Solo Guitar Pickups?

[ztikmaen]

So I'm thinking that since my Ibanez 370DX will never really be a vintage rock guitar (not one that will satisfy my soul really), I may convert into something it was kinda designed for. Which Humbuckers would be good for Santana, Slash, The Darkness, Five Finger Death Punch etc...? So I guess what these have in common is organic sounding drive with nice thick power behind it. Tone is still a must, it's still not a metal machine in my vision.
Would Abraxas be too weak? Because I've always liked those... Maybe Crawlers or Holy Divers?
Thanks.

[ztikmaen]

Anything? Would Abraxas be suitable for more searing leads (not metal though)? Because I like the tone they have but I'm just wondering if they have enough power to drive a nice juicy solo...

[Telerocker]

Abraxas has quite some output, but retains that vintagehot-PAF-tone for Santana, Slash etc. Depends on your amp too. I use some pedals too get a liquid solotone, especially when I have to play on low volumes when I can't press all the juice out of my Orange Rockerverb 50.

[Chris Rowberry]

The Abraxas would be a good choice as it is vintaged voiced with similar traits as The Mule pickups but with quite a lot more power. A paf style pickup with considerably more kick to it without sacrificing tone or definition.

[ztikmaen]

Ok, cool thanks guys.
(By the way I dreamed last night that I was playing through about 20 different fuzz, overdrive pedals, compressors, and distortion pedals! It was so awesome haha)
Anyway, positive things have been said about the Abraxas all round and it seems like exactly what I want. I think I'll be getting those. And as for the middle single coil, would the ITs be good? The description seems like what I want. "A true hot vintage wound set of single coils; warm highs, grinding mids and fat bottom end produce a massive powerhouse Strat tone."
Grinding mods and warm highs are what I'm after.
How warm is the Abraxas? Because if it's warm and smooth maybe a brigt single coil in the middle would contrast it nicely. I'm looking for a single coil that has a nice, hot single coil grind to it but is still bright enough to cut through the mix when played clean or driven

[Telerocker]

Wire it so that you can split the Abraxas. Then you have the following selectors:
- Abraxas-singlecoil (which will sound nearly as  a strat-singlecoil)
- Abraxas-humbuckermode
- Abraxas-humbuckermode + IT (Fenderish-quack but thicker, great jazztones too)
- Abraxas-singlecoil + IT (Fender-quack)
- IT single
- IT + neckpickup
- neckpickup

I have my superstrat wired like this and I really dig the splitmode for Knopfer/Chilipeppers tones. Full hb plus IT produce great fat solotones or - with little gain - great crunch and mildsolotones, great for fusion etc. The IT will pair beautifully with the Abraxas.

[ztikmaen]

Wire it so that you can split the Abraxas. Then you have the following selectors:
- Abraxas-singlecoil (which will sound nearly as  a strat-singlecoil)
- Abraxas-humbuckermode
- Abraxas-humbuckermode + IT (Fenderish-quack but thicker, great jazztones too)
- Abraxas-singlecoil + IT (Fender-quack)
- IT single
- IT + neckpickup
- neckpickup

I have my superstrat wired like this and I really dig the splitmode for Knopfer/Chilipeppers tones. Full hb plus IT produce great fat solotones or - with little gain - great crunch and mildsolotones, great for fusion etc. The IT will pair beautifully with the Abraxas.

Sounds great, looks like it'll be very versatile. But then I'd have to add push-pull knobs right? My current guitar splits the humbucker when in the 2nd and 4th positions, but it is only full humbucker in the 1st and 5th positions. This is fine with me though. I don't really want to make things too complicated by adding the push pull controls though. Thanks for the idea however

[Telerocker]

yes a push-pull-knob. Mine is in the toneknob.

[ztikmaen]

Ok, well if my guitar splits the pickups by itself in the second and fourth positions, all I have to do is get a four conductor and wire it like the stock pickup right?

[Carbin]

Wire it so that you can split the Abraxas. Then you have the following selectors:
- Abraxas-singlecoil (which will sound nearly as  a strat-singlecoil)
- Abraxas-humbuckermode
- Abraxas-humbuckermode + IT (Fenderish-quack but thicker, great jazztones too)
- Abraxas-singlecoil + IT (Fender-quack)
- IT single
- IT + ipad 2 stand casesneckpickup
- neckpickup

I have my superstrat wired like this and I really dig the splitmode for Knopfer/Chilipeppers tones. Full hb plus IT produce great fat solotones or - withipad 2 hard cases little gain - great crunch and mildsolotones, great for fusion etc. The IT will pair beautifully with the Abraxas.

Sounds great, looks like it'll be very versatile. But then I'd have to add push-pull knobs right? My current guitar splits the humbucker when in the 2nd and 4th positions, but it is only full humbucker in the 1st and 5th positions. This is fine with me though. I don't really want to make things too complicated by adding the push pull controls though. Thanks for the idea however

yes a push-pull-knob. Mine is in the toneknob.

[ztikmaen]

Yeah, well I don't want it being too complicated to install so I'll probably do it standardly... I have my Tele anyway.
Argh! Can't wait to actually do something about all this planning

[ztikmaen]

Ok, I've found that when I play my Ibbie RG370DX it sounds quiet and unprojective... This is bad right... Doesn't sound very nice played acoustically. Should my next guitar be a Humbucking one instead? It sounds kinda dead come to think of it... But I want P90s too! But then I also want a really nice Humbucker guitar

[Slartibartfarst42]

You post a hell of a lot about different guitars and ideas and I think you must be tying yourself in knots over this. My advice would be to pick one guitar that you can do something with, decide exactly what you want to do with it and then sort out the pickups for that and ignore your other guitars until that one is finished because what you want to do with the rest will be affected by how the first one turns out.

[ztikmaen]

You post a hell of a lot about different guitars and ideas and I think you must be tying yourself in knots over this. My advice would be to pick one guitar that you can do something with, decide exactly what you want to do with it and then sort out the pickups for that and ignore your other guitars until that one is finished because what you want to do with the rest will be affected by how the first one turns out.

I don't know where to start because I don't yet know how I'll go about doing it... My Tele will be upgraded for sure. Pickups are all I need for it then that's finished.
The RG370DX will not be a long term axe I suspect, but upgrading it will still get me pickups to put into a new humbucker guitar when I eventually get one.
Those are my two basic thoughts, one is a given. But the another is still the decision of whether or not to replace my Ibbie as a humbucker guitar. If I don't replace it, it will be a P90 guitar. I worry that I'll spend my money on the wrong thing and these are going to be long term decisions. If nothing else, at the end I want a GOOD single coil guitar (check) and a GOOD humbucker guitar. A P90 guitar would be nice but at this stage I think 2 opposites would be okay.
Sorry to bounce so many ideas off you guys, I just want to know what YOU would do seeing as you guys have experience in these things. All my knowledge thus far has come from theoretical Internet stuff, I haven't had any first hand experience which is what I need from you guys... Thanks heaps

[Slartibartfarst42]

I do understand the problem. It seems to me that you really like the Tele so that is a longtermer for you and therefore an investment in pickups is a viable option. I'm not so sure about the Ibanez for a couple of reasons. If memory serves me correctly, the RG370 uses an Edge III trem and I think that's a bit fragile and as such I'd be looking at changing it for something better rather than installing expensive pickps. If you're going to change the Ibanez anyway I see no point in buying expensive pickups for it because they may not suit the new guitar and you're back to square 1.

The key question to me is which guitar do you use most for the music you play? If it's the Tele, I'd look at getting the pickups you want for that guitar and forget about humbuckers until you decide which guitar you want to buy to replace the Ibanez. If you use the Ibanez mostly, I'd forget about BKP completely for the moment, sell the Ibanez and use the proceeds from the sale plus whatever savings you have to buy a better guitar. You can easily sink about £250 on a couple of BKP and you can get a nice guitar for not that much more than that plus your old Ibanez.