How to choose a pick-up

Rob,

I'm not very familiar with Gretsch guitars, so I'm not visualising your very well here, but you don't need to get the guitar routed for a humbucker (with good guitars, I'm reluctant to do anything that will unalterably change it, if possible), you can always get dual coil pups that are 'stacked' so they fit in single coil spaces. Seymour Duncan does this for this Jeff Beck, Jazz, Duckbucker and '59 pups (I'm not sure about others, those I remember from looking at them recently, lol), so you might wanna take a look down that road before cutting into your gretsch.

Also, I have heard some very good things about Kinman and Bare knuckle pups (incl. the test files on their site), although some people doubt the improvement in tone justifies the price.

Pups are a bit of a minefield, ime, since the test files obv, have to use a certain guitar/amp setup, so it isn't like you can actually test the pup in isolation. The only way to really start understanding them well enough to make v. accurate selections is to get stuck in and start trying them (perhaps one reason why pro's generally have much better tone than us lay-players? enough cash, spares guitars, and techies to do this with less of the hassle we have?).

S Duncans did (dunno if its still going) have a service in the US where you buy their pups and have them installed and, if you're not happy with them within 30-60 days (or some similar time scale) you can remove them and have them replaced by Seymous Duncan for free. Might help you choose without too much fear.

Those stacked humbuckers do cut way down on the hum, but probably aren't going to sound much like a conventional humbucker. There are true humbuckers that fit in single coil spaces, like EMG makes with the twin blades, but they tend to sound a lot like single coils, too.

Personally I like quacky pickups.

Those stacked humbuckers do cut way down on the hum, but probably aren't going to sound much like a conventional humbucker. There are true humbuckers that fit in single coil spaces, like EMG makes with the twin blades, but they tend to sound a lot like single coils, too.

Personally I like quacky pickups.
as stated here and by Scrybe there are always options.personally would not route mine or anyones guitar especially a Gretsch having once had a White Falcon years ago.please explore every other avenue before you do something that cannot be undone.seriously think hard about this as there is no way in the world I would alter any decent guitar(which covers a lot of territory)to get one specific sound or tone.if you would please give us your definition of quacky? Thanks tactful

I agree....
There are other options;
The best remedy that I can think of for eliminating quack
is to change leads....
All of my leads have to have one physical characteristic:
They all have to be orange! :twisted:

J/K!
(Well, the orange part is true, anyway :wink: )

Do you play strictly on the bridge pup?
Sometimes (even if you've determined that a song sounds best overall on a specific pup),
it may not work through the entire song.

Have you tried adjusting the guitars tone knob????
Rolling it off slightly reduces the high end first.... then starts to eat into the mid-range, and finally affects the whole pup tone.

Have you tried adjusting the pup heights????
That changes things significantly.
The best way to find out, is to do it yourself.

Try Clapton's woman tone, by selecting the neck pup with the tone rolled all the way off.

I would suggest keeping the quack though - I love my Strat's quackiness!

What kind of amp are you using?
And are you planing on replacing that anytime?
That could be a source as well....
Try different adjustments on the amp.

Right now, I only have a SS amp and I have both the mid AND high turned down to one,
and the low cranked to 10 and my Strat still has too much high end through that amp!
(And I rolled the tone down on the guitar, and play with the mid or neck pup!)
A different amp, and I wouldn't have those problems anymore.

Ken

It's hard to quantify sound isn't it?! By 'quacky' I mean when there's a bit of gain on it it sounds sharp & flat (not pitch-wise), like there's not alot of other frequencies in the note (?) & sounds kind of cold, maybe a bit like a cheap solid state distortion, even though it's going through tubes....there's no 'ringing' to it, even though there's sustain. Does this make any sense? The Neck pick-up sounds nice & vintage but I like the attack of the bridge pick-up for solo's.

Its like describing colour to someone who's colour blind - e.g. see how that grey is different to that other grey.....?
This is half my problem in choosing a pickup. "Christine", although she's Gretsch is still only an Korean Electromatic so it's not like I'm wrecking an 'investment' guitar. She's my number One & I love playing her which is half the reason I'm ready to give her some mods to get the sound I'm looking for. I was lead to this by buying another cheap ($340 2nd hand) Archtop with humbuckers & it's closer to the 'overdriven bridge pick-up' sound I'm looking for, so I'm not changing Christine's neck pickup as it's tone & clean sound is far superior to the cheapie.

I'm thinking of getting her re-routed so I can basically bolt in-bolt out pickups as I please until I find what I'm looking for & there seems to be a greater selection of humbuckers than singlecoils (Plus the current D'Armonds have a different hole to most single coils anyway). But I'm very curious about those twin rail singles..they might do the job? That being said I think these D'Armonds are stacked. Can't find the pick-ups on website to confirm. (Also just noticed my spelling typos in Gretsch too... oops).

I use different pick-ups throughout most songs, depending on what my brains doing (or not doing) at that point :)

I'll also try dialling off the tone knob, see how that goes but I'm not confident. I run it through a KMD & a Fender RocPro at different times & it seems to do it for both, but more the KMD....?.....

P.S. It's much more noticeable at gig-volume.

This is taking a while to write as I'm listening to Steve Vai & getting distracted. The man's a genius.

[Also see on the Gretsch site the new G5122DC - Christine with a double cut-away ...that would be cool...now I've got GAS again!]

whew,had me there for half a mo.was thinking a quality Gretsch is going get ruined but if you have heard the sound you want and like before I definitely understand what you're talking about.as far as quackieness I've an idea about that too having done my fair share of playing leads as a lead guitarist in my band of long ago,sure the neck pickup gets more action as most lead guitarists will tell you however I played my Fender( 1966 Coronado II Wildwood I) with one and both (only having two) at that time depending on the project at hand.in our case it was cutting a demo that worked out well once the sound crew mixed it up right.an HSS Strat was handy too along with some noteable acoustics both elec/acous and straight up acoustics.

here again it all depended on the cut/song we were doing certainly not wanting to mess up the engineer, we planned everything out accordingly..well enough about a history lesson and what was.
yopu might find what you are looking for here: http://www.humbuckermusic.com/guitar-pickups-seymour-duncan-pickups.html or here : http://www.humbuckermusic.com/emg.html

you have no idea what a relief it is to know the project you are undertaking is Not going to be on anything vintage but rather on something you have and like but just want better sound out of.liking your Christine and don't even know her :D
caught a look at a double cutaway hollowbody LP not long ago.. interesting if nothing else.would have liked to pluck on one awhile though.
Mark aka tactful

I'll have to put a photo of Christine on once I figure out how & have the time. Like I said she's not expensive but she impressed my luthier (for what she is) & that's good enough for me. She's black with chrome hardware, lady luck, B&M & Mooneyes logos 'tastefully' applied :lol: . Named Christine after the 58 Plymouth in the Steven King Movie, 'cause she's evil & if I play other guitars too much she gets jealous & wont stay in tune, but if she's played all the time, & hard, she never goes out. We have a connection now :twisted:

I've also got an '87 G&L Asat Special that I play but I only take it to really safe gigs because I don't want it damaged...can't imagine what I'd do with a REALLY expensive guitar because I love playing them & playing them hard, all night with the burbon comming out of your pores & your heart racing (trying to keep up with the drummer probably). I've played some expensive guitars in the past but I've found a happy medium with Christine between cost & useability.

After the suggestions I've received here I've been playing with the dials on my amp & pedals & I think I have a more acceptable tone from the bridge, & the single coils do sound more vintage, but still can't get rid of the quackyness... so I think I'll use the cheapie as a guinea pig & try some different pick-ups in it before I butcher Christine...

Any suggestions where to start in the pick-up market - has anyone out there in GN land got a hollowbody with pick-ups they really like for vintage sound & that they can recommend? 8)

Thanks Rob appreciate you sharing when you figure out how.meantime I will put up a photo of the 1966 Fender Coronado II Wildwood I I have and play. here:
also have an HSS Black Strat.
in order to do this you should take picture of yours and save it on your computer w/scanner. have and use photobucket myself. Any suggestions where to start in the pick-up market the links above were no help?

Had a look through the photo'sof Christine & most of them are out of date. Will have to take some photo's of her when the wife brings the camera back from Holidays!

P.S. Nice Axe! I reckon archtops just have it all over other guitars for aesthetics. 8)
I love the sound too. Main reason I started playing them.

P.S. Nice Axe! I reckon archtops just have it all over other guitars for aesthetics. 8)
I love the sound too. Main reason I started playing them.

Thanks for the compliment Rob but it is not an archtop guitar.it is a semi acoustic thinline with F holes.it also is absolutely The natural wood color of the tree they dyed(by injection) to make it.although it is classified as part of an Antigua collection they made from 1966 - 1970/71 I think.actual Antigua color guitars are down right ugly IMHO - mine is the flipside of that I hope.during those years others were made but not that many.classification was as follows Wildwood I like mine,Wildwood II and III.unbeatable action.makes playng Blues down right simple among other things.too bad the idea was to copy an a ES 335 which did not work but it does stand alone on its own merits. Yes please do get Christine on the board when you get her back,now I'm curious :D

I have one of those Electromatics too...but mine's the solidbody Junior Jet II...now, I thought these electromatic had "Gretsch Designed" (meaning they are made like regular gretsch pickups but are made cheaply, prolly by Samick) pickups that were Mini-Humbuckers. Maybe only mine has the mini humbuckers, but I thought they all did.

So in that case, yes, you would need to re-route to get a humbucker in there. But do you really want to? Maybe you want to try GFS. They'll have pickups that will fit in that space, are very affordable and have gotten rave reviews on these boards. Personally, I find my pickups to be lacking in the output department, but I wouldn't call tehm quacky. But I can get some awesome tones if I run it through my EQ (Boss) or my Comp (MXR). Maybe you should try to get an EQ in there. I would suggest routing for an entirely new kind of pickup be used as a last resort. Try out other stuff first and if you still arent happy after you've done all you can, then yeah, move on to real humbuckers.

Yup - there's a couple of different kinds of electromatic & the most popular ones seem to be the ones with Gretsch or TV jones pick-ups. But they're a different model & have a floating bridge & a few other things different to mine.
Played on the other day in the store, like mine better - quiackyness & all :lol:

Funny story how I got Christine - I had some cash & wanted to get a hollowbody as a mate of mine had one & I just fell in love with them (always theought they looked cool but didn't realise the SOUND). Anyhow I was living in a remote place in far west queensland where there are no guitar stores (not much of anything except red dust, really). Anyhoo I did a bit of shopping by the internet & phone & was looking at cheaper guitars like epi dot 335's etc but I'd played them & wasn't happy (later found out constuction quality varys alot & they can be quite good) Anyhow old mate on the phone said "I've got a gretsch for the same money" & that's all he had to say :lol:

Last he had in stock - 18month wait if I wanted another - but there was one in Western Australia if I wanted it. his was blck, the one in WA was metallic silver.

Long story short it arrived by post two weeks later & I've been in love ever since. :roll:
After reading some horror stories I know I was lucky & wouldn't get a guitar again without playing it first...phew....

it's funny how guitars can come into your hands. I got my Gretsch for a whopping $80. New, it doesn't cost much near $300...but $80 is still pretty awesome. One day, I'm going to replace the bridge in mine...maybe put "real" Gretsch pickups in it too.