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I need some new pickups. My style is pop/rock/country, thing artists from Faith Hill, Tim Mcgraw, Kelly Clarkson kind of stuff. I play a Gamp;L Legacy Special. I would also like the kneck pickup to be able to somewhat FAKE a jazzy tone.

I need a somewhat brightish tone, thats warm and versatile. Im either going hum/sing/sing, or hum/sing/hum. What are your thoughts on configurations? I would also like the bridge humbucker to split.

Please recommend a pickup configuration, and the pickups you would recommend?

Thanks,

Ty

I'm not partial to HSH setups, so I'll go with HSS. For that, get a pair of APS-2's for the neck and mid and a Custom Custom for the bridge. If you want some more chime and bite, get a pair of SSL-2's and a C5.

Jazz Bridge and 2 Surfers. A Jazz bridge, you say? Yes. Seymour made the pickup, and even he suggests it in HSS. After wrangling with my HSS strat, I finally stumbled on that combo, and it sounds like it's exactly what you need for the artists you mentioned. Do a search for Jazz, and you'll see a lot of input about it.

PEARLY GATES BABY! For HSH. Both Gates.

For the single... STKS1... added output, but not humbucker lol

For HSS.... two STKS1... jus stacked singles. I dont think stacked singles are hot anyway. Im used to buckers, a lil more balls cant hurt


Originally Posted by GearjoneserJazz Bridge and 2 Surfers. A Jazz bridge, you say? Yes. Seymour made the pickup, and even he suggests it in HSS. After wrangling with my HSS strat, I finally stumbled on that combo, and it sounds like it's exactly what you need for the artists you mentioned. Do a search for Jazz, and you'll see a lot of input about it.

So jazz in the bridge eh, hmmm probably just a warmer, darker tone . . . . would you use 250k or 500k pots on these suckers?

Ty

Actually, the Jazz is a punchy glassy sounding pickup that is really open and natural sounding....it'll do country to metal. I said Surfers because they're the best A5 single coils made by Duncan. They make a strat just beautiful sounding, and if you want a darker jazzier sound out of the neck sometimes, just roll back your tone. Same with the Jazz bridge. It's output really sounds appropriate next to single coils, and if you want a snappy sounding humbucker, keep the tone up to 10. If you want it to sound more like a 59 or Custom 5, just roll the tone back to 7 or 8. Because all those pickups retain so much clarity, you can really do a lot with your volume and tone control, whereas other hotter pickups get murkier when you roll knobs back.

I think that Duncan will special order Tremspaced for Jazz's now, but I have a regular one in my strat, and the poles line up pretty good anyway.

hmmmm, the only thing that would concern me is the quot;glassyquot; sound, its not verging on brittle at all is it?

would the jazz gain up well, and still have a defined, warmish tone to it?

I'm 55, and I do all kinds of music and I own 32 guitars--and the Legacy Special (LS) is my favorite! It's THE ONE guitar that I would NEVER change out the pickups on!

One cool thing about the Gamp;L line is that if you like the Legacy design, you can have your Legacy flavored with the vintage alnico single coils (Legacy), S-S-H (Legacy HB), Legacy 2HB, or the LS with Gotoh Blade humbuckers. And then there is the S-500 (with Leo's high output MFD pickups), and the Comanche (with the MFD Z-coils). That's a lot of different models with the same basic layout, differing only in pickups.

The Legacy has that vintage alnico tone. The high-output S-500's MFDs have a very agressive single coil tone--I love these for Texas Blues and hard rock. The Z-coils are totally quiet, and sound very close to the S-500s single coils. Both are very wide-range pickups--they can sound quot;hi-fiquot;, or quot;sterilequot; or quot;edgyquot;. They will demand the very best from your equipment--if you have bad tube in your rig--these guitars will mercilessly expose it! Some folks think of them as an quot;acquired tastequot;--you may need to re-think some of your tone settings--but if you are patient, you will be rewarded with GREAT TONE!

So, where does the LS fit in? I can't live without a Legacy--about 60% of the stuff that I do is a Legacy. That bright alnico sound works for Classic Rock, Country, Blues, Oldies. But I have to have a 2HB guitar, too, for certain jazzy or bluesy things or rock songs like Cream's quot;Crossroadsquot; or Santana's quot;Black Magic Womanquot;. So I drag a Les Paul or 335-type along, and the LS.

I really would NOT want to do a four hour gig with a Les Paul--I'm a Strat/Legacy guy. And one of my rules about gigging is, quot;Always have a backup!quot; That backup is going to be a Legacy-bodied guitar, then. But, the LS can backup BOTH guitars!

The LS has PTB, for Passive Treble and Bass tone controls, and it's great. PTB gives more control over your tone than the vintage strat controls, with GLOBAL Treble and Bass. On the guitar, I quot;normalquot; the volume knob at about 7-8, with the PTB T=10, and the B=5 for a nice thick tone. The Gotohs definitely have a HB flavor to them, but due to the narrow aperture and the blades, they retain good definition. There's still quack in positon 2 and 4. If I just want to punch up a solo, I add a little more Bass. For Clapton or Santana quot;woman tonequot;, I just switch to the neck pickup, and roll the treble back to T=5. The middle position is great for thick Fusion leads at this setting.

And if I need something a little more vintage sounding, I roll the treble back up to T-10, and the bass to 0-2--THEN, I lower my guitar volume to 5-6. It won't get totally to alnico territory, but it will get very close. For songs where I want a hard rockin' tone like a Les Paul, AND a vibrato--yep, the LS does that very well, indeed. The bridge pickup is a Gotoh Power Blade, and it rocks.

Of all the wonderful guitars that I have, and I am really blessed right now, believe me--the LS would be the last one out the door. I don't buy into the theory of ONE guitar that can do it all--that guitar just doesn't exist--at least not for me. But I can tell you that I have done entire gigs with JUST a Legacy Special and not picked up either Legacy or Les Paul. And from me, being a total gear head, that's a solid testimonial.

BTW, I think one of the guys in Tim McGraw's band is using a LS--I saw him with a green one on a TV Special late last year, I think.

The Gotoh Blades are great pickups, and there's really nothing else on the market that sounds like them. And I would seriously think twice before changing them. For the kinds of things you are doing, I can't think of a better guitar to use. For more tips, go to www.guitarsbyleo.com.

Bill

nice write up bill - welcome to the SDUG forum

to muddy the waters a bit further, i'll toss a vote towards an H-S-H with an AIIP(n) - Cool Rails (m) - 4 wire '59 (b) .. wire em for splittable with a minitoggle or push/pull ... plenty of versatility ... the AIIP will MORE than fake a jazzy tone, trust me ...

t4d