Strat replacement p'ups for David Gilmour kinda sound?

[shredhead666]

So I got this alder-bodied strat with a nice maple neck. I'm pretty sure the electronics are a bit on the cheap side though. What's old David used in his strats? I see there's a fender custom shop signature series w/ Fat '50s, '69, and Duncan SSL-5? Then there's the EMG system - https://www.amazon.com/EMG-David-Gilmour ... B000RVYV20 Also, I thought he used Lace Sensors at one point? All so confusing. I just want a pickup set that'll cop the Wall/DSOTM vibe. Any suggestions?

 

[JackBootedThug]

cant go wrong with the dg emg set. you could always contact lace and see what they suggest.

 

[Blackie08]

You could try the Lace Golds or Hot Golds also. I have the Hot Golds and they sound like a slightly hotter 50's strat pup with a little more mids

 

[AmpliFIRE]

Lace Holy Grail's are very cool pickups. I also like the Fender fat 50's as well as the Dimarzio Areas

 

[shredhead666]

Hmm... hot gold YouTube demo video sounded pretty good....

 

[Blackie08]

Hmm... hot gold YouTube demo video sounded pretty good....

The Hot Golds are awesome pups. Just ask anyone on the FDP forum lol...

They have a little more mids than the regular golds and cut better because of it. They still sound great in the in-between pos. I might be able to make a clip of them but all I have with me at school is a line 6 ux1 with pod farm

Are you more interested in the clean side of them or the dirtier side?? Or both?

 

[shredhead666]

Hmm... hot gold YouTube demo video sounded pretty good....

The Hot Golds are awesome pups. Just ask anyone on the FDP forum lol...

They have a little more mids than the regular golds and cut better because of it. They still sound great in the in-between pos. I might be able to make a clip of them but all I have with me at school is a line 6 ux1 with pod farm

Are you more interested in the clean side of them or the dirtier side?? Or both?

Both. Would be nice to hear the guitar cycled through the different positions. I don't care about the amp at this point, so long as there's a control guitar baseline done w/ that amp, and then the fender w/ hot golds to hear the difference that'd be cool.

 

[Blackie08]

Hmm... hot gold YouTube demo video sounded pretty good....

The Hot Golds are awesome pups. Just ask anyone on the FDP forum lol...

They have a little more mids than the regular golds and cut better because of it. They still sound great in the in-between pos. I might be able to make a clip of them but all I have with me at school is a line 6 ux1 with pod farm

Are you more interested in the clean side of them or the dirtier side?? Or both?

Both. Would be nice to hear the guitar cycled through the different positions. I don't care about the amp at this point, so long as there's a control guitar baseline done w/ that amp, and then the fender w/ hot golds to hear the difference that'd be cool.

I will try and put some clips up tonight but if I can't, I will put them up on Friday when I don't have class. I have 6k Hot golds in the neck and middle and a 13k hot gold bridge in my clapton strat fyi.....

 

[stephen sawall]

I have had the David Gilmore EMG set up in my Strat for the last 5 years and really like it. There is a kind of thing that comes from passive pick ups I kind of wish it had. But over all it is much better. The main reason he used the EMG thing was it could drive his giant rig better than the passive stuff. That is what he said any way.

With the EMG-EXG guitar expander and even more so the EMG-SPC presence control you can really hear where he gets some of his tones. They are very key to some of his sounds. The EXG boost the highs and lows. It just sounds great with cleans and can be cool for sounds with more gain. The SPC is a midrange boost. It is suppose to make it sound like a humbucker .... well not really. But this is the control I hear more of his sounds from. You well recognize it as soon as you hear it.

There are a lot of great sounding pickups being made these days. They come in a very wide range of tones and output.

I guess I would look at the black Strat that was recently released if I wanted to get more of the sound associated with Dark Side of the Moon and some of the earlier work.

 

[shredhead666]

Cool, thanks guys! So many options. Maybe I need another strat for a wider range still.

 

[mysticaxe]

I have an Alder/Maple strat that had the DG EMG's in it when I got it. Played it that way for about 8 months (my first real foray into single coils). Pulled them out, and eventually put a Duncan SSL1/SSL1/SSL5 setup in the same guitar. To my ears, the Duncans are much more alive than the EMGs were. I liked the EXG and SPC controls on the Gilmour, but overall, I think the Duncans do a much better job.

To me the EMG's feel like they are designed to take on a lot of effect without mudding out, while the Duncans feel like your playing a plank of wood with strings.

 

[Mudder]

Only one of Gilmour's guitars uses the EMG (the red strat, I think). The black strat runs Seymour Duncans.

Something interesting, if you watch any of DG's latest live shows (Gdansk, London) you'll see him play strats, tele, Gretsch, even lap steel. They all sound like DG.

 

[NewWorldMan]

Well, Gilmour switched to EMG's because of the noise he was getting from his pups with the light show and things Floyd had going on live. The EMG's will get you the 80's and later tones (think "Pulse"), but if you want "DSOTM" and "The Wall" type tones, I'd look at something different. The Fender CS69's would get you there, and he swapped in a Dimarzio FS-1 during the "Animals" tour and had it in through "The Wall" album and tour. The SD SSL-5 is a little different, but still gets you the same basic tone.

 

[shredhead666]

Only one of Gilmour's guitars uses the EMG (the red strat, I think). The black strat runs Seymour Duncans.

Something interesting, if you watch any of DG's latest live shows (Gdansk, London) you'll see him play strats, tele, Gretsch, even lap steel. They all sound like DG.

Two similar guitars plugged into the same rig played by the same human sound similar? Shocker!

 

[shredhead666]

Well, Gilmour switched to EMG's because of the noise he was getting from his pups with the light show and things Floyd had going on live. The EMG's will get you the 80's and later tones (think "Pulse"), but if you want "DSOTM" and "The Wall" type tones, I'd look at something different. The Fender CS69's would get you there, and he swapped in a Dimarzio FS-1 during the "Animals" tour and had it in through "The Wall" album and tour. The SD SSL-5 is a little different, but still gets you the same basic tone.

Thanks for the head's up, I'll have to look into those as well.

 

[shredhead666]

Well, Gilmour switched to EMG's because of the noise he was getting from his pups with the light show and things Floyd had going on live. The EMG's will get you the 80's and later tones (think "Pulse"), but if you want "DSOTM" and "The Wall" type tones, I'd look at something different. The Fender CS69's would get you there, and he swapped in a Dimarzio FS-1 during the "Animals" tour and had it in through "The Wall" album and tour. The SD SSL-5 is a little different, but still gets you the same basic tone.

Heard a few clips of some of these. The 69s definitely have the Hendrix-y vibe to them. Not sure that's what i'm after but they do sound cool. The Dimarzio FS-1... wow. I never thought I'd be a huge fan of dimarzios, but it sounds really dark and thick. This one sounds like it's right up my alley.

 

[Mudder]

Only one of Gilmour's guitars uses the EMG (the red strat, I think). The black strat runs Seymour Duncans.

Something interesting, if you watch any of DG's latest live shows (Gdansk, London) you'll see him play strats, tele, Gretsch, even lap steel. They all sound like DG.

Two similar guitars plugged into the same rig played by the same human sound similar? Shocker!

I know...it should be obvious.

My point being that through a wide variety of pickups, strat/tele/TV Jones, his tones were the same. He could probably pick up a brand new MIM strat and sound like himself. The average human being is probably chasing ghosts buying his sig pickups.

 

[gbsmusic]

I've got a set of Kinman Woodstocks in one of my Strats and they are great for cleans and still sound great with distortion!! Noiseless also.

 

[jlbaxe]

I've got a set of Kinman Woodstocks in one of my Strats and they are great for cleans and still sound great with distortion!! Noiseless also.

I was thinking of these for my Fender strat. So the SCN pickups fender uses still have noise to me. The Kinman are quiet?

 

[stephen sawall]

Only one of Gilmour's guitars uses the EMG (the red strat, I think). The black strat runs Seymour Duncans.

Something interesting, if you watch any of DG's latest live shows (Gdansk, London) you'll see him play strats, tele, Gretsch, even lap steel. They all sound like DG.

Two similar guitars plugged into the same rig played by the same human sound similar? Shocker!

I know...it should be obvious.

My point being that through a wide variety of pickups, strat/tele/TV Jones, his tones were the same. He could probably pick up a brand new MIM strat and sound like himself. The average human being is probably chasing ghosts buying his sig pickups.

Funny thing is when I bought it I was not even thinking about it. I was tired of what was in there. I walked into a GC and they had a new EMG set up for $199. It was just a spontaneous buy for me. I did not feel like doing much soldering may have been the biggest factor at the time.