3 PUPs, 4 Guitars, a CC's Voyage, a DD's Dominance, and a JB's loneliness

[Shinobi]

The Guitars, body wood and current pup, and tuning
84' Kramer Baretta (Maple Body, CC) Eb
86' Charvel Model 2 (Basswood Body, DD) Standard E
99' ESP LTD (Agathis Body ?? Bridge, stock neck) Standard E and D
01' RR3 (Alder Body, DD Bridge, Pearly Gates Neck) Eb

The Bridge PUPs
Duncan Distortion
JB
CC
Schaller Golden 50 (not in use, forever stored as OEM)
EMG 81 (not in use collecting dust)

and a bunch of A8 Mag swaps between them (none in use now on the shelf).

Music being played (tone sought)
Van Halen, Journey, Cheap Trick, Def Lepperd (High N Dry era) Ratt, Dokken, Iron Maiden, ACDC, Night Ranger, Ozzy (RR and Jake era), GNR, Rush, Metallica (nothing after Master of Puppets), Megadeth (think RIP).

The story begins in 93's when I swapped the Schaller Golden 50 into my untouched 84' Kramer Baretta. It sounded great but I had a crappy Marshall Valvestate Amp, I ended up swapping the CC for a Duncan Distortion, which was completely satisfied with and wasn't playing enough to swap back in the CC.

Started playing with a few people again and started picking up a few more guitars (the ones listed).

Conclusion and Question
I've concluded that there is really only one PUP that I own that will go into a Maple Body and that is the CC, I have heard the SD was designed for a Maple Body, but the CC after being out of my Kramer for nearly a decade has found it's way back into my Kramer and I can say that no other PUP sounds like it does in a Maple Body (HEAVY) Kramer...it is the PUP that belongs in that Guitar period.

Now for what I have not concluded...the Questions.

What should I do with the JB??? It definitely has a place in my aresnal...I just get tired of removing strings and soldering. If given a choice and Music that I am playing (the tones I prefer).

Should the JB go into the RR3 V, Charvel, or LTD? The Charvel and RR3 V have DDs in them, and the LTD has nothing it as I pulled the CC out of it to put into my Baretta.

I'm thinking the Charvel would love a JB, but the DD sounds pretty good in it...better IMO then the EMG 81 that was in it that I pulled out and put on a shelf.

The RR3 is completly bad ass sounding think all out Metal like Lamb of God or Slayer sounding. I'm thinking a JB would calm it down a bit lol. I do love Lamb of God and Slayer...just hard to pull of playing in a bar with women in it..fine if the bar has a bunch of guys in black T shirts. lol.

Where to put the JB...that is the question????

[Fly_with_v]

Alder needs the JB. Put the JB in the RR3 for everything from hard rock to hair metal.

[Shinobi]

Alder needs the JB. Put the JB in the RR3 for everything from hard rock to hair metal.

First thanks for responding. Second I suspected that this might be the response but whatdo you think of the JB with the Agathis?

[Shinobi]

Alder needs the JB. Put the JB in the RR3 for everything from hard rock to hair metal.

Thanks man! I put the JB in the RR3 tonight and put the DD into the LTD ESP. My wife who only listens to Classic Rock..no Metal..I took her to Ratt and the Scorpions a couple of years back and that was pushing it, she likes Journey, Bad Company, etc...some Van Hagar and Bon Jovi.

anyway point being she doesn't know really anything about guitars.

Tonight with the amp on the same setting I tried all 4 guitars and she could accurately tell me the difference in tone between all of them...it blew me away that she could hear the difference..I can always hear the difference...but having a non player be able to say "yeah that one sounds cleaner or has more bass in it" is definitive with respect to wood, pups, and tone differences...they all have Super Slinky's on them too.

So the JB sounds great in the RR3, but too my surprise is how good the LTD sounds with the DD in it, it sounded weak and powerless when I had the CC in it..now it sounds like it wants to compete with the Charvel (DD) and Jackson (JB, PG), I had to tell it that it couldn't as it was only a $299 guitar new.

I'm also still in shock at how well the CC sounds back in my Kramer, I actually apologized to my Kramer for keeping the CC out of it for so long...the CC sounds so good it's unbelievable..it sounds sweeter, squishy'er crunchy mids, and cleaner than the Charvel, Jackson, and LTD.

I have been playing for about 4 hours tonight switching between trying to see if I could discriminate between them and they all sound really good now.

[dr. ad]

I put the JB in the RR3 tonight and put the DD into the LTD ESP

without knowing about necks and bridges, this is what i'd have tried first, i think you made the right move
obviously this post would've been more helpful before you made the decision, but it took me ages to read it on my phone. traffic was shocking.

[Fly_with_v]

Glad I could help. For me Alder + JB is almost always perfect.