deadmeat
New member
Hey all –
Don’t know if you remember but a while back I posted some questions regarding tone options I was looking for. Just wanted to say thanks for all your input, and tell you what I chose. I decided to try SD pickups on a black Ibanez 540 – I was looking for a Holdsworth-like vibe (clean and distorted) from the bridge, a Frank Gambale-like clean tone from the middle single, and a Schofield vibe from the neck. I went with a JB in the bridge, a hot-rails humbucker in the middle, and a Jazz in the neck.
Although I’m used to the ultra-quite operation on EMGs (especially for studio work), I’m super impressed with the tones coming from this guitar live. Running through Mesa Boogie amps, the clean tones are all amazing, and the distortion from the JB is great. I decided to put the Hot Rails in the middle and augment it with a “splitting” switch to go with either both rials or just one (for that standard Strat tone). I don’t like the split sound that much, but the combined humbucker with both rails going is THE holdsworth-like clean tone – best I have ever heard from ANY of my guitars. The Jazz pickup is full and lush, with just the right amount of hi-end – very happy with all of them.
Anyhow, thanks again for all your help (including SD tech support)! I’ll try to include a couple of photos in this post.
-Scott Hedges.
Don’t know if you remember but a while back I posted some questions regarding tone options I was looking for. Just wanted to say thanks for all your input, and tell you what I chose. I decided to try SD pickups on a black Ibanez 540 – I was looking for a Holdsworth-like vibe (clean and distorted) from the bridge, a Frank Gambale-like clean tone from the middle single, and a Schofield vibe from the neck. I went with a JB in the bridge, a hot-rails humbucker in the middle, and a Jazz in the neck.
Although I’m used to the ultra-quite operation on EMGs (especially for studio work), I’m super impressed with the tones coming from this guitar live. Running through Mesa Boogie amps, the clean tones are all amazing, and the distortion from the JB is great. I decided to put the Hot Rails in the middle and augment it with a “splitting” switch to go with either both rials or just one (for that standard Strat tone). I don’t like the split sound that much, but the combined humbucker with both rails going is THE holdsworth-like clean tone – best I have ever heard from ANY of my guitars. The Jazz pickup is full and lush, with just the right amount of hi-end – very happy with all of them.
Anyhow, thanks again for all your help (including SD tech support)! I’ll try to include a couple of photos in this post.
-Scott Hedges.
