Now, with the Earthen Maple guitar prototype at a point where it could be assembled and tested, I pulled out my box of pickups to see what would be the perfect match. I could tell from the acoustic ring that this guitar was going to require something a little different to bring out its best qualities.

Choosing a pickup can be a daunting task, but if you know what to look for it's a lot easier. The biggest mistake people tend to make is trying to make a guitar sound like something it isn't. I learned a lesson while working with Don Gehman, a legendary and brilliant producer. Don had a phenomenal collection of vintage microphones, and when a certain manufacturer wanted some input on their new line of tube mics, they sent some to us in the studio to critique. It was my job to set the new mics up next to Don's $10,000+ Neumanns and Telefunkens, run the identical chains and get the levels set. We were using a really sweet Neve sidecar and some Fairchild 670 limiters. With everything in place, Don asked the vocalist, Tommy Shaw, to first just speak into each mic while we listened with eyes closed. As Tommy went from mic to mic, speaking, shouting, then finally singing; I was having a hard time making up my mind. Don, on the other hand knew immediately what it was that he was listening for. When I told him that I couldn't choose which one I liked best, he offered some sage advice that has served me incredibly well. Don reminded me that I knew Tommy's voice well enough to identify him on the phone with a single word, and that I should listen for the mic that made Tommy sound, well... like Tommy. "The object is to bring out the character in the voice that makes it sound like who the singer is." This is the identical process I use today to determine which pickup to pair with a guitar.

It's a time-consuming task to ear test pickup after pickup through a variety of amps, at a whole slew of volume and gain settings, but it can be a lot of fun too. Our cast of suspects included Lollar Imperials, Wolfetone Marshallheads, Tom Holmes 450s a number of Duncans based on Pearly Gates, 59s and Seth Lovers, two sets of Dimarzios, some stacked Phat Cats, a Harmonic Design set and even some EMGs. I guess we could have gone on forever, but I had already narrowed it down to this group based upon my experience.

The amps ranged from small combos like my vintage Ampeg Jet, a Pro Jr and a tweed Harvard to a Recto half-stack and a 1972 100w Marshall; and a lot of stuff in between like my trusty red panel AC30 Twin and various Fenders.
I kept Don's lesson in mind as I listened for the character of the guitar to come through. What I heard was a clear, bell-like upper mid with a tight, but slightly attenuated bottom end. For me, this guitar really seemed to come alive with the eq of Euro tubes as opposed to the 6L6 or 6V6. I could easily compare that with my "Simul-link" equipped Blue Angel, just by turning a knob.

It was a tough call, and I had to keep focused on the point of the exercise. In the end, I found that in this guitar the Seths with the Alnico 5 option really opened up and shimmered without giving up that midrange "voice" coming from the chambered limba body. Earthen Maple, you've met your match!
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