Mahogany 7string guitar pickups

[nowhere]

hello there people,
I am in a situation where I want to consider alternatives to my blaze 7s in my mahogany s7420 and I noticed that there isn't any threat on the forum that lists pickups for mahogany.

So could we gather our views about pickups in mahogany here?

I would start with:
-Lundgren M7 - not as good on mahogany as on basswood or poplar/alder
-Dimarzio Crunch lab - could work, some people put it in reverse (designed for basswood though)
-Dimarzio Liquifire (N) - its ok (designed for basswood too)
-EMG 707 - they work fine (they come stock with a lot of mahogany 7s)
-Duncan Distortion (SH6) - works fine

 

[Imalwayscold]

I'm a great fan of the Mick Thompson blackouts with Mahogany. Just as well they've released a 7 version

 

[Jakke]

Tone woods are not going to influence your tone to a big extent, if any at all. Go with whatever pickup you like the sound of.

I think there is an extent of magic powers attributed to the wood of the guitar, but that's just what they are, magic.

 

[nowhere]

I have to disagree with you Jakke.

different woods resonate differently. of course there is not 1 kind of mahogany or basswood or whatever, but they -in general- respond differently on various frequencies.
Pick up a 5kg les paul and then a basswood ibanez to see that the LP has more volume and bass and the ibanez leaves more space for the pickup to show its character

its like saying a maple fretboard does nothing.

 

[Fiction]

And a les Paul is shaped completely different to an rg.

That's like saying nylon strings sound the same as steel strings on the same guitar.

 

[Lorcan Ward]

I just swapped a set of BKP Miracle Mans out of my Rg1527(basswood) into my K-7(Mahogany) the other day and the difference in tone is crazy. Both guitars had the same pickup height/string gauge/hardware and used the same axe-fx patches.

They sound much clearer now, smooth mids(they were scooped in basswood) and the bass is much tighter. The highs are less harsh/present aswell.

Whatever doubts I had before about tonewoods is gone since the proof is right there. That was just a change of body woods and neck laminates aswell(wenge to bubinga).

 

[Jakke]

I have to disagree with you Jakke.

different woods resonate differently. of course there is not 1 kind of mahogany or basswood or whatever, but they -in general- respond differently on various frequencies.
Pick up a 5kg les paul and then a basswood ibanez to see that the LP has more volume and bass and the ibanez leaves more space for the pickup to show its character

its like saying a maple fretboard does nothing.

But how are those vibrations going to be transfered to a pickup? Wood does influence how a guitar soundsr acoustically, but there is really no way for energy transfer between the wood of the body and the pickup.

I just swapped a set of BKP Miracle Mans out of my Rg1527(basswood) into my K-7(Mahogany) the other day and the difference in tone is crazy. Both guitars had the same pickup height/string gauge/hardware and used the same axe-fx patches.

They sound much clearer now, smooth mids(they were scooped in basswood) and the bass is much tighter. The highs are less harsh/present aswell.

Whatever doubts I had before about tonewoods is gone since the proof is right there. That was just a change of body woods and neck laminates aswell(wenge to bubinga).

And in science we call this anecdotal evidence. Do you know that there are actually people who recover from illnesses with placebo medication?

 

[TMatt142]

Crunchlab/ Liquifire are a good combo in Mahogany...Don't reverse the CL..it's fine mounted normal.
BKP Rebel Yell/ Cold Sweat combo in Mahogany...Very nice an tight...
SD- Full Shred
These are what I'm using currently and am very pleased with them.

 

[nowhere]

question: all active pickups work great with mahogany or is it my impression? (emgs and blackouts)

 

[Lorcan Ward]

And in science we call this anecdotal evidence. Do you know that there are actually people who recover from illnesses with placebo medication?

I trust my ears.

I will add though that a change in amp heads, drive level a boast is set at, angle/proximity of a mic etc has a much bigger bearing on your tone than tonewoods and most pickups. Everything makes a difference to a guitars tone from the player to the guitar to the rig but when using hi-gain some of those things become pretty negligible.

Still I find tonewoods and matching pickups is a good way to start and from there tightness/EQ/character can all be shaped by your rig.

 

[technomancer]

next person that continues the does wood effect tone argument is getting a LONG nap regardless of which side you're arguing

 

[Fiction]

Regardless of tonewood, saying whether a pickup is good for a certain wood is pretty pointless, you say the lundgren doesn't work, but isnt tone just subjective?

For instance, maybe an EMG Plays well in a basswood ibanez for someone who plays thrash, but an EMG in a basswood rg playing jazz might be considered bad.

 

[technomancer]

Apparently Fiction thought phrasing the debate differently would let him continue to argue. Nope.

 

[nowhere]

dimarzio D-activators are also good as far as I know

 

[Boot-Paul]

I'm using the Crunchlab/ Liquifire in my mahogany 7620 and I really like it

 

[Kharem]

I got my rga7 2nd hand with blackouts already in, they were pretty good, certainly nothing exciting though, ended up swapping them for cl/lf and they are pretty awesome, these are the only two I've tried in the mahogany though so can't comment on some of the other alternatives sorry.
Good luck finding something you like.


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[Philligan]

I've typed this out a couple times now just for the record, all the pickups I'm gonna talk about went in mahogany 7s (except for a couple I'll explain). Also,

Regular Blackouts = too loud and boomy for me. They always kinda reminded me of clipping.

JB7 = Not bad, but kinda uncontrolled feeling, and sorta noisy. I could live with it, but it really makes me wanna try a Distortion 7. I had a Distortion 6 in mahogany and it was great.

707 = really not bad, just a little plasticky feeling for me. Definitely not as bad as it's reputation makes it sound. It's all in how you EQ it.

I had a set of 6 string D Activators in mahogany and loved them, some of my favourite pickups to date. If the 7 string versions are anything like them, then I think they'd be awesome.

I had a Warpig in a mahogany 8 string and it sounded a lot better than I was expecting. BKP calls it crazy hot, but compared to something like an Invader or X2N it's not at all. Really neutral sounding, and it actually cleaned up really well. What seemed to set it apart for me was that it sounded a little more crunchy and throaty than other Bare Knuckles.

If we're doing neck pickups too, I had a '59-7 in mahogany and thought it sounded good, but for something as beefy as a mahogany Schecter I think I'd wanna stick with ceramic pickups in general.

I think my favourite thing for beefier guitars is medium-ish output pickups with ceramic magnets. I have a PAF-8 in mahogany and it's amazing.

 

[guitarneeraj]

@OP, don't want to try the Lace Deathbar 3.5 / Deathbucker 7 ?

 

[CTDguitarist]

just put an aftermath in my s7420 mij. sounds great really raw in your face kinda sound. Its bit bright for leads but you can't have it all. that's what a neck pickup is for any ways. I had a dactivator in before which was actually really nice. more clear n tight than the aftermath even. just not as responsive. the cool thing with the aftermath is its really tweakable. meaning I can get a bulb sound or a contortionist sound just with.couple eq adjustments.


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[nowhere]

would an aftermath go with a liquifire in the bridge?

(I am waiting 1 month for my aftermaths 6s to put in my LP standard -hope it works)