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Strat pickups for most "universal" tone! Help me out!

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guitarman0309

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Yo!

So I'm trying to decide between these two loaded pickguards. I absolutely love Gilmour tone, but I would like to be able to play a very VERY wide variety of tones for all occasions.

A) https://www.emgpickups.com/products/category/11/1

B) http://www.musiciansfriend.com/accessories/lace-30th-anniversary-hot-gold-sensors-loaded-pickguard

I realize that the DG20s would have the most "Gilmour-ish" tone, but is it good for everything?

All help is appreciated!

Thanks!
 
I have a set of SA's (not the loaded pg) and a set of hot golds. The hot golds are probably more versatile but I prefer the SA's. Without Gilmour's rig, the SA's are more versatile than his chain limits them to be.
 
The DG 20 set is very versatile. You just really need to figure out the controls. Probably the most versatile set out there. You can get excellent humbucker tone, chimey Strat tone, classic quack and everything inbetween. I had it in a Strat with a Fishman Powerbridge. That guitar was awesome. Truely a swiss army knife.
 
I have essentially the same thing minus the EXG. A strat is already pretty versatile with three pickups, plus your fingers and amp. The SPC adds more options, and the EXG adds more still.  Not that I think my sound sounds much like Gilmour at all, but there are worse things than being doomed to sound like him, even if that were the case.
 
I think really if you're looking for Gilmour tone plus versatility you should go for something more similar to his black strat setup - two vintage style single coils and a hotter one in the bridge. Using Duncans it'd be SSL-2 in the neck and middle, and SSL-6 in the bridge.

He very rarely uses the EMGs these days.
 
Seems like that would be more of a step backwards. That setup is used to get what is known as " Gilmore" tone. Those newer signature guitars with those pups are trying to conjure the black Strat from the early recordings. EMG's weren't even around back then. I take it that versatility is priority while still being able get a close to vintage sound. Going straight for vintage seems to be the wrong direction. Again though, any way you slice it a strat is already pretty versatile. Put a nice chunky humbucker in the bridge with a couple of chimey and thumpy singles and what more do ya need?
 
pabloman said:
Those newer signature guitars with those pups are trying to conjure the black Strat from the early recordings.
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The Fender Gimour signature guitars? They're simply based on the black Strat as it exists today, which is different from how it was on early albums. They're not trying to create a tone from recordings, they're just meant to be a guitar exactly like his current guitar.
 
I already have one Strat, and, of course, being the hardcore Floyd Fan I am, it had to be a Black Strat replica. Sounds identical. Has two Fender Custom Shops in neck and middle (I think it's a Fat 50's in the neck and a '69 in the middle), and a Seymour Duncan SSL-5 in the bridge. Has the little two way switch to turn on neck pickup. Sounds great. This'll be my second Strat. Just want something that'll be great for everything. I mean if I need that vintage Gilmour tone, I have it. I just want something that will have that plus the capability to play several genres, just to make it more efficient and personalized.
 
guitarman0309 said:
I already have one Strat, and, of course, being the hardcore Floyd Fan I am, it had to be a Black Strat replica. Sounds identical. Has two Fender Custom Shops in neck and middle (I think it's a Fat 50's in the neck and a '69 in the middle), and a Seymour Duncan SSL-5 in the bridge. Has the little two way switch to turn on neck pickup. Sounds great. This'll be my second Strat. Just want something that'll be great for everything. I mean if I need that vintage Gilmour tone, I have it. I just want something that will have that plus the capability to play several genres, just to make it more efficient and personalized.
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You remind me of one of my brothers - always in search of the Holy Grail of guitars/amps. Wants one guitar and one amp with few controls/effects to do everything from Al DiMeola to Tony Iommi, and perfectly. Not sure how many of each he has now <grin>

It's somewhere between tough and impossible to get there from here, but lord knows we've tried.

What seems to be the most versatile is a Hot Rails in the bridge slot, and who knows what in the middle/neck slots. Personally, I like the GFS Tru-Coils for those two spots. They're not completely noiseless, but they're a lot more quiet than a real single coil while still sounding like one. They come in various windings so you can pick how hot you wanna be.

Don't be fooled by the low price on those GFS parts. I'd take those over Lollars/Kinmans/Bareknuckles any day. Pickups are just a coil or two of wire with some pole pieces and a magnet - don't let anybody kid you. Anybody with a $100 winder can make them in their basement. Imagine what a factory with an automation budget in a country fulla political prisoners who'll work for $2/day can do <grin>

You don't think Seymour Duncan, Gibson, Fender, DiMarzio, et al makes all their pickups using $40/hr labor in some butterfly-filled sun-dappled rose garden in Pasadena, do you? LOL!
 
Lol! Regardless, Fender Custom Shop and Gibson pups still sound beautiful! But I already built a Warmoth tele (I really am looking for the holy grail of guitars, lol). It has a SSH rout (strat neck, humbucker bridge). Little '59 in the neck, Alnico Five Two in the middle, and Pearly Gates in the bridge. Push pull pots in neck and bridge, five way switch, and Gilmour style two way that activates neck pickup. Sounds good, but can be a little too bright at times. I've decided that for this project, I'll be just getting a prewired pickguard, because its faster and it will be done right. At this point, I'm leaning toward the EMGs.
 
guitarman0309 said:
Lol! Regardless, Fender Custom Shop and Gibson pups still sound beautiful! But I already built a Warmoth tele (I really am looking for the holy grail of guitars, lol). It has a SSH rout (strat neck, humbucker bridge). Little '59 in the neck, Alnico Five Two in the middle, and Pearly Gates in the bridge. Push pull pots in neck and bridge, five way switch, and Gilmour style two way that activates neck pickup. Sounds good, but can be a little too bright at times. I've decided that for this project, I'll be just getting a prewired pickguard, because its faster and it will be done right. At this point, I'm leaning toward the EMGs.
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I don't mean to disparage Gibson, Fender, Lollar or whoever. They all make very nice stuff that sounds great. It's not like it was in the '60s and '70s when it was pretty easy to get pickups that sounded so shitty you couldn't wait to swap them out. Between those and junk tuners, they fostered entire industries. These days, it's tough to get a pickup that doesn't sound great.

My primary complaint with the "boutique" makers is what they charge, and why. You're mainly paying for adjectives that they've paid some marketing weenie a bajillion dollars to come up with. They read like wine connoisseur reviews. The devices themselves are (or should be) pretty inexpensive, as there isn't much to them. For as simple as they are it's surprising how different they can sound, but the basic device is puppy chow.

David Gilmour sounds like David Gilmour because he's David Gilmour. I could hand him any one of my guitars and he'd sound very much like David Gilmour. He doesn't need his black Strat. He just needs a guitar. Same with anybody else with a famous sound. If I were to drag him, Joe Satriani, Eric Johnson, Richie Blackmore and Robin Trower down into Clinton Caverns and gave each one of them the same guitar one after another, you'd think they all brought their own instruments. I hate to say "it's all in the fingers", as if gear doesn't matter, but there's a great deal of truth to that. Talk to any studio owner for some eye-opening experiences with different musicians on the same gear..
 
I tend to agree with Cagey on the large brand pickups.  They are factory made, and they make them fast and cheap.  The prices on Seymour Duncan pickups turned me off of those, and I had a really bad set of DiMarzios waaaaay back when in a tele, so I tend not to look there either.  I however, do like Ken's pickups, or Roadhouse Pickups.  He is a member on the board, makes prewired pick guards, and does something slightly different in the winding process than the rest.  I don't know what, but you can hear it, it is an odd increase in the amount of depth.  They are Strat pickups, and not designed to be swiss army knives, so that might dismiss them from the conversation.  It is nice that you can talk to Ken and ask for pickups aimed at a certain sound.

Beyond that, the GFS pickups are cheap enough that you can try a bunch out for very little risk.  As inferred above, they are high enough quality that you are not wasting money, and cheap enough that you can play around quite a bit.  If you have to get a prewired pick guard, you might be limiting your search.  Still, it sounds as if you are leaning towards the EMG's.  I have never had any luck with those, but like was mentioned, it is in the fingers.  And apparently my fingers just don't want to cooperate with EMG's...
Patrick

 
guitarman0309 said:
Dumb question, but how about jazz?
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How about it? Turn the volume knob down to about 7 or 8, and the tone control down to about 5, and you're there. Jazz is all about accuracy and complexity. You don't wanna beat your amp up to change the character of your playing or your guitar's sound. You want to present detailed musical constructions that make people nod their heads knowingly and refill their wine glasses.
 
Ok. I just want a guitar that I can use for everything. Just needed some pickup suggestions. Turned from EMG vs Lace Sensor to "look at how cool these EMGs are". Think I've made my decision! Thanks! :) :icon_thumright:
 
A Dimarzio "Injector" at the bridge and "Area 67" at the middle and neck.

Of course that's not what Gilmour is using, but the sound is awesome and it's what I would use.
 
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