Pickup help

sandman

sandman

Well-known member
This guitar is ash body, maple top, canary neck/walnut fretboard. The guitar is light and very very resonant since chambered body. It came with a jb but im not a jb fan really. This guitar will be used for clean to midgain stuff. Needs a humbucker that coil splits well also. I want something organic and that lets the guitar itself shine since i love the unplugged tone of it. Want some good juicy tones with good sustain but not overly compressed. My ears favor dimarzios over duncans these days but im open to other manufacturers also. Mainstream to boutique builders. I know i added a lot of “wants” in there lol but tried to be as descriptive as possible to give yall ideas of what i want. I dont have near the experience with pickups as many of you. So give me some good ideas. Thanks!
 

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I’m a custom 5 die hard and I fucking despise jb’s. It’s irrational but I hate that pup. I threw a custom 5 in an alder dk2 with a maple neck and rw board and it’s perfect…the custom or even the distortion is nice. I have four dimarzio schb’s that would absolutely shine in that guitar. They are expensive but I recommend one of those if you can find one….
 
Just for funzies

Zhangbucker O-Bucker has some nice split sounds

Manlius Vinyls are some ripping pickups too

Or just a Dimarzio is fine too. The first thing I’d do with any guitar that has a JB in it is rip it out lol
 
LP Freak said:
Seymour Duncan Saturday Night Specials
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Haven't tried those but the alnico pro II is a cool lower output / vintage styled pickup set but I haven't ever split mine so can't really comment on their sound there.

I haven't tried any real lower output dimarzios so can't really recommend any of them though I did play a PGM301 which had a paf pro set which sounded nice though I don't really think it is what you are looking for.
 
Kagami said:
Haven't tried those but the alnico pro II is a cool lower output / vintage styled pickup set but I haven't ever split mine so can't really comment on their sound there.

I haven't tried any real lower output dimarzios so can't really recommend any of them though I did play a PGM301 which had a paf pro set which sounded nice though I don't really think it is what you are looking for.
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The SNS’s really seem to fly under the radar. I never even heard of them before I got my Knaggs but I was really surprised how great they sound. They’re uncompressed and clear like PAF but beefier on the low end and sound great when you throw some gain at them
 
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sandman said:
This guitar is ash body, maple top, canary neck/walnut fretboard. The guitar is light and very very resonant since chambered body. It came with a jb but im not a jb fan really. This guitar will be used for clean to midgain stuff. Needs a humbucker that coil splits well also. I want something organic and that lets the guitar itself shine since i love the unplugged tone of it. Want some good juicy tones with good sustain but not overly compressed. My ears favor dimarzios over duncans these days but im open to other manufacturers also. Mainstream to boutique builders. I know i added a lot of “wants” in there lol but tried to be as descriptive as possible to give yall ideas of what i want. I dont have near the experience with pickups as many of you. So give me some good ideas. Thanks!
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You'll need something that's medium to high output if you want to split it.
Folks seem to like the Custom/59 for that.

https://www.seymourduncan.com/single-product/59-custom-hybrid
 
Output highest to lowest ---> DiMarzio Air Zone - DP192, DiMarzio Air Norton - DP193, DiMarzio Bluesbucker - DP163 (Bluesbucker split is scary close to a good Strat pickup.)

They're all Airbuckers. Less magnetic pull on the strings which = more sustain.
 
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JohnnyGtar said:
Output highest to lowest ---> DiMarzio Air Zone - DP192, DiMarzio Air Norton - DP193, DiMarzio Bluesbucker - DP163 (Bluesbucker split is scary close to a good Strat pickup.)

They're all Airbuckers. Less magnetic pull on the strings which = more sustain.
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I like your DiMarzio suggestions but is too much magnetic pull really a thing with humbuckers? You can set a humbucker pretty much as close as you can get it to the strings unlike a single coil with rod magnets.
 
chumbucket said:
I like your DiMarzio suggestions but is too much magnetic pull really a thing with humbuckers? You can set a humbucker pretty much as close as you can get it to the strings unlike a single coil with rod magnets.
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Well, pickups like the Super Distortion do have a lot of magnetic pull compared to PAF types.
 
DiMarzio PAF Pro if you want more high end bite; Fred is more balanced with more in the high mid and treble; PAF 36 anniversary bridge...

I'd probably start with a Super Distortion (more 70s hard rock tones) or a PAF if you wanted more vintage.
 
I like the Custom Custom in Ash, but that might be a bit too high output for your wants

Tbh, while I like DiMarzios as well, I think they should be the furthest choice for "I want to hear how the guitar sounds" pickups

Fuggit. I recommend a 59/Custom hybrid

 
BlueParfait said:
I like the Custom Custom in Ash, but that might be a bit too high output for your wants

Tbh, while I like DiMarzios as well, I think they should be the furthest choice for "I want to hear how the guitar sounds" pickups

Fuggit. I recommend a 59/Custom hybrid

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That does sound good!
 
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