Seth Lovers in a 157, huge improvement over Schallers?

[rockabilly69]

I'm kind of doing the same thing now. I am about to get a set of Seth's, which I've had before, and just got a set of the Slash signature Alnico II Duncans, which were originally supposed to replace the Schallers in my 157. I already had the Slash's on the way when I bought the Seth's, but they were just a good deal. Over the same period of time, the Schallers have grown on me, but they are a bit too microphonic when I want to go to high gain stuff. Now I am not sure what I want to put where. The Seth's have gold covers, which are a match, and I would like to keep the look of the guitar. However, I am really interested in giving these Alnico IIs a spin in something as well.

 

And Seth's, at least for me, worked fine for high gain many moons ago. I had them in a LP studio while I was playing in a hard rock band, and I dug the way they sounded. Of course, I wasn't quite as picky back then, so who knows?

 

I was just of absolutely no help, wasn't I? :-p

Those Alnico II Slash models are hands down the best humbuckers that Seymour Duncan makes for what I want to hear in a pickup. I was totally blown away by the last set I heard. Let me preface by saying I am NOT a Slash or Guns and Roses fan! But Slash and Seymour got it right on the sig model!

[rockabilly69]

ha...well swap them all in & give us a tone report on what you think:D

 

everyone hears things differently, and has different ideals of tonal bliss...reading on the internet only goes so far

no truer words spoken!

[rockabilly69]

If playing with an unpotted pickup in a high gain situation, remove the offending pickup from the guitar, unsolder the cover and remove, run a bead of silicone on the top of the slug side coil, clamp the cover on the pickup and solder it back on. Goodbye microphonic squeal, with NO change in tone! I've done this to two offending Throbak pickups which are notorius for high gain squealing.

[bolero]

hey that's a good tip! thx

 

what is the difference between the SD alnico II pro & the Slash alnico II pro?

 

I heard Slash used alnico pro II's previous to his sig model

[Guest HRB853370]

I find that with SL's the neck pickup gets kind of dirty or distorted real fast when you crank up the volume.

[LucSulla]

Well, Rockabilly, I think you just sold me on what to install.

[Hfan]

Well good, at least my thread has helped LucSulla make a decision.

 

Thanks for all the good advice everyone.

[Wolfi]

   

 

Maybe because Ren Wall is a multi-patent owning inventor and tone tinkerer who liked that Schallers were high quality German made PAF's that he could further tweak to his personal taste? There's nothing wrong with Schallers...or Seth Lovers for that matter. I've got the sweetest sounding Schallers I've ever heard in a box. I removed them from a 575 so I could drop in a set of HRW's. They sound fantastic. So did the Schallers. Its all about personal taste. That might be why Seymour Duncan did his own take on his good friend, Seth Lover's pickups.

Maybe I can help .

Schaller Hardware is well accepted in Germany. But the Schaller Pickups are not very well seen.

I removed the Schaller Pickus pretty fast from my 555 and it was a very good decision.

If we buy very good pickups overhere, it's gonna be Seymour Duncans SL or Antiquies, Peter Florance Voodoo, Suhr Pickups, Throbaks (if we are patient enough to wait),

The best made in Germany Pickups are: Amber Spirit of 59, Kloppmann, Boris Domenget. But they are very expensive. I payed more than 500 EUR for my first set of Amber PAF 59, but they are worth every cent. From my opinion I don't like the Schaller pickups.

[Wolfi]

PS: the tip from Rockabilly69 is very good. I did the same with my Seymour Duncan SL and the squeal was gone.

[tbonesullivan]

as with all pickup questions, it depends on the sound that you are looking for. It's only an improvement if you like the sound better.

[gnappi]

I have Schallers in my 575 and it blows away my Gibson ES175. So I bought Schallers for the 175 but before I could install them I bought a Harmony 335 copy as a project guitar. The Harmony was weak, tinny and had little to offer. I put one of the Schallers in the bridge and an older DiMarzio 12 screw in the neck and that $140 guitar now ROCKS!!!

 

So, in reality, Schallers suck, DEFINITELY put Lovers in your guitar... Any of you guys want to sell Schallers, PM me with a price, I have a few more guitars that could use them :-)

[gpuma]

I think the solution to your problem is not swapping Shallers that you already like.

Just buy a guitar with Seths!

 

:-P

[Hfan]

Thanks everyone, I'm leaning towards just leaving them. Partly due to liking the Schallers.They have a clear voiced quality I like, kind of reminds me of a single coil in some ways but they do distort eventually. Partly due to not having time to scratch my own butt lately (the Seths would go on a list of "to dos" that is already too long.

 

In general from this thread and past threads, the Schallers are liked by some, often in solid bodies, though some like them in hollow and semi hollow guitars as well. Guess it is just very subjective.

 

Thanks for all the advice.