New to Floyd, Need a pickup.

  • Thread starter Thread starter skoora
  • Start date Start date
I second the DiMarzio Norton for just this.
And I wouldn't recommend the JB, unless you're planning to add a treble bleed circuit or a coil split switch. Otherwise it may end up just too mushy when played clean. The Norton is definitely more clearer with great harmonics and a good, tight low end.
The Duncan Custom 5 (SH-14) might actually be a better option than the JB, if you require something beefy with good top end.
 
Stumbled across an older Pete Thorn pickup shootout where they used a stripe series facsimile (made by a guy from somewhere). Granted it had an Ash body. Out of 23 pickups the 78 acquitted itself really well I thought. It was a VH deep dive but still showed what the pickups did.
I’m pretty sure I don’t want to go Ceramic because of the way they act with volume roll off and I don’t want to blow away the neck SC the guitar has with bridge output.
So far the 78 and Air Norton intrigue me a lot.

 
I would throw out any comparison video done with an ash guitar if you have a basswood bodied guitar. I think the stock EVH pickup sounds really cool in the following clip with a plexi style amp. What would you like to sound different than this clip?

 
Trade it for a guitar with a tune-o-matic.

Only mostly kidding

For floyd guitars I like the SH-14 and Bill Lawrence
 
Greazygeo said:
JB sounds awesome in my basswood RG570. Never would have thought…
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For a while the Antiquity JB intrigued me. I watched a while back a shootout between it, the 35th Anni and a current model. I actually liked the 35th Anni, the best but I dawdled and they disappeared. Definitely it and the Antiquity seemed to have a sweeter upper midrange and top end, not as spikey. Also a little less congested in the low end.
 
Chubtone said:
I would throw out any comparison video done with an ash guitar if you have a basswood bodied guitar. I think the stock EVH pickup sounds really cool in the following clip with a plexi style amp. What would you like to sound different than this clip?

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All I can go with is how it’s sounding with what I have. At first the meat and drive it has sounds good but then I feel like the low notes are smearing too much and low note, rock riffing doesn’t snap like my P.A.F. type loaded V. Or even the other V I have that has an older Super Distortion in it. But the SD has a serviceable but not great clean tone, when rolling back. The Frankie pickup also has a weird volume roll off response (might be the pot). It’s thick heavy, gets more muddy as you initially roll it down and then suddenly is a very clean, lean jangly sound in the lower volume area. It’s not a smooth transition.
I certainly don’t mean to make it seems like it’s shit. It’s not. Just trying to give decent insight into what I would want different. I’m going to measure the pickups I have (it’s not clear what they are). Maybe if one is in the 9-14 range, I’ll give it a go. But I will have to wait for the pickguard I’m going to try as the Frankie has a weird, double screw base plate that won’t work for 3rd party gear. Plus I need to figure out what length legs will work as the cavity is not that deep in the body.

I will say this…they must polish these frets very well because vibrato and bending is fucking butter.
 
Chubtone said:
I would throw out any comparison video done with an ash guitar if you have a basswood bodied guitar. I think the stock EVH pickup sounds really cool in the following clip with a plexi style amp. What would you like to sound different than this clip?

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But pickups don't work that way. I have 18 guitars, I can pretty much dial them all in to sound the same in a YT video. Well, not the acoustics
 
tallcoolone said:
But pickups don't work that way. I have 18 guitars, I can pretty much dial them all in to sound the same in a YT video. Well, not the acoustics
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In that Pete Thorn Video I posted, most of the pickups were so close. There was only one or two that stood out good and bad to me. The rest all sounded very similar. So much of it is how it responds in person.
 
skoora said:
In that Pete Thorn Video I posted, most of the pickups were so close. There was only one or two that stood out good and bad to me. The rest all sounded very similar. So much of it is how it responds in person.
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Yup—100%

IME in order of importance—tone wise. 1&2 and 3&4 are debatable:

Mic/placement/IR
Amp
Guitar
Speaker
Pickup
Strings
Preamp tubes
Power tubes
 
skoora said:
For a while the Antiquity JB intrigued me. I watched a while back a shootout between it, the 35th Anni and a current model. I actually liked the 35th Anni, the best but I dawdled and they disappeared. Definitely it and the Antiquity seemed to have a sweeter upper midrange and top end, not as spikey. Also a little less congested in the low end.
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Back in the 90’s the 570 I had at the time, used the Tone Zone and liked it. Tried it again and hated it. This 570 I recently got, thought I never tried a Duncan in an Ibanez, always Dimarzios. Had a JB in my Gunslinger and thought the Gunslinger needed an 81 in it 😆 and the JB was loose. Stuck it in the 570 and it sounds good. Most of my Duncans are pretty old, 80’s amd 90’s. On Duncan’s site are a bunch of sound bytes which could be helpful.
 
I have just one Floyd equipped guitar and things can get a bit "plinky" sounding, so I have swapped pickups may times hoping to offset that. Based on the OPs ask and some of the early feedback, Duncan 78 sure sounds like it fits the bill. I would also suggest the Pariah Pasadena White for a cheaper alternative to the latter.

For me personally, the best sounding bridge 'buckers in my guitar have been the Duncan Custom Custom, Duncan Custom (Ceramic) and what is currently in there now, a Pariah Pasadena Black.
 
johnny q said:
I have just one Floyd equipped guitar and things can get a bit "plinky" sounding, so I have swapped pickups may times hoping to offset that. Based on the OPs ask and some of the early feedback, Duncan 78 sure sounds like it fits the bill. I would also suggest the Pariah Pasadena White for a cheaper alternative to the latter.

For me personally, the best sounding bridge 'buckers in my guitar have been the Duncan Custom Custom, Duncan Custom (Ceramic) and what is currently in there now, a Pariah Pasadena Black.
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I wonder if the Black is good for a Floyd guitar as they say it’s a little darker than the white, in regards to the plinky artifacts. It seems spec wise the White is like a 78 and the Black a Duncan Custom Custom? What guitar do you have the Black in?
 
If you are worried the A-2 magnet in the 78 model is too soft with the basswood body maybe the Duncan Saturday Night Specials with alnico IV might be more your speed and it is still a higher output PAF in the 9K range 9.75K to be exact... a bit hotter wound than the 78 model but still a PAF.

 
Here's Seymour's write up on them...and they are priced reasonable........:2thumbsup:

https://www.seymourduncan.com/blog/...nounces-new-saturday-night-special-pickup-set



Saturday-Night-Special-set-Nickel_BEAUTY.jpg


Seymour Duncan Announces New Saturday Night Special Pickup Set​


Last Updated on January 29th, 2020




SANTA BARBARA, CA July 11,2016 – Seymour Duncan, a leading manufacturer of pickups and pedals, announces the Saturday Night Special, a new pickup set with alnico 4 magnets.

Unlike traditional humbuckers, the Saturday Night Special humbuckers are voiced to be a little hotter and fatter in the bridge position, and a little clearer and less “wooly” in the neck. They’re more aggressive than 50s-style models, but without the compression of most high gain pickups. These bridge the output level gap between vintage 50s and modern humbuckers, making this pickup set perfect for replicating those legendary late-70s arena rock tones.

“Alnico 4 has a generally flatter, more even frequency response compared to other magnets, with less cut in the high end and a sweeter overall tone compared to Alnico 5. It’s great for classic rock when you need a clean or semi-distorted tone with plenty of character.” says Max Gutnik, SVP of Products and CRO at Seymour Duncan.

The Saturday Night Special humbuckers come standard with four-conductor wiring for series/split/parallel configurations, has a maple spacer and metal cover, and is made with short mounting legs. Each pickup is wax-potted for squeal-free performance, and is made in Santa Barbara, California.
 
Speeddemon said:
Did you try it as a bridge pickup as well? I found it quite nice, but more for classic rock, hard rock stuff. Medium output, kinda middy, but open tone.


True, but not too extreme. And it splits so nice for clean tones.
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It was years ago that I tried the AN bridge but yeah I wasn’t a fan. A little choked to me—lacking dynamics compared to a good traditional overwound PAF. Not so with the Norton—I just ordered 2 more of them to try in an anemic HSS Strat and a Kauer Banshee.
 
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