Pickup recomendation for alder body??

[53Crëw]

What do you guys suggest for a pickup in an alder body guitar? It's got a maple neck with pau ferro fretboard (similar sound to ebony).

Right now I've got a JB in there, but it seems too harsh or brittle..... with too much emphasis on the mids....

Thanks.

 

[JBroll]

Ok, that's not right - the JB has scooped mids so we've somewhat of a problem here.

Body size would be helpful, too - if it's Ibanez-thickness, I'd say 85, Dimarzio D Sonic, Dimarzio Dual Sound (Super Distortion, which is basically a PAF with twice the output, and it includes a DPDT switch for coil splitting), or Seymour Duncan Full Shred. If it's LP-thickness, drop the Dual Sound from that list and add the Dimarzio Tone Zone.

Jeff

 

[Nebulous]

What do you guys suggest for a pickup in an alder body guitar? It's got a maple neck with pau ferro fretboard (similar sound to ebony).

Right now I've got a JB in there, but it seems too harsh or brittle..... with too much emphasis on the mids....

Thanks.

From my experiance, that's the tone you will get from an alder bodied guitar. Unless it's a high end ax with REALLY top quallity alder, you're not gona get a nice tone from it (IMHO).
I'm basing my comments and opinion on owning a Jackson PS2 and having played a few other Jacksons with alder, raging from cheap ones to the nicest Soloist. The Soloist and higher end USA Jacksons have a nice tone, but they still have that mid tonality.
If you wana get past this without buying a new ax, I'd suggest finding the most scooped high gain pickup you can find, then dial your mids on the amp to taste.

 

[JBroll]

The Steve's Special by Dimarzio is less trebly and more bassy, but still pretty scooped. I suppose an 81 wouldn't be murder if you are looking for less mids, but my solution to an alder body generally involves removing the alder body and getting something made of mahogany instead.

Jeff

 

[53Crëw]

It's a custom strat.....

What are most people using? Mahogany? Does a Mahogany strat with maple/ebony neck work? Or would I need to pick a guitar with a neck-thru design (Les Paul, Explorer, Schecter C1, etc.)

Thanks.

 

[LSD-Studio]

I've had the same problem with the JB...cool for mahogany but sucks major balls with alder.
among others I have 3 alder-bodied axes (Jackson SL-1, ESP MI custom and a customshop ESP MII DLX) I'm playing EMG81 in those and am pretty satisfied with that. with mahogany you won't get the "bite" you've got with alder---neither is better, it's just a matter of taste if you like that low punch more go with mahogany, if you prefer biting growl go with alder.
Mahogany gives more "wall of sound" and alder cuts thru better in the mix.
I personally learned to love swamp-ash guitars (the good ones), they have little mids extrem punch (similar to mahogany) but way more clarity and definition...somehow like best of both worlds.
I wouldn't say alder sucks for metal...of course it's easier to get a creamy liquid tone with mahogany but alder also has some qualities that aren't bad.most signaturegutars are made of alder or mahogany I'd say the majority of Jacksons and ESPs (at least the superstrats and rhoads models etc) are made of alder and that are the typical metal guitars, so alder cant be that bad huh?
just have a look at the signaturemodels and see what pups they use


this might be a good read:

http://ultimate-guitar.com/columns/the_guide_to/ultimate_guitar_guide_tone_woods.html

so is this:

http://www.jemsite.com/jem/wood.htm

you could try that one, too.
the pup recommendation together with their tonechart should give you a ruff overview what to look for with a pup

 

[NickL]

EMG 81s rock in alder, they sound nearly identical to an 81 in mahogany

 

[LSD-Studio]

EMG 81s rock in alder

true!

they sound nearly identical to an 81 in mahogany

no, not even remotely!

 

[JeffTD]

Yeah, the 81's sound completely different in mahogany, but still sound badass nonetheless.


And yeah, the JB is middy. It has a huge high-mid spike to it.

 

[Nebulous]

Yeah, the 81's sound completely different in mahogany, but still sound badass nonetheless.


And yeah, the JB is middy. It has a huge high-mid spike to it.

But does have a lack of muddy mids, doesn't it?

 

[53Crëw]

Good comments, guys.....

Yeah, to me this guitar has a strong, in-your-face mid punch, but also seems to lack thickness when it comes to leads.

I suppose I'd like it sound sound thicker and have more harmonics on top, but lose some of the mid to upper mid punch.

I haven't tried EMG's for at least 10 years. I think the last set I had was an 85 in the bridge and an SA in the neck. I'm trying to remember the difference between the 81 and the 85........ I'll have to go check out their website.

Thanks,
-Steve

 

[JBroll]

81 is more scooped, 85 is more middy - if you're going for low-mid chunk, I'd say 85 over 81; if you have too much midrange, period, go 81.

Jeff