Talk about...'the best pickup'

[Meathead]

It's all about the guitar's natural wood tone IMO
Pick up a bunch of different guitars with the same pickup (I tried this with many teles a few months ago) they will all sound quite different.
It's just about choosing a pickup with the right output/frequency response to go with the guitar's natural tone.

I could love a tone zone, I could hate a tone zone...I could love a JB I could hate a JB

 

[axemeaquestion]

It's all about the guitar's natural wood tone IMO

Not really, Randall, although I would figuratively give my life in support of your right to state that opinion.

No, tone is in the fingers, the amp, the pickup, the pick, the chord, the room ambience and many more things.

But not in the "natural wood".

But pretty much everything else.

 

[glpg80]

hate the JB in alder, love it in mahogany.

love the SH-6 in my charvel, not the pickup i would choose for alder.

love the tonezone, just not in mahogany. sounds great in ash, poplar, basswood, etc.

love the H3 anderson in mahogany.

love the YJM HS-3 in alder.

could go on and on and on for days. pickup matching to the guitar is essential to get the best out of the guitar and the pickup both. if either are off, i wont feel inspired to play that instrument or it just does not feel and sound right, like something is out of wack.

 

[axemeaquestion]

hate the JB in alder, love it in mahogany.

love the SH-6 in my charvel, not the pickup i would choose for alder.

love the tonezone, just not in mahogany. sounds great in ash, poplar, basswood, etc.

love the H3 anderson in mahogany.

love the YJM HS-3 in alder.

could go on and on and on for days. pickup matching to the guitar is essential to get the best out of the guitar and the pickup both. if either are off, i wont feel inspired to play that instrument or it just does not feel and sound right, like something is out of wack.

Glipper, have you ever been to Coyote Joe's?

 

[rupe]

Anderson H2+ has sounded good in everything that I've put it in (approx 30 different guitars)

 

[JamesPeters]

It's all about the guitar's natural wood tone IMO
Pick up a bunch of different guitars with the same pickup (I tried this with many teles a few months ago) they will all sound quite different.
It's just about choosing a pickup with the right output/frequency response to go with the guitar's natural tone.

I could love a tone zone, I could hate a tone zone...I could love a JB I could hate a JB

+1

And it's not about mahogany sounding like X, or alder sounding like Y. It's about how each piece of wood sounds.

Welcome to the enlightened few.

 

[Digital Jams]

Never really agreed with "What pickup" threads myself as I agree with you.

Case in point is my maple gmw, has a JB in it and it works believe it or not.

I am a simple SD / Dimarzio guy anyways but do like Walker pickups alot.

 

[Ventura]

It's all about the guitar's natural wood tone IMO
Pick up a bunch of different guitars with the same pickup (I tried this with many teles a few months ago) they will all sound quite different.
It's just about choosing a pickup with the right output/frequency response to go with the guitar's natural tone.

I could love a tone zone, I could hate a tone zone...I could love a JB I could hate a JB

+1

And it's not about mahogany sounding like X, or alder sounding like Y. It's about how each piece of wood sounds.

Welcome to the enlightened few.

Ya, it gets a bit deep... The actual physics of wood. I was under the assumption, years ago, that wood was simply the material used to hold in place the hardware - I thought "what's that got to do with the flux of a metal string being transmitted through a pickup and then pushed down a cable"

Apparently a HELL of a lot. And this also parlays into the chemistry between the pups and the wood, and of course, fingerboard wood, playing style, and a host of other variables...

Crazy shit. Sonic molecular physics, really

V.

 

[Erock]

yeah, I would think the actual piece of wood makes the most difference, as we are talking about nature here. However, certain types of wood definitely seem to have noticeable characteristics they share in a lot of cases IME.

 

[mightywarlock]

Pop the greatest pickup in a cheap LTD, and you have...

a crappy sounding guitar that sounds maybe better than it did before the new pickup.
That's some low grade wood, though, and MY personal experience with that is a poor piece of wood is a poor piece of wood, no matter how high end the stuff attatched.

I speak from personal experience on several guitars I have purchased in the last couple years, and sold fairly quickly.

however, get a good cut of tone wood, and look out...
find the right match of a pickup and what suits your ears, and it makes it just right.

 

[dstroud]

I usually stick a Duncan Distortion in everything - it's worked so far. Except I had a strat with only a single route cut so I put a Hot Rails in - I liked that one too.

 

[Dave L]

I always tell the story of how me and a friend of mine tried fifteen or twenty different bridge pickups in his Peavey Vandenberg, and ended up with a humble Ibanez V8 killing everything else we stuck in there. Just goes to show that there´s an application for everything, since that pickup didn´t sound good in any other guitar we tried it in... I guess the characteristics of the guitar and the pickup simply lined up perfectly for what we were looking for.

 

[Gooseman]

I find the stock SG Standards to be amazing guitars once they are setup properly, and strung properly. Sustain, clarity, mid-range bark, and very stable tuning.

 

[The Hoff]

Bareknuckle

Haven't tried nearly all of them but I love the Painkiller and WarPig sets I have

 

[Solid Snake]

I put a Tom Anderson H3 in the bridge of all my guitars, I love it.

 

[Meathead]

It's all about the guitar's natural wood tone IMO
Pick up a bunch of different guitars with the same pickup (I tried this with many teles a few months ago) they will all sound quite different.
It's just about choosing a pickup with the right output/frequency response to go with the guitar's natural tone.

I could love a tone zone, I could hate a tone zone...I could love a JB I could hate a JB

+1

And it's not about mahogany sounding like X, or alder sounding like Y. It's about how each piece of wood sounds.

Welcome to the enlightened few.

 

[Gainfreak]

It's all about the guitar's natural wood tone IMO
Pick up a bunch of different guitars with the same pickup (I tried this with many teles a few months ago) they will all sound quite different.
It's just about choosing a pickup with the right output/frequency response to go with the guitar's natural tone.

I could love a tone zone, I could hate a tone zone...I could love a JB I could hate a JB

+1

And it's not about mahogany sounding like X, or alder sounding like Y. It's about how each piece of wood sounds.

Welcome to the enlightened few.

Count me in because it's absolutely true

Also, if you ask Lee over at GMW he will more then likely tell you the same.

 

[kasperjensen]

I think one could experiment with this until ones face turns blue.

I try and stay away from it as much as I can. I have changed a few pick ups, and the results were for the better. I suppose I got lucky, as when it came to choosing the new PUs, it was a case of: "Yeah that Seymour Duncan looks nice, and will look nice in my cherry Les Paul. Please Install them Mr Guitar Store Man".
Completely uneducated. But damn that axe sings now!

I am just scared to start experimenting with with different combinations, as I fear I will dig myself a hole that I can't get out of.

 

[Alexstrat82]

Bareknuckle all the way. Anyone ever had a bad experience with one?!!!

 

[projectx102]

Bareknuckle all the way. Anyone ever had a bad experience with one?!!!

yes

I agree with The Don. Ice pick city