Hollow VIP Pick-Ups

[Wasilla]

I'm startng my second Warmoth project and need some advice on pick-ups. The configuration is a hollow VIP, swamp ash/flame maple top, hard tail with a maple/maple neck. I was looking at  the Seymour Duncan Vintage Blues '59 Humbucker Set to help bring up the mids and lows, but I'm worried about feedback. I'm new to the whole "hollow" body electric, all my guitars are solid so any advice would be much appreciated.

Also, anyone have any experience with Piezo? I can't find a system that would work using a 510 Gotoh hardtail.

Thank you

 

[OzziePete]

I think your mids are pretty much there with the wood combinations you have mentioned for the neck and body.

In regards to piezo, there is a view on this forum that a piezo system is what it is, and not an acoustic, OK? In other words, you will get a piezo dry sound to mix with the passive pickups, not an acoustic replication to mix with an electric sound. There is, of course, extra work associated with installing piezos, and a pre amp and battery generally need to be installed.

AFAIK, the 'hollow' VIP still has a block of wood under the pickup routes so feedback will not be as bad as say, a genuine hollow body (think ES-175). Best summation I have read here is to think of '335' type hollow sound.(someone describing the L5S body done in hollow - same method as this VIP).

Oh, BTW, you have put this enquiry in the Gallery section of this Forum, so don't be surprised if the Mods move it to another section.

 

[tfarny]

I would just do as you would with a solid body, if you like those pickups (they have a good rep; never tried em) then go for it. It's 'chambered' not 'hollow' - generally 'hollow' is used to described guitars with big open cavities in them. Technically, a 'hollowbody' is totally open inside like an acoustic without even a center block. They can have lots of feedback problems. A 'semihollow' like an ES335 has a solid center block that the bridge is anchored to. What you've got, is a bunch of smaller cavities placed around the interior, the body should still be plenty rigid and behave mostly like a solidbody. I would expect more woodiness, maybe more resonance from the body, but not any major problems at all.

My one experience with piezos was that they don't sound nearly as good as a nice clean strat pickup. However they definitely can make your electric do an imitation of a really terrible acoustic with thin strings and a really bad pickup in it. I recommend a coil tap option in the neck, and a nice clean amp tone for acoustic-type songs instead.

 

[-CB-]

A pair of Phat Cats..... they do wonders for any hollow body... were developed for hollow body.... I got em on my ES and woooolameeeeooo nice.

 

[Wasilla]

Thanks to all that replied. Nix the Piezo. I'll send pics when completed.