Q about pickups for Schecter/Fernandes

[paulburns1984]

Hi, I sent this email to Tim cos I couldn't get into the forums my activation email just wouldn't come throgh Mozilla Thunderbird so i had to use webmail. So signed up with hotmail and now I'm here, I know Tim'll know best but he may be busy so I wonder if any of you experts can offer any edvice. I've got £950 to spend and i think I've narrowed it down to two guitars - Fernandes Ravelle Deluxe & Schecter C-1 Classic, but if anyone has any better ideas? Im looking a smaller easier to play neck than LP and the souind i mention below.


For starters this is the sound I'm after:
I like to play both and looking for a mix between the
classic sleaze rock of Guns'n'Roses and British post
hardcore bands such as Fightstar(I know, I know)(PRS
Custom 24 or 22 i think) but not necessarily emo or
metal sound.

Having said that I am deliberating between a Fernandes
Revalle Deluxe & Scheter C-1 Classic. Now, of course I
want to replace the stocks with BKP pickups and I have
money is available to go for whichever one is best
suited. Any advice on these two guitars and the BKP
pickups I should go for with them for the sound I'm
after?

Also is it easy enough to change the pickups myself or
should I have a shop do it. And do these guitars have
any special circuitry like the parallel stuff I've
heard, sorry I'm new to changing pups.

Cheers BKP rocks,
Paul
paulburns1984@btinternet.com

[TwilightOdyssey]

Welcome to the forum.

Not a fan of either one of those guitars. I would think that a Les Paul type guitar would be a great option for the type of sound you're going for. (Clones abound, just try as many as you can)

As for pups, I think that a VHII set, or a Black Dog set will have the power and versatility that you're looking for. Both clean up nicely, and get huge when crunching.

[paulburns1984]

I would like a smaller/thinner neck than Les Pauls though and also a decent guitar to stand in its own right rather than a copy. I have a friend who is quite the Gibson snob, and a cheap Gibson copy well i wouldn't hear the end.

[ztevie]

£950?
Order a custom made guitar from Poland.
Decide everything yourself. Woods, body shape, head shape, colors, neck measures, fret size, hardware... Well you get my point...
For about £1000 I just ordered a guitar where I picked the best of everything(best for me that is).

A copy of the Fernandes would probably cost less.
A copy of the Schecter, I'm not sure, the inlay would probably cost some extra...

I sent the same specs as mine to a couple of american custom shops + some western european companies...
Their price ranged between £3000 - £3800...

See http://www.bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3392

[paulburns1984]

sounds interesting but ive not played enough different guitars or have the experience to know exactly  qwhat specs i would want/ would not want

[ztevie]

sounds interesting but ive not played enough different guitars or have the experience to know exactly  qwhat specs i would want/ would not want

OK, I understand and I agree. If you haven't played for so long it's best to use regular guitars a couple of years...

I've got a Schecter C1+ which I'm extremely happy with. Great tone, sustain and playability. It breaths quality all the way through, very nice guitar and I think Schecter overall is a good buy. THe specs compared with the Classic is pretty much the same but Classic got real SeymourDuncans on it...
If you plan to swap pickups the first thing you do I would go for a cheaper Schecter, like the C1+, instead of paying more for pickups you're gonna swap anyway. Of course you get the flashy inlay with the classic...

Never played a fernandes...

[paulburns1984]

yeah i just thought classics look nicer and i could always sell the SDs on eBay as new and get a decent price.


Which BKP pups would be best for the sound I'm after?

[TwilightOdyssey]

Which BKP pups would be best for the sound I'm after?

As for pups, I think that a VHII set, or a Black Dog set will have the power and versatility that you're looking for. Both clean up nicely, and get huge when crunching.

[lepersmeesa]

Possibley look at the Ibanez RGA series, they have thin necks and are light to carry. They are also both cheaper then the guitars your looking at. I say RGA cus it is a fixed bridge, rather then floating.

However if it down to those two guitars I would go for the Schecter. Pickups i would look at VHII or Mules.

[ztevie]

I think you can trust Twilight on the tone issue...
I play mainly metal myself so I shouldn't answer that question.

It's not hard to install them yourself if you're half-decent at soldering. Also, there are no special circuitry or anything, the colors of the cables differ between different brands though.
Of course, if you order the 4-braid version(which you should) you've got the option of paralell/splitting and so on...
Or you could connect them as standard, even with the 4-braid, that's why you should get that in case you wanna do some fun connection stuff in the future...

[paulburns1984]

Since we're talkign about two different styles here:

Sleaze Rock & Post Hardcore

should i get a pup set of two of the same pups or should i mix and match the bridge and neck with two different types of pup?

All this help is much appreciated by the way.

With the RGA are you still going to get the similar sound to an LP?

[genocidal tendencies]

I still don't think the fernandes is a good idea if you're looking for a thin neck. Have you actually played one?

RGAs don't really have enough wood on them to sound much like an LP, especially with all that maple. The schecter will probably get you a bit closer, but the maple neck still isn't ideal. Remember: more mahogany = more tone.

You might want to use different bridge and neck pickups, because slash mainly uses the neck one, but I know nothing about what fightstar use, so I'm not sure.

There are people on here who know far more about the pickups than I do, so I'll let them advise you on that front.

[ztevie]

The C1+ has a mahogany body + mahogany/rosewood neck.
Lots of tone...
The maple in the classic neck will brighten it up some of course... But I don't think you need to worry it'll be to trebley or shrill.

[paulburns1984]

yeah i just noticed the c1+ looks better than the classic and is fair bit cheaper which is a nice bonus.

So at the mo it looks like Schecter C-1+ with BKP pups (whichever ones Tim suggests in his reply email i suppose)

Unless of course anyone knows any other LP like thinner than LP neck guitars that are worth looking at?

[Spleen]

I'm going to vote for the Ravelle.  They look super cool and are much closer to a LP structurally.  The one question if you go Fernandes is does it have the Sustainer installed?  If so, you may want to think 2x before exchanging the neck pickup.