> "But the Melancon is chambered alder with swamp ash top. A friend has a similar chambered Melancon and L280s in the neck and middle and his guitar exhibits that same undesirable tone as mine did. Its hard to describe a midrange honk, sort of a humbucker-ish tone something like that. It bugged me enough after a while that I made the change of pickups. Going over to the L200s completely took that tone out and in the bargain imparted more of a vintage tone that I love."

This is what's illogical to me: The 280S's have a fairly flat frequency response, while the 200S's frequency response has dips in the lower midrange and peaks in the upper midrange.

I would strongly argue that the tonal issues you have experienced with the L-280S's are to do with the L-280S's being more transparent and letting more of the guitar shine through. The 200S's with their narrower band and tailored frequency response are covering that up! This is what is happening both logically and through experience.

> "Also possibly of interest the L200s in my Melancon sound dang near identical to the Rio Grande Tallboys (true single coils and expensive ones at that) in his other Melancon a non-chambered Strat with a maple cap. In fact if you closed your eyes, Im not sure you could tell which was which. I was very pumped about this its a great place to be tone-wise, as those Tallboys are incredible."

Not sure this is a comparison that gives me the warm fuzzies, but it just goes to show how subjective tone is.

> "This leads me to conclude that a chambered guitar might prefer the L200s. Ive never heard the L200s in a non-chambered guitar, though I expect theyll sound incredible there as well."


That's far too much of a generalisation. Not only do woods, chambers, scale, but *everything* else logically affects the choice of pickups. *Nothing* should be selected in isolation.

I also think that it's logical for most buying chambered/semi-hollow/hollow axes to want the different natures of the beasts to shine through. Like everything else, it's a feature that should be chosen for a reason. If one wants a vintage sounding Strat, one should select a Strat that strictly adheres to the vintage formula. Even the swimming pool pickup rout can have a significant effect on how the guitar sounds.

Aide toi et le ciel taidera (Aid thyself and heaven will aid thee)