Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Pickups => Topic started by: MarkII on May 14, 2006, 11:42:59 PM
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Hello, let me introduce myself. My name is Mark and this summer I am finally going to get off my arse and do something with the old squier strat thats been sitting on the corner of this room for a long time now.
My plan originally was to remove the current finish and repaint it, but it all seems to have escalated from there into a fully fledged rebirthing. Now, when I decided that I would like some new pickups I mentioned this to a friend who recommended this brand of pickup (his brother bought some a while ago i think). He also told me to come onto the forums and make a post saying that I actually know very little about guitars, and could somebody please help me with this.
So, here I am. Can someone help me please? :P
What i'm looking for really is a pair of humbuckers to replace the three single coil doolallys, as ive always preferred a fatter sound. I don't want to spend a huge amount, as the guitar isn't the best and to be honest neither am I. The kind of sound i'm after is more a classic rock sound rather than metal. I like a raw sound, is the best way I can think to explain it.
Anyway, like I said I know next to nothing about guitars, but after a quick troll around these forums it seems to me that you chaps do. So I would be very grateful if you could recommend some pickups that might suit me. Thanks.
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A raw sound, eh? Well, I'd say that any BKP will do that, since a raw sound, to me, is one where there is a good frequency response and little in the way of harshness. Classic rock pickups for you would include Mules, Riff Raffs, and any of the Vintage Hot humbuckers. That's a long list! Lol! You could suggest which bands' sounds you like to help us narrow things down for you.
Oh, and do you know whether or not your guitar is routed to fit humbuckers? If you're changing from three single coils to two humbuckers then you will need to change nearly the whole guts of the thing.
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get a new pickguard with a H-S-S setup, only a humbucker can deliver a truly 'raw' sound
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Welcome. I'm sure you are gonna get all the help you can handle...
Just to reiterate the first two points to help us to help you are:
Check under your pickguard to see the routing available (the area of wood removed from the body to accommodate pickups).
If you have one big space = very good for you - 2 humbuckers - lets rock!
If you have two small + 1 bigger = still good - lets think, then rock
Three small = not so good - lets go get wood working help
Then:
Post up a wish list here of bands/tones/players that you want to emulate.
Stand well back and wait for ALOT of good suggestions.
You're gonna end up with a great set of pickups but it may take some deliberation!
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Ah, I was hoping for Manuel from Fawlty Towers when you wrote 'I know nothing' :(
Anyhow, raw humbucker sound? VHII's can do really smooth and kinda-like a singlecoil on the neck, and really bright and spanky on the bridge, could be good for you?
And welcome to the forum! :)
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Blimey, you are a friendly sort! Ok, well, thanks for the welcome, and now down to business.
Ill take the pickguard off later to have a look i dont have time right now (I'm assuming that the volume and tone knobs just pull off if you get a butterknife under them? And the same for the little hat on the pickup selector switch?)
As for sounds and bands... lets say these four:
The Donnas - pretty much anything theyve done has the same guitar tone, and its a delicious one at that!
The Distillers - i'm thinking more along the lines of the coral fang album, as in the earlier ones they played normal strats.
R.E.M. - The Monster album. Just anything from that, its a beautiful sound.
Weezer - Green album onwards, that kind of sound.
Ok, well thats something to go on for now. Ill be back later thisafternoon when I can open the front plate, but even if it turns out not to have the space inside, woodworking is no big problem for me. Until next time!
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I think you should go with Riff Raffs or Mules. Personally, I'm thinking Riff Raffs
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I'm back from an expedition into the unknown, under the faceplate of my guitar, and it seems that theres room enough for whatever I want to put in there. So, i'm thinking two humbuckers might be for me after all.
(http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y199/MarkPants/DSCN0257.jpg)
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i've got a Black Dog humbucker in the bridge, and you can get a very nice bark out of it, no matter what the settings on the amp, although not so much that it hurts people (unless i want it to)
Also, have a look at the Mississippi Queen for the neck, very nice tone, although it depends what sort of sound you want from the neck
welcome to the forum btw :D :guitar4:
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yeah, I've gotta say that I probably wouldnt say the VHII now, after the tones you have listed, although I guess it depends on what amp you are using - the Green Album onwards sounds are quite saturated and pretty different from REM. :?
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Hmm, yeah sorry. I just went down a list picking off stuff I liked, not thinking if they would relate to one another or not. Forget REM if its throwing you guys off.
It's just a bit tricky conveying what I want. Think of an SG plugged straight into a marshall, rather than an ibanez put through effects pedals and whatnot. Thats the kind of general area im wanting to be in. Ive got an epi g400 sg and a marshall mg30dfx. Im content with what I get from that at the moment, its what I like and those are the lines I want to go along with for this project. Im basically wanting to make this old squier strat sound like an sg.
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How about a Crawler - I reckon it could go from the Donnas to Peter Buck easy and its been voiced for a strat, so no issue there.
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second the crawlers, also what about the Emeralds or for a bit more grunt...but with proper rock sounds how about the nailbomb(even sound pretty clean, have one in my parker which is sorta start type)
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I think you should go with Riff Raffs or Mules. Personally, I'm thinking Riff Raffs
My gut instinct also said Riff Raff. How would that be in a strat, though? Too bright? I mean, I know it's still a humbucker .... :)
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I think you should go with Riff Raffs or Mules. Personally, I'm thinking Riff Raffs
My gut instinct also said Riff Raff. How would that be in a strat, though? Too bright? I mean, I know it's still a humbucker .... :)
I asked tim about a Riff Raff in my strat copy and he said it would be too bright for a strat.
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Well ive been giving this a think over, and ive narrowed it down a bit more. Well, hopefully. Ive been listening to the bands I listed before, trying to be more concise in what I want, and ive settled on:
Weezer - On ths Maladroit album, basically the rythm guitar tone for the whole cd. The tracks Take Control and Dopenose have it really clear on their intros. I also love the overdriven solo sound on this cd (the first few seconds of Space Rock are beautiful), and I would definitley like something which can do that as a neck pickup.
Secondary to this I also love the tone on the Donnas song Fall Behind Me, and their cover of Living After Midnight. If I can get this with weezer sounding pickups then thats great, if not... well ive already got an SG.
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A question has just occurred to me. How much thereabouts do you think rewiring for humbuckers would cost? Ill get all the stuff to do with fitting components done at a shop, but I dont want to break the bank wth this project.