Ash and humbuckers

[vtpcnk]

I am thinking of a 2 HB Ash strat with roasted maple neck with stainless steel frets.

Would like to know forum members opinion on the right HBs which would work on above strat.

Some options I had in mind : SD 59 combo, SD APH-1 neck/59 bridge, Dimarzio 36th anniversary.

I am also interested in SD Seth Lover - but not sure if it comes F spaced/Trembucker.

All above HBs are usual favorites for Les Pauls (maple/mahogany) I think - but not sure how they would work on Ash.

Preferred genre is blues rock.

Appreciate the insights.

 

[2HBStrat]

I am thinking of a 2 HB Ash strat with roasted maple neck with stainless steel frets.

Would like to know forum members opinion on the right HBs which would work on above strat.

Some options I had in mind : SD 59 combo, SD APH-1 neck/59 bridge, Dimarzio 36th anniversary.

I am also interested in SD Seth Lover - but not sure if it comes F spaced/Trembucker.

All above HBs are usual favorites for Les Pauls (maple/mahogany) I think - but not sure how they would work on Ash.

Preferred genre is blues rock.

Appreciate the insights.

The Big Apple Strats have a SD 59 neck pickup and a Pearly Gates + bridge pickup. I wish both pickups were SD 59. For blues rock you don't need hot pickups, just a good tone, IMO, and the SD 59 has that. I wouldn't worry too much about F spacing. That's not really all that important.

 

[Mike Stone]

I’ve got an ash Strat with two Suhr Thornbuckers. Sounds incredible: clear, still stratty and real versatile. They also split good, especially with a partial split 7k resistor.

 

[old wrench]

A few years back, I built a Tele like that -

Other than a little different body style, it's about as close as you can get to your proposed guitar -

Ash body

Torrified Maple neck with medium-jumbo stainless frets

Pair of SH-55 Duncan/Lover humbuckers

I used a regular 3-way switch, single volume, single tone, with.022 tone cap

I really like the tone I get from the lower-wind vintage type humbuckers and have no interest at all in splitting them

I play blues and blues/rock myself

It really sounds good !!!

.

 

[DisharmonicDark99]

Obviously it's all subjective but when I threw a set of the 59s into my Ash bodied HH Tele a while back, I didn't really get on well with it. After a few others I tried I wound up being pretty happy with the Saturday Night Specials, as they just wound up feeling a bit more lively and responsive than what I was getting with the 59s. The Alnico IV magnets seem to really like that guitar and I get some sweet singing sustain out of 'em. I also had a Strat build that was Ash with a maple neck some time back and I had good results in that one with the Alnico II Pro set (APH-1's). That's still one of my favorite sounding guitars I ever owned, actually. The Seth Lovers are great pickups but I've only used them in LP style guitars so I don't know about the trembucker spacing unfortunately.

 

[Festofish]

I am thinking of a 2 HB Ash strat with roasted maple neck with stainless steel frets.

Would like to know forum members opinion on the right HBs which would work on above strat.

Some options I had in mind : SD 59 combo, SD APH-1 neck/59 bridge, Dimarzio 36th anniversary.

I am also interested in SD Seth Lover - but not sure if it comes F spaced/Trembucker.

All above HBs are usual favorites for Les Pauls (maple/mahogany) I think - but not sure how they would work on Ash.

Preferred genre is blues rock.

Appreciate the insights.

I just got some Dimarzios for my SG. PAF Anniversary and PAF Master. its a great setup. Maybe go with the anniversary set.

 

[Trenchant63]

My photo is a 2-HB alder Strat with SD Alnico II Pros. Love it!!

 

[adjason]

about 10 years ago I made a homemade ash tele with burstbucker pickups. I prefer the 57 classic and classic + ones. I did not worry about F spacing and its does not really seem to matter....sorry no pics , its back in a case

 

[Solaris moon]

I'd go with the DiMarizo PAF either the original or the anniversary version. This is the best sounding aftermarket version of the humbucker that Gibson had on their fifties and sixties guitars. Seymour Junkin' always seems to overwind their pickups and I just can't stand it!

 

[Cosmic Cowboy]

Of course not ash body, but this guitar is one of my faves.

 

[tery]

Ash + Humbuckers =

 

[old wrench]

I've never worried about pole spacing when using humbuckers on Fender-type guitars, because it doesn't bother me if the strings don't visually align perfectly with the pole-pieces

I've never noticed any difference at all tone or volume-wise

The humbuckers I use have the regular old vintage E to E pole spacing of 49.2mm or 1-15/16"

I 've used some of the old Gibson humbuckers (and some of the newer ones, as well) and I've tried some of the "boutique" brands too - for a while I was stuck on Jim Wagners pickups, which I still use -

But after trying the SH-55 Duncan/Lover humbuckers, I found them to be as good as any of the vintage-wound humbuckers out there - Seth Lover showed Duncan how he made the originals back in the fifties - unfortunately, you can't buy a new set of the SH-55's for $150 bucks anymore, but they are still a fair deal

When you listen to the old blues and blues/rock stuff from the 1960's and even the early '70's it was all played with regular old low-wind, factory-stock pickups - the over-driven sound came from pushing the amps hard

I like a clean-sounding humbucker that has sparkle and chime to it - I can always add some dirt by pushing my amps or using a clean boost or a bit of over-drive - most of the time the only pedal I use is a clone of a Klon with the gain set to the lower end of the scale - it does put a little extra hair on the tone, but it's mostly just extra harmonics and a certain prescense and depth that really adds to the tone

.