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Author Topic: Pickups and guitar woods combinations : Do and Don't  (Read 20128 times)

Philly Q

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Re: Pickups and guitar woods combinations : Do and Don't
« Reply #30 on: June 11, 2009, 11:07:18 AM »
Do - listen to the acoustic sound of the guitar.

Do - make decisions on what pickup goes in what guitar on a guitar-by-guitar basis

Dont - make decisions on what pickup to put in what guitar on a wood-by-wood basis. On paper the speicies of wood in a guitar are guides to how it sounds, theres a lot of variation within the species and the only fact of how it sounds is how it bloody well sounds when you play it. If your all-maple guitar has a tonne of low end, DONT blunder along like a T72 tank thinking "but maple bright must use dark pickup" when your guitar doesnt fit that trend.

Do - use the knowledge and experience of others. People that have done similar things are the best guides youre going to get short of laying out the cash to experiment yourself, and its why we all joined here in the first place; those of us that have stayed try to help and continue to learn about guitars and ascociated stuff from one another.

Do - experiment, if you can afford it.

Do - Trust your ears

I'd agree with all of that - and following on from it, I'd add:

Don't - decide what pickups you're going to get before you even have the guitar!  I'm amazed how often that situation crops up in "what pickups" threads.
BKPs I've Got:  RR, BKP-91, ITs, VHII, CS set, Emeralds
BKPs I Had:  RY+Abraxas, Crawlers, BD+SM

Zaned

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Re: Pickups and guitar woods combinations : Do and Don't
« Reply #31 on: June 11, 2009, 11:54:42 AM »

I'd agree with all of that - and following on from it, I'd add:

Don't - decide what pickups you're going to get before you even have the guitar!  I'm amazed how often that situation crops up in "what pickups" threads.

..unless you have a custom guitar ordered  :lol: Of course, the ideal solution then would be to listen to the guitar acoustically, and then decide on the pickups. However, this is not often easily done.

But this thread IS useful.

-Zaned
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Philly Q

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Re: Pickups and guitar woods combinations : Do and Don't
« Reply #32 on: June 11, 2009, 12:09:06 PM »
Yes, if you have a custom guitar ordered, I'm sure you can rely on the expertise of the luthier to point you in the right direction.  And it's pretty easy to change pickups once the project starts taking shape.

BKPs I've Got:  RR, BKP-91, ITs, VHII, CS set, Emeralds
BKPs I Had:  RY+Abraxas, Crawlers, BD+SM

dheim

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Re: Pickups and guitar woods combinations : Do and Don't
« Reply #33 on: June 11, 2009, 12:26:40 PM »
Do - listen to the acoustic sound of the guitar.

Do - make decisions on what pickup goes in what guitar on a guitar-by-guitar basis

Dont - make decisions on what pickup to put in what guitar on a wood-by-wood basis. On paper the speicies of wood in a guitar are guides to how it sounds, theres a lot of variation within the species and the only fact of how it sounds is how it bloody well sounds when you play it. If your all-maple guitar has a tonne of low end, DONT blunder along like a T72 tank thinking "but maple bright must use dark pickup" when your guitar doesnt fit that trend.

Do - use the knowledge and experience of others. People that have done similar things are the best guides youre going to get short of laying out the cash to experiment yourself, and its why we all joined here in the first place; those of us that have stayed try to help and continue to learn about guitars and ascociated stuff from one another.

Do - experiment, if you can afford it.

Do - Trust your ears

I'd agree with all of that - and following on from it, I'd add:

Don't - decide what pickups you're going to get before you even have the guitar!  I'm amazed how often that situation crops up in "what pickups" threads.

i did it once - USM hornet/holy divers - and got the worst possible combination...
Mule, MQ, Stockholm, CS, RY, MM, PK, ANB, CNB, AWP, CWP, PiG90...

too many? ;)

Dr. Vic

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Re: Pickups and guitar woods combinations : Do and Don't
« Reply #34 on: June 11, 2009, 01:06:07 PM »
thanks for the inputs guys ! And thanks Philly Q for having developped your general observations !

I honestly would consider that kind of general-observations-post (from MDV and Philly Q above) to be important, so much so that I would even support the idea to throw them in another STICKY « general recommendation for pickups purchasers » topic, at the beginning of this section...

That might also help people like me, who didn't try out (or own) all the BKP range, not to speculate in the non-experienced situations of the « what pickups threads », even if it is done with the aim to help as much as possible, (with at the end the result maybe of non being that helpful.  :( )


Anyway I'd keep this :
Do - use the knowledge and experience of others. People that have done similar things are the best guides youre going to get short of laying out the cash to experiment yourself, and its why we all joined here in the first place; those of us that have stayed try to help and continue to learn about guitars and ascociated stuff from one another.

and say that's the exact purpose of this topic !. 


....But not this :

Do - experiment, if you can afford it.

because, what twinfan said !

Not everyone can afford to buy a whole bunch of £90+ pickups just to find the one they like best.  This is a discussion forum and we're discussing some examples of what has worked for us and what hasn't.


So which is why I think it would have been great for this topic to comment on your good/bad experiences of pup/axe matches, like, for example, the Legra PK'd you mentionned  in the "what if you'd have got just one guitar?" thread. 

My legra, PK'd.

The best for the metal style I need it for and good enough for cleans etc.


Note that this "what if you'd have got just one guitar?" thread is somewhere close to the DO experiences of this topic,  :lol:

to be continued.....  :!


dheim

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Re: Pickups and guitar woods combinations : Do and Don't
« Reply #35 on: June 11, 2009, 01:19:17 PM »
the thing , and i agree completely with MDV, is that you can't always predict how a guitar will sound starting from its materials... les pauls don't sound like SGs, for example, so the general rule to test single guitars acoustically and then evaluate what pickups will or won't adapt to it is very true...
Mule, MQ, Stockholm, CS, RY, MM, PK, ANB, CNB, AWP, CWP, PiG90...

too many? ;)

MDV

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Re: Pickups and guitar woods combinations : Do and Don't
« Reply #36 on: June 11, 2009, 01:21:58 PM »
I will add, in the circumstance that you have a few guitars and a few decent pickups (BK or otherwise), a situation I think most of us are in, even if you have a *good* sound out of all of them -

DONT settle for the first acceptable combination. Try different combinations. Move your pickups between your guitars to find what works best in what.

MDV

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Re: Pickups and guitar woods combinations : Do and Don't
« Reply #37 on: June 11, 2009, 01:24:01 PM »
Do - listen to the acoustic sound of the guitar.

Do - make decisions on what pickup goes in what guitar on a guitar-by-guitar basis

Dont - make decisions on what pickup to put in what guitar on a wood-by-wood basis. On paper the speicies of wood in a guitar are guides to how it sounds, theres a lot of variation within the species and the only fact of how it sounds is how it bloody well sounds when you play it. If your all-maple guitar has a tonne of low end, DONT blunder along like a T72 tank thinking "but maple bright must use dark pickup" when your guitar doesnt fit that trend.

Do - use the knowledge and experience of others. People that have done similar things are the best guides youre going to get short of laying out the cash to experiment yourself, and its why we all joined here in the first place; those of us that have stayed try to help and continue to learn about guitars and ascociated stuff from one another.

Do - experiment, if you can afford it.

Do - Trust your ears

I'd agree with all of that - and following on from it, I'd add:

Don't - decide what pickups you're going to get before you even have the guitar!  I'm amazed how often that situation crops up in "what pickups" threads.

:drink:

And I agree 90%  - the other 10% being as said before - customs. I suppose you could get the guitar built without pickups ifyoure really at sea as to what to put in it, but its better to go with the luthier and Tims advice for a starting point. Then if you dont like it or want to change it you have a reference point of what it sounds like with a certain pickup in, which helps massively.

Dr. Vic

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Re: Pickups and guitar woods combinations : Do and Don't
« Reply #38 on: June 11, 2009, 01:29:44 PM »
Agreed 110%.....

............but still not what expected !  :shock:

what about talking here about experienced combinations of guitar and pickups ?

 
« Last Edit: June 11, 2009, 01:38:15 PM by Dr. Vic »

Twinfan

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Re: Pickups and guitar woods combinations : Do and Don't
« Reply #39 on: June 11, 2009, 01:52:38 PM »
Give it up mate - it's like herding sheep isn't it?  :lol:

Just for reference by the way, I put a set of Mules in a Gibson Les Paul Standard and it sounded like ass.  Really thin and horrible.  That's supposed to be a default option isn't, but it didn't work for me and that guitar......

MDV

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Re: Pickups and guitar woods combinations : Do and Don't
« Reply #40 on: June 11, 2009, 02:01:08 PM »
Give it up mate - it's like herding sheep isn't it?  :lol:

Just for reference by the way, I put a set of Mules in a Gibson Les Paul Standard and it sounded like ass.  Really thin and horrible.  That's supposed to be a default option isn't, but it didn't work for me and that guitar......

You mean herding cats.

Herding sheep is easy.

Herding cats....well, I used to have 6, and getting them in the same place is like reciting the bhagavad gita while spinning 12 plates and juggling basketballs.

MDV

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Re: Pickups and guitar woods combinations : Do and Don't
« Reply #41 on: June 11, 2009, 02:02:20 PM »
Agreed 110%.....

............but still not what expected !  :shock:

what about talking here about experienced combinations of guitar and pickups ?

 

I answered your question....just not how you wanted!

Philly Q

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Re: Pickups and guitar woods combinations : Do and Don't
« Reply #42 on: June 11, 2009, 02:11:32 PM »
Just for reference by the way, I put a set of Mules in a Gibson Les Paul Standard and it sounded like ass.  Really thin and horrible.  That's supposed to be a default option isn't, but it didn't work for me and that guitar......

Exactly, which is a great example of how specific experiences can be much more confusing (and possibly less useful) than talking in generalities.

(Actually, I've always remembered Dave's story and to some extent it's put me off trying Mules - which may or may not be a good thing)

Sorry, Dr. Vic.  :lol:
« Last Edit: June 11, 2009, 02:13:54 PM by Philly Q »
BKPs I've Got:  RR, BKP-91, ITs, VHII, CS set, Emeralds
BKPs I Had:  RY+Abraxas, Crawlers, BD+SM

Twinfan

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Re: Pickups and guitar woods combinations : Do and Don't
« Reply #43 on: June 11, 2009, 02:20:34 PM »
Give it up mate - it's like herding sheep isn't it?  :lol:

Just for reference by the way, I put a set of Mules in a Gibson Les Paul Standard and it sounded like ass.  Really thin and horrible.  That's supposed to be a default option isn't, but it didn't work for me and that guitar......

You mean herding cats.

Herding sheep is easy.

Herding cats....well, I used to have 6, and getting them in the same place is like reciting the bhagavad gita while spinning 12 plates and juggling basketballs.

:lol:  :oops:

Trust me to screw that up...

Dr. Vic

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Re: Pickups and guitar woods combinations : Do and Don't
« Reply #44 on: June 11, 2009, 04:08:03 PM »
I know herding cows, and dogs, but that's it  :fouet:


I answered your question....just not how you wanted!

If anything, we started here herding the sheeps, then the (british) cats, and now I'd say it's more like herding silent swordfishes.   :lol:

Well, it's not really for me..., this topic is more to share what you want to share with other people who *might* be interested in hearing experiences.
 
Imho having twinfan saying here he had an issue with mules in his LP standard is more interesting than any of the general *obvious* rule above.

 :na: