Anyone tried other pickups in their AL?

[dannymusic]

I'm still on honeymoon with my new AL and don't want to bastardize da virgin soldier joints

 

[Butch Snyder]

Well, that's a nice piece right there.

 

[travs]

Rad Red is amazing. Danny that is super sweet. its loaded and perfect. It might be my favorite ebmm right now. Congrats.

 

[dannymusic]

if you guys swap to those other pups, wont that just take some of the "tele" out of the equation? I think EB got the pups right the first time. Good balance across the sonic spectrum.

 

[Butch Snyder]

if you guys swap to those other pups, wont that just take some of the "tele" out of the equation? I think EB got the pups right the first time. Good balance across the sonic spectrum.

Truthfully, to make a Tele be a Tele, and I'm speaking of the bridge pickup's tone, a very important factor is the steel or ferrous bridge that holds the bridge pickup. Another important factor, especially with more vintage-type pickups, is a metal baseplate. That's the defining factor when installing a single coil in a Strat, Albert Lee Model or whatever. If you're installing that pickup into a vinyl pickguard, you need one of those factors to be there. EBMM attached a metal strip under the bridge pickup. That's what makes an AL's bridge pickup sound like a Tele's bridge pickup.

 

[robelinda2]

The silo special bridge single coil also has the metal baseplate too.

 

[uvacom]

I switched the AL's pickups twice, first to EMG SVs which I liked tone-wise, but had some problems with the preamps overloading (even though the SVs supposedly have a preamp with a higher SNR this didn't translate into more headroom) and I though the 2/4 positions were a little lacking - being buffered they don't get the resonant peak shift from the parallel inductance.

The second time I switched to some Lindy Fralins which I love. They have a bigger steel baseplate and they sound fantastic.

I don't think any pickup is going to sound like a tele in the bridge position. The duncans didn't, the EMGs sure didn't, and the Fralins didn't. But the baseplate helps, and a bigger baseplate helps more. A nice chunky steel baseplate can be ordered from callaham guitars.

I'd be curious - why is the small perforated baseplate used for the EBMMs? I assume it was a conscious decision, probably by Dudley, but I don't get why - maybe the perforations are for shaping the reflective properties of the plate with respect to the magnetic field?

 

[glockaxis]

I agree w/ Dannymusic. I love my AL just the way it is, from the excellent choice in pu combos, to the string gauge ALbert Lee uses. I've never had a desire to change any of my pickups in any of my EBMM. The only time I'd consider it woud be if I owned an Ibanez RG series, Fender regular strat etc...that come w/ low-grade generic pu's.

 

[Colin]

I'd love to put a set of Y2D pickups in an AL

 

[robelinda2]

Here's a dumb story, I once put Gold Lace Sensors in one of my Al's, they lasted about 3 days. Dont quite know what I was thinking. Stock pickups are GREAT GREAT GREAT. And then you play the MM90's- they are even better!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[beej]

I'm loving how much everybody loves their Alberts. I've been playing my pinkie all day ... it is sooo fine ...

Shame there aren't any noiseless pickups that sound as good as these Duncans. The bridge especially, what with just a hint of twang and all.

 

[robelinda2]

Albert's sure are a great axe, I'm loving over the recent months how many forumites have purchased one!

 

[Spudmurphy]

See,

Now here's interesting.

Until I sold my 94 Pinkburst onto Komp I had my all time favourite set of Rio Grande's loaded into it. I've been meaning to stick them into my new AL for months now but just haven't got around to it.

So this may be the very push that I need to get those SD's out of there. PM me if you're interested Spud and maybe we can do a deal !

pm sent

 

[tommyindelaware]

+1 !!!
my somewhat busy gigging sched has started up again after a couple months resting. got a three nighter this weekend. been pluckin the hell out of the al this weekend.

I'm loving how much everybody loves their Alberts. I've been playing my pinkie all day ... it is sooo fine ...

Shame there aren't any noiseless pickups that sound as good as these Duncans. The bridge especially, what with just a hint of twang and all.

 

[tommyindelaware]

i just put the lollar blonde in the neck position.the stock middle & bridge positions i love.

Tommy has put Lollars in his AL (and other guitars). But IIRC he only put them in certain positions rather than a full set.

 

[tommyindelaware]

hmmmmmmmmm..........

I'd love to put a set of Y2D pickups in an AL

 

[beej]

Resurrecting my old thread ...

So I changed the p'ups in my Albert. I've been looking for a noiseless solution for a while- even took a Suhr Backplate apart to see if I could mount it under the pickguard. Didn't pan out, so I tried a number of different pickups in there.

In the end I went with a set of Bill Lawrence L-200s (all three, but evaluated a few different Lawrence bridge pickups). These are the best stratty noiseless p'ups I've played- by a good margin. Runner up was the Dimarzio Area series, but the Lawrences are more genuine and less sterile to my ears.

Neck and quack positions are awesome. Bridge is also great- not quite as "spanky" as the Duncan that was in there, but it's not far off. Good enough that I'm very happy. Also took the liberty of wiring up the middle switch position to be neck+bridge (rather than the middle on it's own), and pulling the tone control takes it out of the circuit (a little more resistance in the circuit, it's like a subtle "pull bright" switch).

So there ya go. Next step is ordering some L-200s for my Morse to replace the Areas I put in there.