What humbucker do I need?

[CTN]

i hate you raph. why must you constantly make fun of me.

fyi the STOCK pickup complement is USA-made: Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates Plus and a '59N.

Way to read, NO READ.

[kinnikuman]

i hate you raph. why must you constantly make fun of me.

Really? I better back off then.

[CTN]

Really? I better back off then.

damn skippy, son. Next time, we will have to engage in fisticuffs!

Too many options. Where to start? lol!

Can you go into a little more detail about what voice you're looking for? And what other models have you tried...as well as what's come close and what's not?

Hm. Voice... something open, without too much compression. Bit of chewiness audible in the mids. Clear, musical high end, tight punchy low end. Nice even EQ, or something with small peaks here or there to stand out in a mix. Nothing huge and annoying like a modern JB.

I just got this guitar recently so I haven't had an opportunity to try other pickups in it. As far as bridge pickups go, I've played almost every version of the Custom (A2, RCA3, A4, A5, UOA5, A8, Ceramic, Big Ceramic), buncha versions of the JB (A2, A5, RCA5, A8), Distortion, Full Shred, '59B (A8, A5), Super Distortion, Tone Zone, X2N, PAF Pro, D-Activator, D-Activator X, EMG 81, 85, 707.... and now I guess the PG+ (A5 and A8).

I guess the Custom with an RCA3 is the closest to what I want out of all of those, runner up is probably the RCA5 JB. The Custom RCA3 is close because it's got the fairly even EQ (leaning slightly towards the brightness), chewiness, sweet high end, tighter low end, open midrange. Where it falls short is that the roughcast-ness tends to bring out a significant amount of grinding splatteriness to the low mids. It can work in the right guitar (like the bright ass hardtail strat I've got it in right now), but I don't know if it'd sound good in the Showmaster. Also I'd like something a bit lower output for the Showmaster.

Most of those pickups I listed are completely wrong for what I want - mostly too sterile or too loose or too high output. I feel like a Full Shred with a lower powered magnet might sound great though. Hot-ish wind, weaker magnet, plus the tightness of the hex polepieces might be a great combination. '59/C could work too.

[Agileguy]

I know I already said it, but I think the 59/C Hybrid would be perfect for you with your choice of magnet. When you were describing your ideal voicing, everything you said made me think 59/C. It's probably my all around favorite pickup.

Also, Zhang makes some good stuff. I got him to wind the pickups in my D'avanzo. I bet if you just hit him up and told him what you were looking for, he could help you out.

[kinnikuman]

Have you considered some EMG -hz or Select?

[CTN]

I hate EMG HZs. They sound like canned ass.

I haven't ever played the Selects, but I can only assume they're even worse than the HZs.

[kinnikuman]

Canned ass haha. they sure do.

I found this dued in aus who has a bunch of handmade pups.
http://mrfabulous.com.au/index.php?route...&path=3_21

These sound good
http://mrfabulous.com.au/paf%20pickup