bridge pickup decision

[Matt]

OK well my guitar is sitting on the workshop table in two bits ready to have its final sanding, touch ups and glueing the neck. but im stuck for choice of what pickup to put in the bridge.

I want something that would be really hot and great for distortion (not too bothered about clean as long as it sounds half decent), something that would scream and spit harmonics.

heres what i was thinking:-

SD Dimebucker

Dimarzio Evolution

Bill lawrence 500XL

Kent armstrong Motherbucker (www.wdmusicproducts.com)

Kent armstrong ultra distortion

SD invader

SD full shred

really i want something thats quite trebley and middly with alot of output, not too muddy,

I was thinking of building my own PU, and was looking at winding a PU like an Evolution with coils of different guages, but apparently this could be hard to do as it would give unexpected results

anyhow has anyone got any opinions or how i might wing a PU to my specs? either that or ill get www.bareknucklepickups.co.uk to do it as they are bloody ledgends!! - and make VERY nice PU's.

cheers Matt

[Biohazard]

I don't know about the others in terms of distortion and harmonics. But the Kent Armstrong Motherbucker can scream and spit harmonics incredibly well if wired the right way. I should know, I have one in my guitar in the bridge position. It is incredibly powerfull and I can get great harmonics out of it too.

[ansil]

bill lawrence if you are playing metal as its a great all around pickup but they make kick ass metal pickups.. flip it backwards ala dimebag

[Librero]

are you asking if which of the pickups you mentioned will fit your requirements, or how you're going to build a pickup with tonal characteristics similar to the ones you mentioned?

[lovekraft]

All the pickups you listed work well with distortion, and they all sound different ( well, I'm not a big fan of the Invader or the Ultra Distortion, but lots of people are, and the 500XL sounds very much like the Dimebucker to my old ears, or vice versa). May I suggest that you give as many of them as possible a listen, and decide which one you like best? Everybody here has good reasons for liking the pickups they prefer, but beyond very basic descriptions, nobody's going to be able to give you more than a vague idea of what they actually sound like without posting sound clips. You should also check out EMGs, even though they didn't make your list, because they may be just what you're looking for. And I (emphasis on "I") wouldn't go to the trouble and expense of having a pickup custom wound unless I couldn't find anything close to what I wanted in a stock pickup, or just wanted to impress my friends with the cool factor. Now I'm going to step back to avoid getting caught in any flame-wars that might develop here.

[Matt]

well i was really just looking at a range of opinions, i had considered the motherbucker for a long time, but then the dimebucker caught my eye, as well as the Evo.

Does anyone have any ideas for example pickups that i could try and wind myself?

As i said im quite interested in the dual-resonance coil thingy- any idea's?

I thought about 5500-6000 turns of AWG 41 and 43 ?????

Cheers Matt

[Matt]

besides the custom PU is £100 so ony £20-30 more than a SD or DM

Matt

[Alexander]

Well, I've just put a motherbucker in my frankenstrat - only used it once at decent volume but I can tell you it's very loud indeed, and a lot "sharper" than I was expecting. I was pretty amazed - I had to back it right off the strings to get a decent clean sound. I'm putting an EMG 81 in my current project so I'll try and post a comparison of the two.

[Matt]

Ok well i think its probably a shoot off between the motherbucker and the dimebucker.

cheers for the posts, does anyone know what would give better harmonics?

really i want to now how to wind one as i have half of the stuff i need to wind one already, plus i got hold of some rare earth magnets, so they should sup it up a bit as well!!

Matt