Help me choose pickups

[Starfire]

I've been pondering pickup choices for my Warmoth project. I'm essentially building a more awesome than stock Squier '51, so it has a single coil in the neck, and a splittable humbucker in the bridge. I kind of have an idea of which pickups I want, based on some pickups I have experience with in my other guitars. That's a Texas Special neck pickup, in the neck of course, and a Seymour Duncan Alnico II Pro in the bridge. I'm fairly set on the neck pickup, because I want that sort of traditional, rounded, Stratty tone from the neck, which the Texas Special embodies completely for me. I'm open to suggestions for the bridge pickup though.

I don't really know if these two pickups will compliment each other well at all. Weighing up the figures, I think they'll be quite good. The SD isn't super hot, at 7.85K, while the Texas Special neck is something like 6.2-6.3K. The SD too has a fairly rounded tone I think, at least when clean. In fact that's one of the things I like about the Alnico IIs, they're nice and rounded and jangly when clean, but switch to the dirty channel and turn the volume up and there's plenty of bite and growl. Difficult to describe actually, kind of fuzzy and low fi, but still clear and defined. Of course that's the sound coming out of my Les Paul, which is a much different guitar.

So anyway, can anyone add anything to that? Confirm or deny what I'm thinking? Or just offer any kind of opinion about it really.

[ash]

What kind of switching arrangements are you planning on?

Here's your first hint:

The DC Resistance reading (7.85K/6.3K) tells you almost nothing about the relative outputs of the pickups unless they're the same type and basic specs.
You need to know an awful lot about pickup design, wire specs, bobbin shape, magnet parameters, pickup positions etc for those numbers to become really useful, otherwise. I know DCR numbers are commonly referred to as "output", but that is only because DCR is easy to measure and inductance and full spectrum signal output are not.

In the case of the two you have suggested, they are probably a pretty good match if the HB is in series. In split mode the HB will be overwhelmed by the SC.

[Starfire]

The switching is a 3 way rotary switch. So I can select the neck individually, both pickups, or the bridge individually. And of course, the humbucker can be split with the use of a push pull pot (which is also the volume control) when selected in conjunction with the SC, or when selected individually.

I figured there was a lot more to it than simple 'output', but as you said, it's about the easiest way of comparing things, even if not the best or most accurate. What might you suggest for a humbucker that would be better matched to the SC when split, but isn't overpoweringly hot when in humbucker mode (because of course, I don't want the humbucker overpowering the SC when used in conjunction and in HB mode) and, if possible, has the kind of tonal characteristics I described?

[RuBear]

Couldn't you just change the neck height until you found the level that worked? Seems better to me than changing to a pickup you don't really want.

[Starfire]

I know that it's a common issue, folks will swap out pickups because they seem to be imbalanced, but really the just need the height or polepieces adjusted. But would that not then make the neck pickup sound crap when using that on its own?

[ash]

But would that not then make the neck pickup sound crap when using that on its own?

It would indeed.

Pickups have a "sweet spot". A height at which the tone is optimal. Raise it and it become harsh, lower it and it becomes flubby and weak. Lowering an overly powerful pickup in order to match volume is throwing away a large chunk of its tonal potential.

[Jenesis]

Hold up, are you tellling me you can actually change the pickups in a quitar?!

[ash]

Yes, but it is very important that you choose exactly the right ones by conducting a poll. The alternative is akin to unimaginable disaster, young Jenakin.

[Vorbis]

I second a poll. How the hell are you meant to have any clue as to which pickups unless you run a bloody POLL???

[Starfire]

I would rather have a discussion about how and why particular pickups might work well in conjuntion with the Texas Special, rather than put up a bunch of different options and have people vote for them for no apparent reason, and for the poll to be inconclusive because the votes are fairly evenly distributed between the choices.

Or maybe I don't quite understand how a forum/this forum works?

[Jenesis]

Poll.

[ash]

I would rather have a discussion about how and why particular pickups might work well in conjuntion with the Texas Special, rather than put up a bunch of different options and have people vote for them for no apparent reason, and for the poll to be inconclusive because the votes are fairly evenly distributed between the choices.

Coil splitting the humbucker is what complicates your quest. If you don't coil split, it's easy. Your suggested pickups will work great. If you have to have a splittable humbucker that matches the single in both mode, you're pretty much shit out of luck. Any time you cut a series humbucker in half, you cut the output in half too. The only way to change that is to choose a pickup that has one coil wound hotter than the other. This is going to be slightly better if you split to the hot coil, but the HB will still be too hot and the split coil too weak. Pickups like Benderissimo's Benderbucker and the Tele bucker in my orange Radian are designed to make the best of this scenario, but they still can't do exactly what you want unless you embrace the output differences and make use of them.






Now.... back to the Poll dancing.

[Starfire]

Yep, I perfectly understand what you mean. It would probably help if my stock '51 was actually working, then I could hear how the standard pickups work in conjunction, especially with both selected and the bridge split. That way I might be able to make a bit more of an educated decision on how I want it all to work. Unfortunately the stock bridge pickup has been mutilated at some point by a past owner and has stopped working.

[Polar Bear]

Something with open coils, otherwise you're just lying to yourself.

i'd swoop on a poll too.

[hamo]

I'm not going to start a new "what pups" thread on principle, so I'm hijacking this one via epic dredge.

I've done something I should have done ages ago, and researched my guitar a little. It's an Epi LP Studio, mahogany body and neck. maple top, rosewood fingerboard. To my ears it's quite dark sounding. The stock pups are Epi Alnico Classics, and I find they lack clarity and bite. They seem to be pretty medium/med-low output.

I tend to hear things rather bassy and tend to chase a more tone-y sound. I think I'm after something with more/higher output. I really like the Gibson Iommi humbuckers, but they're a bit spendy. I'm hoping to go for something in the SD or DiMarzio stable. I've also gone off the idea of actives, I'm more keen on passives.

So, given those parameters, which pickups would you choose?

The DiMarzio pup selector recommends me the Super Distortion, D-Activator, PAF 36th Anniversary or Super 2 in the bridge. I'm leaning towards a Hunmbucker From Hell for the neck. I'm also considering a matched Evolution or Breed set.

Seymour Duncan options include the ever present JD/Jazz combo or an Alnico II set. The Custom 5/59 combination also seems popular.

Have at it!