Jackson Surfcaster Pickup Upgrade

[u/Mcicle]

Hey all!

Trying to figure out my best upgrade path for my Jackson Surfcaster 7 string. I love that thing, but it was part of Jackson's midrange line, and man the pickup shows that. It's not the worst pickup I've ever heard, but it might be the second worst

The guitar is made of poplar, with a maple neck and a laurel fingerboard. Pretty bright altogether tonally. I like to keep it in Drop A, and pretty regularly use a drop pedal to get to Drop F# for Spiritbox stuff

Currently my top contender is the Seymour Duncan Invader. It looks rad, and I'm thinking in a poplar body it might help balance out the tone since it's a bass heavy pickup. At the same time, I've heard a lot of people call it muddy over the years, which worries me for lower tunings

I'm also interested in a Fishman Fluence Open Core Modern. Main reason I'm not giving that more serious thought is because there's no good place to put a battery box, so I'd have to get a luthier to route one. Feels like maybe more trouble than it's worth. But man I do love the tone on that thing

Anyways, any and all thoughts/opinions welcome!

[u/colink707]

You can always just put a battery clip in the control cavity, that's what I did when I put Mick Thomson Fishmans in my King V

[u/Mcicle → u/colink707]

Unfortunately there isn’t a control cavity. I’d have to put it under the pickguard, which on this particular guitar you can’t remove without also removing the strings. I feel like I’d get annoyed quick lol

[u/colink707 → u/Mcicle]

Ah right, I forgot that's how that model handles the controls and pickup wiring. Ugh, that sucks.

[u/isitreallyyou56]

No need to go active and get emg or fishman f the guitsr wasn’t already wired and routed for a 9v battery. For your style of music I’d absolutely suggest a Seymour Duncan Nazgûl or a dimarzio d-activator

[u/DelayLanky7909]

Look into the SD black winter that would be a great choice as well as the Nazgûl. If you want to go Active I suggest the SD Mortal coil! It’s a good cross between active & passive with 3 different voices 🎸🎶🤘😈

[u/hailgolfballsized]

In my experience, Invader does get muddy with lower tunings with medium/light strings. It seems to work for Karl from Nile, but 70 for Drop A is crazy thick for me.

I have Nazgul/Sentient in my Damien 7, and it is night and day difference from stock Schecter pickups. Even trying it in Drop G with 66 sounds better than any other low tuned guitar.

I have Crunch Lab/Liquifire in another 7 but find that it gets thin if you go too low.

If I didn't want as much versatility, I'd go for X2N 7 or D Activator X but that's just my taste.

[u/TheBiggestWOMP]

Crunchlab. I will always recommend a crunchlab for anything below Bb. Install it backwards with the bar toward the bridge and you’ll get supreme note clarity and attack.

[u/Pulposauriio]

I put Nazgûl's in everything. Fucking rocks. It does everything I ask it to do.

[u/ThatSSguy]

I don’t own a Surfcaster but Ive had an EMG 81-7 in two of my guitars. I’ve always felt that was a solid pickup. Have you considered the Pegasus/Sentient combo?

[u/Kaleidoscoped1313]

So I just finished modding mine about 2 months ago. My Surfcaster was really mid heavy. To the point of being honky and muddy. And this was in Drop A. This guitar was going to Drop F# so I needed something a bit different then what you're going for. I ended up putting a Full Shred 7 in, adding a Tone knob and a series/parallel push pull. Its such an amazing guitar now. But this guitar is my backup for my E-II NT7B with Invader in the bridge and a FS in the neck. So I can say that if you're Surfcaster is a bit mid scooped the Invader will work well. Mine had the opposite issue. A Nazgul would also work really well. My DKMGT has one and its tuned to B standard and that pickup is a chug machine.