If you only have one pickup....

[PeteeBee]

So I'm down to just one guitar. It's a melody maker sg, the ones from 2011 that only have a volume knob. Right now it has a Dimarzio Dominion in it. It's sort of PAF style but on the hot side. I'm looking for something lower output and maybe a little more hifi? I'm not sure about that part necessarily. I'm not even really sure what that means, but it seems like what I want

Amp wise, I use a micro terror through a 2x12 cab, but I'm about two months from having a Science Mother, so my insistent headroom and clarity issues should get a massive improvement. Music is mostly "alternative" I guess. Current band has some like arcade fire, modest mouse, and the strokes sounds going on. I'm mostly playing little riffs and arpeggios and harmony chords to fill in what the other guy jams out on bar chords. I get to use lots of delay and dirt so I'm pretty happy, and have a pretty blank check to make the songs more weird/interesting however I want. The other guy writes the songs and I spice them up.

A couple pickups I'm real curious about for no particular reason other than they are interesting and seem to match the words I'd like to have describe my tone:
Wide Range Humbuckers, like curtis novaks or something
Gold Foils, lollars most likely
Imperial humbuckers, just because it seems like an improvement on what I already have
????

I know gold foils and wide range humbuckers both get lots of love, but if you only had ONE PICKUP that you had to coax a ton of sounds out of, what would you want??

[Invisible Man]

Dunno, but being the 'weird colorful' guitar guy is the best.

[PeteeBee]

Dunno, but being the 'weird colorful' guitar guy is the best.

Yeah it's a rad spot to be in. He's always blown away with the sounds I make, and I'm always stoked on how catchy his songs are

[repoman]

Filtertrons are low output and very 'hifi' sounding.
EQ is pretty scooped with accentuating the highs, very articulate pickups.

[PeteeBee]

I'll look into those. For a long time I looked hard at some TV Jones for that action. I kind of stopped because I thought they wouldn't cut it for my only pickup. Maybe I'll revisit...

[actual]

How do you like the Melody Maker overall? I'm interested cause it's a contender for my first guitar, whenever that becomes relevant.

[PeteeBee]

I really like it. I admittedly have limited experience with other guitars. I've owned four electric guitars, a dot, a telemaster thing, some ibanez cheapy, and this melody maker. I like this worlds more than any of those, but it's a small pool. I have chronic wrist issues and it's the only neck I've used for extended periods of time that doesn't hurt it, including several nicer guitars people have loaned me to see if it helped with the issue. If it weren't for the neck I would probably still be looking for a different guitar just because GAS. I also really like things stripped down as simple as possible, which this definitely is.

[ognoy]

EGC single coil.
The pickup I use 90% of the time.
Works for doom, twang, postrock and rock'n'roll.

[actual]

I really like it. I admittedly have limited experience with other guitars. I've owned four electric guitars, a dot, a telemaster thing, some ibanez cheapy, and this melody maker. I like this worlds more than any of those, but it's a small pool. I have chronic wrist issues and it's the only neck I've used for extended periods of time that doesn't hurt it, including several nicer guitars people have loaned me to see if it helped with the issue. If it weren't for the neck I would probably still be looking for a different guitar just because GAS. I also really like things stripped down as simple as possible, which this definitely is.

Thanks I also have wrist issues, so that info might come in handy, and yeah, the stripped down-ness of it is definitely part of the allure for me.

[PeteeBee]

EGC single coil.
The pickup I use 90% of the time.
Works for doom, twang, postrock and rock'n'roll.

Is this vastly preferred to their humbucker? The egc 1000 is all that's for sale right now.

I'm also leaning a lot at the lollar el Rayo. Seems like a good cross sonically between a humbucker and a single.

[ognoy]

EGC single coil.
The pickup I use 90% of the time.
Works for doom, twang, postrock and rock'n'roll.

Is this vastly preferred to their humbucker? The egc 1000 is all that's for sale right now.

I'm also leaning a lot at the lollar el Rayo. Seems like a good cross sonically between a humbucker and a single.

The bucker is pretty badass as well, best bucker I've ever used.
But I just prefer singlecoils.

[JonnyAngle]

this is a boring answer, but have you tried doing a coil-tap?

[PeteeBee]

Yeah my dimarzio currently is coil tapped, definitely helps. Tapped it is just a little thinner and quieterbut it can make l the difference with chords.

[PeteeBee]

EGC single coil.
The pickup I use 90% of the time.
Works for doom, twang, postrock and rock'n'roll.

Is this vastly preferred to their humbucker? The egc 1000 is all that's for sale right now.

I'm also leaning a lot at the lollar el Rayo. Seems like a good cross sonically between a humbucker and a single.

The bucker is pretty badass as well, best bucker I've ever used.
But I just prefer singlecoils.

Rad. I just get worried about the 14k output. Sounds like a heck of a lot.

[ognoy]

It is loud, but also very clear!
Try it!