Black Dog Users Wanted

[fivefingerfretman]

I am wanting to change the pickups in my current guitar. From what I can tell, the black dogs would fit the job. But I am curious if they would be a good pickup for a guitar with an alder body and maple top. They sound amazing on the reviews....But all the reviews are on baritone wood guitars. Hope I can get some positive feedback about any users that have used this pickup in a guitar with a brighter wood tone.

[Kiichi]

Hi and welcome.

Far as I know the BD will do a very good job in that guitar....well, depending on what you want.

If you could give some more info on what style you play and what tone you want we can give you a better answer.
Also what is the neck wood and fretboard? Those are rather important to the tone.
What kind of guitar is it? Can you descibe the acoustic tone?

I might be misunderstanding you here and I donīt mean any offence, but you are aware that baritone is not a wood, but a scale length? Might just be misreading this, but in case I am not: The baritone means that the strings run a longer length, which tonally means that there are more highs and lows (and the lows are more defined), which leads to the middy BD being so great as it results in a more balanced tone.

[ericsabbath]

maybe he meant basswood? or bassy wood?  :lol:

I bet it does sound great in alder

[fivefingerfretman]

OH whoops, I meant to put a baritone scaled guitar, built with a harder wood like mahogany/walnut, that gives it that deep tone. And the guitar I have is a carvin bolt+, with a alder body, Maple top and neck, and a ebony fingerboard. The tone I am looking for is more of a vintage rock like you would hear in buckcherry. More mids and a tight bass. I notice my stock pickups are a bit harsh in the higher frequencies and muddy in the lows.

[Keven]

I've got a Black Dog in my SwampAsh 7 string with maple neck and fretboard, that's a whole lot of zing right there. it's terrific and really does the job on all registers, both clean and distorted. the high freqs aren't harsh at all and actually outline the attack quite well without being aggressive! but dig in and it's got quite a kick

i've also got a black dog in a mahogany 8 string with an ebony board. i struck a particularly bright plank of mahogany so after trying a cold sweat and a riff raff i went for the black dog and finally got the tone in my head for that guitar. it really is a great rock/metal pickup.

[darkbluemurder]

I am wanting to change the pickups in my current guitar. From what I can tell, the black dogs would fit the job. But I am curious if they would be a good pickup for a guitar with an alder body and maple top. They sound amazing on the reviews....But all the reviews are on baritone wood guitars. Hope I can get some positive feedback about any users that have used this pickup in a guitar with a brighter wood tone.

I made a review of the Black Dog set which I have in my PRS Single Cut (mahogany body/maple top, mahogany set neck, standard tuning). They are very open and clear, even under high gain, yet they retain a lot of warmth. They should work very well with your wood combination.

Personally I would not really describe the sound of the neck pickup as "vintage" (as in the sense of "late 50s played in the late 60s"), nor do I think that the bridge pickup is really midrange heavy but it has enough of it. Even though I did not try them in the same guitar I bet that the Abraxas or Crawler bridge models would have more midrange. They definitely have more compression which is probably what you don't want.

Cheers Stephan

[fivefingerfretman]

Thanks guys, Its good to hear that the pickups have given your guitars a great tone. Can't wait to try them out.
And darkbluemurder, I was wondering if you have a link to the review you posted. I would like to check it out!

[Brow]

I have a Black Dog in the bridge of my Gordon Smith Graduate 60 (LP style). If my opinion of anything can be of any use, feel free to ask!

[darkbluemurder]

And darkbluemurder, I was wondering if you have a link to the review you posted. I would like to check it out!

Here is the link to the bridge pickup review:

https://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=29239.msg379989#msg379989

First post contains a further link to the neck pickup review.

The advanced search function is your friend BTW.

Cheers Stephan

[fivefingerfretman]

Hey thanks alot. The reviews were really informative.

[Zaned]

Here's my review (and a couple of others) on the Black Dog bridge:

https://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=29247.msg380087#msg380087

-Zaned