Should I change the pickups in my Wolfgang Special?

[cvogue]

I got a Wolfgang Special off of Ebay and I love the playability and the tone when we do the more distorted stuff.

Problem is for mellower stuff or clean it's just too harsh after a while. Backing off on the volume control helps but not enough.

My ideal guitar would be a warm Les Paulish kinda tone with the trem. I think the Wolfie might fit that bill nicely except for the pickups.

Any suggestions? Anyone swapped out pickups in a Wolfgang. Rumor has it that Duncans need to be modified slightly... I've heard that Dimarzios can be dropped right in, true?

Thanks for any insight!

 

[MetalGirl]

Re: Should I change the pickups in my Wolfgang Special?

Some people has put a sd alnico II pro on neck and a jb model on bridge. I think it's a nice choice for this guitar

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: Should I change the pickups in my Wolfgang Special?

Welcome to the forum. I don't know how much SD's need to be modified to fit in Wolfgang's, but for the tone you are describing, I'd go with an Alnico II Pro in the neck and a Custom Custom in the bridge.

 

[rspst14]

Re: Should I change the pickups in my Wolfgang Special?

I'd go with an Alnico 2 Pro in the neck as others have mentioned, but I'd put a Blues Trembucker in the bridge. I had a Custom Custom in my Wolfgang, it has no low end at all. Never tried the JB, but that might work if you wanted something higher in output. Remember, as you increase the output of your pickups, you generally decrease the quality of your clean tone. I like the Blues because it has a bit more output than a vintage style pickup, while still retaining that PAF vibe. It's the absolute best and most versatile bridge humbucker I've ever tried.

The only problem is that you'll need to heavily modify the mounting tabs to get them to fit a Wolfgang. Either that, or you'll need to modify the guitar itself. The mounting tabs need to be filed down into an oval shape like the stock pickups, and you'll also need to widen the mounting holes. The bad thing is that once you modify the pickup, you can't use the Duncan 21 day exchange policy. But I think you'd like that set, I tried a ton of different pickup combinations in my Wolfgang, and the Blues/Alnico 2 Pro set was by far the best.

Ryan

 

[Luke Duke]

Re: Should I change the pickups in my Wolfgang Special?

Yeah I think the A2P in the neck would give you a nice creamy neck sound whilst the bridge you could go with the blues like Ryan said or maybe Custom since he said the CC has no low end. The JB would probably do well because it can get a good clean sound as well as dirty. Don't forget that whichever you get to get the trem spaced model.

AND WELCOME TO THE FORUM!

Luke