SC trem (solid rosewood neck) questions!?!

[fatbagg]

First off...This is my 3rd PRS, and they are all AMAZING instruments...That being said...

Ok...So I got my '07 SC trem with solid rosewood neck in today...While it FEELS amazing, the rosewood neck is outstanding...Im curious about this tone. It has #6 pickups, which I hear arent the most favorite around here...

I plug in, and instanly feel like "where the balls? Wheres the tone? Whats going on here?

The tone coming out is very weak (not neccessarily in terms of output, not that its great, but just fullness wise), not full at all, and it very thin and puny. Now I would ASSUME that Mahogany and rosewood Would ake a fat, full sound.

My question is...is it the pickups, or do these guitars just sound small and banjo-like?

What should the rosewood be contributing? I know it FEELS amazing!

http://s254.photobucket.com/albums/hh110/fatbagg/

 

[justmund]

I can't imagine it came out of the factory sounding 'thin and puny'...

Have you popped the control cavity to make sure everything is ok in there?
Does this happen on all pickup settings?
Does your tone control do anything?
Has this model got a coil tap?

 

[cyclops]

#6 pickups do not fit the guitar very well. Get ahold of some 59/09s, and you will be very happy!

 

[Zilmo]

Clops is right. The #6 are loved by few. 59/09's in that will rock.

 

[SinglecutGuy]

That's been a common occurrence with the #6 pickups. I think it's partially that they're lower output pickups, and partially that guys who play them, have the idea that they're higher output than what they are. Kind of a Catch-22 there if you will. While I'll agree in not being a huge fan of the #6 pickups, they do have a great tone to them in the right context, and with right amp. A friend of mine has the same guitar you do, and swears by the #6's through his old JCM800. To each his own I guess.

You're not alone my friend. Do your research, find the pups that work for you!

 

[fatbagg]

The problem I am having now is...the 3 bridge humbuckers I have...NONE of them fit! That is kinda a bummer...I suppose I need shortleg pickups? Ive noticed that it seems the dimarzio and duncan pickups work, b ut longleg handwound pickups (the three I have anyways) wont fit.

 

[]-[@n$0Ma☩!©]

My question is...is it the pickups, or do these guitars just sound small and banjo-like?

Tone is SO subjective. Not sure how anyone could answer that in meaningful terms. What matters is YOU don't like #6 pickups in your guitar, with your strings, through your rig, in your environment. That's all you really need to know.

If everyone were to say "No way, #6's are awesome" (not holding my breath) you would still be in the same situation.

So... I say yank those bad boys and try something new!

Give the crowd an idea what your amp and signal path look, what strings you use, and what tone you're after so we can give you suggestions that might narrow your options.

 

[ACE]

I have a 2007 IRW SCT and I wanted it to have balls. I already had the singlecut PAF tones covered so I stayed away from the 5708s and 5909s. I went with EVH Wolfgangs which scream.

 

[Brad737]

I replaced the bridge pickup with a Wolfgang as well. It sounds better than my EVH Wolfgang. Plus, they have zebra coils, so they look stock. (I did swap the polepiece screws with gold ones...)

I have a 2007 IRW SCT and I wanted it to have balls. I already had the singlecut PAF tones covered so I stayed away from the 5708s and 5909s. I went with EVH Wolfgangs which scream.

 

[Daniel]

Hans is quite right (no surprise). Tone is subjective. I love the way my SCT-IRW sounds with the #6s but it does take different amp settings than a guitar with 245s, 57/08s, HFS/VBs, etc. You might also play around with the pup and pole-piece height before you switch them out.

 

[esoteric383]

Yeah, that's the pickups not the neck. I have a CU24 with a wide thin solid rosewood neck. And it sounds really thick, yet balanced, with great harmonics, and very lush sounding (especially through a Mark IV). But I have EMG's in it (for the moment). However, I like my Tremonti II's pickups and may try out a set in the CU24 rosewood at some point. But it's all a preference of personal taste. And I just prefer hotter pickups overall and even more so with the solid rosewood neck (much like ACE above).

 

[László]

What kind of tones are you looking for (for example, vintage, modern high gain, etc)?

 

[Zhigarev]

Sorry for necroposting)
Got same problem... Drown in a mix. No low end. Changed it to SD JB+Jazz, sounds better!

 

[Rider1260]

The #6 picks are there own thing and I do like them, they do respond well to pickup height adjustment but they are brighter then most PAF style pickup mine output ( 8.03ohm neck and 12.5ohm Bridge )
I did turn around the neck pickup and it made a minor change for the better I am thinking about dropping a an HFS in mine to see if I like it even more.

 

[Spikedog007]

^^^^
The '07 run of SCT w/RW necks all seem to beautiful guitars. Thanks for sharing yours Rider!

I had one and let it go because I couldn't get along with the #6's, still wish I would have kept it and tried some different pups.

 

[Zhigarev]

Major mistake, I got mine for same reason and for extra cheep: previous owner couldn't play it because of sound. I swaped pickups and happy with it!

 

[The Fight]

Hey Rider1260, what a beautiful guitar. I my self like the Hfs pickup alot. Iv swapped a bunch of different pickups and alot i'v sold/flipped. But i'v never had the heart to sell my hfs. I think with a body like that it would totally be worth trying an hfs.
Cheers!

 

[Brad737]

Unfortunately, in my experience, that's the very definition of #6s. I swapped mine with the EVH Wolfgangs. KILLER pickups that really brought that guitar to life. I'm also a fan of 57/08s, 59/09s, PRS Dragon 1s, and Suhr Aldrich pickups in that guitar.

I can't imagine it came out of the factory sounding 'thin and puny'...