Humbuckers for alder body bolt on maple rosewood neck guitar

[andrewt]

Hi all

I'm looking for two humbuckers to go into my tele. At the moment I have alnico II PAF copies in there. The neck is too muddy and wooly and the bridge too bright and thin. I think the guitar woods and 25.5" build means it is going to be brighter and have a faster note attack than the classic 24.75" mahogany recipe which these sort of pickups typically go into.

I'm after a clearer cleaner neck sound and a thicker fatter bridge tone than what I am currently getting. I was looking at pickups in the vintage hot line but I really want something that is EQ'd to be a bit more mid rich than your typical PAFs and hotter PAFs are in order to balance out the guitar. I sometimes play clean and do more single lines than lots of chords. Am looking for clean, low gain, classic rock and early 80s hard rock kind of tones from them. They don't need to go into late 80s metal, hardcore, djent, any of those kind of genres.

What have people had success with in this wood and scale length recipe?

[timmy_pix]

While wood types can be a general guide for expected tonality, you may be surprised - I put together an ash body/maple neck parts Tele last year and acoustically, it's the darkest guitar I own; the brightest is a PRS SE Singlecut! Having been experimenting with different bridges on my Strat as well, I think the bridge material makes more of a difference to the acoustic tone than the wood.

Anyway, that's a tangent that's best avoided - let's assume it will probably be brighter.

For the bridge, you've said you want clean to 80s rock tones, thicker, fatter and full of mids. I'd say to me that sounds like you want a Holydiver. You might also want to look at the True Grit or the Crawler. If you want something more in the vintage hot camp, maybe consider the Black Dog - it's mid-heavy but lower output, so will clean up better while still sounding aggressive.

For the neck, the Holydiver neck is very bright and clear for a neck pickup. Similarly the Riff Raff neck. I'm tempted to say the Black Dog neck, but I've got it in a 24-fret guitar which makes it sound brighter, so I can't say what it'd be like a bit further from the bridge; it's certainly very clear though. I suspect the True Grit neck will be good but can't confirm.

[Telerocker]

You could go for a Crawler bridge, which has plenty mids and subdued highs but still cuts well. The Crawler adds weight to the tone, even above the 12 freth. I would split the Crawler: in single coil mode you get close to a good telecaster tone.Crawlers rule in alder/ash bolt-ons. It just sounds huge in the bridge, with a unique growl that I did not hear in other BKP's (hmm, maybe the Ragnarock in in this ballpark). Output is medium, not that much hotter than say a VHII.

For the neck I would not rule out a Mule. In terms of balance there will not be much difference between a Mule-neck and the slightly warmer Crawler-neck. If you desire a way brighter neck tone, the RiffRaff-neck is the one.

[andrewt]

While wood types can be a general guide for expected tonality, you may be surprised - I put together an ash body/maple neck parts Tele last year and acoustically, it's the darkest guitar I own; the brightest is a PRS SE Singlecut! Having been experimenting with different bridges on my Strat as well, I think the bridge material makes more of a difference to the acoustic tone than the wood.

Anyway, that's a tangent that's best avoided - let's assume it will probably be brighter.

For the bridge, you've said you want clean to 80s rock tones, thicker, fatter and full of mids. I'd say to me that sounds like you want a Holydiver. You might also want to look at the True Grit or the Crawler. If you want something more in the vintage hot camp, maybe consider the Black Dog - it's mid-heavy but lower output, so will clean up better while still sounding aggressive.

For the neck, the Holydiver neck is very bright and clear for a neck pickup. Similarly the Riff Raff neck. I'm tempted to say the Black Dog neck, but I've got it in a 24-fret guitar which makes it sound brighter, so I can't say what it'd be like a bit further from the bridge; it's certainly very clear though. I suspect the True Grit neck will be good but can't confirm.

You could go for a Crawler bridge, which has plenty mids and subdued highs but still cuts well. The Crawler adds weight to the tone, even above the 12 freth. I would split the Crawler: in single coil mode you get close to a good telecaster tone.Crawlers rule in alder/ash bolt-ons. It just sounds huge in the bridge, with a unique growl that I did not hear in other BKP's (hmm, maybe the Ragnarock in in this ballpark). Output is medium, not that much hotter than say a VHII.

For the neck I would not rule out a Mule. In terms of balance there will not be much difference between a Mule-neck and the slightly warmer Crawler-neck. If you desire a way brighter neck tone, the RiffRaff-neck is the one.

Thanks for the recommendations. Not sure I want to go as hot as some of those are. I was looking down in the the vintage and vintage hot levels. Although I guess if its required to get some thickness and girth then I guess I'll have to go hotter.

Was thinking now of the following all with covers to mellow and soften the high end a bit more - 

Stormy Monday set
Stormy Monday neck and Mule bridge
Mule neck and Black Dog bridge.

Thoughts?

[Telerocker]

It's your guitar, you can stick in it what you desire. Just to know, the Crawler is medium-hot. Sounds like big vintage hot PAF to me.

[timmy_pix]

Thanks for the recommendations. Not sure I want to go as hot as some of those are. I was looking down in the the vintage and vintage hot levels. Although I guess if its required to get some thickness and girth then I guess I'll have to go hotter.

Was thinking now of the following all with covers to mellow and soften the high end a bit more - 

Stormy Monday set
Stormy Monday neck and Mule bridge
Mule neck and Black Dog bridge.

Thoughts?
[/quote]

Given that you want a clearer neck and a thicker bridge, I'd say either Stormy or Mule neck and a Black Dog bridge.

[b.gandt]

I have the Crwaler in my Strat bridge, for playing rock that probably is similar to the harder end of your preferences.  I love it!

However, I can understand why you might consider it a bit too hot for your taste.  At the moment, my only other BKP is a single coil, but FWIW, the Black Dog was also a recommendation from some of the staff.

My Strat is an alder body, maple neck, rosewood board.

[Telerocker]

Thanks for the recommendations. Not sure I want to go as hot as some of those are. I was looking down in the the vintage and vintage hot levels. Although I guess if its required to get some thickness and girth then I guess I'll have to go hotter.

Was thinking now of the following all with covers to mellow and soften the high end a bit more - 

Stormy Monday set
Stormy Monday neck and Mule bridge
Mule neck and Black Dog bridge.

Thoughts?

Given that you want a clearer neck and a thicker bridge, I'd say either Stormy or Mule neck and a Black Dog bridge.
[/quote]

Somehow the BD is not one of my fav's. Maybe the honky mids are disturbing me. I can't put my finger exactly on it.