Author Topic: Link between pickups and fingerboard material? (Read 3731 times)

RolandT · « **on:** August 17, 2006, 07:49:38 PM »

Guys, been reading some threads asking for what pickup goes well with a rosewood fingerboard. Now question what's the link between the fingerboard material and the best pickup? I have a Highway1 strat with maple fingerboard

38thBeatle · « **Reply #1 on:** August 17, 2006, 07:51:32 PM »

Maple boards are supposedly brighter than Rosewood and consequently the choice of pup would be determined by that.

Philly Q · « **Reply #2 on:** August 17, 2006, 11:28:22 PM »

TBH, I don't think it makes much difference. Maple is a tiny bit brighter but the body wood has much more effect on the tone. The Highway One is alder(?) so it should sound quite warm and woody anyway.

How does your guitar sound with the stock pickups? If you find it too bright you might want to go with warmer-sounding pickups - I haven't heard them but I think the Mother's Milk or Slow Hand sets would fit the bill. Depends on your playing style o'course.

RolandT · « **Reply #3 on:** August 18, 2006, 06:12:40 AM »

The stock PU sound rather "thin", I would want something more "power" (but I don't want to sound like a Gibson:) Strat ound but a bit more meat to it. Any recommendations?

OD-Black_Fire · « **Reply #4 on:** August 18, 2006, 06:23:15 AM »

I don't know much about the single coil pickups but I think the slow hand and Irish tours might work. Irish tours have a good amount of mids and "grunt," but its still going to sound like a strat. Just hot.

38thBeatle · « **Reply #5 on:** August 18, 2006, 07:28:54 AM »

I'd have a word with Tim and tell him what you want-he will see you right.from my experience, I can tell you that the Slowhands have more mids than Apaches.The Irish Tours are apparently hotter ( I have not tried them though)- if you tell Tim of the type of stuff you play is my suggestion.

deg0ey · « **Reply #6 on:** August 18, 2006, 10:14:17 AM »

The Irish Tours and Slowhands work out at a very similar output (according to the products page). I think that the Slowhands I have in my strat (mid and neck) have much greater output than the stock pickups did, and the tone is greatly improved. I thought that the stock pickups were quite feeble, and were too bright - there was no low end to them, especially through my Engl which is quite a bright amp anyway...The Slowhands are a much darker pickup (in my opinion) and they drive the amp harder than the stock pickups did...

Just in case you're interested, My middle and neck Slowhands are both 6.5K, the same as the Irish Tours would be in the same scenario

JamesHealey · « **Reply #7 on:** August 18, 2006, 08:42:27 PM »

apparently on bolt on neck guitars the fretboard wood is a lot of the tone and on through necks the body/neck material are really whats important.

could be wrong.

yannroman · « **Reply #8 on:** August 18, 2006, 10:27:40 PM »

I believe the neck has a huge influence on tone with the strat. Typically maple is bright and rosewood is warmer/woodier, but whatever wood, a good neck has a lot of vibration (you can feel it in the peghead) this is the basis to get a good sound.
My advice for a punchy strat tone is an Irish tour set because it can be used for any style, any sound (except metal I guess). On my rosewood neck 62 reissue they added incredible presence, truly spectacular! On this guitar I tried texas specials, kinman AVN 62, van zandt blues, and suhr V60LP, all good pups but the Irish tours blew them away instantly! If your guitar is already too bright, a Slowhand set could be a better match.
And if you want real hot output, you should also consider a Trilogy set, I don't know how Tim does it but they have so much output and your strat still sounds like a strat!

RolandT · « **Reply #9 on:** August 18, 2006, 11:13:42 PM »

thanks for all the feedback, a lot to think about, I'll go listen to some more sound clips

PhilKing · « **Reply #10 on:** August 19, 2006, 01:09:28 PM »

I also have to agree that the neck is a major contributor. I have had a lot of strats through the years (and I used to sell them in a shop which was a Fender main dealer), and so have had plenty of time to listen and work this out. I have also had both rosewood and maple on the same guitar and could hear the difference instantly.

Personally I found Irish Tours with maple too bright, though the guitar had the biggest maple neck that Fender make (it is a Japanese Hank Marvin) and this may have made it brighter. I know that TO likes his in the Kamakazie though. For me the Apache is the best sound with maple, then the Slowhands, though the trilogy works too. I haven't heard mothers milks or sultans so I can't comment on these, but I know that Tim has mentioned that MM's work better in rosewood.

Ratrod · « **Reply #11 on:** August 20, 2006, 08:13:12 PM »

A good example of matching fingerboard material with pickups is the Gretsch Jet. The ones with the single coil Dyna's have a rosewood fingerboard to make it sound warmer. The ones with Filtertron humbucking pickups have an ebony fingerboard to make it brighter.