What pickups to let WOOD shine through?

[chromeknive]

Hi guys.

So I have a custom built flying V that's quite an oddity. I love it.
It looks like a Jackson RR, has a maple bolt-on neck, an ash body and Duncan Humbuckers (DD neck/ Alt8 bridge).

So it makes for a killer metal guitar.

However, I've started playing it unplugged more and more and have realized that it sounds WAY better unplugged. i.e. I really think the high output pickups are holding it back.

Any suggestions for capturing that real pretty acoustic tone more genuinely?

 

[supernosher]

Re: What pickups to let WOOD shine through?

I think of all the SD pickups, the Jazz allows more of the guitar's natural resonance to shine through.

 

[Jocelyn]

Re: What pickups to let WOOD shine through?

IMO all most all low out put pups will work well...You said It sounds way better..now that is pretty subjective sounding better is diff things for diff people.. so waht is it that you hear that u really like.. I am guessing a clear ringing tone.

 

[Christopher Caruana]

Re: What pickups to let WOOD shine through?

the '59, pearly gates or the A2pros. you want low output for true tone

 

[Luke Duke]

Re: What pickups to let WOOD shine through?

Sounds to me like you've got some over-the-top pups that aren't transparent enough. I don't think you'll find a bucker that's truly transparent, but there are definitely other roads to travel.

I would first suggest a Custom or Custom 5 for the bridge. That's going to tone down the output without you feeling like you're in the vintage territory.

For the neck I'd go with a jazz because it'll sound tight like the distortion but be less balls-out. From there maybe a 59, but it's going to have a lot more bass.

In any case, I hope that helps you out some!

Luke

 

[scottish]

Re: What pickups to let WOOD shine through?

Id recommend a set of 59s for a more vinatge, transparent sound. You wont have too much bass from the 59s since its a swampash body and maple neck. If you still want to play metal on it then id stick with the 59n but upgrade to a custom 5 bridge.

 

[drew_half_empty]

Re: What pickups to let WOOD shine through?

yeah i'd go with 59's

but under a lot of gain they don't retain a ton of clarity (at least compared to the straight mid high output pickups), so if you wanna keep this as a metal guitar maybe something else with a series/parallel switch would work better, or just a '59 in the neck and something else in the bridge

 

[alex1fly]

Re: What pickups to let WOOD shine through?

does it sound beautiful and resonant when you pick by the bridge? if i were you i'd keep the beef in the bridge and get something more transparent for the neck. like others said a custom 5 would be a good choice for the bridge... or if you want to tinker a low output PAF with an alnico 8 magnet could be a good choice too.

also humbuckers can kind of flatten out the natural tone, compress it, even low output ones. consider a phat cat for the neck - can still take the some gain, but will give you another kind of response and feel that you may dig on.

 

[Kosh Naranek]

Re: What pickups to let WOOD shine through?

I'll second the 59's recommendation. They really do let the tone of the guitar come through. I have 59's in a couple of different guitars and they sound totally different. The sound is the sound of the guitar through the sweet, smooth character of the 59.