Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates Pickups

[Neptical]

@pedecamp Sorry to hear you're having some troubles with your Strat my friend.

First - is that an SS or HSS Strat?


Secondly - what's your current set-up with it...?

 

[paul-e-mann]

@pedecamp Sorry to hear you're having some troubles with your Strat my friend.

First - is that an SS or HSS Strat?


Secondly - what's your current set-up with it...?

Its an MIM 2010, maple neck, sss, everything I put in it singles or humbuckers sound like crap and I've put alot of pickups in it over the last 10 years, I've just come to the point of gutting everything out of it and start from scratch to see if it gets any better.

 

[Neptical]

Its an MIM 2010, maple neck, sss, everything I put in it singles or humbuckers sound like crap and I've put alot of pickups in it over the last 10 years, I've just come to the point of gutting everything out of it and start from scratch to see if it gets any better.

Right on!

Maple neck FTW first and foremost.
You've carved out a 'bucker space in trade for a single coil already? Highly recommend humbuckers for that maple neck. Get that Pearly Gates in there if you can. Seriously, that pup is FANTASTIC.

Secondly - light gage strings (9s) are more acoustic and sound beautiful with a maple neck. A nickle's height away from the pups sounds the absolute best.

Third - those maple necks respond SO well to Marshalls with FAT bass, good Mids ( 6-7) and absolutely ZERO Treble...make up HIGHs with Presence to taste. SD-1 as a CLEAN boost ( gain no more than 9 o'clock pending amp)

This is the absolute BEST tips on how I set up my HSS Strats to get the best Marshall grind with singing leads.

 

[SkyMonkey]

Are cosmetics important to you?

As they came out of a Gibson, the pole spacing will be narrower than the 'F-Spaced' or 'Trembucker' versions of pickups and will not line up exactly with Fender spaced strings.
They will probably work fine, but look a bit 'off'.

 

[paul-e-mann]

Are cosmetics important to you?

As they came out of a Gibson, the pole spacing will be narrower than the 'F-Spaced' or 'Trembucker' versions of pickups and will not line up exactly with Fender spaced strings.
They will probably work fine, but look a bit 'off'.

No doesnt bother me.

 

[gregr]

I read that the PG+ Has standard spacing, but I’ve never played one.

Why do they even call it standard spacing? Even the spacing in modern Gibson bridge pickups is wider than that in Gibson neck pickups. The neck pickups are the only ones with “standard” spacing. Duncan could call standard spaced bridge pickups “vintage spacing” and charge even more.

 

[El Gringo]

My Strat sounds terrible no matter what I put in it so I thought this would be a good opportunity to scrap everything in it and build it up from scratch.

I will be going with the Fishman Fluence active pickups in one of my Strats . It has super clean regular sound and then you pull out the tone controls for a hotter sound as a Texas Special type sound . This is powered by a lithuim battery and recharges with a USB port charge , which it says will hold for 500 hours before you need to recharge . What was attractive to me was no wood having to be removed to make this system a go . Just waiting on a second push /pull pot in order to have a tone control for my bridge pickup which is a must .

 

[ricksdisconnected]

My Strat sounds terrible no matter what I put in it so I thought this would be a good opportunity to scrap everything in it and build it up from scratch.

strip the paint off it too.

 

[paul-e-mann]

strip the paint off it too.

One of these days I'll just sell it and build one from scratch.

 

[jeffb]

Im a big fan of 57C and 57C+ if these are in that ballpark I should be very happy with them!

PGs have Less lows/low mids and much brighter than 57s. The neck is the real star of the set. The Bridge is usually a love it or hate it affair.

They are more like the Burstbucker 1/2 set if comparing to Gibson brand pickups, but have completely even coil winds so they are a bit more focused in the midrange. If your guitar is naturally bright and/or thin, they can be really piercing.

I've had a bunch of PG sets over the years. As far as Duncan goes, they are one of the better production model sets, but the Custom Shop version (which is what Billy actually has been playing for the past 20 years) are orders of magnitude better.

 

[tresmarshallz]

Man, I would jump all over those. I have a pearly gates bridge in an american strat that I loved and have always wanted to recapture that tone after I sold the guitar. One of my favorite SD pickups that I have tried.

 

[tresmarshallz]

strip the paint off it too.

I totally agree with this idea, I recently stripped the paint of an Epiphone 58' explorer because it sounded dead and lifeless and I suspected the paint was too thick. It really livened it up and increased perceived resonance and sustain, I love it now. I have stripped many guitars of paint, it a complete pain in the ass but worth it in my opinion.