Pickup recommendation for a semi-hollow

[HEadoftheAges]

Hey there, everyone.  I am now looking to upgrade the pickups of my custom-built Heritage H-555, which is essentially an "original", handmade ES-335 by the original Gibson builders, for those who are not in the know.  It boasts a mahogany set-neck with an ebony fretboard, maple laminate body, sides, back, et cetera. I currently have a Seymour Duncan '59 in the neck position, which i do love; it gives me the warm, jazzy, woodsy cleans i would expect from such an instrument. It has a Seymour Duncan Custom Custom in the bridge, which is a capable pickup, but i would say that it is a trifle spikey in the highs. I am looking for a guitar that is capable of warm, jazzy, post-punky clean tones and warm, all-encompassing distortion that is not necessarily "modern". I was looking into a Mule/Stormy Monday set, but Ben recommended that i try the Abraxas set in the event that i were in need of a little more aggression.  My one concern with the slightly higher-output pickups is that the guitar would be more prone to feeding back under my relatively high-gain set-up (Orange Rockerverb 100 MKII), though Ben told me that that would not be an issue with the Abraxas set. Does anyone have any insight they can provide?

- Alec

[Telerocker]

The Abraxas sure will do, but first I would check out a Mule-set. Mules are more open, dynamic, less compressed, with an almost 3D quality on the cleans. The Mule-neck is one of the best 59-replica around. Exactly what you need in an ES.

[PhilKing]

I have an unpotted Stormy Monday set on my 335 and it gives me great blues and rock sounds.  If I wanted more power I'd be tempted by either the Mules or the PG Blues set (I have both in different guitars so I know the sounds really well).  Not sure I'd put the Abraxas in a 335, I have them in a Hamer Sunburst and a PRS Single Cut, so I know the pickups pretty well.

[metale]

I had an Abraxad bridge on an ES-333 (same woods but rosewood fretboard) and loved it. The coil split was amazing too.

[add4]

I have an Emerald neck in my 335 and i really like it: it doesn't feedback at all (and i beleive it's a bit higher output than the abraxas ?? (not sure about that) ).  I love modern jazz and i wanted to be able to have the kind of middy sound i get with a rat in jazz mode (low gain, high volume, filter a lot of highs) without any pedal. I wanted to, say, emulate the effect of the rat with the pickup to have that sound without a pedal, straight in the amp, in a jam session.

The result is quite nice since the emerald really has this medium bump that bring me there. Also much more clarity, note separation, and 'air' than my original gibson pickups. a definitive improvement.

BUT i heard another 335 with a VHII neck and i fell in love with it. it has a kind of single coil quality, very wide range, 'telecasterish', very detailed sound texture. i might swap the emerald for a VHII one of these days ..


hope that helps

[add4]

also, experience taught me that the descriptions of the pickups on the bare knuckle website are spot on, AND that the sounds on the site really contain the signature sound of the pickup too .. it's just hard to hear it before you get the pickup, then you can say .. oh .. that sound was on the mp3 on the site..

it was true for my manhattan (the mids that, in the end, i didn't like on my guitar were on the clip), the emerald, and my boss set.

So, in the end, listen carefully to the clips, and rememebr that the 335 is not a super bright guitar, so a humbucker like the abraxas, described as 'able to control the highs on bright guitars' might be too dark.. i don't know i never tried one abraxas but i know that it's something i wish for my emerald .. i'd LOVE some more high end (hence the VHII)

[HEadoftheAges]

More and more, i am leaning ever closer towards pulling the trigger on a Mule set for this instrument. Something about keeping this instrument "age and time appropriate" is intriguing, to me. Thank you for all the tips! How does the Abraxas neck stack up to its Mule counterpart?

[Guitar 2020]

I have an Emerald neck in my 335 and i really like it: it doesn't feedback at all (and i beleive it's a bit higher output than the abraxas ?? (not sure about that) ).  I love modern jazz and i wanted to be able to have the kind of middy sound i get with a rat in jazz mode (low gain, high volume, filter a lot of highs) without any pedal. I wanted to, say, emulate the effect of the rat with the pickup to have that sound without a pedal, straight in the amp, in a jam session.

The result is quite nice since the emerald really has this medium bump that bring me there. Also much more clarity, note separation, and 'air' than my original gibson pickups. a definitive improvement.

BUT i heard another 335 with a VHII neck and i fell in love with it. it has a kind of single coil quality, very wide range, 'telecasterish', very detailed sound texture. i might swap the emerald for a VHII one of these days ..


hope that helps

Wondering if you ever got the VHii in an335 style and how it would hold up for contemporary jazz?

Thanks

[darrenw5094]

Probably a dead thread after 5 years

[Telerocker]

It's reanimated now ))) A VHII in a semi-hollow? Not a obvious choice.

[Guitar 2020]

It's reanimated now ))) A VHII in a semi-hollow? Not a obvious choice.

Why ?

[Telerocker]

It's reanimated now ))) A VHII in a semi-hollow? Not a obvious choice.

Why ?

Quite cutting and a lot of highmids. Semi-hollows tend to be brighter due to the laminated maple and construction of the guitar. For a balanced sound I would prefer a  set of Mules, but each to his own. Personally I think a VHII can be great in superstrats and darker LP's.