McCarty 594, pickups and tone chasing; 5 pickups in 5 days

[WA Paul]

Kinda interested but not serious enough , the you tube videos seem to not catch my ear.
my perception is they lean towards the dark side, and I greatly prefer brighter pickups.
it seems like they're not popular. but certain guitars and players and certain amplifiers could be perfect with them.
I am definitely bonding with the 85/15, it seems pretty darned vintage, I hear people say that it's slightly more modern.
but it just seems like a very clear voiced simply great pickup, a nice slightly unique voice, yet seems very vintage. super easy to dial in the EQ, and very responsive to volume and tone controls,
stronger than the 58/15 LT so I believe they are cousins.

I have 53/10s in my Koa guitar with Braz neck. They’re quite bright, but warm. Never dark. I like the neck pickup a bit more than the 58/15LT. The LT has more clarity and maybe a tad sweeter, but sometimes I think it’s lacking in warmth. Coil spilts on 53/10s are quite good as well!

 

[Tone-y]

I have 53/10s in my Koa guitar with Braz neck. They’re quite bright, but warm. Never dark. I like the neck pickup a bit more than the 58/15LT. The LT has more clarity and maybe a tad sweeter, but sometimes I think it’s lacking in warmth. Coil spilts on 53/10s are quite good as well!

Interesting to hear the 5310/ 58/15LT comparisons, as the 53/10 was meant to be the lowest output of the original 5x/xx series pickups. I've also never found my 53/10s dark sounding, not bright either, but not dark. (they were a bit brighter before I disconnected the treble bleed cap as it was filtering out a bit of the bass frequencies).

 

[Ironwolf]

Interesting to hear the 5310/ 58/15LT comparisons, as the 53/10 was meant to be the lowest output of the original 5x/xx series pickups. I've also never found my 53/10s dark sounding, not bright either, but not dark. (they were a bit brighter before I disconnected the treble bleed cap as it was filtering out a bit of the bass frequencies).

I tried to indicate that it was very subtle, I did not want to classify them as dark but just leaning that way, what I noticed in the YouTube videos, was the bottom 3 strings on certain power chords, got slightly slightly slightly muddy and bassy, for like one second.
and then the high strings seem to be back to normal, so that is definitely what the 85/15's are doing extremely well string to string clarity strongly maintained especially on bottom strings, almost never fuzz's out.

 

[Karan D. Taktawala]

Hey, so personally my tastes veer toward a lower output range for humbuckers that you can use to just begin to push your amp and some to spare. Very much like old school PAF in function where you use the volume knob to interact with the amp rather than tap dancing on the floor to change drive levels with the volume and tone set to one spot at all times.

The Abraxas sound absolutely brilliant to me but they’re more like a hot rodded sound based off a vintage platform so I didn’t really consider it much.

mm I have a set of Mule's in my HBii - I might see how they go in a 594.
I was thinking of grabbing an Abaraxs set to try out as well, I think they could be pretty good for me in a 594.
Did you consider the Abraxas at all for yours?

y,

 

[Karan D. Taktawala]

Hey, yes digging would be an appropriate term. I stand by my original thought, if regular 58/15s were around I’d probably not have thought of a swap.

I wanted to boost what was already there without deviating from the existing platform too much. So I essentially got what I wanted. Bridge with more bass and mid with the top sliced a bit. Neck with everything similar with a hair more mid range. The added clarity with the new wiring harness was really a big bonus, I was hoping for more control but kudos to Jonesy!

There were no pedals involved. Just a guitar a cable and a cranked old style non master volume Marshall Plexi running EL34s.

I asked Duncan to do a standard 4 conductor wiring black hot and green/bare ground with the magnet deliberately flipped permanently.

Even though the recording and room reverb was not the best, the pickups sounded epic, the response to the volume and tone knobs just fantastic.
Those are exactly my kind of pickups, bright but almost never harsh, creating lush harmonic overtones,
I'm assuming that you're extremely digging them, not sure if you had a phaser on, but you have the Peter Green out of phase setting at 16:05 on LedZep sound great.
your middle pickup setting is out of phase I think.
Good job

,

 

[Boogie]

I’ve found that a low-turn pickup is pretty sensitive to cable capacitance.

That’s specifically why I settled on Canare GS6 cable long ago. It attenuates that brittle sizzle that I battled when I was a kid. There’s been 36’ of it between my guitar and amp for, heck, decades! It’s a secret sauce thing. It also impacts your pickup selection...oh, go figure. Good write-up, Les!

 

[gush]

I have a mahogany ce22 I got used cheap a while back. I pulled the SD PUs out along with the 3 way toggle and stuck 5310 square bobbins with rotary switch in it.

I had it set up with new nut and gigged it a few times. My band was doing a gig one night in this old dive bar and for some reason that guitar sounded freakin awesome. I kept thinking EVH brown sound, loved every second of it.

Something happened to the nut because I went to practice with it and the D string was hitting the first fret enough to kill the string. I haven't had time to mess with it and that's been 2 years ago. Lame I know.

I really want to use it for a project I'm working on right now but I absolutely suck at nut work so it will have to wait.

 

[László]

That’s specifically why I settled on Canare GS6 cable long ago. It attenuates that brittle sizzle that I battled when I was a kid. There’s been 36’ of it between my guitar and amp for, heck, decades! It’s a secret sauce thing. It also impacts your pickup selection...oh, go figure. Good write-up, Les!

Thanks Boog!

I generally play semi-clean, so I like the high end to be there, certainly for recording purposes.

I’m guessing my preference for a goodly amount of high frequency content has to do with my room; it’s heavily carpeted with very absorbent ceiling tiles, and on each side wall where the amps are set up, I have two Real Traps and an ART trap that diffuse and scatter high frequencies. At the workstation end of the room, there are 9 absorbent Real Traps that also scatter high frequencies, so high frequency reflection problems are pretty much nonexistent.

In most rooms, especially brighter sounding rooms and club stages, high frequency reflections can be very piercing. So I completely understand why you might want a higher capacitance cable.

I love the Canare GS6 for bass - fantastic solidity of sound - but for guitar I use the Van Damme/PRS cable to the pedalboard, and from pedalboard to switching system and to the amps. But you’ve just inspired me to run a higher capacitance cable to my HXDA, because with its birch ply cab, it tends to be a bit on the bright side. Thanks for making me think of this and try it!

 

[Boogie]

The one PRS/Van Damme cable I have is the one of choice when I’m plugging in a single coil guitar directly to the amp. There is something magical about the transparency afforded by that cable. Relying on the amp’s tremolo and reverb, it lets a beautiful guitar sing naturally without the need for a pedalboard. These threads remind me that I need to haul the Super Dallas upstairs and whip out the Strat and Teles. Ok, maybe the DGT, too.

 

[Karan D. Taktawala]

Did you guys see the new Private Stock Graveyard II?

It has a 58/15LT neck and regular 58/15 bridge.

FINALLY!

 

[Ironwolf]

it is a new excellent mix bound to be offered in more guitars.

 

[Blakemore]

Having the same thoughts on the bridge as most. I like the sound just need a touch “more” of it.
I have used a boost with decent success but would like a little more fluidity/character punch.

Considering a Seth Lover, Pearly Gates, and Thornbucker.

Any other suggestions?

 

[John Beef]

Les, I wanted to run basically 75 feet of cable, 25 to the amp from the pedalboard, 25 back from the FX loop, 25 back to the amp, so instead of getting like $250 worth of cables I got some Lake Cable AVB20UGC cable and a bunch of neutrik connectors and made my own. The Lake is pretty close spec-wise at 28 pf per foot, but only costs 75 cents per foot, plus $3 per connector. So anyone reading this, those cables they're talking about sure are nice, but also big $$, and DIY is an option here to do it way cheaper.

Between pedals I'm still using those George L's you sent me several years ago, still going great. Thanks again!

 

[SuperFly53]

I had a similar experience with 5815LT, and found the perfect solution was a DGT bridge with the stock LT neck. Just a tad more sizzle and brightness to bring it out in the mix.

 

[Michael D. Carter]

Damn, not sure what you are chasing after. I'd give my ears a chance to get used the sound before I started tweaking. In my past I've chased "new' and "different" and found that was a never ending path that took time away from playing music.

I've recently put 11s on my McCarty 594s because I'm too hamfisted to play 10s.. Other than it's been plug and play with a couple different groups and a ton of practice time. I haven't found anything missing. I start from the volumes and tones on 5 (looking down at the guitar), plug into a tweed with a wah, chorus and TS close and haven't been happier with the tone.

Are you doing the tone check in a band setting or just with only an amp? For me at least, things I could notice just with an amp get lost in a band mix.

I continue to believe the stock low turn pickups are the best balance between dynamics and tone I've ever found.

 

[Skeeter]

Hey, yes digging would be an appropriate term. I stand by my original thought, if regular 58/15s were around I’d probably not have thought of a swap.

I wanted to boost what was already there without deviating from the existing platform too much. So I essentially got what I wanted. Bridge with more bass and mid with the top sliced a bit. Neck with everything similar with a hair more mid range. The added clarity with the new wiring harness was really a big bonus, I was hoping for more control but kudos to Jonesy!

There were no pedals involved. Just a guitar a cable and a cranked old style non master volume Marshall Plexi running EL34s.

I asked Duncan to do a standard 4 conductor wiring black hot and green/bare ground with the magnet deliberately flipped permanently.



,

Thanks for video Karan - I’ve been thinking of putting Mules in my 594 as well, and that was helpful.

Out of curiosity - why didn’t you just try the calibrated Mule neck? BKP’s material can be a little frustrating with respect to its neck pickups, so their EQ and general characteristics (besides magnet and dc resistance) can be a bit of a mystery. But I’ve always had good experiences going with their calibrated sets or whatever Tim recommends based on a specific need.

 

[László]

Les, I wanted to run basically 75 feet of cable, 25 to the amp from the pedalboard, 25 back from the FX loop, 25 back to the amp, so instead of getting like $250 worth of cables I got some Lake Cable AVB20UGC cable and a bunch of neutrik connectors and made my own. The Lake is pretty close spec-wise at 28 pf per foot, but only costs 75 cents per foot, plus $3 per connector. So anyone reading this, those cables they're talking about sure are nice, but also big $$, and DIY is an option here to do it way cheaper.

Between pedals I'm still using those George L's you sent me several years ago, still going great. Thanks again!

I’m glad they’re working out!

I run long cable lengths, too, but I use a buffer preamp pedal first on the pedalboard, and one of my H9s at the end of the chain with the buffered bypass engaged. Then, I have a third buffer just before the signal hits the amp switcher.

I haven’t noticed signal loss with this configuration, though it may be overkill!

BTW, nothing at all inferior about making cables!

 

[Bob Hundemer]

So how do you think the Pearly Gates would sound in my 1998 McCarty?
Just curious.

 

[Karan D. Taktawala]

So

So how do you think the Pearly Gates would sound in my 1998 McCarty?
Just curious.

so here are my comments a year and over after starting this project.

min the last year I did the following...
1. Changed the neck to a calibrated Mule too
2. Set them up and balanced them super well so the transition and string to string note separation is as pure as you could expect
3. Got my pedalboard fully sorted with the 1st and last pedals being buffered
4. Got new tubes and rebiased my Marshall with EHX EL34s and Tung Sol 12AX7s
5. Got a buffered boss pedal in my FX loop too to keep the signal constantly strong
6. Dropped a pair of Pearly Gates for my friend in his 594 Double Cut.

this is what I found....

The Pearly Gates in comparison to the Mule is much more aggressive and high mid/mid intense. It also gives up more response on pinch harmonics and can overdrive an amp much quicker. The Mule is more fuller sounding by comparison

I’m gonna be putting a new video up on how the guitar sounds now. It is a lot better than originally posted. The setup and pickup height/balance are in their sweet spots. Also took the covers off....

 

[Tommy]

I like the USA Mira's I put a set in a SG and added individual tap switch for each pickup.. love it and the variety I can get.