[Edjohansson]

I recently purchased a explorer body and neck off ebay, and I'm looking for some advice on pickups to put in it. From researching online, it looks like the Seymour Duncan SH-5 bridge and SH-1 59 neck are recommended, but I'd like to hear what has worked in your experience. I will be playing hard rock mainly. Any advice is appreciated! I'd like to keep cost for both pickups in the $200 range.

 

[cheezyridr]

for the bridge, an evh frankenstein. otherwise i would go with 57 classics.

 

[Budda]

JB/59, super distortions, EMG's, really it's going to be the amp that determines most of how good it sounds.

 

[Boogieman]

I have the SD SH-5 on one of my guitars (bridge position). I don't care for the clean tone, but it sounds very nice straight to a dimed amp.

If you don't plan on playing clean with the bridge PU at all, SH-5 would be very nice for hard rock. Otherwise, the JB would be great.

 

[Ronbeast]

The SH-5/59 combo sounds like a good choice for your music.

I’d check out the for sale section here and grab some Duncan’s or something else from there; you should have no problem getting a great set for $200 or less. Lots of great pickups show up here.

 

[gtone]

Mahogany body/neck? I've had two Explorer type guitars and so much of the key to good tone is matching the pickups to the wood.

My Explorer Jr build is Korina and the best sounding pu to my ears was a late '70's DiMarzio PAF (true to the "Jr" design, it's a single pu guitar).

Had a Hamer Standard (Explorer design, of course) that was very bright a few yrs back and found the best combo of pu's to my ears to be a SD Pearly Gates in the bridge and a DiMarzio Virtual PAF in the neck. I had tried following pickups - SD JB, SD '59, SD Custom Custom, Burstbuckers, and all left me wanting with that guitar.

 

[Diablo]

My explorer came with the Dirty Fingers pickups and I love it.
Otherwise, whatever pups you like in an LP should be fine.

 

[SaucyJack]

You can put a set of Vineham V59's in that for under $200. That'll bring it to life.

 

[cboutilier]

Talk to @CheopisIV at Sigil pickups

 

[Kerry Brown]

Talk to @CheopisIV at Sigil pickups

+1

I’ve had Sigil Bluesman Chicago 68 and Lips Kudlow Signature pickups in an explorer. They were both excellent. I was looking for an Albert King sound and the Bluesman were perfect for that. Later when I needed more versatility I put in the Lips set. For the tone you’re looking for they would work very well. They are easily controlled with the guitar volume. Just by playing with the volume you can go from clean to hard rock. Kick on some gain on the amp and you’re in metal territory.

 

[Edjohansson]

There are a lot of unknowns with this Explorer body, the seller had no history on it. I decided to go with the JB/59 to start with and switch to a SH-5 in the bridge if I need more grit. Thanks to all that offered suggestions, they definitely helped!