Favourite pickup for ash?

[PiggySmallz]

I'm fighting this battle with a mayones duvell elite. It's somewhat bright for me. It came loaded with bareknuckle polymaths. I may go for something similar to a bkp ragnarok with a little more lows and mids to round it out

 

[the rossness]

I've had 3 Swamp ash guitars and they've been the opposite of muddy, unfocused, loose. Must be more the particular piece of wood and construction more so than species because all 3 have been tight, focused, bright, and articulate.

Two of them I have here now: a swamp ash body maple cap Mayones. It's very tight, articulate, defined regardless of pickup. I've had a cold sweat, Painkiller, DD, and Iron Man in the bridge and its always very tight and defined and plenty bright and snappy.

I just got a Skervesen that's all Swamp ash loaded with a Lundgren Black Heavens and its super bright, snappy, very articulate, extremely tight.

I had a Charvel San Dimas neon pink ash, pro mod. It came with a Dimarzio Super Distortion bridge and PAF Pro n. The SD was hot and muddy. PAF pro was lifeless. I tried a Dean Baker act bridge, which is my Go-To pickup for Alder and it was waaaayyyy too hot. Tried a TZ which I have in 2 other guitars and the same thing- super muddy.
I had a Charvel Tele ash with a JB in the bridge. It sounded like an muddy and crude (though it wasn't bad coil tapped).
I had a ash tele with a Duncan Distortion in it, and it was very good.

With that all said, I remember playing a Schecter Van Nuys HSS (ash body) and quite enjoying how the PU sounded. Very van halen 1. So I dunno, Maybe a PAF? or a hot PAF.

 

[DanTravis62]

I'd say that's only partially true. IMO wood species don't seem to matter as much as density of the individual piece. More dense woods tend to sustain longer because they don't absorb as much of the strings vibration as softer wood.

What do I feel dirty talking about hard and soft wood?

I'm with the hatter on this. Body woods do matter to a certain extent, but there are wild variations in density and other stuff even in the same species. Not to mention how old the wood is - new, wet wood behaves differently than old, dry wood.

So the crux of it is, OP has an ash guitar that behaves and sounds a certain way

So, irrespective of the wood species making a difference or not, he needs a pickup that will compensate for whatever he's hearing

 

[MetalHeadMike]

I had a Charvel San Dimas neon pink ash, pro mod. It came with a Dimarzio Super Distortion bridge and PAF Pro n. The SD was hot and muddy. PAF pro was lifeless. I tried a Dean Baker act bridge, which is my Go-To pickup for Alder and it was waaaayyyy too hot. Tried a TZ which I have in 2 other guitars and the same thing- super muddy.
I had a Charvel Tele ash with a JB in the bridge. It sounded like an muddy and crude (though it wasn't bad coil tapped).
I had a ash tele with a Duncan Distortion in it, and it was very good.

With that all said, I remember playing a Schecter Van Nuys HSS (ash body) and quite enjoying how the PU sounded. Very van halen 1. So I dunno, Maybe a PAF? or a hot PAF.

I think the DD is a solid choice or maybe try a Lundgren "The One" or Black Heaven?

 

[stratjacket]

I had an Ibanez with ash that was brittle sounding. I tried 4 or 5 sets of various pickups and never could get it sounding more full. This was a few years back so I don’t remember them all but I remember the ToneZone, BKP Warpig and DiMarzio SD and all those should have fixed it but didn’t. I sold it.

Then I got a Caparison with an ash top and maple back (50/50 split) and was having similar issues. When I was about to give up I threw a Tom Anderson H2+ in the bridge and BAM, sounded great. Have had it in there ever since. Sounds full and musical, fun to play.

 

[SFW]

For ash I like the BKP Nailbomb and the Suhr Aldrich. The BKP Holy Diver also works well.

 

[rsm]

Bodywoods don't matter for electrics