Pickup Suggestions for Hollowbody Spruce

L

Lance

New Member
Joined
Jun 15, 2012
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I've had my black HB Spruce for many years now. As much as I love the playability and everything about the guitar, the pickups are just meh. They have no character. I'm not expecting the HB to sound like a 335 or anything like that...but I like brighter tones with more bite. I've tried adjusting the height and pole pieces and nothing makes these archtop pickups sound good. So, it sits on the wall looking pretty. Any suggestions?

(photo from previous own that I've help because it looked nice)
iyUIbeR.jpg
 
I love my HBII but agree. My Heritage H535 LTD has Duncan 59 neck and Seth Lover bridge .. a great combo that will deliver the goods .
I like them slightly more than my 335's for the bite.
 
My HB PRS guitars have the older 57/08s in them. They work very well in these guitars. If you are looking at a different brand, the Duncan 59 and Seth Lover combination isn't too bad either. I have that in a Heritage Millennium double cut, also a hollow body. The only thing I would caution you on is that I also have a set of Set Lovers in a Heritage 157. I have had some unwanted feedback issues with them because they are unpotted. I found out that the Pearly Gates are very close to the same construction as the Seth Lovers but are wax potted and don't have this issue. The interesting thing is I have not had these feedback issues with the Seth Lover in the Millennium.
 
I've read that D 59s and Seth lovers work well.

Any thoughts on Fralin Pure PAFs?

(BTW - I don't think I want to get into $500 PRS pickups....yeah, I get that this guitar deserves nice pickups but that's a lot of dough for something that's a non-returnable crap shoot)
 
Lance said:
I've read that D 59s and Seth lovers work well.

Any thoughts on Fralin Pure PAFs?

(BTW - I don't think I want to get into $500 PRS pickups....yeah, I get that this guitar deserves nice pickups but that's a lot of dough for something that's a non-returnable crap shoot)
Click to expand...
If you are interested in Fralins, I suggest you call him and have a discussion with Lindy. I have done this twice and he got me exactly where I wanted to go both times on the first shot. You can have a conversation with him about the guitar, the woods, the pickups and what you don't like about them. Then talk about what you want it to sound like. He will custom wind you a set of pickups to get you there. After you get them if you put them in and don't like them, all you have to do is send them back to him and tell him what you didn't like and he will adjust them. He got mine right on the first try. This doesn't cost you any more money to do this. The only thing it would cost you beyond the original purchase is if you had to send them back for an adjustment you would pay shipping. He told me that he would adjust them as many times as I needed but felt if they needed adjusted it would only take once to get me where I wanted to be. I highly recommend doing this.
 
Crap, now y'all got me thinking that I could/should go ahead and replace the Archtop pickups in mine, too.

In any case, I would think to go with low-wind output and AlNiCo II magnets. So, within Seymour Duncan's range, that would be the Alnico II Pro, Antiquity, or Seth Lover sets. And from Lindy Fralin, I would bet that the Pure PAFs would be magic. Imperial Low Winds from Lollar would also be a very good bet.
 
I had an HB 2 I think. 5708s, I lusted for one for a long time but it didn't have enough wood in the tone like I thought it would and I was really bummed.

Sold it.
 
I have some related questions. I love my 2016 HBII, but am thinking of swapping the stock 58/15s for some 58/15LTs. I have the latter in my S2 594 which I switched to core electronics, and think they are just a bit better (and PRS seems to agree, having switched the Hollowbody line over to them). If I do this, I'm considering having the PTC install mini-toggle coil splits. Has anyone had this done on their hollowbody, and if so, how did it turn out?
 
Anachronism said:
I have some related questions. I love my 2016 HBII, but am thinking of swapping the stock 58/15s for some 58/15LTs. I have the latter in my S2 594 which I switched to core electronics, and think they are just a bit better (and PRS seems to agree, having switched the Hollowbody line over to them). If I do this, I'm considering having the PTC install mini-toggle coil splits. Has anyone had this done on their hollowbody, and if so, how did it turn out?
Click to expand...

I think any competent guitar repair person can switch your volume/tone pots for push/pull or push/push for the splits and the mod would be completely invisible and reversible.
 
Anachronism said:
Yes, but I don’t love the idea of lots of push-pulling on the thin wood next to the f-hole.

Wow that sounds dirty.
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I really can't buy that argument. I have had other hollow guitars with push switch pots and have never had an issue. It's not like the top is made of paper.
 
I've swapped pickups in hollow body guitars before but, as this is a PRS, I wanted to poke around to see if there was anything unexpected I might come across during the surgery. I found that the ground wire that comes out of the hole in the side of the bridge block is just hanging freely. It's not soldered to ground and is clean so it doesn't appear to have ever been soldered.

That led me to believe that the previous owner had swapped pickups....but when I inspected those, they both said "Archtop" on the sticker. So, it seems that this was either a mistake from the factory or that PRS puts in a ground wire in case the future owner needs it but doesn't connect it intentionally. I don't hear any hum from the guitar so I suspect this was intentional

Anyone else see this? Look in the F-hole near the knobs and you should be able to see the wire protruding from the bridge block. Is yours connected?

aGwUUWa.jpg
 
Lance said:
I've swapped pickups in hollow body guitars before but, as this is a PRS, I wanted to poke around to see if there was anything unexpected I might come across during the surgery. I found that the ground wire that comes out of the hole in the side of the bridge block is just hanging freely. It's not soldered to ground and is clean so it doesn't appear to have ever been soldered.

That led me to believe that the previous owner had swapped pickups....but when I inspected those, they both said "Archtop" on the sticker. So, it seems that this was either a mistake from the factory or that PRS puts in a ground wire in case the future owner needs it but doesn't connect it intentionally. I don't hear any hum from the guitar so I suspect this was intentional

Anyone else see this? Look in the F-hole near the knobs and you should be able to see the wire protruding from the bridge block. Is yours connected?

aGwUUWa.jpg
Click to expand...
My HB has that wire connected. It was also caused a lot of noise vibrating against the back until I bent it out of the way.

I took the electronics out of mine thinking I might add a treble bleed or convert it to 50's wiring. It took forever to get it all out (mine is a piezo) and I can see where it would be easy to snap that ground wire if you pull it too hard the wrong way.
 
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