Asking the community before bothering the Master (PRS McCarty inside)

[Sonik Stach]

Salut tout le monde / Hello everybody

    As you can guess I need some advice for choosing new pickups for an axe. I've recently bought (maybe on a too quick decision) a '99 PRS Mc Carty (mahogany neck & body with maple top, 2 HB) in quite a bad shape: action/intonation were messed up, bridge pickup replaced by a Seymour Duncan, neck pickup reversed (screws towards bridge) and the tone cap is missing. After cleanning & setting it up properly it sounds nice but not really like I expected. It doesn't have the low mid growl often assiociated with mahogany, it's acoustic tone is more on the high mid side, which is emphasized by the SD pickup (unknown model, the sticker is missing and it has a 16k DC resistance like the SH4 and the SH6).

 I've compared my guitar to a friend's Soapbar McCarty in pure acoustic with same brand of strings and his one's tone is more on this low mid side I'm looking for. So, can it be corrected by pickups?

 I know the upper mid tone will always be there as part of the wood, and actually it gives the guitar a nice Country quack with the humbucker's split, but I would more see it like presence added to lower mid sounding pickups. I'm looking for tones à la Mark Knopfler, Robben Ford, ZZtop, Molly Hatchet, and I'm a Strat user who want's somethnig else in his sound arsenal.

 I have an orange drop cap waiting for being the new tone, and I didn't try yet to place the neck pickup in the "normal" position, screws towards neck. I have no particular complaint about this stock PRS p.u., beside being quite annonymous. Is having a mached pair of P.U. better? I guess so...

Merci in advance for your suggestions!

[diagrammatiks]

A couple of things could be going on.
Have you replaced the pots? Given how the rest of the guitar was when you got it the pots could use replacing. Though since you're replacing the caps I would assume you took care of that too.

16k sounds like a higher output sd pickup which I've never used but I found the same problem in my hollowbody spruce when I got it new with Mccarty archtop pickups. Too spiky on the highs, too accented on the mids, lack of bottom end, which I know sounds like what a hollowbody should sound like but I've played other hollows that don't do that at all. I actually have a competitors pups in there right now while I'm trying to decide which pups to replace them with from Tim.

That being said, if you're a strat guy maybe some lower output pickups, something from Tim's vintage or vintage hot something like the vh II, black dog, or the mule could be what you're looking.

Also, I find most of my guitars to be too bright. Warpigs in my lp fixed them right up. Tim's Rebel Yells were a little bit too bright in my HB but perfect in my other drop tuned lp. Fat clear articulate bass and bottom mids.

[Sonik Stach]

  Yes, quite the same problem as yours, "too accented on the mids" and some "lack of bottom end", although I'm not fond of too bassy guitar sounds (that's why I prefer 10 inches speakers), but I've got no problems whith highs, who can be corrected by a good tone control. By the way, I didn't planed to replace the pots, the volume at least seems fine to me, smooth action, no crackles. The orange drop cap is maybe not the best choice hence my problem, but for now it's the only quality cap I have, I'm open to suggestions for this too.

And yes lower output pickups would be my goal, I was considering the Mules, but maybe VHII or RY can do the trick. That's why I wanted different advices. Thanx for yours.

"Fat clear articulate bass and bottom mids" => yeah, good short cut for my idea!  :P

[Zaned]

"Fat clear articulate bass and bottom mids" => yeah, good short cut for my idea!  :P

I wouldn't use Rebel Yell for that application in your guitar. RY has aggressive mids, with which the upper mid accentuated guitar is probably not what you're looking for.

My suggestion would be the Crawler, or perhaps Abraxas.

-Zaned

[Philly Q]

I agree with Zaned, the RY has a lot of upper mids and not a lot of bass, so it'll probably just emphasise your guitar's acoustic tone and sound really bright.

And yes, Crawler, Abraxas or maybe Black Dog if you want a little less output.

[Sonik Stach]

Allright thanks! The RY is not a good choice indeed.

I thought the Abraxas on the bright side, maybe I'm mistaken. I've eared it on a totally different guitar (more strat'o like) and it sounded thin and bright.
I will investigate further on the Crawler and Black Dog for know, but still open too any advice...

[ericsabbath]

black dog
that's what I'd put in my own mccarty if I wasn't trying to sell it
I bet mine is more beaten up than yours, but it's still a great guitar

[kevinr]

Tim made me a set of Abraxas with A2 magnets which are fitted to an Eggle Berlin , mahogany/maple and they may suit your needs.