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Question Swapping my EMGs in luke 1 to Duncan Distortion, need single coil pup suggestions?

ZeroFivefour

ZeroFivefour

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Jan 15, 2011
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San Antonio, TX
I have 3 luke 1's. I am going to swap the pickups in one of them to passives for some diversity in tones.

I am 99 percent set on a Seymour Duncan Distortion, (is there only one SD Distortion btw???) for the bridge. I also considered the JB, but I think the SD distortion is better for my desired tones and the alder body.
Let me know if I am wrong as I will not be offended.

This is going to be my mid to late 80's hair metal guitar, ie: George Lynch/Warren De Martini tones. More specifically: Lynch Mob-Wicked Sensation Distortion and Ratt-Way Cool Jr bluesy clean tones.


I really have no idea on which single coils I should consider at the moment.
I think a SD quarter pounder might be a good possibilily for the neck.

So what do you guys think, SD distortion in bridge, SD QP in neck, ??? What pup for the mid position?

Any suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks much and Cheers,

Tom
 
Tollywood

Tollywood

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Hello Tom...I didn't realize that you moved to Texas. I see that you picked someplace warm. Great idea.

When you spoke of Lynch Mob, Ratt, and 80's tone I knew I had to chime in. I would suggest a Bare Knuckle Holy Diver pickup.
You can order it EMG sized for a perfect fit.

Here is a description:

Holy Diver

A celebration of the original '80s hot-rodded humbuckers with a progressive, modern tone and wide dynamic range.
The Holydiver humbucker offers high output and the mature, earthy voice of an Alnico V powered rock pickup. Fat mids, warm and compact bass as well as harmonic rich highs provide the perfect answer for progressive players looking for a versatile, powerful humbucker.

The wide dynamics and mids of the Holydiver are excellent for adding depth and body to lighter weight, bolt-on neck guitars and extremely well suited to hi-gain applications that benefit from a sweeter treble response.

From solid contemporary clean tones through to aggressive hi-gain saturation, the Holydiver is ideal for technically and tonally demanding players.

https://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/main/pickups.php?cat=humbuckers&sub=contemporary&pickup=holydiver
 
Last edited:
ZeroFivefour

ZeroFivefour

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Jan 15, 2011
Messages
337
Location
San Antonio, TX
You guys are awesome! Great advice!

ozzyrules said:
How about the DiMarzio Transition single coils that are in the Luke III?
Click to expand...


Didn't even cross my mind. Great idea for sure.

Tollie said:
Hello Tom...I didn't realize that you moved to Texas. I see that you picked someplace warm. Great idea.

When you spoke of Lynch Mob, Ratt, and 80's tone I knew I had to chime in. I would suggest a Bare Knuckle Holy Diver pickup.
You can order it EMG sized for a perfect fit.

Here is a description:

Holy Diver

A celebration of the original '80s hot-rodded humbuckers with a progressive, modern tone and wide dynamic range.
The Holydiver humbucker offers high output and the mature, earthy voice of an Alnico V powered rock pickup. Fat mids, warm and compact bass as well as harmonic rich highs provide the perfect answer for progressive players looking for a versatile, powerful humbucker.

The wide dynamics and mids of the Holydiver are excellent for adding depth and body to lighter weight, bolt-on neck guitars and extremely well suited to hi-gain applications that benefit from a sweeter treble response.

From solid contemporary clean tones through to aggressive hi-gain saturation, the Holydiver is ideal for technically and tonally demanding players.

https://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/main/pickups.php?cat=humbuckers&sub=contemporary&pickup=holydiver
Click to expand...


Tollie,

Yes, Moved in Dec 2014. It had to be warm if was going to be happy with the locale for sure! Enjoying the heck out of SA to be honest and for a whole host of reasons!

Great idea on the BKP, I didn't even consider them either. I used to have a guitar with a BKP Rebel Yell matching set that was phenomenal. They are really nice pups. Thanks for the suggestion.

My thought process with this guitar was to find the pups that the guys used to make the albums and go from there. I am fairly sure that GL used an alder super-strat with the SD Distortion through a Plexi for the first Lynch mob album, (at least that what I've read on numerous websites) there is some debate about whether a soldano SLO was used sparingly etc... I dont own a plexi or SLO, but I the CAE preamp works for that Modded Marshall/Soldano vibe.

I am fairly sure that W-DM had been using a JB in the bridge and the quarter pounder in the neck of his charvels for years prior to his sig pup that is a derivation of the JB. So I am thinking the combo of the SD Distortion in the bridge, Quarter Pounder in the neck will get me in the ball park for the 80s era tones I'm hoping to approximate. I may even consider the W-DM RTM pup at this point. Great options all around for sure.

FYI,
Incidentally this all started as a result of me enjoying the Heck out of the tones I am getting with my "floyded" Axis w/passive pups and through the CAE 3+SE Mesa 2:90 rig. :D

luiscesaripad said:
Are you going to sell the EMG set? If yes, how much?
Click to expand...

Luiscesari,

I have no intention of selling the luke pups. I like them too much to ever sell them to be honest. Sorry.


Thanks again guys.
Cheers,

Tom
 
kimonostereo

kimonostereo

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Jul 26, 2009
Messages
1,197
Location
Honolulu, HI
In the 80's during high school, I recall using Duncan Distortion and a Duncan Custom as the main humbucker in my main axe. For single coil, I was mainly using Duncan Alnico IIs in one and the other had Dimarzio alnicos of some sort.. can't remember.

Later, I got a PJ Marx Brad Gillis pickup and I think I stuck with that until I got EMG 81s. LOL!
 
BrickGlass

BrickGlass

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Jan 23, 2009
Messages
854
Location
Utah
I contacted Dimarzio since they don't make Transition single coil pups available outside the LIII guitar. The closest thing they make that can be purchased is the Injector DP422 neck pickup according to them.
 
Firesource

Firesource

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Jan 21, 2014
Messages
181
Location
Denmark
I have the BKP Holy Diver/Irish tour HSS set in one of my guitars, and they work really well together, and it's awesome for what you describe.
 
ZeroFivefour

ZeroFivefour

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Joined
Jan 15, 2011
Messages
337
Location
San Antonio, TX
To everyone that chimed in...Thanks much!

I really appreciate it.

Keep in mind that my goal is to NOT have it sound like Lukathers vibe. Don't get me wrong, of course I love lukather's Vibe, but I have 3 Lukes and I am trying to capture a completely different vibe/tonal direction with one of them in order to have some other tonal options, ie: the 80's Super strat Hair band vibes of Lynch and De Martini my 2 favorite 80s players for a lean mean Hair Metal Machine! I actually went to a few guitar stores today and checked out a couple 80's charvels to see if that would be cost effective, turned out not to be of course as I could not gel with either of the 2 necks, one was pretty thrashed as well.

I have decided to go with 2 Seymour Duncan Quarter Pound(ers), in the SS spots, and a Seymour Duncan Custom Shop RTM (Warren De martini sig pup for the Bridge). I picked up one of the QP's today locallay, I have to order the RWRP version of the QP for the middle postion and the RTM bridge pup on Monday. I'll most likely get this done in 2 weeks time if all goes well. I'll post my findings for anyone who is interested after all is said and done. As with any pick up swap this could go one of 3 ways, Great, Bad, and meh. I'm hoping for Great.

Thanks again for all the great suggestions and info.

Cheers,

Tom
 
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