CEB Posted October 9, 2016 Share Posted October 9, 2016 Here is my new guitar. So far it seems OK. I am tweaking the setup right now. As it is it sounds great clean but with moderate to high gain dirt not so much. It sags too much. The cure is simple, I lower the height on the Duncan Custom 5 in the bridge. This increases sustain and lowers the pickup volume which leads me to wonder .... Why do metal guys use these super hot pickups? One of my favorite rock bridge pickups in the bridge of a LP style guitar is the DiMarzio Tone Zone which is not that hot. My understanding is Satriani liked these also and it was the original basis for his DiMarzio Fred. I had a very hot X2N in a Japanese Strat in the 80s and I don't recall issues with sagging or spongy tone. Maybe is was the simpler dirt circuits I used back then. A lot of high gain players I like do use lower gain Humbuckers. http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y70/CEB2/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpsvpxz6ghf.jpeg "It doesn't have to be difficult to be cool" - Mitch Towne "A great musician can bring tears to your eyes!!! So can a auto Mechanic." - Stokes Hunt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larryz Posted October 9, 2016 Share Posted October 9, 2016 Congrats CEB! Sounds like you will be keeping this baby. I'll let the other pup adjusters with lots of experience give you advice on sagging hot/cold height adjustments, etc. on the SC's and the HB. One thing I would keep in mind if you plan to keep the original set up is you are going to be coil splitting that HB to an SC. Lowering the HB pup might cut the volume a little too much on the SC setting. The original designer hopefully took this into consideration when balancing the SC's and the HB in the stock settings... Take care, Larryz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jr. Deluxe Posted October 10, 2016 Share Posted October 10, 2016 My experience with high gain pu's is you sacrefice the woody tone for more output and more distortion/compression from the amp. If you play metal you dont want woody tone anyways but for blues and non modern rock , tone is king. I like dmarzios better than duncans. The super2's were pretty good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winston Psmith Posted October 11, 2016 Share Posted October 11, 2016 This increases sustain and lowers the pickup volume which leads me to wonder .... Why do metal guys use these super hot pickups? Pretty much as Baldwin says; more drive & compression going to your amp, even without a Boost or OD pedal in the way. Part of the reason for active pickups, as well. "Monsters are real, and Ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win." Stephen King http://www.novparolo.com https://thewinstonpsmithproject.bandcamp.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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