7- String Pick Up Recommendations

djentleman · Post by **djentleman** » Mon Jun 20, 2011 3:22 pm

Hi guys,

First post on here for me!

I have a little hack Stef Carpenter LTD which is becoming increasingly more predominant in my rig with both bands.

Until I can get my hands on a Horizon NT-7, I just want to mod the ltd. It has wannabe active looking ESP pickups which I want to replace asap. Do these gats fit "regular" 7-string pick-ups ok without modification? Or will I have to go down the active route for good fitments etc. Normally it would be a no brainer if I was going active, but more and more I'm finding that I prefer passives to actives, hence my dilemma.

If I can get nice passives, for the seven string users, what would you recommend?

The guitar is tuned in both Drop B flat (7 string) (Bb F Bb Eb Ab C F) and Drop C sharp with a dropped top (G# C# G# C# F# A# D#) so I need pick-ups that have epic clarity down low, but are pretty high output and fat up top. I have been extremely partial to DiMarzio evolutions in the past, as well as the DiMarzio Crunch Labs, and providing they'd fit ok, one of those would do the trick, but I really want to hear what other's recommend.

Thanks guys (and gals)

jeremyb · Post by **jeremyb** » Mon Jun 20, 2011 7:33 pm

Heaps of threads on www.sevenstring.org on this but D-Activators get a good rep, Bareknuckles if you have the cash

sopachrga · Post by **sopachrga** » Mon Jun 20, 2011 8:05 pm

Drop B flat (7 string) (Bb F Bb Eb Ab C F)
Same tuning as we use on our 7 strings. I've got a couple of 7 strings, One is a ESP which had an EMG81-7 in the bridge, I switched that out for a EMG707, which is way nicer sounding than the 81 I reckon.
I found the 81 to be really harsh. The other one is my Universe which has the factory Dimarzio Blaze pickups which I really like.
Based on your forum name, if you want to get the whole Djent sound thing.... you'll either want EMGs or something else like the D-Activator.

I think I heard the other day that the D-Sonic is also out in 7 string model, that would be pretty sweet too.

sopachrga · Post by **sopachrga** » Mon Jun 20, 2011 8:06 pm

Also.... Isn't the SD Blackout available in 7 string?
That would be pretty good too.

jeremyb · Post by **jeremyb** » Mon Jun 20, 2011 8:10 pm

sopachrga wrote:Also.... Isn't the SD Blackout available in 7 string?
That would be pretty good too.

Yes! Got the feeling he wasn't keen on actives tho', blackouts do sound quite good to my humble ear, plus a lot quieter on high gain stuff than a passive...

I'm about to chuck an EVO on my S420 which will be in Drop C, be interesting to see how clear it sounds

ash · Post by **ash** » Mon Jun 20, 2011 8:49 pm

Blackout 7, D-Activator 7 would be my first picks.

Which reminds me... I have a JS-7 hidden away that I need to finish and sell. Damn.

danrawkz · Post by **danrawkz** » Mon Jun 20, 2011 9:20 pm

On my 6 string I didn't like the Blackout as much as the EMG 81 in drop B. Found the JB a better match to that tuning too, so possibly a JB-7 string?

Blackouts lacked clarity for me in B.

ash · Post by **ash** » Mon Jun 20, 2011 9:33 pm

djentleman wrote: I have a little hack Stef Carpenter LTD . Do these gats fit "regular" 7-string pick-ups ok without modification? Or will I have to go down the active route for good fitments etc. Normally it would be a no brainer if I was going active, but more and more I'm finding that I prefer passives to actives, hence my dilemma.

Having just looked up the guitar in question and seen what the pickups look like you might be a bit stuck for choice. The only options in the EMG style package are EMG 707 and 81-7 (have one to sell), SD Blackouts on the active team. On the passive team, EMG HZ and custom wound.

I don't have a DiMarzio 7-string pickup handy to measure, but if the existing pickups are longer than 95mm they should fit. Unfortunatley, they're probably EMG35 sized, so standard passive humbuckers won't fit without a bit of extra routing.

djentleman · Post by **djentleman** » Wed Oct 05, 2011 2:20 pm

Ultimate Thread Necro here - completely forgot I'd posted this.

In the end, I went with the EMG 707, and just removed everything from the guitar and started fresh.

Overall, I've got to say I've been super stoked with the results. From the inception, I had thought I would just have the LTD Stef until I could pick up a nice Horizon NT7 ESP, but I have been so impressed with the results from the LTD combined with the EMG that I'm not going to bother for a while. The guitar truly sings in both tunings, probably my favourite active I've used on my own guitars so far.

Below are a couple of poxy pictures. Pretty rough and ready job, but the wiring looks good for a homejob

Thanks for your recommendations - Im going to tempt fate one day and see if I can modify the guitar to allow for a passive 7 string p/up as I still prefer them.

danrawkz · Post by **danrawkz** » Wed Oct 05, 2011 4:49 pm

I was just reading this now, reading your name was 'Djentleman' glad you got the EMG, they'll get you the best djent tones

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7- String Pick Up Recommendations

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