Pickup advice needed! (guitar too bright)

[lolzgreg]

The first Bareknuckle pickup I heard and really liked was the Crawler. Give that a shot

 

[MrDan666]

is your guitar neck through or bolt on? Not that it effects the pickup, just curious. I was thinking about a maple neck GMW but he will only build a 24 fretter in a neck through and I hear that with neck through construction, the entire guitar tends to sound like the neck wood. Might explain why your guitar is bright

Mine is a bolt-on, it's actually a mutt since it's a GMW neck on a Fender USA Strat body.

 

[ashesofphoenix]

Tone Zone or Air Norton... I really dig my D-Sonic in the bridge... have it on my 7 string

 

[Scream77]

I have and EXTREMELY bright Les Paul.. Tried many various pickups. Ended up going with a Duncan Custom Custom. That particular pickup is made for bright guitars. Worked wonders for my LP. But generally speaking you want a pickup with a A2 magnet in it.

 

[MrDan666]

I also really like the Duncan Custom Custom in bright guitars. I find them to sound really good in strats.

Interesting point... I had a Custom Custom in a Jackson Soloist, that guitar was naturally quite bright but the Custom Custom helped smooth it out a lot. Sounded really buttery in the top end which was great to my ears!

I have heard the Dimarzio Double Whammy is another pickup similar to that, where it sounds very smooth on the top end and fat mids. Anyone tried the Double Whammy?

 

[Shask]

I tend to like the Duncan Invader......


I wonder if the standard Duncan Custom would be too bright?

 

[mrbobo]

Duncan Custom Custom.

For me, the Tone Zone adds a huge bottom end, but doesn't address the hi mids & highs- didn't work for me.
EMG 85 works too.

 

[AmpliFIRE]

Dimarzio Air Zone


very thick sounding and sweeter sounding than the Tone Zone IMO....


not muddy at all with tons of harmonics.

 

[H Golf Sport]

+1 custom custom.

 

[CaseyCor]

I tried a ton of different pickups in my Ibanez Artcore. Maple body, so it's really bright. Finally found a sound I like with a $20 pickup of all things. GFS Crunchy Rails. Fantastic pickup! Can get them from guitarfetish

 

[petejt]

I tend to like the Duncan Invader......

I reckon that the dark, massive low end nature of the Invader would balance out with the brightness of this guitar. It might be worth a try.

 

[snakeman1986]

Dimarzio Air Zone


very thick sounding and sweeter sounding than the Tone Zone IMO....


not muddy at all with tons of harmonics.

Exactly what I was thinking. That is a great pickup.

 

[FortinAmps]

I've got some spare Duncan Distortions laying around if you want to give that a shot.
Let me know!

 

[Chubtone]

I would also suggest a Duncan Custom Custom.

 

[MrDan666]

Thanks for all the suggestions!!

Well I'm mainly looking at the ToneZone and Custom Custom now. I'm thinking the smooth mids of the Custom Custom might just be the ticket.. I remember it being real smooth in my old Jackson Soloist. It was definitely smoother than the ToneZone from what i remember..

 

[metalmaniac93]

Hey guys,

I'm thinking of swapping in a new bridge pickup in my main guitar. It's a GMW Superstrat with an Alder body, Maple neck and Ebony board. The guitar is naturally very bright and clear. It's one of those guitars that is very articulate and snappy sounding.

I should add that I play a variety of different musical styles, but 90% of the time I'm using high gain tones with modded Marshalls. I like the bridge pickup tone to be fat and warm, but with enough clarity that the low end isn't muddy.

Currently i have a Tom Anderson H3 in the bridge and that pickup was an improvement over various other pickups i tried previously. However, it still has a too much upper mid/top end bite in this guitar.

A few guys have told me that maybe a Dimarzio Tone Zone would be a good choice for this guitar, as it has bigger low end and low mids.

I went to the Dimarzio site and used their online Pickup Picker to find some suitable choices for this guitar. They recommended either the ToneZone, the Super 3 or the D-Activator X.

What do you guys think of those choices? Any one in particular you would pick over the others for this guitar?

The BKP Holy Diver would be perfect for you. I have a set in an Alder Bolt/Maple Neck/Ebony fingerboard Carvin, which is a bright guitar and it thickens the guitar right up without losing clarity or being loose sounded. Great low mids/smooth top end and excellent for 80's metal. Best lead pickup I have ever heard. My only complaint is that I wish it was more aggressive since I play more than just 80s metal, but I guess that is why most of us have more than one guitar.

 

[grooveHT]

Dano, also worth a look is the Dimarzio Breed. Somewhat like a hot, fat PAF, not quite as bottom heavy as a Tone Zone though.

 

[troublehead]

Dimarzio Air Zone or Duncan Custom Custom. Two different flavors but both great for taming a bright superstrat.

 

[Chris6870]

Try a 250K pot. It might help to kill that brightness. I like the Dimarzio Super Distortion with a 250K pot.

 

[O'Rourke]

BG Hellabucker. That is a huge sounding pickup, pretty similar to an afwayu.