What kind of guitar pickups would work best?

Traigh: What kind of guitar pickups would work best?
I am currently trying to build a new guitar out of an old First Act guitar body. I am having trouble picking my pickups. I am trying to get an 80’s shred-metal kind of sound out of it, similar to the sound that Randy Rhoads or Doug Marks guitars make.

I already know that i need to get humbuckers to get the higher gain and sound quality. Only problem is, i dont know which brand or type to buy. Not to mention i’m on a limited budget. Any help would be great.

Answers and Views:

Answer by byrde94
your “tone” comes from your hands, not the pickups

but, Seymour Duncan does make some of the best pickups out there

Answer by kinkdink
Seymour Duncan w/ humbuckers

or

DiMarzio

You can’t go wrong with one of those

Answer by marconarajos

Answer by Soulmate
Byrde has a good point.

Consider too that the amp is a big part of any metal tone.

That is, any decent pickups will probably be fine as long as you plug the guitar into an amp that has sufficient gain: Marshall and Boogie make some great high-gain amps, but they are not “budget” amps.

On a budget, you can get pretty close with the right stompbox through any old amp. Check out the korg and digitech boxes… good luck

Answer by Nonpartisan
Alnico is a good affordable brand of Humbuckers.

Also how you wire your pickup into your guitar can effect the sound it puts out.

However, many guitarists for some reason think that pickups will give them a more “metal” sound.

Honestly its your amp makes 60% of it, Your fingers are 20%, and your pickups are 10% of the sound.

Get those cheaper Alnico pickups because they sound better than stock pickups and won’t break the bank. Save your money for a really good amp. Peavey is a favorite of mine.

Answer by ceritis
Have you tried active pickups?
I would suggest an EMG 81/85 set for you.

Answer by ddrum
Yeah I have the Zakk Wylde EMG 81/85 actives in my gold top and it gets a serious metal tone. Sure, technique is a big part but it’s not like you can order talent off of the Musicians Friend site so that’s a moot point. The amp will make a huge difference, but sticking to the original question, I have various single coils, P90’s, Seymour Duncan Humbuckers, etc and the active EMG’s definitely have the best metal tone. My favorites after that are the Seymour Duncan SHPGP-1B Pearly Gates Plus in the bridge and Seymour Duncan SH-1N RP ’59 Reverse-Polarity in the neck.