Pickup suggestions for a HSS guitar, for metal.

[Axkoa]

Hey all! I'm in the market now for some new pickups for my Kramer Striker Custom 211, a pretty nifty Floyd Rose HSS guitar. My birthday is coming up and I've decided that this guitar's sound can definitely be improved by some new electronics for it. So before I start looking at some of the other electronics I thought I would ask you guys for some help with choosing pickups for this guitar.

I have about the price range of around $100 USD, or around $150 Australian Dollars. The type of music I play is mainly metal, but not really too super highly distorted stuff, I would like a pickup/s where I can play some cleaner music as well.

Now one of my first predicaments is; Should I go out and get 3 cheaper pickups, a humbucker for bridge, and 2 single coils (or single coil sized humbuckers) for neck and middle. Or should I just get a higher priced bridge humbucker pickup? I have no idea which would be the better idea right now. I'm sort of leaning towards just changing out the bridge humbucker because of the fact that I rarely ever use the neck and middle, and I was thinking of getting a push-pull tone pot to be able to split the bridge, which could mean that I wouldn't need to use the neck or middle.

Now, what brands should I look for? I was looking at GFS pickups for the first option if I were to do, 3 cheaper pickups. I was looking at maybe a Power Rails in the Bridge and 2 blade single coils for both the neck and middle. Would this be a good layout for more modern metal? Now for the second option, just getting a higher priced bridge humbucker, I was looking at some DiMarzio pickups. Though, admittedly, I have absolutely no idea about the models of DiMarzio pickups.

Any more information on what I should do would be super helpful! I have over a month until my birthday comes 'round so I'm not in a super rush, it would just be nice to hear about stuff now in preparation. So what should I do? 3 cheaper pickups, or a better quality bridge? And what pickup brands and models should I look at for each of these options.

Thank you all!

 

[Logrinn]

I would go for the option of just swapping out the bridge pickup.
If you have access to GFS in Australia, then it sounds like a great idea to get one of their pickups, like the Power Rails or Crunchy Rails. I'm sure that would suit your needs perfectly.
For someone like me in Sweden GFS is not an option even though their prices are so low. The shipping and customs for a pickup like that will make the cost as high or even higher, than the cost for a similar DiMarzio pickup here in Sweden. So if you find that you are in a similar situation, be careful or you might be paying more than you expected.
If you decide to go with DiMarzio, some of their models are available on some Ibanez guitars, like the ones used by Steve Vai and Satriani and others. Perhaps you have a chance to try out some of those guitars in your local shops? That way you would get an idea of what the pickups sound like and if you like one, you wouldn't have to buy one without listening to it. Same thing goes for Seymour Duncan.
So my advice would basically be for you to try out some pickups and decide from that.

 

[Axkoa]

Just checked out the shipping prices for GFS. $25.95 to ship a pickup to Australia. Might not go the GFS way. There are a couple of good, cheapish dealers for DiMarzio in Australia. I would go Seymour Duncan, but the prices in Australia are around the same I could get for a handwound boutique pickup from the UK, so I think I might pass on that. I'll see if I can get to my local guitar store in a week or so to test out some Ibanez guitars that have DiMarzio pickups in them. If not, I'll just look up some videos of the sounds of different pickups.

 

[Logrinn]

Hm, strange about the Seymour Duncan prices being higher in Australia. Here in Sweden, DiMarzio and Seymour Duncan cost basically the same. It differs between different models of course. Some DM are more expensive as are some SD models.

The video thing can be decieving though. The sound of a pickup depends more on the amp and the microphone used in front of the amp and the technique used when recording it. And then Youtube removes a lot of the detail.

So there's a big risk that you find a video of a pickup you're interested in that sounds "great" but it might not sound like that at all when you play it. A bit like listening to Van Halen or Malmsteen and saying "wow, that sounds great, I'll get a pickup like that". And obviously it never sounds like that when you put the pickup in your guitar  :laughing8:

But I think a good advice is the one Cagey has mentioned before: get a lower output pickup so you can get a good clean sound if you want to. Adding a lot of gain and distortion is best handled using stompboxes and amps, not by having a high output pickup.

 

[Axkoa]

Yeah, over here the lowest priced SD I've seen is around $150. Whereas I've seen a couple of DM around the $100 mark. So should I mainly look at the outputs that the pickup gives? Like Bass, Mids, and Treble. And then the output of it?

 

[Logrinn]

You could do that, but I think it's better if you try some out yourself.
Listen to this Seymour Duncan video where several high output pickups are compared.
What struck me was how similar they all sound. Basically the same distorted sound, just a little different eq.
Playing and trying out a few yourself might tell you something completely different though, since it's a combination of so many components. Especially the interaction between fingers, ears and the brain.
What you think sounds great among these pickups in the video, might in fact be the one that you find sound the worst when playing it yourself.

[youtube]KbRlcdNHYDM[/youtube]

 

[swarfrat]

GFS would hasbe to cross the pond twice. Check eBay. Sometimes  you can get deals on shipping there. Maybe even an "After Hours" GFs that never got on the boat.  (Many counterfeit items are just.  unauthorized production by the people who actually made it in the first place

 

[Logrinn]

I found an excellent example of how to get a great metal sound in very low output pickups here.
It goes to show that such a sound you might be looking for are more determined by other factors than the pickups:

[youtube]9dk_T-jkbOo[/youtube]