pickups for a guitar with dead sounding wood?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Capulin Overdrive
  • Start date Start date
damn :confused: didn't know i wasn't allowed to post and go back to work for awhile!



allright, the guitar is the new FX-400 LTD, i'll try and post a pic.


anyways, the damned thing has EMG 81 & 60 pickups, mahogany body and neck, rosewood board.


got it because i'm gradually going to all Explorer shaped guitars with natural finishes. i'm not an EMG fan by any means, but they sound good with wireless and intended for this guitar to be left at a drop tuning, so figured the EMG's would be allright for that.


only thing out of the ordinary for me, is that it's got 11-49's on it. i've tried it at E and down 1 1/2, put in a new battery.


i'm just thinking the wood just doesn't have IT? can tap on the wood, neck or body, and it just sounds hollow.


gonna try some 10's or maybe even 9's and see what it does, but not looking good.


as for all the stuff about playing unplugged and needing to sound good that way, i guess i pretty much agree, but have noticed that there can be exceptions to that with guitars strung up with 9's.



and i guess lesson learned for not trying it out first, i've had good luck with cheapish guitars and also have a damned good sounding LTD, so didn't think i was sticking my neck out to far on it.
 
i've kinda found the LTD's to be hit and miss soundwise, altho all the ones i've had played really good

did you get one of the new spalted top ones?
 
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cobrahead1030":41b24 said:
i've kinda found the LTD's to be hit and miss soundwise, altho all the ones i've had played really good

did you get one of the new spalted top ones?
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yep, got the spalted!


it plays nice, just not digging the sound. suppose leads are allright, and kindda allright on the bass. just really dead on the 3rd and 4th strings.


don't ever remember this happening with any other guitars, maybe it has and i didn't notice? but when i restrung it with 10's, after i chopped off the old strings and started going back with the new ones, i figured out that the neck really flattened out without string tension or even back bowed.

i usually put on the E strings first and then alternantly work my way to the middle of the board. when i put on the high E and kindda picked it to get an idea of how tight it was, figured out it was fretted out pretty much the full length of the board?

as soon as i got all the strings on and tightened up, the action was right back about where it should be.


anyways the 10's didn't sound any better.

i'm in so deep on the thing, thinking i probably might as well try some passives with it. maybe i'll get lucky and get it good enough to keep around?
 
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JamesPeters":75f68 said:
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If you think an electric guitar doesn't require good acoustic properties to sound good...well I guess ignorance is bliss. Go on and buy any guitar based on its looks and not its sound, and hope that whatever electronics it has is enough to overcome its shitty acoustics. Give it 10 years or so and you'll learn just how wrong you are. :)

For that matter, the cost or name brand of the guitar has little to do with it as long as the cuts of wood happen to sound good. Chances are you can cherry pick a guitar from 30 of the same model, one which happens to sound far better than the rest, even if that model costs $300. I've proven this many times.
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and id back you up with 30 + years of playing behind it
you can tell the differnce in a whole line of the same make and Model guitars :doh:
 
im also im the Mood for a LTD EC 100 Deluxe
which i found i liked even more then some of my other guitars i have
but ive yet to give it the Rack test
because ive still not sold my full stack :aww:

http://www.carlinoguitars.com/images/IMG_0020esp_2_ec500stbcbody.jpg
 
Since you have EMGs in it already, try an 85 in the bridge and do the 18 volt mod. That should make it sound a little fuller.

My friend and I were looking at seven strings at gc since he was looking to get one. The one that had us sold was the schecter hellrasier. It was all mahogany with rosewood fingerboard and a string thru bridge. It was equipped with EMG 707s. The six string equivilent would be the 85s since they are both alnico.

JBs sound nice too in the right guitars. My schecter blackjack sounds sweet and full. Its a mahogany body, maple neck, string thru stoptail, and rosewood fingerboard. It sounds thick and organic through my Engl savage 120 which a lot of people say is a thin and sterile sounding amp.
 
the 85 might be worth a try?


damn sure make for an easy switch.
 
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SHAWN":cda63 said:
that must be it. i have only got exp. playing clubs from austin to jacksonville. mmmmmmmmmmmm wierd :D
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With all that experience, I'd have figured you wouldn't be so ignorant on a thought as rudimentary as "the wood of a guitar strongly affects its sound". :thumbsdown:

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SHAWN":cda63 said:
ok one last time my slow little friends. all i am/was saying is that the amp is more IMPORTANT than the guitar being played.
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Lol! You'll find at least 50% of the people here will disagree with you on that. And the backpedaling and insults don't help you any, so don't even bother.
 
that sucks to hear you're not diggin it man...i've never cared for that body style much, but those splated tops on the new ones are sexy

maybe take it in for a good setup and see if that helps? (not sure if you're good with that kinda thing on your own...i for one am not! haha)
 
yep, i don't really like the pointy shape of the EX's, but like the Spalted top. and i'm so used to playing Explorer shaped guitars, i can't hardly play a Strat. kindda like how some Strat guys that wear em high, bitch about the Explorers sticking out where there arm usually is. i play em low, and like how the Explorers are cut out down close to the bridge pup.



anyways, i went and jammed at a friends and got to hear it instead of play it, and it isn't as bad as i'd once thought. still a little dead on the 3rd and 4th. his amp is basically clean with a floorboard modellor, so it probably wasn't letting as much of the guitar come through?


hoping with a good setup, and an 85 it will get to be a keeper?
 
i dident like the EMG 60
that will get swapped for an 85 in the Neck and 81 in the Bridge
because i love this setup with KOA type Bodys and Necks

and i know these are diffent kind's of Wood
but to me they sound very similer tone wise so we each have our own Ears and each Setup will sound differnt through differnt Amps

so its a Matter of finding what works
best for your Gear and stick with it :thumbsup:
 
what kinda amp are you using?

one thing that makes my cobra difficult is that you reeeally gotta have the right sounding guitar with it, or it sounds weak

i've got guitars that sound fine with my mark III or 5150, but just don't cut it with the cobra
 
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cobrahead1030":35a72 said:
what kinda amp are you using?

one thing that makes my cobra difficult is that you reeeally gotta have the right sounding guitar with it, or it sounds weak

i've got guitars that sound fine with my mark III or 5150, but just don't cut it with the cobra
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my amps are Triple rec, Quickrod, and XXX 1x12. the guitar acts about the same with all of them.


friend's, it sounded better with was a Musicman with Tube power and solidstate preamp.


i looked on EMG's site last night, and they claim the 81 is brighter than the 85, so not sure if the 85 will do the trick?


gonna pull the strings again today and move the 60 to the bridge and see what that does. and also do my best on setup and intonation.
 
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SgtThump":0a951 said:
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Ralph/James,

FWIW, I know Shawn and have heard a few of his recordings. The dude knows tone, can play great and writes good rock tunes. So yeah, sounds just like a difference of opinion to me.

Some people believe the guitar is the most important part of tone, some thinks its the amp... Pretty common difference of opinion, if you ask me.
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Well there is nothing on this Earth that is going to convince me otherwise, since my experience comes from many years of trying many different guitars with many different pickups, and comparing them.

If he wants to believe he's right, that the guitar's wood doesn't matter, I cannot take him seriously about anything he says. I mean, I might as well buy a Kleenex box, put strings on it, and put in my favorite pickup. :) That makes no sense to me.
 
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JamesPeters":733ab said:
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I mean, I might as well buy a Kleenex box, put strings on it, and put in my favorite pickup. :) That makes no sense to me.
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But have you tried it? Hypocrite!
 
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JamesPeters":b76e8 said:
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I mean, I might as well buy a Kleenex box, put strings on it, and put in my favorite pickup. :) That makes no sense to me.
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It would if you were suffering from a cold and needed to blow your nose.
 
that sounds like what you do ya know the kleenex box. hell all i hear you talk about are emgs/ duncan distortion/ livewires. if that`s what you like so be it but you aint never heard the wood on any guitar if that`s the case. and quit trying to be such an internet know it all cause some people have a different opinon than you.

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JamesPeters":474f5 said:
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Well there is nothing on this Earth that is going to convince me otherwise, since my experience comes from many years of trying many different guitars with many different pickups, and comparing them.

If he wants to believe he's right, that the guitar's wood doesn't matter, I cannot take him seriously about anything he says. I mean, I might as well buy a Kleenex box, put strings on it, and put in my favorite pickup. :) That makes no sense to me.
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