What to do with this old thing?

andy474x

andy474x

Knows the Drill
Joined
May 4, 2012
Messages
5,002
Location
West Michigan
Don't believe anyone that tells you wood type and guitar construction don't make a difference! I have two S2's, one semi-hollow Custom 22 and a Standard Satin 22. Same body shape, hardware, electronics, only difference is woods and solid vs. semi hollow. The semi sounds HUGE with the #7's, the standard is great on the neck pickup, but very bright and nasal on the bridge. Useable, but not "my" sound. Doesn't even sound like the natural acoustic tone of the guitar. So, just to see if it was something a pickup swap could fix, I swapped out the bridge pickup for a parts bin SE245 pickup, and it definitely improved the situation. Much more "natural" sounding. Not the final pickup I want, but at least I know I can play with the tone.

So, now I need to know what to do with this dang guitar! I definitely would appreciate some recommendations for a bridge pickup - vintage hot output, something with a touch of brightness and fat bass, but not the nasal attitude of the #7. And something I can get with a cover! Thinking PRS, SD, Dimarzio, or another US brand.

Also, the neck #7 neck bucker on this axe is awesome, great vintage HB tone and probably the most convincing single coil split tone I've played. The guitar has a pickguard, so I'm considering adding a middle pickup for those in between Strat tones. Not sure if I should go hotter to match the humbucker output, like a single coil size rail humbucker like Andy Timmons uses (or if I'm really lucky a Narrowfield), or go lower output with a traditional single.

So, whaddya say fellas?
 
I tried a bunch of pickups in the bridge of my Santana SE, so many that I no longer remember all of them. PRS, DiMarszio, Anderson, Suhr, Fralin, Duncan... almost all of them were a bit bright for my tastes, except the Duncan Custom Custom. The somewhat overwound tone with 43 gauge wire at 14.4K and the Alnico 2 magnet combine well to mellow out the highs. It really works well with the stock neck pickup.
 
Last edited:
Out of curiosity, have you thought about swapping the bridge pups in both the S2s around? I wonder if there's any possibility of inconsistency.
 
dmatthews said:
Out of curiosity, have you thought about swapping the bridge pups in both the S2s around? I wonder if there's any possibility of inconsistency.
Click to expand...

Funny you say that - I thought about it. But I love the Semi so much, I just don't want to mess with it!
 
andy474x said:
Don't believe anyone that tells you wood type and guitar construction don't make a difference! I have two S2's, one semi-hollow Custom 22 and a Standard Satin 22. Same body shape, hardware, electronics, only difference is woods and solid vs. semi hollow. The semi sounds HUGE with the #7's, the standard is great on the neck pickup, but very bright and nasal on the bridge. Useable, but not "my" sound. Doesn't even sound like the natural acoustic tone of the guitar. So, just to see if it was something a pickup swap could fix, I swapped out the bridge pickup for a parts bin SE245 pickup, and it definitely improved the situation. Much more "natural" sounding. Not the final pickup I want, but at least I know I can play with the tone.

So, now I need to know what to do with this dang guitar! I definitely would appreciate some recommendations for a bridge pickup - vintage hot output, something with a touch of brightness and fat bass, but not the nasal attitude of the #7. And something I can get with a cover! Thinking PRS, SD, Dimarzio, or another US brand.

Also, the neck #7 neck bucker on this axe is awesome, great vintage HB tone and probably the most convincing single coil split tone I've played. The guitar has a pickguard, so I'm considering adding a middle pickup for those in between Strat tones. Not sure if I should go hotter to match the humbucker output, like a single coil size rail humbucker like Andy Timmons uses (or if I'm really lucky a Narrowfield), or go lower output with a traditional single.

So, whaddya say fellas?
Click to expand...
Part of that nasally sound is the position of the bridge pickup, you know that, right? It's just like where you pick the string. As an experiment, leave the string wide open, and pick the string right at the octave mark on the fretboard, then do the same thing again right by the bridge. Well, the position of the pickup is going to have a similar effect.

Personally, I don't want my bridge pickup to sound like a neck pickup -- I've got the neck pickup for that.

ANYWAY...my point is, I kind of expect a nasally pickup for the bridge sound. Or rather, have the bridge pickup produce a nasally sound, even if it's the same pickup as the bridge. And I dig it. But that's just me.

Yeah, I know, not helping.
 
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