Mothers milk neck vs apache neck

[falcon1439]

I'm getting a neck single coil. I like sparkling cleans but also some distortion à là john fruiscante. Which pickup would you recommend?

[Ian Price]

I think the John Frusciante bit gives away what you should be looking for 

I'm a big Frusciante fan but for some reason went for Apaches in my strat. Great pups but in hindsight I should have gone for a Mothers Milk set.

[falcon1439]

Yeah,the apaches seem very weak

[Ian Price]

I wouldn't say they are weak at all! Just a little too clean for my liking!

[falcon1439]

What do you mean by too clean?

[Ian Price]

Well, I'm not very technical when it comes to descriptions. I would say they are a little too polite and well defined. By clean I don't mean sterile - they chime very nicely indeed but weren't really what I was looking for. There are clips of the Apaches on the "clips" thread - from a listen to that you'll realise they are great PUPs but maybe not suited as much to the JF sound as a Mothers Milk would be.

[Telerocker]

I've got Mother's Milks and Irish Tours. The neck-MM really has this Frusciante-tone and -vibe. It's woody, bright and sparkling. It handles gain well. For some meat you could also think about an IT-neck. It has more bass and mids and if you roll the vol.knob a tad back you get in MM-terrority. Not quite as woody as the MM though. With quite some gain I like the IT a bit better, but both are awesome singlecoils.

[falcon1439]

I've got a rockfield mafia in the bridge for heavy stuff :)

[Andrew W]

If you have a maple boarded guitar, I'd say Apaches, if it's rosewood then Mothers Milk gets my vote.

[WhiteRam]

If you have a maple boarded guitar, I'd say Apaches, if it's rosewood then Mothers Milk gets my vote.

This ^

[falcon1439]

I have a maple neck guitar but why?

[Andrew W]

I have a maple neck guitar but why?

I think that the rounder tone of an Apache works better in a maple boarded guitar whereas the slightly harder tone of the MM works better in rosewood boarded instruments. I have both pickups and like both very much. I personally think the Apache is the best (might even be my joint favourite BKP alongside the BG52) but I wouldn't put it in my rosewood boarded Telemaster, hence the MM.

[falcon1439]

I have a maple neck guitar but why?

I think that the rounder tone of an Apache works better in a maple boarded guitar whereas the slightly harder tone of the MM works better in rosewood boarded instruments. I have both pickups and like both very much. I personally think the Apache is the best (might even be my joint favourite BKP alongside the BG52) but I wouldn't put it in my rosewood boarded Telemaster, hence the MM.

But surely a small difference like that wouldn't effect a big difference in the pickups?

[Andrew W]

I have a maple neck guitar but why?

I think that the rounder tone of an Apache works better in a maple boarded guitar whereas the slightly harder tone of the MM works better in rosewood boarded instruments. I have both pickups and like both very much. I personally think the Apache is the best (might even be my joint favourite BKP alongside the BG52) but I wouldn't put it in my rosewood boarded Telemaster, hence the MM.

But surely a small difference like that wouldn't effect a big difference in the pickups?

I think the fretboard material makes a big difference to the tone. You may disagree of course.

[falcon1439]

I have a maple neck guitar but why?

I think that the rounder tone of an Apache works better in a maple boarded guitar whereas the slightly harder tone of the MM works better in rosewood boarded instruments. I have both pickups and like both very much. I personally think the Apache is the best (might even be my joint favourite BKP alongside the BG52) but I wouldn't put it in my rosewood boarded Telemaster, hence the MM.

But surely a small difference like that wouldn't effect a big difference in the pickups?

I think the fretboard material makes a big difference to the tone. You may disagree of course.

I've never really been able to test it I suppose.