I have an ESP LTD EX 351 with EMG-HZ pickups, and I have 2 things with my guitar that bother me..

1) the tone knob creates a crackling sound out of an amp when I adjust it
2) the pickups have rust on the little screw-lookin' things, I have no clue what they're called.

How can I resolve these?
I heard WD40 will get the rust off, but is it safe to use on the pickups?

I searched the forums and couldn't find anything to answer my Q's

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1. electric contact cleaner will fix that
2. where are these screws, next to the pickup, or on the pickup?

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hes talking about the screws on the sides of the pickup. hz's are covered pickups i think

oh yeah. then just get new screws for it or dont worry about it.

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I'm sorry I should have been more precise with my description. My fault
They aren't screws, they just look like screws sorta...they're those circular things that sit directly underneath each string on the pickup itself

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you've got the OLD hz's bud... wd40 might help... probably wont damage the pickup because oil isnt conductive. I'd personally just replace the pickups... hz's arent exactly amazing imo.

And for the tone knob, this is easier than electrical cleaner. Just roll it back and forth fairly quickly a bunch of times, this rubs the oxidation off of the plates. If you're plugged in and your amp is on, you'll hear the crackles quiet down and stop altogether.

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Thanks. I tried twisting the tone knob like you said for about 3 minutes straight but it didn't seem to do much at all.

The HZ's I have came with the guitar, which I got about 3-5 years ago. What would you recommend for my style? I play mostly Crust, Doom, Black Metal, and Thrash, and Neurosis type stuff(circa "Souls at Zero"). I can't really explain the kind of distortion and cleans I like, but having the best clean sound isn't all the important to me. You can also hear some of my playing style in the link in my signature..... Any recommendations of what pickups might suit me? If its not asking too much, of course :P

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Check out the pickups I suggested in your 5150 thread.

An active EMG 81 85 set might be what you want but I suggest looking into the passives I suggested beforehand in that thread. Is the body of your guitar agathis wood? Does it sustain poorly? If the answer to those 2 questions is yes then you might really want an active EMG set.

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Thanks. My guitar is made of Mahogany and the sustain seems pretty good, I'm not really sure though.

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Also, please help me with my guitar illiteracy. What does "scooped mids" mean, exactly? And I'm looking at the Super Distortion pickups you mentioned. What does "F-Spaced" mean?

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F-spaced means that the pickup's pole pieces are spaced appropriately for Floyd-Rose trem (and similar) equipped guitars. And I believe scooped mids means turning the mid eq knob back toward zero (think nu-metal sound).

FUCK the dimarzio super distortion, its a vintage pickup... and has alot of bass which gives it a tendency to be muddy... not good for a mahogany guitar... i dont know anybody these days who likes using it, i obviously dislike it, but hey, there are other opinions out there. I'd like to make a note, randy rhoads used the super distortion religiously, and managed to keep his tone trebly, but thats because he always had a crybaby engaged with the pedal pushed more or less half way down while he played.
Now, if you have a whammy bar, get F-spaced pups, simple as that.
For your style (i listened to your stuff) i'd have to reccomend seymour duncan jb/jazz set... the jb is a nice hot pickup with a balanced EQ, so its very very versatile, good for nearly anything... punk, hardcore, rock, metal, it will do your fancy... even R&B stuff like ZZtop. The jazz is a nice low output pickup but at the same time is bright and clear, which should compliment the warmth of mahogany and a rosewood fingerboard. If you want warmer cleans, go with the '59 instead.

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Nonsense. The Dimarzio Super Distortion is an amazing pickup, it's pretty clear and it has about 400mV of output(that's more than a tonezone, Duncan SD, a little less than an invader). I've played it in a friends RG550 with an Evo in the neck and the sound of just the bridge pickup with the tone a bit off was still very clear and held plenty of highs.

Wanna know who uses the Dimarzio SD in the bridge? SUFFOCATION. Deicide also use SD's, as plenty of other death metal bands. Not sure what Jack Owens and Santolla are using in Deicide nowadays tho.

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i stand corrected, my friends don't like them though... meh, its all opinion. But hey, how much output does the invader actually have? i keep looking for a page that publishes it, but SD basically classifies them as hot or cold... with no actual numerical output value...

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Yeah SD is gay for not publishing that info, it's the only spec besides EQ response any normal player should care about when buying one, google it down maybe you'll find it.

It's definately less than an X2N, but more than a Dimarzio SD. Wild guess = 430-470mV.

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Less than an x2n? no way... i made clean channels break up brutally (crate bv 120 clean ) with the invader when i tried it, but the x2n wasnt that bad... it was more like emg81 (not so)clean... And doesnt higher output = more bass, so if we followed that rule, something higher than the invader should logically be more bassy?

oh dude, dude, heres the thing with super distortions... its a bassy pickup, and batteryhuman has a MAHOGANY guitar... so i have a feeling it might just add up to mud. An RG 550 was it? i'm pretty sure is made from basswood, which is bassy, but its less bassy than mahogany, and has more high end too, which should balance out the mud. Yeah i'm making an argument on something i dotn have an opinion on anymore because i cant find a good consensus for what this pickup is good for =/ People loved them in SG's which are entirely mahog, so i dont have a good argument. GO WITH THE SUPER D's DUDE!

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Nah, the X2N is the humbucker with the highest output ever made. The invader comes close but it's not as hot. You made the cleans break up because neither pickups are made for clean playing. The X2N has more reasonable amounts of bass and therefore might not make cleans or the speakers break up much. But the X2N is way more sensetive than any other humbucker ever made.

Higher output does not mean more bass. Any shitey dirty cheap old low output PAF-style mudbucker has more bass response than an X2N... Even though x2n's have like 3 times their output. Of course they sound like mud though.

Edit: People think different storebought pickups will make HUGE differences. That's not really true. Any storebought pickup will sound AWESOME in a decent guitar and better than stock pickups though. I've tried many humbuckers in different guitars and there's really no exact way to tell them apart, there are so many factors it's pointless. The most I can hear is the output level(how easily it distorts/responds) and tremendous EQ differences(not noticeable unless you from a HumfromHell(150mV) to an Invader), but the amp and cab have more to do with that as well as body woods if the output is not ridiculously high.

If you have a good guitar and you buy any 60$+ passive pickup, it will sound great. Don't get caught up in the little details so much. It especially applies if it's high output, as high output pups take less influence from guitar woods than softer pickups, and I doubt anyone here gives a crap about softer pickups.

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i just figured out that you're right and wrong. Overwinding a pickup creates more output, and as a result of extra winds, more bass, so you're like... 1/4th wrong. But there are other ways to create more output than just overwinding, so you are also very right.

http://www.fralinpickups.com/choose.asp

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Read my edits.

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