Pup Advice

[Kranky Panda]

Greetings all,

 

First time poster, so be kind :P

 

I recently picked up an 05 Sheraton II, love the guitar, but I've been thinking about replacing the humbuckers. I'll be the first one to admit I'm not super knowledgeable about the differences between some of the humbuckers, so I thought I'd ask those of you who are "in the know" about such things.

 

I'm looking for a deep bluesy sound. I'm thinking about getting either some Pearly Gates, or a set of these SD Blues.

 

Does anyone have experience with either of these? Or can someone make a recommendation?

 

Also, should I replace the pots while I'm at it? I think everything in there is stock. She sounds good, but it's a little muddy and I get an unwanted buzz from time to time.

 

And one last thing, covers or no covers on the humbuckers?

 

Thanks in advance for any help :)

[bigneil]

Pickups choices tend to be very personal and is a ratherher subversive topic. If you are looking for a nice clear vintage sound you would do well to look for lower output PAF style humbuckers, if you ever need more grunt you can use a boost pedal or turn up the gain on your amp. I find a lot of higher output pickups sound great with hi gain but are difficult to play clean and many do not have the twang or top end jangle and can sound ...well muddy I suppose.

The quality of the wires and the pots will make a difference too as will how they are wired (of which there are various methodologies all yielding slightly different characteristics).

Many people find that new pots, wires, and switch will totally transform the sound without ever changing the pickups. Oh and looking just at the dc resistance measurements of pickups will only ever give you a rudimentary idea of how hot the pickups might be, but can't tell you much about how they sound.

Personally I prefer low to medium output pickups even though I play dirty all the time.

[tweed2]

Even changing the magnets out on your existing pickups can get you there, for a minimal outlay. I'd consider replacing the wiring and magnets first. Then, move on to spending more on replacing the pickups. You'd want to do the wiring regardless, so start with that. A magnet swap is cheaper than a pickup swap.

 

Here's a guide for the different magnet types and how they sound, courtesy of Pete Biltoft, at Vintage Vibe.

http://www.vintagevibeguitars.com/wiring_diagrams/magnets_table.pdf

[vomer]

Interesting Pat, I was reading Neil's post and was about to say, 'what he said', then I saw yours. Have you had much success clearing up muddy Alnico Classics by changing magnets, or are there other factors with those?

 

Kranky, all I would add is that the SD 59 is a great all-round humbucker. I've owned and played them in several different guitars. The Pearly Gates is very similar. SD have descriptions of the pickups and sound clips on their website so you can have a listen yourself. Having never played a PG myself, it sounds from the clip like it's a bit warmer but also with a bit more in the upper mids, so subjectively a bit 'clearer'.

 

The Seymour Duncan which I want to try is the Seth Lover. To my ears it really stands out in their comparison clips. But as always, YMMV.

 

And yes, change out the electrics.

 

And welcome to the forum, let us know how you get on.

[bigneil]

Great idea Pat. It didn't occurr to me to switch the magnets. It makes perfect sense as they have just as much to do with the sound and output levels of the pickup as coil windings.

Could get a bit fiddly though.

[tweed2]

Interesting Pat, I was reading Neil's post and was about to say, 'what he said', then I saw yours. Have you had much success clearing up muddy Alnico Classics by changing magnets, or are there other factors with those?

 

Kranky, all I would add is that the SD 59 is a great all-round humbucker. I've owned and played them in several different guitars. The Pearly Gates is very similar. SD have descriptions of the pickups and sound clips on their website so you can have a listen yourself. Having never played a PG myself, it sounds from the clip like it's a bit warmer but also with a bit more in the upper mids, so subjectively a bit 'clearer'.

 

The Seymour Duncan which I want to try is the Seth Lover. To my ears it really stands out in their comparison clips. But as always, YMMV.

 

And yes, change out the electrics.

 

And welcome to the forum, let us know how you get on.

The only pickup type that I've done the magnet swap on, personally, are P-90s. But the theory should be the same. It took 5 minutes and a Philips screwdriver. If you search back a year or two, the was a contributor (that I haven't seen around in a while) That was a huge proponent of this and his postings are the ones that convinced me to try it. Yes, there are two other factors in the body of a pickup that are impractical to change, the type of wire used (and how it's wound) and the number of windings. I also recall some posts about reducing the number of windings and how easy it is, but that's all relative and I don't do well with soldering irons.

[tweed2]

Great idea Pat. It didn't occurr to me to switch the magnets. It makes perfect sense as they have just as much to do with the sound and output levels of the pickup as coil windings.

Could get a bit fiddly though.

Very easy. The only thing to pay attention to is pole orientation. Most magnets that I've seen are marked.

[wiggy]

It's also worth adjusting both pickup and pole piece heights.

 

Lowering your pickup will open up your sound and reduce muddiness then raising the pole pieces will add definition to each string. Also by adjusting the pole pieces you can balance the response across the strings.