Uncovered pickups

[Twentythirdeye]

Hey everybody!

I was playing a friends guitar, a shecter c-something, with duncan design pickups, open coil. the guitar wasn't great. bolt on neck, poorish quality, but man was the sustain killer. i played it through my amp as well thinking that it might just be his amp but nope.

could open coil pickups give that much of a sustain boost? (not to mention the wonderful feedback)

also, any suggestions as to what kind of pickup i could use (bridge) for a crunchy/bassy tone. i would prefer passive. but i need it to have a good ammount of gain, but still be able to roll back the volume for a smooth clean tone.

Thanks a bunch!!!

[JasonC]

First off... I would disagree with your statement of Schecters not being that great of guitars. Even the Korean-built models are made with excellent quality parts and are put together really nice. How many Gibson guitars come standard with a graphite nut?? How many Gibsons are set up even halfway decent from the factory? How many Gibsons come with the bridge pickup already coil tapped? Every Schecter is actually set up with care in the US, even the ones made in Korea. Pick up just about any brand new Schecter and it's ready to rock... The only thing I dont' really like about them is the "Duncan Designed" pickups. Those are absolutely horrid and must be changed out for WB/GFS/Seymour Duncan immediately!

Uncovered pickups shouldn't really sustain any more or less than covered. The only thing I can think of that would cause that (if the guitar is stock), is the coil tapping possibly. If the tone knob is pulled out it's tapping one coil on the bridge and single coils do (in my experience) seem to have a bit more sustain and definitely tend to feed back more, while sounding quite a bit thinner and more trebley.

As for pickups... check out stuff in the range of Seymour Duncan JB's, 1959 Classics (I think that's what they're called), and maybe even Duncan Customs. WB Habaneros might be around the neighborhood of the tone you're looking for as well... or, if you're broke like me, check out guitarfetish.com. I just ordered one of their Fat Pats (which is probably close to what you're looking for as well) for $30. I've heard good things about them and I'll be sure to let you know how it sounds once I get it in.

[Twentythirdeye]

Originally Posted by JasonC

First off... I would disagree with your statement of Schecters not being that great of guitars. Even the Korean-built models are made with excellent quality parts and are put together really nice. How many Gibson guitars come standard with a graphite nut?? How many Gibsons are set up even halfway decent from the factory? How many Gibsons come with the bridge pickup already coil tapped? Every Schecter is actually set up with care in the US, even the ones made in Korea. Pick up just about any brand new Schecter and it's ready to rock... The only thing I dont' really like about them is the "Duncan Designed" pickups. Those are absolutely horrid and must be changed out for WB/GFS/Seymour Duncan immediately!

Uncovered pickups shouldn't really sustain any more or less than covered. The only thing I can think of that would cause that (if the guitar is stock), is the coil tapping possibly. If the tone knob is pulled out it's tapping one coil on the bridge and single coils do (in my experience) seem to have a bit more sustain and definitely tend to feed back more, while sounding quite a bit thinner and more trebley.

As for pickups... check out stuff in the range of Seymour Duncan JB's, 1959 Classics (I think that's what they're called), and maybe even Duncan Customs. WB Habaneros might be around the neighborhood of the tone you're looking for as well... or, if you're broke like me, check out guitarfetish.com. I just ordered one of their Fat Pats (which is probably close to what you're looking for as well) for $30. I've heard good things about them and I'll be sure to let you know how it sounds once I get it in.

Thanks a lot for the info!

I do think schecter makes one hell of a guitar. this was just a poorly made one. very cheap.

and i'm looking at gfs too. or a duncan jb. (adam jones fanboy) i'd appreciate it if you posted a review on the fat pats!

Thanks again!

[qwank]

my friend just bought a Schecter Hellraiser. the thing was in tune and set up perfect literally right out of the box! his has active EMGs in it with the coil tap, a tusq nut, set neck, grover tuners and a tone-pros bridge. not bad for the $700 he paid for it.

[Twentythirdeye]

Originally Posted by qwank

my friend just bought a Schecter Hellraiser. the thing was in tune and set up perfect literally right out of the box! his has active EMGs in it with the coil tap, a tusq nut, set neck, grover tuners and a tone-pros bridge. not bad for the $700 he paid for it.

I was very close to getting a c-1 plus, but i prefer my epi.

[JasonC]

New pickup will be here next wednesday. I'm going to see if I can order some tubes for my C30 and maybe I can use that baby to test out the difference.