Duncan Pearly Gate PUps in a Semi Hollow?

JTroska

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Mar 16, 2015
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I'm still thinking I'll swap out the pickups in my S2 Semi Hollow and I'm researching my options.

The Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates seem like a good possibility. They're basically a vintage output PAF with a little more aggressive midrange. So I'm thinking (hoping) they'd be good at capturing the guitar's natural pronouced midrange quality that I like without being so hot that they'd smother the semi hollow sound. Basically on the rock side of the PAF spectrum without going over wound.

Or maybe I'm mistaken. Maybe since the guitar already has a pronounced midrange, maybe I don't want a pickup that's sensitive to that frequency because it'll become over hyped.

What do you folks think? Based on the Seymour Duncan audio files, the Pearly Gates aren't a whole lot different from standard PAFs. But there is a touch more upper mids.
 
You are correct with your research. I placed a pair of these in a different brand semi hollow and the guitar was exceptional. It accomplished exactly what you are hoping for. It was so good, I could not turn down an offer to sell it for a profit when I was funding my first PRS purchase!
 
Wow good to know. Thanks.

I'm actually a little tentative to start poking around in there with a soldering iron. I've only done two-conductor pickups and the S2 has the coil cuts, which I think are done a little differently to keep part of the cut coil in. So not sure what I'm doing with that.

I asked a mom and pop guitar store how much it would cost to have them do it for me. I like to support the little stores when I can. But they quoted me 1 - 2 hours at $100 per hour. Nah, I don't want to support them that much.

Guess I should open it up and see if I can make sense of it before committing to buy.
 
FWIW, a local store has a guy that does great work. I think he charges me around $40 (inc tax) for pickup swaps, changing strings in the process. IIRC, he charged me $10 extra for my last semi-hollow job. For THAT price, I am not gonna futz wit it my own self.
 
Yeah that's a really good price. I think they charge more for hollow guitars because sometimes it involves working through the little f hole, which is awkward. That's how it was when I put a TV Jones Classic Plus in my Gretsch. But the PRS has a normal access control cavity like a Les Paul.

I think it used to cost about $60 around here but that was years ago. Don't know what the going rate is today. But $100-$200 is way too much, imo.
 
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