Changing Pickups in an Eclipse

[Caddie]

If i recall correctly my Eclipse was shipped with Seymour Duncan mini hums SM-3 in the neck and an SM-2 in the bridge, correct?

I'm thinking about switching them out to something not so scorching hot. I want something that requires no mod to the body. No wood removal. I want be able to go back to stock without scars. You probably notice a theme to the pups I'm considering.

What do you recommend?

Cheers!

caddie

Seymour Duncan mini hum 3+3

Seymour Duncan 12 pole mini

Seymour Duncan Antiquity II Mini

[G Man]

I am absolutely LOVING the ReWind Dynamos I put into my Eclipse, but I did have to enlarge the pickup surrounds to do so, and they aren't exactly cheep, had I not got them used, I don't know that I would have sprung for them. With that said, I had an Eclipse with SD Ant. II Firebird pickups, sounded great, no changes to guitar needed. That's what I would do.

[Disturber]

As I have come to understand Firebird pickups come in two sizes. Vintage correct size, like the ones Duncan makes. And a modern size, the way Gibson makes them now, that are slightly bigger (wider?).

The modern ones are to big for the chrome pick up rings on the Eclipse. I did not want to start messing with trying to adjust the pick up rings, so I swapped the SM2 and SM3 for a pair of Duncan Firebird Antiquites. Great pickups if you as me.

They don't cost an arm and a leg, and can probably be sold off easily again if you don't like them, so my advice is to give them a try. They rock, and they still sound very vintage. They are not hot pickups. They are not potted but they don't squeal at all whey I run them through a cranked 50w Marshall.

The original SM2 and 3 can be dialed in to sound pretty good. But the Firebird Ants do sound way better and are more versatile.

edit; and NO wood routing required if you go with the Antiquites.

[Citrus]

Would the Seymour Duncan Antiquity II Mini fit into a p90 route with no mod??

[polara]

Mine has Jason Lollar Firebird pickups. No routing or nonsense, and they're pretty low-output, clear, articulate, pickups.

[hamerican gigolo]

My Eclipse has SD Ant. FB p.u.'s. Sounds fantastic!!!

[HamerHokie]

What about regular old Gibson Firebird pickups?

[G Man]

What about regular old Gibson Firebird pickups?

They don't sound good in the Firebirds, can't imagine they'd sound much better here. Very hot ceramic magnet pickups.

[Drastion]

Had the same type of question but didn't want to make a new tread for it. Got restless waiting for the right eclipse to come around so i picked up a import to play around with in the mean time. With the plan to updrade the pickups in this and once i get a usa eclipse put the usa pickups in the import and the upgrades in the usa.

The p90 is by far my favorite pickup. I dont much care for humbuckers especially in the neck. Listening to these minis its definetly a step in the right direction. What pickup would lean more towards the "rude p90 " sound. I am leaning towards the duncan antiquity firebird pickup since the firebird is suposed to sound more single coil like wher the mini leans toward the humbucker side.  Might be strange but i prefer Townsend's tone to Page's and since he went from p90 sg special to the les Paul deluxe the mins might be the way to go at least he thought so  anyways.

I just cant seem to find much on YouTube showing firebirds using big muff style overdrive to get an idea of what they would sound like.

On side note if someone has a used set from a usa i would defintely be interested in picking them up.

[duncans]

I bought some Sentell mini p-90s for mine. They fit the route but I had to mod the rings slightly. File the opening a little.  I like them, not a rude/nasty p-90 but definitely single coil(humbucking in the middle). I will say I haven't pushed the volume in the house so not real sure what they're capable of. They might get rude with volume. They come with rings but screw holes are in the wrong place, not quite as large as the metal rings. I think they're keepers for me.

[Armitage]

Something to try for free is to put your neck pickup in the bridge... if you want lowered output.

Of course that may make your neck un-serviceable... (or maybe you'd like it...) and if you're happy with your old neck pickup, just buy another to replace it leaving the other in the bridge. This way it's cheap and really easy to return to stock if need be.

 

You could also put a 470 ohm resister across your volume pots to cut down the output a tad and get rid of some of the spikiness.

[tomteriffic]

The regular Duncan FB pickups (as in, the same series as what's stock in the Eclipse) come in three levels of heat: normal, hot and stupid hot. The Eclipse comes stock with the hot and stupid hot versions.  You might try moving the neck PU to the bridge position and getting a "normal" to put in the neck.

[mrjamiam]

You could talk to a guy named Josh.  Some people do.

[BadgerDave]

I used Duncan Alnico 5 mini hum buckers in the 3 pickup zebra Eclipse (SM1-n and SM1-b) and am very happy with the results.  Honestly, I like these as much as the Lollar mini-buckers.  Thy eliminate the high mid spike and "heat"of the stock ceramic Duncan Customs.  Great low-medium output classic sound.

If you're in the neighborhood, you're welcome to stop by and try them out.

As others have mentioned, any pickup other than a Seymour Duncan mini will require you to enlarge the stock metal Eclipse mounting ring.  That's a problem because replacement rings in the correct size, with the mounting screw holes in the correct location, are not available from Duncan or anywhere else.  I know, I just spent weeks searching and I have at least a dozen metal minihumbucker rings from eBay and other sources that don't fit an Eclipse.  (thanks again, TomTerrific for parting with your NOS original set). So if you mod them, you can't go back.