PRS Singlecut Users. Advice needed.

matt1973

Bagged this little beauty a few weeks back.

http://i1120.photobucket.com/albums/l484/baggy_matty/7343cddf93a5f525223d5bc746519126_zpscb8b1f1f.jpg

It's an early (2001) Singlecut Artist pack. In every respect it has surpassed my expectations but I have read some negativity towards the pickups on these - they're #7's. I was wondering if any of the SC users have chosen to "upgrade" their pickups and, if so, was it a worthwhile investment?

Moltisanti

wow that's a beauty! I know of lots of Singlecut players who have changed out the 7s with good results. The usual suspects seem to work well in the SCs - Suhr Aldrich on the hotter side, Bare Knuckle (Mules, Holy Diver, Rebel Yell), and Seymour Duncans.

The gold HW will make finding a new used set trickier

John_P

The #7 (and uncovered version the #6) dont' get great reviews but I tried them in my tremonti (very similar to yours but with a trem) and didn't hate them.   They sounded typical lowish output PAF with a nice open tone - I much preferred them to the standard tremonti p/ups that had a strange too bassy neck and harsh bridge making amp eq tricky.

After a few more swaps (SD 59's, Jazz/JB, PRS Dragon 2's & VB/HFS)  i ended up with the Suhr Aldrich like I have in my custom 24 and they suit me better. I also like the lower output Suhr SSV's and a lot of people like BK mules.  The #7's are decent pickups (imho) and better than the dragons but the Suhr pickups are my favourite.

guitarfishbay

Well that is what some people think, but do you like them?

I actually quite like the #7s but they are definitely on the more polite side of things.  I did consider replacing the bridge pickup on my SC but decided not to purely because I think it is a good thing that it sounds different to my Les Paul (which is more aggressive sounding).

matt1973

guitarfishbay said:

Well that is what some people think, but do you like them?

I actually quite like the #7s but they are definitely on the more polite side of things.  I did consider replacing the bridge pickup on my SC but decided not to purely because I think it is a good thing that it sounds different to my Les Paul (which is more aggressive sounding).

My only issue as such is that they don't roll roll off to well but I understand that a treble bleed cap will take care of that. 

 I'd also like the option of single coils too and I believe the #7s are two conductor pups. Was thinking of having one of these fitted: http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Electronics,_pickups/Components:_Switches_and_knobs/Free-Way_Pickup_Switch.html

matt1973

John_P said:

The #7 (and uncovered version the #6) dont' get great reviews but I tried them in my tremonti (very similar to yours but with a trem) and didn't hate them.   They sounded typical lowish output PAF with a nice open tone - I much preferred them to the standard tremonti p/ups that had a strange too bassy neck and harsh bridge making amp eq tricky.

After a few more swaps (SD 59's, Jazz/JB, PRS Dragon 2's & VB/HFS)  i ended up with the Suhr Aldrich like I have in my custom 24 and they suit me better. I also like the lower output Suhr SSV's and a lot of people like BK mules.  The #7's are decent pickups (imho) and better than the dragons but the Suhr pickups are my favourite.

Funny you should say that - I had Suhr Aldrich's in mind.

matt1973

Moltisanti said:

wow that's a beauty! I know of lots of Singlecut players who have changed out the 7s with good results. The usual suspects seem to work well in the SCs - Suhr Aldrich on the hotter side, Bare Knuckle (Mules, Holy Diver, Rebel Yell), and Seymour Duncans.

The gold HW will make finding a new used set trickier

Looks like importing is the way for Suhrs - £60 per pickup in Gold. Even with VAT applied it should represent a saving.

MattG

I've got Suhr Aldrich's in my SC and everybody comments on how much better it sounds than the standard ones

John_P

matt1973 said:

Looks like importing is the way for Suhrs - £60 per pickup in Gold. Even with VAT applied it should represent a saving.

I keep an eye out for Suhr pickups and have them in 4 guitars now but I'm not sure I've ever seen anyone selling the gold ones so importing would definitely be the way forward. 
I was toying with moving the zebra's from the tremonti to a les paul and finding a covered neck and black bridge so I can get the original look of the tremonti back.   Just not enough people selling them...

AlanP

I also have a set of Suhr Aldrich (covered) and are very pleased and impressed by them - also, they split very convincingly...

hubobulous

Another vote for Aldrich pickups. I have them on a 3 way and 5 way, and the sonic options are awesome on these, especially when considering that they're high output which normally seems to compromise in this area.

TTony

matt1973 said:

I have read some negativity towards the pickups on these

I think you're using the wrong sense.  

Let your ears tell you whether the pickups are right or not, not what other people say about them.  Unless you trust the opinion of others more than your own ...

matt1973

Other than lack of coil tap capability nothing wrong whatsoever to me. However, general t'internet musing on the SC range revealed a trend of pickup dissatisfaction amongst users. Hence the thread.

fretfinder

TTony said:

matt1973 said:

I have read some negativity towards the pickups on these

I think you're using the wrong sense.  

Let your ears tell you whether the pickups are right or not, not what other people say about them.  Unless you trust the opinion of others more than your own ...

Exactly.

matt1973

As I said - nothing wrong at all. 

However my ears can't tell if something is at is optimum or maybe just falling short a little. That's pretty darn near impossible without ABing with identical gear featuring said modifications.

The opinions of others with similar experiences, can sometimes help. Hence the thread.

guitarfishbay

matt1973 said:

As I said - nothing wrong at all. 

However my ears can't tell if something is at is optimum or maybe just falling short a little. That's pretty darn near impossible without ABing with identical gear featuring said modifications.

The opinions of others with similar experiences, can sometimes help. Hence the thread.

You will save yourself a lot of money by only worrying about what you think!

Having done a lot of A/B testing myself I've come to the conclusion that so long as I'm happy with what I have and it does what I need, that will do.  There is always the possiblity of a better tool, and sometimes a change is nice, but looking for stuff to change 'just in case' is a dangerous route to go down!

matt1973

Asking the question doesn't hurt. At least I don't think so...

My thoughts regarding a pup swap centre around my like of a single coil option - but there's never going to be an online discussion about that. I may very well swap for this reason alone. 

However, I am interested in hearing other folks experiences regarding SC stock pickups as it also relevant to this potential buying decision. But it is, by no means whatsoever, the only factor the decides my course of action.

Im a tad surprised that there's a perceived need to point that out.

John_P

Seemed a pretty sensible question to me. 

I love prs guitars for the feel and way they play - I was reasonably happy with the sound of mine but felt I was sounds I preferred from other guitars so I did a bit of research and tried pickups that I thought might add something extra from the stock pickups - I've ended up with the Suhr p/ups and I'm now happy to just play them.   I'm not one for changing for the sake of it - my LP's and strats are standard (Bustbuckers and Noiseless and they are often swapped by people),  checking to see what people with the same guitar have found is an obvious way forward if you're considering a change  

ICBM

Although I'm not very familiar with the Singlecuts, personally I find all PRS pickups somewhat overly midrangy and lifeless, just to varying degrees. Paul Smith does have a very definite idea of what sound he likes, and from having heard him play it's totally the opposite of what I want in a guitar. It's actually odd that I like his guitars, really...

Unless you're an obsessive about solder joint originality you can easily put the stock pickups back with no loss if you don't like whatever you try in it.

Also, if you want single-coil options and since it has one tone control per pickup, you can use the tone knobs to split the pickups instead of needing push-pulls.