SSS Pickup Suggestions for Ash/Maple/Rosewood Strat

[DS37]

Hi everyone,

First post here. Currently building a swamp ash body, maple neck, rosewood fingerboard Warmoth strat. I'm having the time of my life bouncing back and forth between possible SSS pickup sets for it. Considering rosewood will mellow the highs of this combo, I'm thinking of putting a mid-forward/bright pickup set in it. Currently leaning towards the Seymour Duncan Antiquity II Surfer or SD Five-Two Strat pickups (not that either of these accurately achieve the goal). These two peaked my interest because they "sweeten the highs" a little bit; something I suspect ash/maple could benefit from IMO.

I'm hoping to land in the vintage realm for this instrument, though not vintage-correct, because I come from a metal background and want something more classic. Genres of music I typically play include blues, classic rock, hard rock, and metal/shred.

Can anyone give some advice on this wood combo/pickup selection? I'm open to any suggestions for complementary SSS pickup sets that fit the vintage strat route. I've looked at SD, Dimarzio, Lollar, Fralin, Migas, TV Jones, and various other boutique winders.

Thank you all!

 

[Strat Avenger]

You're gonna get about 25 different answers here.
The fretboard material has zero effect on tone.

 

[supertruper1988]

You're gonna get about 25 different answers here.
The fretboard material has zero effect on tone.

Fretboard material has a big impact on the initial attack though which can influence what you hear as brighter or warmer.

 

[Rick]

Hard to pick a set for you ... what are the last two songs you learned that are covers?

 

[DS37]

Hard to pick a set for you ... what are the last two songs you learned that are covers?

Yngwie Malmsteen's Like an Angel and Philip Sayce's Save Me from Myself.

 

[Strat Avenger]

Fretboard material has a big impact on the initial attack though which can influence what you hear as brighter or warmer.

That is just plain  not true.

 

[supertruper1988]

That is just plain  not true.

Its ok to be wrong sometimes

 

[Rick]

Here ... pick one of these ...
https://www.seymourduncan.com/single-product/philip-sayce-mother,
or

YJM Fury Strat | Seymour Duncan

The YJM Fury uses custom length alnico 5 rod magnets, and a unique coil architecture to bring you that perfect balance of sweet fluidity and articulation that is Yngwie J Malmsteen.

www.seymourduncan.com

My experience jibes with strat A on the fretboard, with fret boards get something that feels nice to you. If rosewood feels good, looks good to you then go for it. I'd say over half my guitars have rosewood boards, followed by ebony, bloodwood, then maple ...

Personally, I like Sayce's tone so ...

Your pickups will have a far greater influence on tone than fretboard ...

or
If neither strike your fancy then a Bill Lawrence strat set. 280 / 290

All three are safe bets.

 

[Strat Avenger]

Its ok to be wrong sometimes

No, it's not. So you should stop.

 

[Floyd_Argus]

You're gonna get about 25 different answers here.
The fretboard material has zero effect on tone.

Alot of listeners besides me, of this video's demos hear a difference btw the different fretboard woods.

While not everyone hears a difference, that doesn't mean it's not there. Not everyone has the same hearing sensivity and/or critical listening skills.

The takeaway is: there is no problem if you don't hear a difference. That gives you an advantage in a way, because you don't have to be worried about being disappointed in a choice of fretboard wood because of its tone. But don't keep equating "you don't hear it" with "there is no tonal difference." That's just not true based on numerous people saying they hear a difference. Instead, just work on being humble as a virtue (like we all should) and say "I don't hear a difference" and leave it at that.

 

[JohnnyHardtail]

To me, the original post is reasonable in regard to tone. Indian rosewood tends to be a hard material with high MoE. To my ears it typically gives reduced mids, which guitar players normally describe as sounding warmer, although technically it may have a brighter overall balance. My comments do NOT apply to Warmoth modern construction, only traditional single trussrods fitted within a curved channel in the neck. Using a hard body material such as Swamp Ash tends to exaggerate the difference between neck, fretboard materials, and trussrod types.

When choosing pickups, I think the magnet stagger pattern is equally important to getting the right wind and alnico recipe. If the fretboard radius is 12” or higher, I would definitely avoid the traditional vintage stagger pattern, and look for pickups with either a “modern stagger” or with “Non-staggered poles”. Duncan 5-2 product is an interesting idea because it uses stronger alnico 5 magnets for the wound strings, but I don’t think they offer it with Non-staggered poles that I prefer.

 

[Strat Avenger]

Alot of listeners besides me, of this video's demos hear a difference btw the different fretboard woods.

While not everyone hears a difference, that doesn't mean it's not there. Not everyone has the same hearing sensivity and/or critical listening skills.

The takeaway is: there is no problem if you don't hear a difference. That gives you an advantage in a way, because you don't have to be worried about being disappointed in a choice of fretboard wood because of its tone. But don't keep equating "you don't hear it" with "there is no tonal difference." That's just not true based on numerous people saying they hear a difference. Instead, just work on being humble as a virtue (like we all should) and say "I don't hear a difference" and leave it at that.

I've seen that video, and it's bogus because there was no control used in the experiment. You could try 5 different maple/maple necks and get 2 or 3 different tones, because........it's wood. That thin slab of rosewood that the frets are anchored to is having zero effect on the frequencies that an electric guitar produces. The pickups are not "hearing" that thin slab or veneer.
It's a bunch of nonsense that has been debunked a long time ago. It's a bunch of marketing terms like "warm" and "bright".

 

[rockandroller]

I tend to agree with StratAvenger on this one... because unless the fretboard is balsawood or Lignum Vitae, it's not going to have an "appreciatively" noticeable contribution to the guitar's "toan"


Why? because "the wood" acts as a kind of "subtractive filter" absorbing various parts of the "harmonic signature" vibrations of the strings - and In The Grrrande Scheme of Things, the percentage of that overall filtering 'contributed by said fretboard' is relatively PUNY, compared to the relative mass and "modulus of elasticity / moisture content / viscoelasticity / anatomical structure" of the neck wood, the body wood - plus all the various metal and plastic components that work together to absorb the string vibrations by dint of their unique frequency-selective inertias... their "negative entropy", to utilize a fashionable phrase!!

 

[supertruper1988]

I tend to agree with StratAvenger on this one... because unless the fretboard is balsawood or Lignum Vitae, it's not going to have an "appreciatively" noticeable contribution to the guitar's "toan"


Why? because "the wood" acts as a kind of "subtractive filter" absorbing various parts of the "harmonic signature" vibrations of the strings - and In The Grrrande Scheme of Things, the percentage of that overall filtering 'contributed by said fretboard' is relatively PUNY, compared to the relative mass and "modulus of elasticity / moisture content / viscoelasticity / anatomical structure" of the neck wood, the body wood - plus all the various metal and plastic components that work together to absorb the string vibrations by dint of their unique frequency-selective inertias... their "negative entropy", to utilize a fashionable phrase!!

Im not debating that it is a big part of the tone. It is a part of the instrument and in the thousands of guitars I have played and the handful I have done actual recorded comparisons on, rosewood, in general will have a softer attack which leads to terms like "warm" compared to maple or ebony fretboards.

Could I hear a rosewood board on a record? Heck no, but I can feel the difference in the attack when I am playing one.

 

[PFDarkside]

Yngwie Malmsteen's Like an Angel and Philip Sayce's Save Me from Myself.

If you can swing it, a set of Duncan Antiquity Surfers would be awesome.

 

[JohnnyHardtail]

Since you are a rock and metal player, I'm a bit surprised you want a single coil at the bridge pickup. My suggestion is to put some kind of hum-cancelling single coil sized pickup in the bridge position and vintage single coils in neck and middle. The single coil pickups I would chooose are Suhr V63 Neck and Middle. One reason I choose Suhr pickups is the modern stagger pattern which works with most fretboard radius. For the bridge pickup my preference is for the Dimarzio ones.

I would put any of the following in the bridge position:
Dimarzio DP181 Fast track 1
Dimarzio DP187 Cruiser Bridge
Dimarzio DP117 HS-3 Alnico-5 stacked pickup.

The DP181 is basically like a humbucker when used with 250k pots in a strat. So it will be a little bit EVH style if you have enough gain.
DP187, IMO is like vintage humbucker with scooped tone, or a fat single coil bridge pickup. DP117 is YJM bridge pickup, but I believe he disconnects the tone pot from the pickup when using it in hum-cancelling mode, so there is no tone control on the bridge pickup.

You can also wire the HS117 permenantly coil-split which makes it a good match with the single coil middle pickup in notch position. In that case you need to put the Suhr V63 neck pickup into middle position and V63 middle pickup in the neck slot to ensure hum cancelling ( HS-3 has south magnetic polarity). Also swap the HS117 phase by wiring White+Bare wires to ground, Black wire to the input on blade switch, Red+Green to your coil-split toggle switch if you have one.

 

[Strat Avenger]

Or...you could.........nevermind.