I'm having a guitar made and the design is 25.5" scale, maple/maple set neck on mahogany body with carved maple cap. I was originally going to have this as a Gibsonesque-sounding design with 2 x L-495s but I've had what might be a better idea, since I prefer the Strat sound to anything else generally. Although I like dark-sounding guitars and I have a couple, I find I get bored quite quickly with the lack of sonic information compared to single-coil-voiced guitars. This guitar is intended for playing rock and blues primarily but also other stuff like jazz or well- almost anything. I've been reading about the 450s (600s) and how they are the big brother to the 280 (and I really like the 280s I have on a Strat). And I wondered if it would work well to use three lowish inducance L-600s on this guitar. The only problem I can see is the bridge pickup not being gutsy enough with that setup.
So I'd probably need a different bridge pickup to make this guitar more capable for the rock/blues sounds- maybe a L-610 would be better for that position rather than a low inductance L-600.
Do these pickups sound like a good match for the neck/body woods & scale length? And would an L-610 work reasonably well with low inductance 600s without being much louder? Any suggestion of what inductances to use for a generally Stratty sound with a more beefy bridge sound (but no significant volume diffference) would be very helpful. I mostly play clean, but that could change and I'd want something that could distort well from the bridge pickup if need be.... (FWIW I know that the Strat sound is the product of a number of different things including the bolt-on neck and the tremolo as well as its pickups- but this guitar could still go some way in that direction).
I could try the L-600 1 Henry for both neck and middle and for the bridge use an L-610 3.6H but these might not match well volume-wise. Or I could use the L-600 1.6 Henry for the bridge, but I think that way I would not have a very rock-sounding bridge pickup.
I'm wondering if lower inductance necessarily means lower output and if so it might not make sense to try to combine low inductance L-600s in neck and middle with a medium inductance pickup (3.6H) L-610. In which case I'd need to go for all low inductance and no ballsy bridge pickup, or higher inductance all round. Any clarifications of the issues above or suggestions for a suitable pickup set for this guitar would be most appreciated! (I will call Becky but I'd really like to have a better idea of what pickups can work well together before I do that.)
Additional info in case it's relevant- I'm probably having a Strat-type tremolo in this guitar and the body will be chambered and have F-holes. The shape will be same as a Yamaha SG2000. I'll use a Q-filter with any pickup that could benefit from it.
Many thanks for any suggestions,
R
So I'd probably need a different bridge pickup to make this guitar more capable for the rock/blues sounds- maybe a L-610 would be better for that position rather than a low inductance L-600.
Do these pickups sound like a good match for the neck/body woods & scale length? And would an L-610 work reasonably well with low inductance 600s without being much louder? Any suggestion of what inductances to use for a generally Stratty sound with a more beefy bridge sound (but no significant volume diffference) would be very helpful. I mostly play clean, but that could change and I'd want something that could distort well from the bridge pickup if need be.... (FWIW I know that the Strat sound is the product of a number of different things including the bolt-on neck and the tremolo as well as its pickups- but this guitar could still go some way in that direction).
I could try the L-600 1 Henry for both neck and middle and for the bridge use an L-610 3.6H but these might not match well volume-wise. Or I could use the L-600 1.6 Henry for the bridge, but I think that way I would not have a very rock-sounding bridge pickup.
I'm wondering if lower inductance necessarily means lower output and if so it might not make sense to try to combine low inductance L-600s in neck and middle with a medium inductance pickup (3.6H) L-610. In which case I'd need to go for all low inductance and no ballsy bridge pickup, or higher inductance all round. Any clarifications of the issues above or suggestions for a suitable pickup set for this guitar would be most appreciated! (I will call Becky but I'd really like to have a better idea of what pickups can work well together before I do that.)
Additional info in case it's relevant- I'm probably having a Strat-type tremolo in this guitar and the body will be chambered and have F-holes. The shape will be same as a Yamaha SG2000. I'll use a Q-filter with any pickup that could benefit from it.
Many thanks for any suggestions,
R
