120]

Re: Recommend SD pickups for my hollow body guitar

I am leaning towards a jazz in the neck and a phat cat in the bridge. Does the jazz have 4 leads to coil tap? What is the jazz like in single coil mode? Thanks Dudey, I love my 550, just looking for something different in pups.

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: Recommend SD pickups for my hollow body guitar

The Jazz splits OK and does come in 4 conductor. If you are planning on splitting often though, I'd opt for a Jazz bridge model in the neck. It'll balance better with a PCb as well.

 

[gretsch6120]

Re: Recommend SD pickups for my hollow body guitar

I just placed an order with Lew, through talking with him, I decided to go with pearly gates in both pup positions.

 

[Robert Delahunt]

Re: Recommend SD pickups for my hollow body guitar

While my opinion is I don't think the jazz/jb combo is good for hollow body, they both do split well, and sound excellent split together, much less in normal mode together. The Jazz should be a good split sound. However, if you insist on having "true" single coil split, the Stag Mag set might be a good idea.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Recommend SD pickups for my hollow body guitar

I'd go with alnico 2 humbuckers over alnico 5 humbuckers just because I think alnico 5 humbuckers might have more bass than I ever need...especially in an acoustic guitar played at higher volumes. If you're Wes Montgomery, alnico 5 is fine...he played at lower volumes than most of us do these days though.

Seth Lovers, Alnico II pro, Pearly Gates or Antiquity.

If you want a hotter than vintage bridge humbucker, the Custom Custom.

I had a Seth Lover and Custom Custom in my Hamer Monoco Super Pro and felt that was the best sounding semi acoustic guitar I've ever owned.

If you want vintage output and a little more "bite" from the treble, a set of PG's would be cool too.

 

[baritone]

Re: Recommend SD pickups for my hollow body guitar

I would go for 59s or Seths for any kind of music imaginable. But the ones you're considering sound like a cool combination, also.

 

[midnite_man]

Re: Recommend SD pickups for my hollow body guitar

....If you want a hotter than vintage bridge humbucker, the Custom Custom.

I had a Seth Lover and Custom Custom in my Hamer Monoco Super Pro and felt that was the best sounding semi acoustic guitar I've ever owned.

If you want vintage output and a little more "bite" from the treble, a set of PG's would be cool too.

Nice info. My Schecter semi-hollow I just bought has Duncan Designed HB-101's in it. The tone is pretty much the same as '59's just as described in the SD website, and actually I think they sound pretty nice....the pickups really sound balanced in this guitar and when I kick in some overdrive and distortion this axe screams. It came with push/pull split-coil tone pots which gives it a few more options for tone.
For that hollow body, I bet those '59's or the PG's would sound sweet.