Charvel DK22 SSS... I'm almost there. Which bridge pickup?

[Tito83]

It was a rough start, had major tuning issues, tone was not what I wanted... But it felt good to play. After surgery in my hand and a pretty bad car accident a year ago, I'm constantly struggling with pain and comfort had to be priority.

Tuning issues were resolved when I out of frustration just put the guitar apart and back together. I thought it was solved, but leaving the strings out of the string tree pretty much made the guitar giggable. Nice.

Tried a few pickups, the set that stayed for quite a while was 2 SD Classic Stacks and a Little 59. Guitar never sounded great, but it was workable.The little 59 was fine actually, the classic stacks were not bad, but if I had to use a work to describe them it would be "bland".

Out of nowhere a bridge pivot head just broke. Had to buy another one, saw the knife on the bridge worn in a weird way after a couple of years, so I decided to take a chance and got one with a wider spacing, which my sausage fingers appreciate. New Gotoh 510 ordered.

As I was changing the bridge I decided to go all in and order Dimarzio Areas. Widely accepted as a great single coil sounding noiseless pickup, which is important for me for gigging - but I have to say I was very skeptical it would solve my tone problems with this guitar.

Bridge and pickups installed.

Area 58 neck and 67 for the middle. Had to rewire the 59 because it was out of phase, easy to solve.

Had to remove a bit of wood to make space for the slightly larger block on the new bridge. The larger spacing worked great.

The guitar sounds WAY better now, much more I would expect from a strat, I'm really happy with the tone.

The new bridge for some reason stays in tune even better, now I don't even have to bypass the string tree. The E and B strings, especially the E, would ring a bit weird when played open, now it's perfect! I can really abuse the whammy bar and it stays in tune perfectly!

Both changes were actually major improvements! I'm very happy




TLDR: New Gotoh 510 with larger spacing worked great / pickups are Area 58, Area 67 and little 59. Much better tone, much better tuning stability.

So, I'm only second guessing the Little 59 right now. It's good, but I really think it could be a bit better. Anything closer to a PAF while still single coil sized? I'm not discarding going to full sized HB, but for now I'm open to try other single coil sized ones.

 

[Boojakki]

I'm a big fan of the Dimarzio Chopper, so I would try that. The Dimarzio Pro Track would be more PAF-like and you could try that too, but personally I prefer the Chopper.

 

[aivoryuk]

Dimarzio Chopper is a great pickup -

 

[MadMaxG79]

Cool guitar! And thanks for the heads up regarding the Gotoh bridge and DiMarzio Area pickups. I'd like to check those out if ever I get around to owning a strat...

I'm a bit curious as to why you chose to post this in "Digital & Modeling", though

 

[Tito83]

Cool guitar! And thanks for the heads up regarding the Gotoh bridge and DiMarzio Area pickups. I'd like to check those out if ever I get around to owning a strat...

I'm a bit curious as to why you chose to post this in "Digital & Modeling", though

I'm in the Digital forum so much I just forgot to change it

 

[Tito83]

I'm a big fan of the Dimarzio Chopper, so I would try that. The Dimarzio Pro Track would be more PAF-like and you could try that too, but personally I prefer the Chopper.

Dimarzio Chopper is a great pickup -

I do have a Chopper actually, I even had it on the guitar a while back. I liked it, just kept on trying other stuff. I'll try it again next! Do you guys use it with a 250k or 500k volume pot?

 

[aivoryuk]

I do have a Chopper actually, I even had it on the guitar a while back. I liked it, just kept on trying other stuff. I'll try it again next! Do you guys use it with a 250k or 500k volume pot?

Both guitars had it with a 250k pot and were traditional slant (unlike your reverse slant) - I believe Richie Kotzen has it with the 250k pots.

 

[Boojakki]

I used it as a bridge PU in a Peavey Predator USA w/ 250k Pots and as neck PU in 2 or 3 HSS Super-Strats w/ 500k pots, all of them worked great. I think it works well with either pot-value in the bridge position.

 

[FuzzyAce]

Anything closer to a PAF while still single coil sized? I'm not discarding going to full sized HB, but for now I'm open to try other single coil sized ones.

Chopper is good, as is the Super Distortion S. It's hotter than a PAF sound but there's flexibility there depending on pickup height -- although I don't know how it'll sound in a reverse slant setup. I use 500K for all my Areas and rail pickups. I'd rather have more top end than not enough.

 

[Guitarwiz007]

The Chopper is a great pickup and a great recommendation. I use mine with 500k pots because I like slighly higher end. I can always back it off. @FuzzyAce has a great recommend in Super Distortion S but I will also say the Air Norton S is a great pairing.

 

[FuzzyAce]

The Chopper is a great pickup and a great recommendation. I use mine with 500k pots because I like slighly higher end. I can always back it off. @FuzzyAce has a great recommend in Super Distortion S but I will also say the Air Norton S is a great pairing.

I'm going to have to give the Air Norton S a go pretty soon. The specs look good, I'm guessing it has a fairly balanced tone overall?

 

[Tito83]

The Chopper is a great pickup and a great recommendation. I use mine with 500k pots because I like slighly higher end. I can always back it off. @FuzzyAce has a great recommend in Super Distortion S but I will also say the Air Norton S is a great pairing.

Eventually I know I'll just get bored and try, but this last couple of weeks the 59 had been feeling pretty nice actually. Not having to deal with the 250k/500k vol is also a factor

The Pro Track is the supposedly single coil sized PAF, isn't it? Has anyone tried it?

 

[paisleywookiee]

The Pro Track is the supposedly single coil sized PAF, isn't it? Has anyone tried it?

I have not, but I’d love to hear if someone has. I actually quite like the Lil 59 in the bridge of a Tele my pal has.

 

[CBHScott]

Tito, I have to say that I remember you posting way back at TOP when you originally got this guitar and the issues you had back then. Bravo to you for sticking with it this long and getting it to be what you need .

Most have us probably would have given up on it a lot sooner.

 

[paisleywookiee]

These sometimes have issues, but damn man, they’re such fun guitars. Really like a hotrod Strat, with better playability.

 

[Tito83]

Tito, I have to say that I remember you posting way back at TOP when you originally got this guitar and the issues you had back then. Bravo to you for sticking with it this long and getting it to be what you need .

Most have us probably would have given up on it a lot sooner.

Well, being perfectly honest, it has a lot more to do with living in Brazil. Things are a lot harder to come by and *a lot* more expensive. I've had some pretty cool guitar over the years, very rarely at the same time, but ultimately gave me enough info on what I like and don't like. I got discerning enough to understand where modding would get me somewhere and where it wasn't. Before the Charvel I had an Ibanez AT100 and I just could not stand the neck shape and also the finish. Sounded great, well made, but if felt awkward to play. The Charvel was a lot better, it just need to be in tune and have better pickups. The bridge spacing also helped quite a bit. And I know it still doesn't sound as good as some of the best ones I've had, but overall, it's probably the one that fits me the best.

If I had the means I'd probably get a custom Suhr after trying a bunch to hone in on every little detail I could. I'll probably have to leave this for a next life