best...?

[logo33]

Hey all-

First time poster, as well as a first time builder... I am thinking about doing a chambered mahogany/quilt maple top strat with a mahogany neck/rosewood fretboard. I was just wondering what pickups would be my best option... I would like to do single coil's in the neck and middle, and some sort of single coil sized humbucker in the bridge. Thanks in advanced!

Logan

 

[Death by Uberschall]

Well your wood choices lean towards the Les Paul tone wise. I would recommend EMG 81/SA/SA pups.  :hello2:

Single coil bridge, EMG SA/SV/SA

Bring on the EMG HATERS!!  :toothy12:

 

[Finch]

anything that makes a likable sound  :icon_thumright:

you should probably give people a better idea of the sound your looking for, music genre, etc.

 

[logo33]

Yes, I realized that after i posted Finch... I am a rock/blues player, HUGE fan of Joe Bonamassa, Kenny Wayne Shephard, SRV, and so on. I love all music, but prefer to play the blues. Right now im playing a Fender Hot Rod Deville, but will be getting a marshall shortly, and plan to run a multi-amp rig, think Joe Bonamassa (not skill, but tone... lol).

Thanks again for the help!

Logan

 

[rockskate4x]

I really like the dimarzio area series for single coil tone, but of course others will tell you that since they aren't true single coils they don't quite cut it, so if you can, try 'em out yourself and make up ur own mind about it, but i really like them. Dimarzio also has a pretty wide selection of strat sized humbuckers which aren't meant to sound like single coils at all, so there are plenty of options there.

 

[Finch]

yeah i was going to suggest checking out the Dimarzio Cruiser if you want a single coiled size humbucker for the middle position.

 

[Dan025]

Well your wood choices lean towards the Les Paul tone wise. I would recommend EMG 81/SA/SA pups.  :hello2:

Bring on the EMG HATERS!!  :toothy12:

hey i'm with ya. i don't actually use emg's cuz i'm too lazy to change batteries. but emg's more or less reproduce what the string is actually doing. it doesn't add tone as much as like a passive. the tone circuit is buffered so it can only subtract highs there is no weird interaction of capacitive reactance and inductive reactance that give more highs or mids and warmth. they can be good for a clean sound with very resonant tonewoods or a high gain sound that needs noise free clarity to avoid hum and buzz or just muddiness.

traditional pickups can be a good tone adder or shaper for most playing styles. what is the best one? depends on your goal as far as sound goes. what is you're favorite guitar? what style music do you play?

 

[Death by Uberschall]

Don't worry about the batteries, if you unplug your guitar after playing, the batteries last years, seriously.  :icon_thumright:

 

[Rouse]

I'm one of those EMG haters, they sound lifeless and dull, no character. For blues, emg's just don't sound that good, maybe for metal/shred but not blues. I'm going to reccomend a set of Lollar Blondes with whatever single coil sized humbucker you want in the bridge. The blondes are really great, nice woody tone in the neck with great chime in the 2nd position, and they never sound shrilly or too bright, a really balanced tone.

 

[Dan025]

ok i was away from the computer and didn't see that you answered those questions. an over wound single coil is probably the best choice but i'm not sure which i'd recomend but you might as well go all noiseless. maybe a SD lil 59 in the bridge. or dimarzio chopper, air norton or tonezone.

 

[m4rk0]

I have a great suggestion!!!

Why don't you get the Rio Grande Railgunners, so you can tell me how they sound before I buy them!

(they supposedly sound like a BBQ bucker, which is my favorite pickup)

 

[-CB-]

Hot Fralins and a Phat Cat or P92

 

[tfarny]

Frankly, you're trying to emulate the sound of a guy who ONLY plays classic Les Pauls and whose tone is really a perfect example of Les Paul / vintage PAF type tone. I have never heard ANY single coil size pickups that really, actually sound like a full sized PAF. If Bonamassa is what you really want to sound like, then I would say, modify the plan and get a HH or HSH setup with SD 59s, A2 pros,  or any of the boutique PAF type humbuckers, and a fixed bridge of some kind. Then best of luck getting to play at his level.  :icon_thumright:

Get a somewhat overwound but still vintage-spec middle single coil for SRV, nothing super hot, a tube screamer or three and a univibe. I also like the dimarzio areas. Their '61 or Virtual Vintage 54 pro (I have it in the bridge but I could see it in between some PAFs) would be good for you and totallly noiseless.

You will at least be in the ballpark of the sound you're after.

 

[Orpheo]

duncan jb jr in bridge, duckbucker in middle and '59 OR a screamin demon in neck. if it has to be 3 singlecoils.

if I would have had my way, I'd take 3 prails, to get stratty tones AND PAF tones AND p90 tones AND superhot humbuckertones, cause those prails, really do deliver the goods.

 

[CrackedPepper]

Orpheo, would you orient all three p-rails the same way or would you flip the middle one over to emulate a RWRP pickup in the middle?

 

[Unwound G]

Hot Fralins and a Phat Cat or P92

+1 if you are a blues/rock player.  The Chambered Mahogany body will give you the girth and the Fralins will give you the sparkle.

 

[logo33]

Thank you all so much for the help! Tfarny, I should have speculated that I don't want to be a clone of anyone. Bonamassa is just my current favorite guitar player... has been for a couple years now, and I thought that his tone was to die for even back when he was playing strats (the gold one specifically). I listed those names just as a point of reference, to give everyone the style of tone I am searching for. I just want to have a nice thick single coil tone, and something (single coil sized) in the bridge that pushes it a little further. I have a Les Paul that I use for the current Bonamassa sound, and a Korina V (with DiMarzio PAF Pro's). I will, more than likely, do a dual humbucker strat in the future.


Thanks,
Logan

 

[Mor Paul]

p90s are amazing.

 

[Orpheo]

Orpheo, would you orient all three p-rails the same way or would you flip the middle one over to emulate a RWRP pickup in the middle?

the neck and bridge are always calibrated so that they're always hum cancelling.

on second thought, after a night sleep, maybe the stagmag is a better idea. then the 'middle positions' are silent too. with a 3rd prail, it might be a problem. if you flip the middle prail over, it will be humcanceling with either the bridge or neck, but not both. with the stagmag, you can get it humcanceling at all position.