Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Pickups => Topic started by: paulmapp8306 on August 11, 2011, 08:28:27 AM
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i have a PRS CU22 which is getting a set of Mules soon. My gran died recently and left me some money - some of which Im spending on a "keeper". Looking at the Tokai ES155 (355 clone) but dotn want the - now more open - PRS with Mules to be too similar in tone.
I know the hollow body/ply construction of the ES v the solid/mahogony/maple of the PRS makes a high difference - but thinking about upgrading the PUs in the ES. The guitar is comes in under my budget so I can chaneg the PUs for the best possible.
Curremntly also own a PRS CE with HFS ( Ceramic) neck and Dragon 1s - which covers more modern/high gain tones - a US Tele with Kinman Broadcaster for country/Tele Rock and a CP60s Strat with Irish tours for funk/blues tones. The Cu with Mules is for classic rock stuff.
So - what would make the ES the most "different" and classic "335" type tone? would Stormy Mondays be the ones?
Having never owned a semi, Im not well up on what would work - and being a "legecy" guitar I want to get it right.
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Stormy Mondays would work well. There are plenty of guys here that made that choise for their ES-type guitars.
The other option would be Riff Raffs, think Chuck Berry.
Depends a bit on which way you wanna take it; blues or rock n' roll.
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Personally, Blues is my thing Isuppose. I play that 80% of the time with the rest split between Rock/Instrumental Rock/Indie - a bit of funk and country thrown in on occasion.
That said, I dont have anything that does that 60s R&R tone really - the closest would be the Teles bridge PU. With the Strat and PRS covering the blues easily maybe I should look at that type of tone on the 335.
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You could consider some humbucker-sized P-90s - Mississippi Queens or Manhattans.
Turn it into a Casino or a sophisticated blues/jazz guitar!
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MQ's are not a bad idea at all.
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I can't believe Afghan hasn't made it in here yet.
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I've installed unpotted alnico II Stormy Mondays in 2 semis (a cheapish Yamaha one then a proper Gibson ES335) and strongly recommend this option.
I play funk/soul/blues/jazz-fusion/60s rock.
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I had a Tokai ES130 for a while and I've also had Stormy Monday's in a different guitar.
I think they would be a great match for the guitar you are getting. The Tokai pickups are okay but the Stormy Mondays will be a lot better.
I sold my Tokai in the end becuase I never got on with the neck, it's fairly shallow (I like chunky necks) and also the 41mm nut makes the string spacing quite tight
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i've got the stormy neck (a2) in a les paul (tokai) and it is indeed gorgeous tonally if your into cleans aka goerge benson, larry carlton etc.it would be different in a semi but i don't see how it could sound bad.
on another note i thought the stock pups on the tokai where poor, especially for cleans but i bought it knowing
i could bk it and still be miles under the price of a gibbo despite the tokai being a higher end model.they're 11k (mk2paf) and possibly the same on the one your after.
i'd be a little worried changing the pups in an es however, it looks like a ball ache, in fact does anyone know how to go about it.( i too have 335 gas after andy's ngd, but it'll be jap.)
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i'd be a little worried changing the pups in an es however, it looks like a ball ache, in fact does anyone know how to go about it.
Here's a great thread on that very topic. I hope it'll never be deleted!
http://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=10301.0 (http://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=10301.0)
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I can't believe Afghan hasn't made it in here yet.
:lol:
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thanks for link Philly Q :)
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Yeah, that's a great thread. Put it in the safe.
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I'd definitely concur with the Stormy Monday recommendation.
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I have unpotted A4 Mules in my 335 and love the sound. I can get every tone from Crossroads through to The Thrill is Gone with them. I haven't had a problem with them being unpotted and I think it adds some openness to the sound.