Pickups neck + bridge Schecter C-7

[FatFish]

So I'm cooking op a little project to get myself an affordable 7-string with the specs I want.

From every soundclip I have heard Bareknuckle seems to be the way to go.
Unfortunately I have no way of hearing the pickups in person so I would appreciate some advice from you guys.

The guitar is a Schecter C-7 Standard. Mahogany body, maple neck and a rosewood fretboard.

In the bridge I want a very tight, responsive and well defined pickup. I want to be able to play an 11 chord through a considerable amount of gain and still hear the individual notes ring so to speak. If I had to give an example I'd say Misha from Periphery, cliché I know, but the guy has a mean tone!
The Painkiller, Cold Sweat and The Aftermath seem to be the pickups best suited.

For the neck I'd like a very thick, warm, deep and smooth tone. A pickup thats great for leads. I love the sound when you dig into the strings and you get that pick attack shine through. Think Andy Timmons on Resolution, that man has the best lead tone I have ever heard.
The Holy Diver or The Miracle man are the ones I'd consider for the job.

Offcourse I know allot more than pickups are what make up your sound, but now you get the picture of what I'd like to achieve tonewise and I'd like the pickups best suited for this.

Thanks for taking the time to read and any help is appreciated!

[Transcend]

well for the bridge have you checked out the official aftermath clip thats done by misha?

and the neck i dont have too much knowledge on.

what kind of amp are you using?

[Nolly]

If it's out-and-out clarity you're going for then the Cold Sweat is the obvious choice. It works particularly well in darker guitars like the Schecters tend to be. For reference, the 6-string songs on the Periphery album were tracked with a Cold Sweat.

Another to consider is the Rebel Yell. It may have an Alnico magnet, but the low end is ultra-tight (it can certainly keep up with the ceramic tightness-kings), and was a wide open midrange voicing that gives amazing clarity. The top end is much smoother than the Cold Sweat's, you would have to try very hard to get a harsh tone out of it.


The neck pickup spot is an interesting one - Andy quite rarely uses the neck pickup for soloing on Resolution. Personally I've got closest to the Timmons tone with a VHII in the neck - it's got lovely warm voicing but with lovely pick definition and clarity almost like a single coil (due to the large coil offset in the wind). To me this brings it fairly in line with DiMarzio Cruiser single-sized humbuckers that Andy uses.
I wouldn't recommend the Holy Diver or MM pickups in the neck position for what you've described.


I use the Rebel Yell/VHII combination in my main 7-string (Korina body/maple top, maple neck, ebony fretboard), and it gives me a very wide palette of tones to work with. I mainly play fairly extreme metal, which the RY has no problem dealing with.

[FatFish]

well for the bridge have you checked out the official aftermath clip thats done by misha?

and the neck i dont have too much knowledge on.

what kind of amp are you using?

I have heard the clip. I like it but it only shows how tight the pickup is.
I use a Marshall TSL with a couple of pedals. Though the guitar will be a recording guitar for now. We don't use 7 strings in the band and we are far from a metal band.

If it's out-and-out clarity you're going for then the Cold Sweat is the obvious choice. It works particularly well in darker guitars like the Schecters tend to be. For reference, the 6-string songs on the Periphery album were tracked with a Cold Sweat.

Another to consider is the Rebel Yell. It may have an Alnico magnet, but the low end is ultra-tight (it can certainly keep up with the ceramic tightness-kings), and was a wide open midrange voicing that gives amazing clarity. The top end is much smoother than the Cold Sweat's, you would have to try very hard to get a harsh tone out of it.


The neck pickup spot is an interesting one - Andy quite rarely uses the neck pickup for soloing on Resolution. Personally I've got closest to the Timmons tone with a VHII in the neck - it's got lovely warm voicing but with lovely pick definition and clarity almost like a single coil (due to the large coil offset in the wind). To me this brings it fairly in line with DiMarzio Cruiser single-sized humbuckers that Andy uses.
I wouldn't recommend the Holy Diver or MM pickups in the neck position for what you've described.


I use the Rebel Yell/VHII combination in my main 7-string (Korina body/maple top, maple neck, ebony fretboard), and it gives me a very wide palette of tones to work with. I mainly play fairly extreme metal, which the RY has no problem dealing with.

Thanks for the advice. I'm pretty set on the cold sweat in the bridge.
The VHII seems to be an awesome pickup.
The Cold Sweat/VHII combination looks to be a winner.

Any thoughts on coilsplitting these pickups? I want to make a real workhorse of this guitar.

[Transcend]

I also use a marshall TSL witha  couple of pedals and have recently made some aftermath clips

theyre both in the players section.

I wanted to do something a bit different from the official ones as i wanted to showcase a different side of the pickup

[Grim]

So I'm cooking op a little project to get myself an affordable 7-string with the specs I want.

From every soundclip I have heard Bareknuckle seems to be the way to go.
Unfortunately I have no way of hearing the pickups in person so I would appreciate some advice from you guys.

The guitar is a Schecter C-7 Standard. Mahogany body, maple neck and a rosewood fretboard.

In the bridge I want a very tight, responsive and well defined pickup. I want to be able to play an 11 chord through a considerable amount of gain and still hear the individual notes ring so to speak. If I had to give an example I'd say Misha from Periphery, cliché I know, but the guy has a mean tone!
The Painkiller, Cold Sweat and The Aftermath seem to be the pickups best suited.

For the neck I'd like a very thick, warm, deep and smooth tone. A pickup thats great for leads. I love the sound when you dig into the strings and you get that pick attack shine through. Think Andy Timmons on Resolution, that man has the best lead tone I have ever heard.
The Holy Diver or The Miracle man are the ones I'd consider for the job.

Offcourse I know allot more than pickups are what make up your sound, but now you get the picture of what I'd like to achieve tonewise and I'd like the pickups best suited for this.

Thanks for taking the time to read and any help is appreciated!

Try a C-Bomb or Painkiller for the Misha tone in Mahogany.

[FatFish]

So I have decided to go with the Cold Sweat/VHII combi.

Now that I finally have the guitar(what a $%&#ing pain that was...) it's time to make my order.
I'd like to replace all the electronics with pots from Tim. But I don't see any push pull pots rated 550k. I assume it does not really matter if I have one 500k in there. Long pots or standard ones? I guess I'd have to check that myself?

Also what about a cap, is it necessary and if so which one do I want because there are so many to chose from! :p
If I do this I want it done right.

Anything else I should consider?