Pickups for hollowbody?

[MetalMongolito]

Hi, I'm looking for some nice pickups for my Carvin Fatboy. I was thinking of a really clear sounding pickup for the neck, that sounds amazing for clean sounds and has a little bit of that singlecoil character. For the bridge I want something that is clear sounding but not harsh, the thing I hated about the stock pickup (H22T) was the harshness, it sounded very sterile. The good thing about it was the tightness in the bass but the sterile character ruined it all. I want something that is versatile and works for everything, all the way from jazz to crunch to the most brutal metal, something that sounds good for both rhythm playing and lead playing at the same time without the need of tweaking every knob on the amp when switching between rhythm and lead playing. And remember that it's a hollow guitar so I don't think that high output pickups will work...

I e-mailed the tech support and they recommended a set of Stormy Monday's. But when I'm about to order pickups for £200+ I want more opinions. Thanks.

[PhilKing]

I have Stormy Mondays (with AIV magnets) in my 335 and love the sound.  They can go from very clean jazzy sounds to the Clapton Crossroads tone.  They will give the almost single coil tone (if you want to get closer, you can get 4 conductor and set up series parallel switching).  I also have a PRS hollowbody copy with AII Mules.  I went with these because the guitar was very bright (acoustically).  They work very well, but are a fatter blues/rock tone.  I really think you will love Stormy Mondays.

[MetalMongolito]

I have Stormy Mondays (with AIV magnets) in my 335 and love the sound.  They can go from very clean jazzy sounds to the Clapton Crossroads tone.  They will give the almost single coil tone (if you want to get closer, you can get 4 conductor and set up series parallel switching).  I also have a PRS hollowbody copy with AII Mules.  I went with these because the guitar was very bright (acoustically).  They work very well, but are a fatter blues/rock tone.  I really think you will love Stormy Mondays.

Okay thanks for the input. Appreciate it very much.

Do you think the stormy bridge can do heavy metal, I mean has the bridge model also that singlecoil character or is it more a PAF character?

The Mules has more of a PAF character right? How well does they do metal? Are they defined in the low end?

Do you think it's better to go with an unpotted pickup for the neck since I'm only going to play with a clean sound with that one?

My guitar is bright, it's alder but it's also a Carvin. If you read around on forums it seems like all Carvins tend to be on the bright side. my other Carvin is very bright also but that one has a maple neck through...

[Roobubba]

Hollowbody doing metal?

Well, never say never I suppose.

[gepetto33]

Hollowbody + high gain metal tone = feedback

Hollowbody + high gain + unpotted = i doubt you'll get a note in without feeback

[HairyChris]

Someone on the PRS forums had Warpigs in his HB: http://forums.birdsandmoons.com/forum/showthread.php?t=72034

 :D

[gepetto33]

Interesting choice indeed.

Would be willing to bet he doesn't play anything high gain with it.  All of this is just a Tim inquiry away....

[MetalMongolito]

I'm not going to play with any distortion at all with the neck pickup since I don't like the sound of distorted neck tones. Not when I play myself.

Believe me this guitar is definitely capable of doing brutal metal. It's all about the amp. I use noise-gates when I play metal.

If you don't believe me just ask "bulb", he used a Fatboy for some of his demos.


Any more ideas, there's plenty of more pickups to choose from. But I have no clue of how they sound. I really want it to be as right as it can be, since the pickups ain't cheap.

[MetalMongolito]

Someone on the PRS forums had Warpigs in his HB: http://forums.birdsandmoons.com/forum/showthread.php?t=72034

 :D

Warpigs might be a bit overkill because the guitar is already very fat sounding, hence the name Fatboy :D

tech support didn't recommend them either, because of that reason, too much low mids I believe.

[dheim]

Hollowbody doing metal?

Well, never say never I suppose.

Viikate used hollowbodies... and the fu**in' rule! :)

[Transcend]

I dont think the stormy mondays would be the best choice for metal really.

But with your guitar i have absolutely no idea what to recommend

[Prawnik]

I recall that a lot of I.Stradlin's rhythm tracks on Appetite were recorded with a Gibson ES-175. Other reposes suggest a Carvin hollowbody may also have participated.

If I had the amp isolated from the guitar to prevent feedback, I feel such a tone will soon have you scoring (with chicks.)

My 1989 Gibson 335 Studio came from the factory with no f-holes and with Dirty Fingers humbuckers. This guitar is like unto a thermonuclear device.

Vea, verily.

Only guitar I have bought and not wanted to change pickups on.

[MetalMongolito]

Okay. I have now changed pickups to Dimarzio's. EJ custom neck and Air Zone in the bridge. It sounds really good, especially the EJ custom, it sounds great for everything, from clean to shredding with a lot of distortion. It's extremely clear sounding, it never gets muddy no matter how much gain you have and how fast you play, thing is that I don't care for that type of playing with the neck pickup. The Air Zone have a really fat sound and the guitar is already fat to start with so now it sounds HUUUUGE! But the guitar is still bright in the top end. So far I like the sounds but I don't think these pickups will last forever in this guitar because I don't LOVE the sound like I have to do to keep pickups.

The feedback issue is really not an issue for me. Because:

1. When I play metal I use noise gates, ISP Decimator and it kills all feedback I can get. I get some feedback now also with the Air Zone when I'm playing metal and using a tubescreamer to boost the signal but the ISP kills all that. So it's not an issue. The voicing is the more important aspect. I don't want the guitar to be too boomy nor do I want it to be too sterile like the stock pickup was, as I said I want a good balance between tightness and warmth.

2. When I don't play metal I use much less gain so I don't get any feedback problems then.

3. I only use the neck pickup for clean sounds as I said. This is the reason I was thinking of having the neck pup unpotted. Reason I ask is because I want to know how big difference it makes. Is it worth it or is it just better to pot it?

Considering all this do you think any of the contemporary pickups would work in this guitar? Which one of them have the lowest output? Coldsweat?

Maybe I should just keep the pickups and stop being so anal about everything?  :lol: After all the Dimarzio's was an upgrade from the stock pickups. But as always I want to try if there's something even better, my experience with BKP's is that they are, generally speaking, better sounding than Dimarzio's  :)

[Roobubba]

I think you'll have to ask Tim about this. I've used a Black Dog (from the vintage hot range) and a Miracle Man in both an ibanez RG and a custom 6-string multiscale baritone, both boosted into a 5150-II with an ISP Decimator Pro-RackG in the loop. I play right at the edge of feedback under this system (ie an unholy signal level hitting the front end, and a moderate amount of gain on what is a very high gain amp). The Black Dog in my hands is brutal, full, and quite tight (even at stupidly low tunings with 0.014 - 0.070 strings, with excellent cleans (despite the amp) and a really nasty bite under gain. The Miracle Man is thick, tight, smoother (but not overly so) and super aggressive.

But I have no idea how either of these pickups would respond in a hollow body, so I repeat my best advice: Ask Tim!

His e-mail address and phone number are on the BKP page.

Roo