So the other day I was noodling on that ‘b’ guitar and found it to be very inspiring. More resonant, more bass/treble, more…well, everything. First, I thought it must be the pickups. After all people say the original MIJ's are no slouch…or maybe the different bridges? I embarked on a long weekend of swapping parts back and forth and bolting necks here and there and I was quite shocked to find it is mainly…the neck! Hard to swallow as the MIJ neck is my favourite shape-wise (over, let’s say an American vintage 64 Tele neck), but that beater neck (with a found nut from another neck and way too much relief…) seems to put the emphasis more on a scooped, open bassy/trebly tone where the guitar with the MIJ neck always sounds more focused and midsy, less open but 'sweeter' and more direct, no matter what pickups were installed! That being said, the pickups are probably not all that different (apart from the SD's cool looking fat fabric wires and super vintagy looking mojo treatment..), both vintage /low output, both try to mimick that same period. And vibratos of both guitars were fixed in the same manner. Of course, there may be other factors (pickup placement slightly different due to different pick guards, older pots...) plus my approach was anything but scientific...
However, I ended up combining the pickups with supposedly (to my ears at least) more mids (SDs) with the more open, scooped neck in a body that should be more resonant and trebly (ash, uncoated, but have I ever noticed the difference...?), tweaked pickup height to my liking...happy with both now. But they do show noticeably different characteristics: The fancy everything/cheap neck guitar gives me a more stratty/jaguary vibe for open chording, jangle and a certain 'fruscianeness' on the neck position, while the now back to original MIJ ‘65 has a decisive but sweet forwardness…more ‘plucky’, less brash, especially in the bridge, great for rhythmic 'whack' or single jazzy, notes. Both inspiring in their own right I hope (as I love that 65 neck for the way it feels), but time will tell.
My takeaways are these:
Of course pickups do sound different, but they probably mostly amplify or mask certain qualities of the rest of the guitar. Which makes it extremely difficult to recommend any. It's the sum of all parts.
Of these parts, the neck plays a much bigger role than I assumed. And a good feeling neck may not necessarily be the better sounding one.
Never own two very similar guitars, they will drive you nuts.
Cheers!
