Going Modal
I should be practicing right now.
Over the weekend I installed some 59/09 pickups into my '18 Custom 22, replacing the 85/15 pickups that were in there. I think the 59/09's are much better suited for my all-around bluesy/rock styles.
I wasn't interested in changing the switching patterns, or even the look of the pickups (they're still uncovered black squabbins, like the stock ones) but had grown a little weary of the "modern" sound of the 85/15's that were in there. I do think the 85/15's are decent pickups--in fact, the clarity on the neck pickup has been entirely refreshing compared to any other neck humbucker, period. But those pickups are probably much better suited for tight high-gain sounds; and, alas my style is more bluesy classic rock & such. (So then why did I even buy a Custom 22 then? Umm... have you seen one? And played one? My lord, they're so nicely designed & built.)
Anyways, the 59/09's are definitely more-typical overwound-but-not-"hot" PAF-style pickups that I'm used to. And I think they complement this thinner-bodied guitar quite well (I consider it more SG-like compared to my thicker-bodied McCarty 58 with 57/08's, which is more LP-like). I'm happy with the swap so far--which itself makes me happy, too, because fiddling around with a soldering knife and all those tiny pickup wires was stressin' me out!
I wasn't interested in changing the switching patterns, or even the look of the pickups (they're still uncovered black squabbins, like the stock ones) but had grown a little weary of the "modern" sound of the 85/15's that were in there. I do think the 85/15's are decent pickups--in fact, the clarity on the neck pickup has been entirely refreshing compared to any other neck humbucker, period. But those pickups are probably much better suited for tight high-gain sounds; and, alas my style is more bluesy classic rock & such. (So then why did I even buy a Custom 22 then? Umm... have you seen one? And played one? My lord, they're so nicely designed & built.)
Anyways, the 59/09's are definitely more-typical overwound-but-not-"hot" PAF-style pickups that I'm used to. And I think they complement this thinner-bodied guitar quite well (I consider it more SG-like compared to my thicker-bodied McCarty 58 with 57/08's, which is more LP-like). I'm happy with the swap so far--which itself makes me happy, too, because fiddling around with a soldering knife and all those tiny pickup wires was stressin' me out!
