pickup magic.....?

[jgnov99]

Hi guys,
Does anyone know of a pickup that can truly go from bright Gretsch-like jangle to smoky swingy Duke Robillard type jazz? My band is adding more and more old jazzy style tunes and we also are going to be doing some Beatles tribute gigs with a friend who does their stuff REALLY well. I have an Ibanez AF95 I like a lot but wouldn't suffer from a pickup change. Rather than drop the cash for a real Gretsch I'd like to find a set of pups that would give this guitar the ability to cover these grounds (if such a thing exists). I've been playing for a long time so I do realize the difficulty in finding perfect pups for a pre-conceived sound, but maybe I can get close?

 

[Tig]

I'd take a look at what GuitarFetish.com has to offer.
They have several sound file examples to check out, too.
http://store.guitarfetish.com/vintagestyle.htmlhttp://store.guitarfetish.com/livialhuch.html

 

[otaypanky]

I would change out the pots and caps before I changed the pickups. Even if you go out and get the best pick ups on the planet, you'll never know what they could really sound like with 'not so great' pots and caps. I don't have personal experience with the controls Ibanez uses, but most guitars will benefit from an upgrade.
I have a Strat with Custom Shop Fat 50's pickups. When I installed them, I was less than impressed. One day while ordering an RS wiring kit for a different Strat I ordered a 2nd set, popped 'em in with the Fat 50's and they came alive. Likewose with a '91 C.S. Les Paul Custom. It played great but was never a great sounding guitar to my ears, and the controls just turned the sound to mud when you were at less than 10. I ordered some awesome WCR pickups, the American Steel set. I got one of their wiring kits too. I popped it all in and the guitar sounded great. About a year later, after reading a thread about Gibson pickups, I popped the stock ones back in. WoW! Did they ever sound good! If I had done the wiring kit in the first place I would have been thrilled with the stock pickups ~

 

[mrmudcat]

:dude :AOK ^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

[jgnov99]

Otaypanky what pots would you recommend? CTS is getting a lot of bad press in the forums but you never know how much of that to believe. I have some Alpha 250K but I suspect the Ibanez uses 500K (won't know 'till I take one out). Do you have a favorite? As for caps what I readn tells me Orange drops are good for Fenders and Paper in Oil for Humbuckers. You concur?

 

[jgnov99]

Thanks for your replies guys. BTW a late Happy Birthday to you Mrmudcat! I'm a Duane fan too! My band does about a dozen ABB tunes- all early stuff! What part of Ga. you in? I'm up here in the SC upstate about 30 min from Ga. by way of either 85 or 123.

 

[markb]

Any good Telecaster set will do what you ask as will a set of nice PAFs in a hollow or semi body. Tip: use the tone control(s).

 

[otaypanky]

The WCR kit was great and Billy at RS Guitarworks usually gets me heading in the right direction too. I used 2 of their kits in Strats and one kit in a '66 335. They were all good. I don't know enough about specific components to recommend what to get.
Adjusting the height of the pickups can make a considerable difference as well. That's really the first thing to experiment with and it's free.
You never did say what it is you don't like about how your guitar sounds now.

 

[otaypanky]

OH, and don't forget the importance of a good low capacitance cable. The wrong cable will leave you with nothing but mud when you roll the guitar volume down from 10. A low impedance cable helps you retain some of the highs and sparkle when you're set at less than 10 on the pots~

 

[jgnov99]

Yeah, I have some great cables. The guitar sounds just a bit thin for a pair of humbuckers. Not terrible, mind you, I'm just looking for a bigger, broader, more transparent response. I know that term has been beat to death but it really suits the situation. I want more highs and more lows in a transparent sounding pickup. I don't want much, I really don't....:nope

 

[Duff]

jgnov99

First off, that Upstate SC area is BEAUTIFUL. Been thru there on my BMW motorcycle. Went up to Asheville. Really nice. I think I'd like to hear an ABB type band playing up there, absolutely. It's an atmosphere type thing. Then again the ABB sounds good in NYC.

What about trying a set of humbucker sized P90 pups, or go for some nice Seymour Duncan P 90s in a humbucker size if they make them; I know SD has the P90/rail humbucker combination pup, and I think a P90/rail humbucker/split coil type, both in standard humbucker size, drop in. I have been wondering how these sound, but with SD I find that the pups sound great.

Low cost side is guitarfetish.com, with some humbucker sized P90s that are supposed to sound great. Very inexpensive if you don't like them you are not out much, but my experience with guitarfetish pickups is that they sound very good. I have several sets. Even some nice Hot P bass guitarfetish pups, however, I wish I would have held out and put in some Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounders.

Hope this helps.

 

[mrmudcat]

500 k pots for buckers................rsguitarworks are what ive been using for 2 years !!!! great southern people .....Paula does the orders tell her mrmudcat sent ya..............im on 20 west of hotlanta berfore bama line.villa rica:dude

I do love wcr pups also have both d.b. and fillmore sets..havent tried there kits but assume its great stuff

 

[wingsdad]

jgnov99,
Since your AF95 is similar to a Gretsch 5120:

... a set of nice PAFs in a hollow or semi body.

You could replace the tone pots with push-pull 500K Audio Tapers and wire the pups to be tapped either/both to single coil . But before you resort to that mod:

Tip: use the tone control(s).

You could take this a step further and employ a 7-to-10-band
EQ pedal with variable gain, such as this one:

MXR 10-Band EQ

This allows you to cut or boost specific frequency points you want less or more of and diddle with the output level of the pickup signal feeding your amp's pre-amp section.

 

[markb]

Or, if you want to get really wide ranging, fit a varitone switch

http://www.torresengineering.com/varitonekit.html