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498t Pickup Replacement Puzzle?

PhilC58

New member
Joined
Sep 14, 2024
Messages
9
I have a 93' LP Std that had 490r Neck and 498t Bridge pickups. Owned from new in 93 and a few weeks ago the Bridge pickup simply died (one of the coil windings went open circuit).

I though it would be simple enough to simply get a new pickup to replace it as used ones on the usual sites were listed at near as darn it the new price.

While I was about the task I'd swap out the pots and replace with Bare Knuckle 550K slow taper pots (the original fitment tone pots were 500ishK but the volumes 300ishK) and go to 50's wiring to give more options on blending the pickups and tones. All went well until I played the new pickup. Jeepers! The replacement bridge pickup is almost untameable in comparison to how the guitar used to be. Now to balance the pickups, that is to flip between the Neck and the Bridge the Volumes are at about 8 on the Neck and 3 ! on the Bridge and the new bridge is a lot more strident than the old one.

I am sure its not the pots causing the difference but the new 498t simply seems way more than the original one was. Is this what others with this pickup combination find?

I am thinking I may have to bin the pickups and find something else but wanted others findings with these pickups first.

Thanks
Phil
 

LPR6

Active member
Joined
Feb 5, 2019
Messages
121
Try putting back the 300k pots, 550k pots will be brighter. I would also put the wiring back stock and see if that improves things. You might also try playing with the height of the new pickup before you bin it.
 

surfreak

Well-known member
Joined
May 6, 2002
Messages
1,124
Alternatively you can try a 490T. Many think it is a more balanced choice next to the 490R.
 

PhilC58

New member
Joined
Sep 14, 2024
Messages
9
Apologies for the slow reply and Thank you.

Taking the suggestions raised in turn:-

The original Gibson figment tone pots were 500K it the volume pots that were 300K. Overall the pots have not given the new bridge pickup extra ‘in your face’ punch. The extra 230K on the volume pot should in theory give me more scope to tame the beast.

The 490T idea maybe better at 8.2K vs the 14.5K of the 498T. The thing is the old pickup may have been an oddity in that it fail albeit after 31 years but it was nothing like the new one.

Pickup height was my first line of attack but even dropping the bridge pickup down a long way didn’t give sufficient balance between the two pickups.

Overall I am finding pairing an unbalanced and overly hot and it has made the guitar very tiresome to play trying to get things balanced between the pickups, the tone pot on the bridge is paired with 0.022uF cap and that isn’t enough to tame the bridge really. I really need to find a place where I can try pickup pairs before buying to find something to suit better. It’s quite disappointing that the new pickup is so radically different.

Thanks again
Phil
 

overtonezaudio

New member
Joined
Jul 9, 2024
Messages
12
I suppose it's possible the neck pickup has lost some magnetic strength over the years and now it seems unbalanced with a brand new pickup.
 

PhilC58

New member
Joined
Sep 14, 2024
Messages
9
Couldn’t live with the new 498t it is so radically out of whack with the one that failed and impossible to tonally balance with the 490 neck that I have ordered a set of Monty’s PAFs with proper Gavit wiring rather than the 4 wire stuff Gibson use in the hopes that as a matched set and closer DC resistance of the pickups will recover the guitar to something I can live with again.

Now I’m waiting for the delivery.
 
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