Strat size bridge pickup - darker tone / Pickguard influence

L

Lelik

New member
I have a custom guitar with two pickups, and I changed to single coils recently (for look, and for a different tone).
In the beginning I tried the Dimarzio Cruiser in the bridge, and the YJM in the neck position.
I found out that my guitar is rather bright and hi-fi. So the bridge pickup was too bright, and during solos the tone got lost.
Just for experiment, I tried to reverse the two, and I must say that now it is much better.
What a nice pickup the YJM is in the bridge! For me it has an open sound and can handle many styles (from clean to high gain solos). Maybe it has some soft attack, but it is more a characteristics than a defect, probably due to the low output, but I can live with it for sure.

Anyway, at the end I think that even the YJM is too trebly (even if not annoying at all) in my guitar. So, I was thinking to try another pickup, still single sized and move the YJM in the neck position again.
Do you have comments and experience about the Dimarzio Virtual Solo, or Air Norton S or Tone Zone S or ProTrack? I don't consider the Chopper anymore becuase the tone is very similar (bright) to the Yjm.
My playing is more oriented to AOR, or top-40 songs, and anything from pop to hard rock. Any SD suggestion is welcome too.

By the way, do you know if the aluminium (home-made) pickguard I'm using now can influence and cause the bright tone?!?

In the past I used some humbuckers (for me the best in the bridge was the SD Custom, and in the neck DMZ Air Classic) but now I'd prefer to use single coil pickups, even if for the bridge position the tone can be more humbucking oriented.
Thanks for your help.
 
Re: Strat size bridge pickup - darker tone / Pickguard influence

Chasing pickups is a lot of fun, but really expensive; I suggest saving $$$ by looking at other factors. Try using lower-ohm potentiometers and higher-value capacitors; this will significantly darken the tone. You can even wire a resistor across the lugs of a pot to make it a lower-ohm pot.
 
Re: Strat size bridge pickup - darker tone / Pickguard influence

Lelik said:
I have a custom guitar with two pickups, and I changed to single coils recently (for look, and for a different tone).
In the beginning I tried the Dimarzio Cruiser in the bridge, and the YJM in the neck position.
I found out that my guitar is rather bright and hi-fi. So the bridge pickup was too bright, and during solos the tone got lost.
Just for experiment, I tried to reverse the two, and I must say that now it is much better.
What a nice pickup the YJM is in the bridge! For me it has an open sound and can handle many styles (from clean to high gain solos). Maybe it has some soft attack, but it is more a characteristics than a defect, probably due to the low output, but I can live with it for sure.

Anyway, at the end I think that even the YJM is too trebly (even if not annoying at all) in my guitar. So, I was thinking to try another pickup, still single sized and move the YJM in the neck position again.
Do you have comments and experience about the Dimarzio Virtual Solo, or Air Norton S or Tone Zone S or ProTrack? I don't consider the Chopper anymore becuase the tone is very similar (bright) to the Yjm.
My playing is more oriented to AOR, or top-40 songs, and anything from pop to hard rock. Any SD suggestion is welcome too.

By the way, do you know if the aluminium (home-made) pickguard I'm using now can influence and cause the bright tone?!?

In the past I used some humbuckers (for me the best in the bridge was the SD Custom, and in the neck DMZ Air Classic) but now I'd prefer to use single coil pickups, even if for the bridge position the tone can be more humbucking oriented.
Thanks for your help.
Click to expand...

Alot of us talk about Dimarzio pickups on the forum,but does Dimarzio have a forum yet? Your questions might best be answered there....You could also try Harmony Centrals Reviews..
 
Re: Strat size bridge pickup - darker tone / Pickguard influence

Dimarzioforum.com

It's a strat bridge, bro! It's going to be bright... learn to love it, or tame it with your EQ (amp EQ, EQ pedal, tone pot on the guitar)
 
Re: Strat size bridge pickup - darker tone / Pickguard influence

I never found any bridge single coil that wasn't too trebly. While probably not suited to your style, what consistently works for me is a single sized humbucker. Kind of a compromise between a single coil and a humbucker. More specifically a Hot Rails in either a Strat or a Tele is my favorite sound available in a single coil size.
 
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