Esp Ltd Mh-53

[chongmagic]

I just bought an ESP LTD MH-53 the other day. I have always been a Fender man and I just wanted to add something different to my collection. I saw the guitar in the local music store and thought it looked cool so I thought I would try it out. For the price I thought it was an awesome guitar, and I feel in love with its playability. It has two ESP single coil pickups and a ESP humbucker in the bridge. I was thinking about switching out the bridge pickup for a Seymour Duncan SH-10, I want to stick with a passive pickup. I am wanting something with a metal edge but the versatility to play a nice clean sound. I am somewhat new to this, so can anyone offer any suggestions? Would the SH-10 be a good choice?

Thank you,

Chong

[Spudman]

This thread is worthless without pictures.:poke: :D

There are a ton of good humbuckers out there. What amph are you playing through? Effects? One cool choice for a SSH guitar is a Dimarzio Super Distortion because when you split the coils it's real close to a stock Strat single coil sound and output. That way you can cover more ground tonally.

[Kodiak3D]

I like the sound of ESP's stuff. At least two of my favorite bands use them (Metallica, Lacuna Coil). Great metal edge.

I really want an ESP EC-100 (the matte black with the gold finish). Still the most beautiful guitar I've seen (IMO). One of these days...

[chongmagic]

Here is a photo of the guitar and the stock pickups

http://www.thefret.net/imagehosting/thum_154047d52e4e1d8eb.jpg (http://www.thefret.net/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=392)

[Kodiak3D]

Very sharp! I like it. What's the inlay on the 12th fret? I can't quite make it out.

[chongmagic]

It just says MH-53 in the inlay.

[marnold]

That is one sharp looking axe. I'm looking at putting a Duncan Screamin' Demon in the bridge of my HSS because it is a bit lower output to match with the singles and for clean playing. It's not going to push the amp for distortion like a higher-output pickup will, but if it works for George Lynch, it will probably work for me too :)

[chongmagic]

I have been thinking about a screamin' demon myself, I just wish it was easier to try out different pickups in your guitar. I just know I want to go with Duncans.

[marnold]

Oh, by the way, make sure to get the "TB" (trembucker, aka Fender/Floyd spaced) version instead of the "SH" (Gibson spaced) version. Otherwise the E strings will be outside the pickup pole pieces. Dimarzio also sells F-spaced versions of most of their humbuckers.

[chongmagic]

Thanks for the tip, I am newbie when it comes to changing pickups. I wasn't aware of the naming differences but glad that I know now.

Thanks

[Kodiak3D]

I just did my first pickup change last week. Not as hard as it looked.

Probably do it again soon.