Humbucker recommendations for Acrylic body guitars?

[KevinTJH]

I've just purchased a BC Rich Acrylic Mockingbird that I'm getting shipped from Japan so I'm looking in throwing in some good investment into it to give it more love.

I will be playing mostly modern metal/hard rock on it.

Hoping to hear specifically from people who have experience with acrylic bodies.

Search results on tonal qualities of acrylic have been quite inconsistent.
The consensus so far is that they sound quite "thin" and "trebly".

As such, I was thinking of getting a set of Seymour Duncan Invaders to compensate with some low end and thickness?

Otherwise, my other considerations are the SD Nazgul, SD Black Winters or Fishman Fluence Modern.
Taking a break from Dimarzio as most of my pickup upgrades so far have been Dimarzio.

What are your thoughts?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Crungy]

I'd play it first and see what you think vs what the internet says.

From there, what do you want? Lots of low end? More mids, a lot of highs or a little less highs?

 

[KevinTJH]

I'd play it first and see what you think vs what the internet says.

From there, what do you want? Lots of low end? More mids, a lot of highs or a little less highs?

The current stock pickups sound pretty garbage. Very harsh on the highs while also lacking notes definition. Reducing the the highs makes the tone sound somewhat muddy.

If I’m being honest, I’m not sure myself what changes in EQ is most ideal to get them sounding good.
I’d say more mids and tighter bottom end perhaps?

 

[Baelzebeard]

Of your choices, IME the Nazgul is brighter,(and tighter) than the Black Winters. So I would probably go Black Winter.
I don't have experiences with your other choices.

 

[STRHelvete]

Elysian Pickups
Fishman Fluence
Bareknuckle Pickups
SD Black Winter
SD Nazgul
Lundgren Pickups

Just wanted to list those as they come up in any pickup question regardless of needs or specs

If you have experience with a type of pickups, like a SD Distortion or something, buy a cheap one and throw it in and play. Once you hear how the guitar sounds you can make a decision.

Otherwise just get a good cheap pickup and use it. You can always change later as it's likely whatever you put in now is gonna get swapped down the road once you've gotten used to the sound and can make a decision

 

[Emiliano]

if i remember correctly, both vai and satriani had some acrylic signature at some point in time, the tone should not be overly trebly, but in general more full and rounded, it has the mass that some woods lack but is softer (it does not resonate like hard wood)

it should be similar to basswood

it could very well be that the stock pickups are garbage

but wait till is in your care, change strings and play it directly on your setup (as some fine gentleman suggested before)

if you can, take into consideration some pickup swap between the acrylic guitar and other that you already have and know the tone, this could be very useful to assess the tone and understand what pickup could be best

i understand that going all samurai with the soldering iron is not the best idea for a fun time, but it could be rewarding and save you some money in the long run

 

[JimF]

I remember a similar discussion on another forum about a hundred years ago, and what stuck with me was people using EMGs as they rely less on the wood and more on their own EQ to always sound like EMGs. Worth considering.

 

[ErockRPh]

I have no experience with acrylic guitars, but if you looking for more "Oomph" I'll throw out BKP Warpigs as an option. They have a very full low end, but still retain a lot of definition.

 

[lost_horizon]

Dimarzio Humbucker from Hell
SD Custom SH-5
Dimarzio Any Joe Satriani
Dimarzio Crunchlab

 

[ZXIIIT]

I briefly owned a purple acrylic Warlock, the stock pickups sounded good, but after a week of owning the guitar, I sold it as it was stupidly heavy, which was only cool for the first day.

I only recorded this with it, but its not the best lol

 

[KevinTJH]

I remember a similar discussion on another forum about a hundred years ago, and what stuck with me was people using EMGs as they rely less on the wood and more on their own EQ to always sound like EMGs. Worth considering.

I think routing a battery box in itself could prove quite difficult for the average person on wood.
Acrylic will probably make any sloppy cuts even more visible!

 

[Emperoff]

I remember a similar discussion on another forum about a hundred years ago, and what stuck with me was people using EMGs as they rely less on the wood and more on their own EQ to always sound like EMGs. Worth considering.

Yup. Pretty much everyone I've seen using acrylic guitars put EMGs in them. Luckily there's a lot more options on active pickups now.

I think routing a battery box in itself could prove quite difficult for the average person on wood.
Acrylic will probably make any sloppy cuts even more visible!

You can probably fit the battery alongside the rest of the electronics.