Pickups for custom guitar

D

Dunder XIII

New member
Hi, I'm building my own guitar and I need pickups (duh?). I don't know much about them though and would like advice. The guitar itself will be either made of mahogany, ash or maple (depends on the availability of the wood). The neck will be maple. The design is based on a Gibson SG and so will have 2 humbucker pickups with a tune-o-matic bridge/tailpiece.

The sound I am looking for is a clean, hard metal sound. I want loud distortion but not muddy. Clean and powerful. My two references are a stratocaster and an ES-335, I want the sound to be clean like the strat, but high gain like the 335 :P Think Metallica..

Thanks!
 
Hehe ;-) I did, thinking about a SH-4 JB at the bridge and SH-2 Jazz at the neck. They're not cheap though, about 150$CAN a piece :P But they sound really really good.
 
I agree, pickups are way over priced. It only costs a few dollors to make one, but they sell for 10 or 15 times that amount.
 
I believe that James Hetfield uses EMG 81's. These are active pickups, and will be quite hot. May not be such a good choice for clean tones, but I thought the info might come in handy. I have heard many good things about the Seymour Duncan JB model as well.
 
The sound I am looking for is a clean, hard metal sound

???

how can a hard metal sound be clean... hmm i don't get it... the jazz -JB combo will be fine. though...

on a side note teh wood you are considering has very different tonal characteristics...

Guhlenn
 
Well, its clean when you can hear the notes through the distortion. Its hard to say, there's very muddy distortion like an archtop guitar with neck humbucker plugged into a high gain amp, and there's clean distortion (but thin) when plugging a stratocaster with bridge pickup into a high gain amp. Palm muting works great and is punchy, not muddy. Chord alterations also cut through, its not drowned by the distortion (you can distinguish a Em7 from a E5!!). Well anyway, its hard to describe :P

I know the wood have different characteristics, unfortunatly I'll also have to deal with availability (north of the border) :-( I am still pondering.. but the pickup choice is more important.

Thanks
 
Ok this is a bit out of topic but just want to clarify. I utterly overestimated the price of the pickups, they go for 102$CAN + 15% sales tax. Sorry..
 
EMG 81 all the way

I was going for the exact sound as you.

I had faught with feedback squeal/no definition long enough. I wanted crunch and definition in all strings when playing 5 and 6 string chords with high gain.

I bought the EMG81 for my 2001 Gibson SG Supreme....replacing the existing '57 humbucker. Now I can have my gain down abit and get the same gain as before. I can turn my amp up super super loud and stand right infront of my cab with no noise. It is supposed to be the quietest pickup according to specks. I have it wired in with my passive existing '57 neck pickup, and it isn't really any 'hotter' so that's not a concern. I bought it CAN for $126. Seriously, I am the happiest man alive right now. Best $ I've ever spent in my life. I recommend it to anyone and everyone.

Also for clean sounds, I have alot of parts in my songs where I break down to super clean parts with picking and strumming, and it is smooth and bright and fat even with the clean settings. No worries there. All I have to say is.....soooooo good.

My buddy bought a Seymour Duncan Invader pickup, and it just sounds harsh. I did alot of research on the net, and found that the 81 would be best for me....and it sounds like your after the same thing I was. Good luck.
 
Like Gregwor and matty_boy mentioned, the EMG 81's are good pickups. Hetfield uses one in the bridge position and *may* use an EMG 89 in the neck. If you get one for one position, you pretty much have to get another EMG active for the other position to match the new volume knob.

I have one on an ESP MIII and love it into my Boogies. Its high output doesn't work as well with my SansAmps.
 
I'm pondering on the emg pu.... there are some soundsamples on the emg site... they sound killer... has anyone ever tried that EMG 707?

Guhlernn
 
Never tried the 707. However, keep in mind that the EMG 81 sounds best into a tube preamp. It's not as magical into a transistor amp or a modeler.
 
hehe

i own NO solid state or moddelling amp

how bout that 20db booster they offer now? what the fuck is that? i can't imagine how much 20 db must be...

Guhlenn
 
i don't get it either./.. ps... i deleted the fact that i use the studio combo from the previous post... did you remeber or was i just to slow ;) ?

Anyway, back to the 20 db booster... i guess it's diffrent when boosting the guitar with 20 db ... but when i would boost my amp with 20 db...

can you explain the difference?

well... I'm gonna get the EMG's ... Not sure where i'm gonna put 'm though (which guitar... no nasty comments here please :) )...

Guhlenn
 
guhlenn said:
i don't get it either./.. ps... i deleted the fact that i use the studio combo from the previous post... did you remeber or was i just to slow ;) ?
Click to expand...

Not too slow. I thought I remembered you played a Boogie (but did a search to remember which one).

Anyway, back to the 20 db booster... i guess it's diffrent when boosting the guitar with 20 db ... but when i would boost my amp with 20 db...
Click to expand...

It looks like it gives you 20 dB out of your axe. Good for long cables and it might give you a good boost for leads depending on your amp setup. No urge to get one here.

well... I'm gonna get the EMG's ... Not sure where i'm gonna put 'm though (which guitar... no nasty comments here please :) )...
Click to expand...

I'll tell ya where ya can put them...

Excellent call. I picked up a LP Studio to put some into, but I'm grooving on its raw tone. I guess I need another LP. :p The 81 in my ESP will have to do for now.

Btw, that Zakk Wylde kit looks great. It comes with an 81 and an 85 with special connectors for minimal soldering.


Matt
 
i like the 85 better than the 81... it's a matter of taste i guess. anyway, both of them have extremely loud output gain. that's why using them for "clean" sounds isn't the best idea... and if you have a H-S-S EMG set you can sure notice a change in volume between the different pickup positions because of the humbucker's loudness.
the boost is nice for single coils more - if you want to go from a clean rythm guitar part to a clean (or slightly overdriven, if you set your amp right) solo. i have a 16db boost on my wah pedal for that (when the wah is off you can use it as a volume pedal with a booster)...
 
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