software

Forgive a dumb question...I'm trying to decide on replacement pickups but I have a basic question. Would you consider a mahogany/maple cap body with a bolt on maple / rosewood neck to be a balanced sounding guitar? It has a fixed bridge..a wrap around tune-o-matic / stop tail piece all in one type thing.

I know that every guitar will sound different..even with the same woods but I need a point of reference to begin from....an all mahogany body/neck would be on the darker side right? A maple body/neck would be bright? So I assume that my guitar would lie somewhere in the middle? What are the tonal tendencies of a set up like this....so I know which way to go pick-up wise.

Thanks.

Scott-
I'm facing exactly this delima right now and hate to say it depends on the wood- One factor you left out is scale as 25.5 will be brighter.

If you are going 25.5, per warmoth, I am betting that you will have a slightly bright gtr based on the maple cap- My project is all mahognay body, but I have a maple Fboard so I also expect it will end up slightly bright as well-

But at the rate I'm going it will be spring before I can wire up, so let me know what you find out in between
Cheers

Thanks for the response zionstrat. Yea I did leave out that it's a 25.5 scale. It looks as though in may be on the bright side overall....I'm assuming that lends itself to better definition? Maybe more attack? If this is so I could afford to go after a pickup with a more pronounced low end.

The only first hand experience I have is with a fixed bridge basswood guitar and a neckthrough floyd /poplar wings guitar...

Anyway...good luck with your project and I'll let you know how this works out.
Any other responces?

String it up and play it unplugged. It doesn't seem like such good advice, but it will give you a good idea of what to put into your axe.

Right on Benjy- PLanning to string it up before I order pups- And if an axe doesn't sound and feel good unplugged, I can never get it into the ballpark with mods-

Also this is the main reason I'm going with SD- THere's a very good chance I will need to swap out to make this work.

Scott, yep bolts and 25.5 tend to give more of the fast attack thing in my experience- I'm ok with that on my project, but hoping I have enough mahogney mass and dark enough pups to keep the sound balanced-

Looking forward to hearing more-

Zion, if you find you need more push in the lows and low mids, try a Fat Finger from Groove Tubes. It worked wonders on my Carvin with a 6 in line headstock.

Cool guys...thanks for the advise. Good point on playing unplugged..I'll pay attention tonight. I'm sure it will be on the bright side....that's cool though, I like a good attack and I can always find a pickup to match.