Need advice - tele-sounding pickup for my Semi-hollow.

[guitarasmus]

Hi everyone - just registered here, since it seems like a very nice, knowledable and friendly place. :)

I have great tele, which I bought with a BK Flat 50's pickup in it. In short, it's the best telepickup I've ever tried, if not THE best bridge pickup I've ever used. Overdriven, it sounds soooo good.

Thing is, I also have a Gibson ES137, that I really like. I would love it to have a bridge sound similar to the tele sound. Now, I know that things like scale, semi-hollow construction and stuff like that makes a huge difference, they're actually a little similar to each other acoustically - pretty balanced. However, I've tried a few humbuckers in it (No BKs though), and none of them come close to the punch and full-rangeness of the flat 50's. Therefore I ask thee:

Do you have any ideas on which pickup would get me the closest to the flat50's, in a humbucker format? I've looked at some HSP90's, the MQ and the Stockholm - I'm just wondering if the Stockholm is more in the metal genre, and the MQ is not hot enough? I love me some overdriven sounds, but the most gain I use is probably AC/DC-Bon Jovi ish.

Also, I would love if it could have some nice chimy clean sounds combined with the neck pickup (the flat50's sound glorious combined with a strat singlecoil (Suhr FL) in the neck) - which I also could use some advice on - the bridge is most important though.

Thanks in advance, best regards, Rasmus. :)

[littleredguitars2]

i would go with a mississippi queen. the stockholm is HOT. might be more than what you're looking for.

[Dave Sloven]

Yeah if AC/DC and Bon Jovi is what you are looking for, avoid the Stockholm.  I would definitely go for the Mississippi Queen, it is as close as you will get.

[guitarasmus]

Thanks for the replies! :)

I was just wondering if the MQ would be too mild for my taste - the Flat50's is just the right amount of hot, to my taste, and the MQ's seem less hot and focused - more vintagesounding. Even though I like a lower gain kind of overdrive, I still want it to be focused, tight, with punch and mids - definitely not scooped. Will the MQ do this? I really like when the bass strings are tight sounding, crisp and focused.

[littleredguitars2]

Bk can always make a hotter wound version of a pickup you want.  Agent orange (above) did that with his supermassive p90. They may also have some suggestions for you.  But I think either a regular Mississippi queen or a special order hot wound Mississippi queen would be your best bet if the bkp team are willing to do it.  They have been known to do it.

[Dave Sloven]

You can possibly get a slightly hotter MQ.

I don't think you really want to go into Supermassive territory though - it's probably too modern compared to the Flat 50s.

The Nantucket bridge - on which the MQ is based - is basically BKP's version of the early '60s Gibson P-90, which was what Bones from Discharge had in his SG Junior.  I think we can agree that Bones got a pretty ballsy sound from that thing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DmSbqmJaig

If you want something more 'metal' sounding than that though you might need to go for one of the hot P-90s.  A Pig-90 may be a better choice than the Stockholm or Supermassive, as it is less modern sounding

[metale]

The MQ is hot enough IMO. The neck version on my LP almost overpowers the bridge Black Dog unless set far away from the strings.

The bridge version is hotter and AV. Also, Matt Bellamy from Muse has it on the bridge of his main recording guitar.

http://www.musewiki.org/Manson_007

[guitarasmus]

Very interesting - I hadn't noticed that the MQ is AlnicoV. :)

I think it could very well be what I'm looking for. Now I know that I've been asking about P90SHBs, but I just wanted to make sure that it IS the best bet for a Tele sounding pickup? There isn't some secret "fullrange" humbucker I don't know about?

[metale]

Construction-wise, neither the MQ or any of the humbuckers (split) will give you the tone of a tele bridge pickup. They are just plain different. That being said, I belive that the MQ will do a better job of it than a splitted humbucker, which would sound more like a strat non-baseplated single coil.

Also, It may very well make you as much fan of P90s as you are of tele bridge tones :)

[Telerocker]

I agree with Metale. It's not gonna sound like a tele, but you get the bark and punch of a big single coil. Just as the others said the MQ is suitable for heavier styles, whilst retaining vintagecharacter.

[BigB]

Well, everyone has been talking about HP-sized P90s so far, but the Mule bridge has some things in common with the BF50/52 - both are punchy and full sounding year clear and twangy and very touch sensitive. Not to dismiss the MQ, but I thought I might suggest another option...

[littleredguitars2]

The mule is great but it doesn't remind me of a Tele one but to be honest

[Telerocker]

Well, everyone has been talking about HP-sized P90s so far, but the Mule bridge has some things in common with the BF50/52 - both are punchy and full sounding year clear and twangy and very touch sensitive. Not to dismiss the MQ, but I thought I might suggest another option...

The mule is great but it doesn't remind me of a Tele one but to be honest

It's clear you can't turn an ES137 into a tele, but in the humbuckerrange a Mule or, even better, a RiffRaff could provide the punchy, raw and bright character the OP is looking for.   

[BigB]

The mule is great but it doesn't remind me of a Tele one but to be honest

P90s are great but they don't sound like a Tele neither ;)  The Mule bridge is obviously not a Tele bridge but it does have some similarities with a BF50/52 - full sounding, punchy, twangy, very dynamic, can go from crystal clear to quite heavy overdrive playing with attack and the volume pot, and fattens/sweetens when you roll down the tone pot.  Hence my suggestion...