What pickups for an all-koa guitar?

[Jbird]

The more I look at the guitar and the pickups, the more I think that they were originally white in color, but have aged to an almost cream color.

I think for now I might just order a Carvin M22SD for the bridge, and keep the neck pickup in there. $45 for a new M22SD from Kiesel, half the price of a SD JB.

This'll give you a good idea of what the M22SD sounds like. My '86 Carvin V220 that has the same pickup and sounds very similar. Very much the tone I'm looking for:



And even better is it handles clean tones really well, better than I expected. I always thought because the 'SD' in the name meant super distortion that it would break up easily or sound compressed while playing clean, but that's not the case.

It'll look a little weird though if I only replace the bridge pickup, since a new one won't have that aged-almost creme look to it.

 

[PunkKitty]

Whatever you choose, keep in mind that older Carvins are routed for short legged pickups. I like the Dimarzio 36th Anniversary PAFs.

 

[Jbird]

Whatever you choose, keep in mind that older Carvins are routed for short legged pickups. I like the Dimarzio 36th Anniversary PAFs.

That's good to know. I was on the DiMarzio site looking at those, and saw the different leg lengths and had no idea how to tell which one to get, if I went that route.

 

[PunkKitty]

That's good to know. I was on the DiMarzio site looking at those, and saw the different leg lengths and had no idea how to tell which one to get, if I went that route.

If in doubt, go with short legs. Short legs will fit in a long legged rout. But long legs won't fit in a short legged rout without alterations.

 

[Bob411]

http://bg-pups.com/humbuckers/smoke-stack/

The lizards are cream in this.



Also have a set of smokestacks. Started in son's V, now in his LP, that are also cream.

 

[BEACHBUM]

Anything you like. The wood doesn't care.

 

[Big Mike]

Keeping in mind that I play '70s & '80s hard rock, and '80s style heavy metal.

Koa seems to be a bit darker tone than a mahogany or alder-bodied guitar, at least unplugged. And I now own 3 all-koa electrics, so I should know

Thinking about replacing the pickups in this:


As they seem a bit on the weak side for my tastes.

If I wanted to keep the Carvin look, I could put a Carvin M22SD in there (Carvin's version of the DiMarzio Super Distortion pickup) and maybe keep the neck pickup stock. My all-koa V220 has an M22SD in the bridge, and it sounds killer. No weak tone there at all.

I've also been thinking of the Seymour Duncan '59 and JB combo for it. I put that set in the A*g*i*l*e LP copy I used to own, and they sounded great in that guitar (still do, my buddy Paul owns that guitar now).


What say you guys? @dougk ? What do you think?

As long as they have the connectors to hook up the coil tap and in/out phase mini switches. I like to use those on occasion

59/JB sounds AWESOME in Koa.

 

[OGG]