Lundgren Black Heaven 7.

[Excruciator]

I've never come across a soldered baseplate on uncovered pickups (and I've dismantled quite a few for magnet swapping). Not saying they don't exist, but certainly not the pickups mentioned in this thread.

Pickup baseplates area typically soldered to the conductor cable so they can be grounded. It would be easy to miss even when swapping a magnet which typically doesn't require the baseplate to be fully removed. I haven't dismantled a Lundgren, but every other 4 conductor pickup I've dismantled, including SD, Dimarzio, BKP and a number of cheap stock pickups was soldered in this manner. I would be surprised if they aren't too, short of something like a plastic baseplate.

 

[Emperoff]

Pickup baseplates area typically soldered to the conductor cable so they can be grounded. It would be easy to miss even when swapping a magnet which typically doesn't require the baseplate to be fully removed. I haven't dismantled a Lundgren, but every other 4 conductor pickup I've dismantled, including SD, Dimarzio, BKP and a number of cheap stock pickups was soldered in this manner. I would be surprised if they aren't too, short of something like a plastic baseplate.

Of course, but baseplates have a hole where the cable goes through. No need to desolder the cable, just pull it through .

 

[Excruciator]

Of course, but baseplates have a hole where the cable goes through. No need to desolder the cable, just pull it through .

The conductor cable passes through the hole; the bare shield wire which runs through the conductor cable is typically soldered next to this hole on the interior of the baseplate. It's often encased in wax, especially in heavily vacum potted pickups like Dimarzios and Duncans.

You can see an example here: https://www.seymourduncan.com/blog/latest-updates/how-to-replace-a-pickups-four-conductor-lead

If you want to swap a typical nickel silver/brass baseplate, you have to desolder the old one and resolder onto the new.

 

[Emperoff]

The conductor cable passes through the hole; the bare shield wire which runs through the conductor cable is typically soldered next to this hole on the interior of the baseplate. It's often encased in wax, especially in heavily vacum potted pickups like Dimarzios and Duncans.

You can see an example here: https://www.seymourduncan.com/blog/latest-updates/how-to-replace-a-pickups-four-conductor-lead

If you want to swap a typical nickel silver/brass baseplate, you have to desolder the old one and resolder onto the new.

Ok, I got you now (picture on step 4 on that article)!

It's still a very simple procedure, but if somebody doesn't feel proficient enough with the soldering iron, there is always the option of ordering direct with the propers tabs, as I mentioned above.

 

[mrvomit]

The conductor cable passes through the hole; the bare shield wire which runs through the conductor cable is typically soldered next to this hole on the interior of the baseplate. It's often encased in wax, especially in heavily vacum potted pickups like Dimarzios and Duncans.

You can see an example here: https://www.seymourduncan.com/blog/latest-updates/how-to-replace-a-pickups-four-conductor-lead

If you want to swap a typical nickel silver/brass baseplate, you have to desolder the old one and resolder onto the new.

yeah the videos i saw shows what you say , that's why i was curious if i was told wrong.last one i saw is a p90 where he say to pay attention to that ground cause you can miss it ,iand plenty of start pickups baseplate videos .
edit....writing sae time miss conifirmation ..ok so it's ike that .yeah simple, but again is soldering ,some can and some not .Filing tabs perhaps even easier ,only drawback must have been filed good to eventually resell .
Only mistery is how a 7620 got in and a 1527 not , should be the exact opposite .

 

[soldierkahn]

I had these installed in my Ibanez RG1077XL, RG2027XLS, RGD2120Z, and my RG90XL. But once Fishman Fluences came out and I tried those, all of my guitars got swapped out for Fishmans. Not saying there was anything wrong with the Black Heavens, it was just that the Fluences got closer to what i was aiming for then the BHs did. I still recommend them to this day for anyone with basswood bodies, as brutal as the M series but without the sterility

 

[torchlord]

I was trying to located a seven string version and did managed to find these six string versions of what look to be Ibenez Style baseplates.

WD Humbucker Pickup Baseplate Nickel Silver 49.2mm, 50mm, or 52mm Spacing

WD&reg Humbucker Pickup Baseplate Nickel Silver 49.2mm, 50mm, or 52mm SpacingHumbucker baseplates in nickel silver. Available in 49.2mm, 50mm, or 52mm spacing with 6 or 12 holes.

www.wdmusic.com

 

[jyym]

How do you guys like the neck pick up specifically? How’s the set for cleans?

 

[HypatiaRising]

How do you guys like the neck pick up specifically? How’s the set for cleans?

I really like the cleans on the neck pickup. The have a lot of clarity and note separation while still being smooth and sweet. The pickups are bright, but beyond that have a pretty neutral response overall which is nice.

 

[jyym]

I really like the cleans on the neck pickup. The have a lot of clarity and note separation while still being smooth and sweet. The pickups are bright, but beyond that have a pretty neutral response overall which is nice.

Thanks. Any experience with parallel wiring either the bridge or neck, or combined split coils?

 

[HypatiaRising]

So I have had my Black Heaven 7s with ceramic bridge for about 2 weeks now. Did have to adjust the height but since then they have been great.

First thing first, these pickups are definitely bright! Hell, the coil tap bridge gets almost strat single coil levels of ice picky at times lol.

On the humbuckers it's not ice-pick bright at all, but they are noticeably bright. They are probably the first pickup where I feel a tone knob would be used by me, though only sparingly.

That said, they sound damn good. Very clear, handle gain well along with keeping dynamics. A really fantastic base to build your tone on as those nice highs are hard to add an everything else is pretty neutral.

Definitely on the level of a SD Alpha/Omega.

 

[HypatiaRising]

Thanks. Any experience with parallel wiring either the bridge or neck, or combined split coils?

I only have a coil split atm. My guitar only had a volume knob, but if I install a tone knob i will have it set up for parrallel/series.

Coil split tones are pretty good to my ear, but that isn't necessarily my niche. I think they are all very usable and the bridge can be downright jangly when coil split.

The nick and middle positions are definitely the positions I will be using regularly for coil split. Really love the neck pickup on these.

 

[jyym]

Did have to adjust the height but since then they have been great.

Did you raise or lower each?

 

[HypatiaRising]

Did you raise or lower each?

Lower. They were a bit too high after install. Made for some harsh tones lol.

 

[jyym]

So I have had this pickup in my RG7620 for a year plus now, so I think I can give it a fair evaluation now. I have the ceramic version. Over time it has grown on me quite a bit, I like having a variety of gear so my comparisons are based off my other 6 guitars. It may very well be my favorite pickup that I have tried yet for a 7 string, it is very clear sounding, yet heavy as hell. So I get a very saturated sound but I can still all the individual notes in a muddy sounding chord. I like that it has mids and isn't scooped, yet doesn't venture into the quacky mid range sound that many so many are fond of.
I'm using the RG into a 5150 III 6L6 50 watt, that's fed into a v30 loaded carving 2x12 that sits atop a Genz Benz G flex 2x12. The palm mutes are massive, so much so that it makes me want to just mash away at muted power chords until I get my fill. The single notes have a great pop to the notes without too much harsh sizzle or high end.
My guitar has a coil tap on and it sounds pretty good for being what it is and mixes well when blended with the PAF pro in the neck and because its not super high output there is no apparent volume loss going between the two. I got a pretty cool brown sound on steroids tone by turning the gain and volume knob down a touch which was fun for busting out the Van Halen riffs. All in all I think this pickup deserves more recognition because I have never heard anything quite like it, and the tone I'm getting might be the best tone I've ever been able to coax out of this setup so far. If anybody is curious, give them a try. I hear they are basically a lower output less aggressive M series pickup, but I haven't tried them so I cannot speak to that. But don't go thinking this pickup is tame by any means, because it is an absolute beast in a high gain setting. Bottom line is if your curious go get yourself one, you will love it.

Are you still sticking with them? Did you ever get a chance to compare them to the M7?

 

[Dumple Stilzkin]

Are you still sticking with them? Did you ever get a chance to compare them to the M7?

Yeah, I am not going to replace it in the RG. I really like it. No plans to even try the M7 because I like the BH so much.