Silver Sky pick up change

GuitarAddict

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Apr 1, 2018
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I have a maple board Sky from before they updated the pick ups and a rosewood from after. The later pickups seem very harsh in comparison. Anyone else found this?
Or indeed has any one had cause to swap out their silver sky pickups and if so what went in?
 
Suggestion: Could it be, that the distance between the pickups and strings is different (in this case closer)? Before evaluating all factors need to be the same.
 
Both set up the same. Highish action. Standard pickup height.
Tried lowering the pickups by 2 mm, virtually all the way to the pickguard. Made little difference to the tone just less volume.
 
I will assume that you are familiar with how a strat sounds.?.. cos otherwise,. if you have only played HB guitars then bright/harsh is a common first impression..lol
 
I will assume that you are familiar with how a strat sounds.?.. cos otherwise,. if you have only played HB guitars then bright/harsh is a common first impression..lol
Yes indeed.
First one i bought (maple) is bright but not harsh. Rosewood one i thought would have been mellower but I didn’t realise they’d updated the pups.
It’s much brighter than my Clapton strat with the tbx on full.
Does a nice SRV tone though, at least the maple one does, but I keep that in Eflat.
 
My wife treated me to a set of Bonnie pick ups by Bonamassa and Seymour D. I think she was fed up of me moaning about the standard updated SS pups.
Incase anyone is thinking of trying a strat set of pups, they fit the scratchplate perfectly as the dimensions are the same, but then the pickups wont clear the guitar body centre sections, which needs to be routed to make room.
IMHO the upgrade in tone is well worth it.
My tone (or at least what I aim for) is somewhere between Clapton and SRV which can be quite trebly and harsh with some pups, and backing the tone off doesn’t really help. I personally found the SS pickups from 2021 onwards a bit harsh on the top end and the Bonnie pups are a marked improvement.
Once the guitar body is modded it opens up the vast array of strat pickups on offer, a relatively simple mod too if you’re not worried about butchering an expensive instrument, which I was but did it anyway coz I’m reckless and stupid.
 
My wife treated me to a set of Bonnie pick ups by Bonamassa and Seymour D. I think she was fed up of me moaning about the standard updated SS pups.
Incase anyone is thinking of trying a strat set of pups, they fit the scratchplate perfectly as the dimensions are the same, but then the pickups wont clear the guitar body centre sections, which needs to be routed to make room.
IMHO the upgrade in tone is well worth it.
My tone (or at least what I aim for) is somewhere between Clapton and SRV which can be quite trebly and harsh with some pups, and backing the tone off doesn’t really help. I personally found the SS pickups from 2021 onwards a bit harsh on the top end and the Bonnie pups are a marked improvement.
Once the guitar body is modded it opens up the vast array of strat pickups on offer, a relatively simple mod too if you’re not worried about butchering an expensive instrument, which I was but did it anyway coz I’m reckless and stupid.
If you like it, that’s all good then!
 
If you like it, that’s all good then!
I do, but, I will probably realise somewhere down the line what i was doing wrong with the original set up and a much easier fix. It’s what normally happens to me. For example I’ve only just figured out that amp eq changes when gain is increased/decreased and that you need to compensate with more/less bass or treble. Never stop learning hey?
 
For anyone that is interested;
I A-B tested the rosewood SS fitted with the Bonamassa pickups and the Maple SS fitted with the Preupdated 635s and the 635s to my ear sound better. They have those fantastic mid harmonic properties that give it that hollow tone so typical of early strats especially when diggin in a bit.
There are a few differences between the two. The bridge on the maple is flush to the body where as the rosewood while not floated, is at a slight angle to get the string height (came from factory like that and the neck angle is a bit too steep to wind the bridge down flush and keep the action at 2mm). The maple has 10.5s and is in Eflat.
The rosewood is notably lighter than the maple. It is my intention to swap them around and make the maple my main guitar and when i do i will AB them again whilst they both have 10s and tuned standard. Will post results if anyone interested.
Might even record them both and post it here.
 
I read somewhere a while back that a bright guitar will always be bright no matter what pickups are in it.
It would appear that this is correct. I would not have believed it unless experienced it myself. I guess the tone woods do actually make a difference after all. Hey Mr Smith if you’re reading this I believe you now. Ha ha.
 
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