57/08s and a maple neck

[sloanthebone]

Anyone have this combo and can report about the tone? I am putting together an artist package Custom 24 and I am thinking of going with the maple neck with a Brazilian rosewood fretboard. But it scares me. I got rid of a mahogany neck CU24 (which I loved) for a IRW CU24 and regretted doing that because I did not like the tone from the IRW neck at all! Loved the feel, hated the tone. I ended up selling that too.

I do have a CE22 with a maple neck running with Dragon I pickups and like that very much but those are hot pickups and it is a wide/thin neck. This neck will be a pattern regular neck. Not sure how much that all matters.

It seems popular going with an ebony fretboard with the maple necks. Doesn't that make it super bright?

For reference: I play hard rock/metal.

Thoughts?

 

[John Beef]

Do you have any way of installing 57/08s in your CE temporarily? That will at least get you in the ballpark.

I'm with you, I had a IRW McCarty that was the nicest guitar I ever owned and I couldn't get along with the tone of the rosewood neck. It played so amazingly well, but I think I tried 8 sets of pickups in it trying to find something that harnessed the richness of the IRW neck's tone while still cutting through the mix. It was always one or the other.

If you're into hard rock and metal, maple would be fine. Ebony would be brighter than rosewood but I wouldn't think it would be over the top bright. 57/08s are pretty vintage toned, perhaps if you're used to Dragons all the way at the other end of the spectrum, 57/08s would be a pretty extreme swing.

 

[QueenCityGuitars]

The 57/08 Treble and Dragon I Treble are very different pickups. Some people like pickups that aren't quite as hot in conjunction with a high-gain amp (like your Recto and 5150). Personally, I like the Dragon I best for hard rock/metal. I'm surprised that you didn't like the IRW neck on your Custom 24. Most people say rosewood necks give you a more scooped sound, which should lend itself pretty well to hard rock music. I also don't think every rosewood fretboard/maple neck/mahogany body/maple top Custom 24 will sound <insert tone adjective here> while every rosewood fretboard/mahogany neck/mahogany body/maple top Custom 24 will sound <insert different adjective here>. Even guitars with the exact same wood combinations will vary from guitar to guitar. If your hearing is that acute you should play the guitar first, to make sure you like its tone, before you buy it. That's the only way to be 100% sure you like the guitar.

 

[justmund]

Can you spec \m/s with the Artist Package program yet...?