TA Pickups in a hollowbody... anybody?

[pneil]

Hey guys.

I was just wondering if any of you madman have put Anderson pickups into a hollowbody? I love the resonance of the 335-336 platform and usually find the stock pickups to be the limiting factor. I was wondering how the clarity of the Anderson HB's (maybe an HC2 in the bridge, HC1 neck???) might work in that platform?? Seems like it could be a great match. Anybody?

Maybe if Tom could just offer a really nice hollowbody... Yeah, I know. :) You've done two very cool new models in the past year.

Pneil

[pneil]

Anyone..., anyone..., Bueller?

[dplight]

Anyone..., anyone..., Bueller?

I was hoping for some words of wisdom here too. From time to time I think about picking up a decent playing (not high end) hollow body that would most likely have needs new pickups.

[tom]

ok, since nobody else has jumped in, i have only heard a few hollows with our pickups, and they were before the HC's happened.

i would ask, what are you looking for more of less of tonally?

[pneil]

Great, ask me a hard question...

My first answer would be clarity. One example is an early 336 I have. It sounds amazing acoustically, but only good when plugged in. It's like the stock Gibson pup's don't really capture the overtones I hear acoustically.

I did swap the stock bridge and tailpiece out with tone-pros versions, and it did seem to improve things a bit. The stock pickups just seem a bit muddy and lack the detail that I've come to expect from my Andersons.

[tom]

would you prefer it to be hotter than it is or is the output fine?

[pneil]

A little hotter would be fine. I currently use it with the exact same Axe-fx patchs I use for my hollow drop top (H2+ in the bridge). I do bump the input gain a touch when I use the 336 to compensate for the pickup levels.

I just thought one of the crew here might have tried it.

[tom]

i would think that HC1 and HC2 would be good.(but i personally love 1- in the neck).

[pipedwho]

Back in the day, I had an HO1- and an HO1+ in a 335 and they did what they did very well. These days (if I still had the guitar) I'd go with the HF1- / HF1+ to get more of that sparkle. The covered version HC1- / HC1+ would work well if you like more of that subdued jazzy sound that the 335 can do so well.

If you like hotter pickups you can always bump up to HC1/HC2, but for some reason, I always prefer lower output pickups in the hollow bodied guitars. YMMV of course.

[pneil]

Thanks guys.

Good input. It looks like an HC1+ and an HC1- might be what I want. Now I just have to decide how much I want to spend to test this theory (when there is a ton of other cool guitar gear I could could be blowing my discretionary income on :) ).

Anyone else that's tried this, please feel free to update.

Pneil

[mdrs]

What were the original Gibby pickups in that "early 336"??

[Briggs]

I was hoping for some words of wisdom here too. From time to time I think about picking up a decent playing (not high end) hollow body that would most likely have needs new pickups.

^^ yup, this goes for me too

[pneil]

I think the pickups are the typical 57 classic and classic+. It's a 2002 CS model. I spent a bit more time tweaking the pickup height this week and it's better. Actually between the tone pros bridge and tailpiece and the tweaks, it's sounding pretty good.

I'm interested in a cheaper hollowbody too. The 336 is nice, but with all the solid wood, it's not really very 335 ish.

I've been looking at the Ibanez models. The AS153 seems nice. A used scofield model (JSM100) would be cool too. I was told that Eastman has some new models too, but they're not in the website yet.