Help me with new pickups for a 750XL!

[Dave L]

I´ve got a 750XL coming in on friday, and judging from past experiences there´s a risk I´ll have to change the stock pickups. The thing is, I´ve never owned an all-mahogany, 24.75" guitar before, so I´m not sure how my regular favorites for maple-necked, 25.5", poplar/alder guitars will work out. I´m looking for a big, harmonically rich tone for classic and hard rock, not metal... does anyone have any suggestions? Output doesn´t matter that much, since I have plenty of unused gain left in my OD´s and amps.

[Sunbane]

For those purposes, you may actually like the stock pups. My 750 came with USA-made Jackson pickups. The J80C (b) is somewhere between a JB and a Custom, allegedly. It is rich with overtones, and responds nicely to pick attack...although you may even find it a little hot for your taste(?). If the original 5-way superswitch is still in the guitar, you will however be able to select split modes at positions 2 and 4.

I'm a diehard metalhead, so I prefer high output pickups. The J80C from my 750 has gone into my Model 6, and I like it a lot better in that guitar, as it really brings out a nice 80's metal tone.

In my quest for output, I briefly had EMGs in my 750; EMG-85(b) and EMG-58(n), at 18v. But somehow they didn't "jive" with the guitar at all, so I pulled them out. I've now had a Duncan Distortion in it for almost a year, and so far that is the pickup I've liked best in it.

But, give the stock pups a chance by all means. They are definitely on par with Duncans & DiMarzios in terms of quality.

BTW: It is not all mahogany. The neck and the archtop are maple.

[Dave L]

It´s got a maple neck? You learn something new every day!

But yeah, I will definitely give the stock ones a thorough workout before I start switching them out. The J80C is in fact new to me, but I´ve replaced the various J50´s and (if memory serves me) J90´s I´ve had for various reasons. I have thought about getting a Custom for it, and I´ve always liked the JB, so I suppose the J80C might end up working fine. Hot pickups are OK, as long as they don´t start sounding harsh and lose dynamics.

[DonP]

It doesn't have a maple neck. The neck is Mahogany.





I have the Duncan Distortion Meyhem set in mine because mine came without pickups. I have the Super 5 way as well. I wouldn't go hacking up the guitar until you try the stock pickups first.

[Sunbane]

It doesn't have a maple neck. The neck is Mahogany.

Really? I wonder what gave me the notion that it is maple...I've been living in that belief for years.

[Mr Metal]

The stock pickups (J50s I recall?) sound pretty good in that guitar.........I heard one with SD Full Shred (bridge and neck) a long time ago and they sounded pretty good too in the 750xl.

[nor]

Rio Grande Crunchbox/Punchbox. I've had a bunch of p/u's in my 750 over the years - this is the best combo yet for me.

[mustaine-who?]

SD Dave Mustaine Live Wire set

The SD Dave Mustaine LW set. Practically all of the 80's was recorded on a JB...and these are active and sound better.

PM me...

[dg]

Really? I wonder what gave me the notion that it is maple...I've been living in that belief for years.

The neck is maple. Note the color of the wood of the neck vs. the body. It's the same color as the maple top:









I've got a Distortion in the bridge, Pearly Gates in the neck and I love it.

[DonP]

The neck is maple. Note the color of the wood of the neck vs. the body. It's the same color as the maple top:









I've got a Distortion in the bridge, Pearly Gates in the neck and I love it.

Now we are in trouble, because my neck is not that color. I have 6 Gibsons and I know what mahogany looks like. The grain pattern in my 750XL is mahogany, but yours truely looks like maple. Could there have been a spec change?

I'm in Sweden so I won't be able to confirm my neck material until after September first when I get back to the States.

[JACKSONFREAK]

I have a Custom custom and the stock J50n in my 750xl and it does everything from blues to metal quite well. The Cst cst isnt too hot but its got a real nice charactor to it and sounds real warm in mohagony.
Gil

[Sunbane]

Now we are in trouble, because my neck is not that color. I have 6 Gibsons and I know what mahogany looks like. The grain pattern in my 750XL is mahogany, but yours truely looks like maple. Could there have been a spec change?

That's what I was thinking as well. The plot thickens.

I'm pretty sure that mine has a maple neck, because it had some damage to the tip of the headstock, and if my memory serves me right, the wood there looked very maple-ish. I've filled that in now though, so I have no way of checking.

[dg]

Very interesting! Is yours an early serial #, Don?

[charvel750]

Necks were maple. It's the general consensus of the JCF 750 owners that EMG's are the best match for 750's...

[DonP]

Necks were maple. It's the general consensus of the JCF 750 owners that EMG's are the best match for 750's...

You should know LOL! I'll need to check mine out again, maybe I'm wrong, but my neck is much more the color of the body than the top. Also, I thought they were copying Gibson, making these Les Paul killers. LP's come with mahogany necks except for 1976 - 1982ish.

I don't have the s/n handy here in Sweden. Mine came from Travis, who got it from Mike...Joe, did you ever own my 750XL?

EMG's? If it has a maple neck, it would sound a lot like a ZW Les Paul. His has a maple neck.