Semi-hollow pickup advice
- Thread starter Grizmit
- Start date
Grizmit
New member
Re: Semi-hollow pickup advice
Not usually, you're right. And again, I'm not going to be playing metal with my Viking. However, you can't discount players like Malcolm Young, Alex Lifeson, Billy Duffy, Dave Grohl, Pat Smear (Hag Viking, btw), Tom Delong, Tim Armstrong, Frank Zappa, and let's not forget Terrible Ted Nugent (full hollow body!) etc... All "hard rock" artists IMO, who gravitate(d) towards semi-hollow instruments. I respect traditionalism, don't get me wrong, but rules are meant to broken. That's what rock and roll is all about, my friend. Which reminds me... Chuck Berry blew our collective mind with an ES 355 back in the day. But you're probably right about the JB... hahaha. Leaning towards a PAF at this point (or maybe a CC) and seriously, thanks for your input. Cheers!
Not usually, you're right. And again, I'm not going to be playing metal with my Viking. However, you can't discount players like Malcolm Young, Alex Lifeson, Billy Duffy, Dave Grohl, Pat Smear (Hag Viking, btw), Tom Delong, Tim Armstrong, Frank Zappa, and let's not forget Terrible Ted Nugent (full hollow body!) etc... All "hard rock" artists IMO, who gravitate(d) towards semi-hollow instruments. I respect traditionalism, don't get me wrong, but rules are meant to broken. That's what rock and roll is all about, my friend. Which reminds me... Chuck Berry blew our collective mind with an ES 355 back in the day. But you're probably right about the JB... hahaha. Leaning towards a PAF at this point (or maybe a CC) and seriously, thanks for your input. Cheers!
Suchapinch
New member
Re: Semi-hollow pickup advice
Hi,
Just saw this thread, so I might be a bit late. I have a Hagstrom Viking reissue, which is easily my #1 guitar. The stock pickups are their jazz model and very good at jazz sounds, not so great for rock. I find the guitar is a bit out of balance on the bright side. Maybe it's the resin fingerboard or the metal I beam in the neck or the poly paint job, but the treble was bothering me and wanted to tame it a bit. Also for maybe the same reasons, I didn't find that i was hearing much of the hollow body. I wanted to increase the output, tame the highs and warm it up. This led me to the Custom Custom in the bridge and a Pearly Gates in the neck and it has been a spectacular sounding combo for me. A friend of mine liked it so much he went out and bought a Viking and copied the pickups. Now I'm working on getting a Swede to sound as good, but that will be another thread.
Hi,
Just saw this thread, so I might be a bit late. I have a Hagstrom Viking reissue, which is easily my #1 guitar. The stock pickups are their jazz model and very good at jazz sounds, not so great for rock. I find the guitar is a bit out of balance on the bright side. Maybe it's the resin fingerboard or the metal I beam in the neck or the poly paint job, but the treble was bothering me and wanted to tame it a bit. Also for maybe the same reasons, I didn't find that i was hearing much of the hollow body. I wanted to increase the output, tame the highs and warm it up. This led me to the Custom Custom in the bridge and a Pearly Gates in the neck and it has been a spectacular sounding combo for me. A friend of mine liked it so much he went out and bought a Viking and copied the pickups. Now I'm working on getting a Swede to sound as good, but that will be another thread.
blueman335
Mojo's Minions
Re: Semi-hollow pickup advice
(Since this thread has resurfaced)
I play heavy British blues-rock with my 335's. It's a good fit; remember Clapton did that in the later Cream days. I have a Sheraton with a C8/'59N that's one of my best-sounding guitars. No problem playing Zeppelin on it. Any one of the Custom family of PU's would work in a 335.
(Since this thread has resurfaced)
I play heavy British blues-rock with my 335's. It's a good fit; remember Clapton did that in the later Cream days. I have a Sheraton with a C8/'59N that's one of my best-sounding guitars. No problem playing Zeppelin on it. Any one of the Custom family of PU's would work in a 335.
njstoehr
New member
Re: Semi-hollow pickup advice
Going a little off topic here but I just want to throw out another option. I had an Epiphone Dot Studio. Stock Epi PUPs suck IMHO so I immediately changed them out. After a few trial runs, I ended up with a Jazz in the neck and a Gibson Dirty Fingers in the bridge. I can't say enough about how much I loved the overall tone of that guitar. Ultimately, I put the stock PUPs back in and sold it to fund a Gibson Les Paul Studio so no regrets. I am seriously contemplating picking up a used ES-333 locally and if I do, those pups are going in as soon as the guitar enters the house. I found that this combo hit all the bases for me. Beautiful, articulate clean tones in all three positions, awesome crunch, and bone crushing overdrive (the DF can really slam the front end of a tube amp). Feedback, as noted, can be an issue with such a high gain pup in a semi, but it is relatively easy to control.
With all of that said, if vintage type tones are what you are looking for, my suggestion for a bridge PUP would be a SD '59 or Gibson '57 Classic (or Classic Plus if you want it a little hotter). I am not sure how any of them would pair with a P90 in the neck as I am pretty much a straight up HB guy, but they are some de-facto standards in PAF-is tone.
Going a little off topic here but I just want to throw out another option. I had an Epiphone Dot Studio. Stock Epi PUPs suck IMHO so I immediately changed them out. After a few trial runs, I ended up with a Jazz in the neck and a Gibson Dirty Fingers in the bridge. I can't say enough about how much I loved the overall tone of that guitar. Ultimately, I put the stock PUPs back in and sold it to fund a Gibson Les Paul Studio so no regrets. I am seriously contemplating picking up a used ES-333 locally and if I do, those pups are going in as soon as the guitar enters the house. I found that this combo hit all the bases for me. Beautiful, articulate clean tones in all three positions, awesome crunch, and bone crushing overdrive (the DF can really slam the front end of a tube amp). Feedback, as noted, can be an issue with such a high gain pup in a semi, but it is relatively easy to control.
With all of that said, if vintage type tones are what you are looking for, my suggestion for a bridge PUP would be a SD '59 or Gibson '57 Classic (or Classic Plus if you want it a little hotter). I am not sure how any of them would pair with a P90 in the neck as I am pretty much a straight up HB guy, but they are some de-facto standards in PAF-is tone.
Last edited:
ParameterMan
New member
Re: Semi-hollow pickup advice
Dude, OP's last post in this thread was 2011. Pretty sure three years later he's not looking for pickups for that guitar.
Dude, OP's last post in this thread was 2011. Pretty sure three years later he's not looking for pickups for that guitar.
