Suggest pickups for unusual guitar woods !

[ziko]

I really need your help because I'm up for a big one.

I bought a Warmoth ,Quartersawn WEDGE ?!?! with Ebony fingerboard , neck for a guitar project I was planning .
I thought that a mahogany body was going to fit tonally really well  BUT a friend of mine is offering me a WALNUT warmoth body.
The body is routed for a locking tremolo and toprouted.

Do you think that these two are going to get along well ???
I'm afraid that is going to be really annoyingly bright .

What humbucker  pups should i choose for neck and bridge ?  I play mostly 80's metal but I want some good fat cleans from the neck pup.

I was thinking about dimarzio breeds and air norton . Am I on the right track ?

 

[AutoBat]

I think Wenge/Ebony would be great with Walnut or Mahogany.

I'd stuff some DiMarzio Evolutions in it or some EMG 81/85s if you want actives.

 

[ziko]

Thanks man for the response .
If  I can't find some really good and matching passive pickups , I'm gonna install actives (as a last resort)

Don't you think that evolutions are going to make the sound too icepicky ?

 

[rockskate4x]

The Wenge will counter any icepickiness that the evolutions might cause. I doubt they'd cause any though, because after listening to vai, who mostly uses all maple necks with his evolution equipped guitars, he doesn't really sound icepicky. Wenge w/ ebony fretboard has been successfully matched with mahogany/korina type wood many times, but walnut should also work nicely because of it's contrast with the wenge.

 

[Maltozombie]

The Wenge will counter any icepickiness that the evolutions might cause. I doubt they'd cause any though, because after listening to vai, who mostly uses all maple necks with his evolution equipped guitars, he doesn't really sound icepicky. Wenge w/ ebony fretboard has been successfully matched with mahogany/korina type wood many times, but walnut should also work nicely because of it's contrast with the wenge.

actually vai's signature models have (5 piece?) maple/walnut necks if i'm not mistaken, i know it's the body you're talking about and not the neck but if he's using walnut i think it must be a good wood for the evolutions, and besides you can always dial back the brightness on your amp if it still feels a little to sharp for your taste

 

[Cagey]

I bought a Warmoth ,Quartersawn WEDGE ?!?! with Ebony fingerboard , neck for a guitar project I was planning .
I thought that a mahogany body was going to fit tonally really well  BUT a friend of mine is offering me a WALNUT warmoth body.
The body is routed for a locking tremolo and toprouted.

Do you think that these two are going to get along well ???
I'm afraid that is going to be really annoyingly bright .

What humbucker  pups should i choose for neck and bridge ?  I play mostly 80's metal but I want some good fat cleans from the neck pup.

I wouldn't worry about the wood matchup quite so much. If you can get a good deal on the walnut body, you might want to jump on it. That would be a gorgeous guitar, and quite unique.

I agonized over the combinations of wood/metal/construction/electronics on my last build, wondering what the various matchups would sound like vs. the pickups I'd need to get a nice tone. Turned out I worried for nothing. While I'm sure my choices all had subtle influences, in the end I still sound like me. But, if I had to point at any one thing that made the most dramatic difference in how things sounded, it would be the pickups and their proximity to the strings (height).

Not to discount any of the other influences at all - there's certainly something to be said for one wood vs. another - but it's also impossible to predict. Everybody's heard the stories of "the one that got away" - that magical guitar that just "spoke to them". I've experienced it myself. Alder is not alder, swamp ash is not swamp ash, mahogany is not mahogany. You can take 10 strats with the same neck/fingerboard/body woods, the same pickups, strings, amp, and come up with 10 different characteristic sounds. There are just too many variables involved. Wood density, grain, finish, construction techique, how much beer you drank last night, on and on. You can't really control it as well as you'd like to.

If it were me and I had to outfit the guitar you're contemplating with pickups, I'd go for something moderate all the way around. That is, not too high or low output, not too bright or dark, and I think noiseless. Something like some Dimarzio Area 58 or Area 61s, or perhaps some Seymour Duncan Vintage Hot Blues 2. Very toneful parts, without any serious predilection. See how that sounds. Worst thing that can happen is you use them for a month, decide they're not you, put them on eBay for $10-$15 off what you paid, and try something else. It's really the only way to know, because as I said, there are just too many variables. Nothing anybody claims is going to work out, because even if they have the exact same build you do it's unlikely to respond the same way, and it's unlikely they play the same way you do.

So... good luck <grin>

 

[dNA]

mmmm. Air Norton in the neck of that guitar will sound beautiful. i highly recommend a series/parallel switch. I found that pickup sounds amazing for cleans in parallel mode.

for the bridge, I found the Breed to be too midrangey and nasal in a similarly bright guitar. But i'm not much of a fan of 80's metal, and that's a distinct sound - it might actually be just what you want.
Otherwise I think the Air Zone or the Norton (not Air Norton) would both be good choices, just depending on what you're into.

obviously, i'm a Dimarzio fan. They have a 30 day exchange policy, so you get something and don't like it, you can trade it in for any model of the same price no questions asked. And their support is really good in helping you find out what you need - so you can say exactly what was missing from the pickup that you have, and they can point you in the right direction from there.