Pickup recommendations for LP Custom

[Athos]

I've had my new 70s Les Paul Custom since October, and I'm getting that itch to try something different with the pickups. The stock T-Type pickups are just fine, and I wouldn't hate it if they stayed in the guitar forever, but I feel like I could find something more to my liking.

The T-Types are a little on the bright side for me. Nice and clear, but just a little brighter than I'd like, which makes them seem a bit thin at times. Output is definitely on the low side, but I don't necessarily need hotter pickups. I already have a guitar with EMGs so I'm set for high output with those.

My amps are currently a 5E3 clone, and a Mesa Mark series clone with a megaton of gain (but also very nice clean sounds). I'd like pickups versatile enough to cover the range of overdrive from lighter gain blues and classic rock all the way up to 80s/90s metal. If I had to lean in one direction though, it would be in favour of metal. I'd like to avoid characteristics like spiky upper mids, or boomy bass.

They must be available with a gold cover; I'm not budging on that. Almost nothing appropriate is available in Ukraine, so I'll probably be importing these from the EU, UK, or USA.

Thanks in advance for any recommendations!

 

[Rockin J]

Check out Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates pickups. They're great and they will do about anything.
I think they're available with gold covers.

 

[Maguchi]

I'd keep the originals. They sound great, and you won't have to worry about devaluing the guitar and reinstalling them later. You should be able to dial in any sound you want with the tone controls on the guitar or amp/modeler.

 

[Athos]

Regarding the Pearly Gates, any experience with the Gibbons signature Hades Gates? Thomann has that set in stock with gold covers at the moment.

Resale value is never a consideration for me. I don't think the originals sound great, they sound acceptably okay. As for the tone controls, this is the first Les Paul (in fact, the first humbucker guitar) I've ever owned where I sometimes feel like turning down the tone knob on the bridge pickup. Not sure that's a good thing.

Edited to add another question: if I go with lower output PAF style pickups, would unpotted ones be okay to use with high gain, assuming they are well made?

 

[Athos]

On closer inspection of Gibson's website, these are unpotted. The T-Types, that is. I haven't tried them yet at high volume, only loud enough to slightly annoy my wife, possibly the neighbors too, and to scare our pet rabbit behind the couch in the other room.

Funny how perceptions change day to day. Now they don't seem too bright, as long as I turn the amp's presence down a few notches. Today my complaint is that when I turn the gain up on the amp to equal the overdrive I get with my EMG guitar, the bass sounds too loose with the T-Types. That's with bass and mids on the amp almost off.

I was going to change the strings anyway today, so after getting the old ones off (still the factory strings, they held up well), I took out the neck pickup and unscrewed the base plate. I was this close to opening it up and flipping the magnet, a la Greeny, when I noticed the cover was soldered to the base plate. I chickened out and put the pickup back as it was. Then I thought about re-wiring the pots to 50s style, opened up the control cavity, remembered how much I hate soldering, and chickened out again. So except for new strings - which I top-wrapped! - the guitar is back to normal. I can certainly live with these T-Types for a while.

 

[jb_abides]

Only after lots of dialing in with the amps, and twiddling about with the control knobs, go on an adventure of raising/lowering in the pickup surrounds, same with pole pieces. See what works. Plenty of ground to cover without the soldering iron.

People cannot be reminded of this enough -- even me, myself! And

 

[Maguchi]

On closer inspection of Gibson's website, these are unpotted. The T-Types, that is. I haven't tried them yet at high volume, only loud enough to slightly annoy my wife, possibly the neighbors too, and to scare our pet rabbit behind the couch in the other room.

Funny how perceptions change day to day. Now they don't seem too bright, as long as I turn the amp's presence down a few notches. Today my complaint is that when I turn the gain up on the amp to equal the overdrive I get with my EMG guitar, the bass sounds too loose with the T-Types. That's with bass and mids on the amp almost off.

I was going to change the strings anyway today, so after getting the old ones off (still the factory strings, they held up well), I took out the neck pickup and unscrewed the base plate. I was this close to opening it up and flipping the magnet, a la Greeny, when I noticed the cover was soldered to the base plate. I chickened out and put the pickup back as it was. Then I thought about re-wiring the pots to 50s style, opened up the control cavity, remembered how much I hate soldering, and chickened out again. So except for new strings - which I top-wrapped! - the guitar is back to normal. I can certainly live with these T-Types for a while.

Yeah active pickups like EMGs are going to give you tighter bass than passive, especially with gain. I know what you mean about having second thoughts about changing pickups in a really good guitar. I just got my 1999 American Strat back from the tech after getting the original pickguard and pickups put back in.

5 or 6 years ago I had them changed out to Lindy Fralins but I kept the old pickgaurd and pickups intact. The Fralins were very nice, however there was nothing wrong with the old pickups neither. So now it's back to original condition and it sounds and plays great. Luckily I think the only wires that were cut were to the output jack and groundwire.

 

[El Gringo]

Try ThroBak pickups -www.throbak.com

 

[GreenBurst]

On closer inspection of Gibson's website, these are unpotted. The T-Types, that is. I haven't tried them yet at high volume, only loud enough to slightly annoy my wife, possibly the neighbors too, and to scare our pet rabbit behind the couch in the other room.

Funny how perceptions change day to day. Now they don't seem too bright, as long as I turn the amp's presence down a few notches. Today my complaint is that when I turn the gain up on the amp to equal the overdrive I get with my EMG guitar, the bass sounds too loose with the T-Types. That's with bass and mids on the amp almost off.

I was going to change the strings anyway today, so after getting the old ones off (still the factory strings, they held up well), I took out the neck pickup and unscrewed the base plate. I was this close to opening it up and flipping the magnet, a la Greeny, when I noticed the cover was soldered to the base plate. I chickened out and put the pickup back as it was. Then I thought about re-wiring the pots to 50s style, opened up the control cavity, remembered how much I hate soldering, and chickened out again. So except for new strings - which I top-wrapped! - the guitar is back to normal. I can certainly live with these T-Types for a while.

I always use Crazy Parts out of Germany.

https://www.crazyparts.de/

They have really good PAF style pickups. Available in double cream, zebra, or black. They can also include exact matching butyrate rings if needed. A Tobacco Burst finish LP Custom with double cream pickups and rings would look awesome.

Area59' PAFs

“AREA59 PAF Series Custom Made & Handwound Exclusive for Crazyparts ...Slightly aged and built according to original spec other than being hand wound rather than machine... Vintage PAF, Vintage look, vintage sound all the way, we are proud offer the same specs wound by the same person without...

www.crazyparts.de

Area59' Pickups

Handwound Pickups, for Fender and Gibson Guitars. Build from the best Vintage Replacement Parts and Materials ava. incl. NOS wire the best Vintage Gibson and Pre-CBS Replicas. If you looking for Boutique Humbuckers and Single Coils, we have a nice selection of the best.

www.crazyparts.de

They also have the best replacement parts you'll find. I highly recommend this vendor. Note, they will rebate the VAT (≈ 19%) portion of the price for all non EU purchases. No one else overseas does that! They are much better than USA sources and for the most part lower cost.

 

[Athos]

Heard good things about Throbak, but way more than I'm willing to spend on pickups (even used).

I'll check out Crazy Parts, thanks for the recommendation @GreenBurst. I see they have gold covers available, do you know if they'll do 4-conductor wiring instead of vintage 2-wire? Didn't see that as an option, though it's not a deal breaker if they don't. I'd like the option to do out-of-phase in the middle position.

Now that I think about it, can anybody recommend a supplier who does custom Les Paul wiring harnesses? None of the mass produced ones have the features I'd like if I was wiring it up myself (which I want to avoid), but maybe someone out there does bespoke stuff.

 

[jb_abides]

Take a look at this list; most have push-pull/split harness kit options for 4-wire -- make sure you specify long shaft for Gibson USA:

Monty's, UK: offer kits without 4-wire features; however, I imagine they'd discuss custom orders -- they also offer well-regarded pickups!

50's wiring loom for Les Paul – Monty's Guitars

Monty’s 50s wiring loom for Les Paul is made from the finest components and will give you crystal clear tones from your Humbucker or P90 equipped Gibson Les Paul style guitar. This wiring loom uses our vintage Russian Paper-in-oil capacitors for tone reminiscent of vintage bumblebee caps.

www.montysguitars.com

Home of Tone, UK: 4-wire option -- also large distributor of SD pickups

Pre-Wired Guitar wiring harness | 50s style Les Paul Coil Split Push/P

Please use the tabs below to read through the information about this Pre-Wired harness kit. From a run down of what the kit does, to important fitting information and full specs. Order times I usually make harnesses to order, due to the variety of spec options that could be chosen across the...

www.homeoftone.co.uk

Kloppmann, Germany: 4-wire option -- also own-brand pickups

Wiring kit for Les Paul / SG Standard / Special / ES Guitars (Mounted/not mounted)

Update: The current delivery time for Harness using CTS Short shaft potentiometers (500/550) is 4 weeks. This is no ordinary harness kit. Every…

www.kloppmann-electrics.com

 

[Athos]

Thanks! I'm taking a look at those sites, lots of options.

I may have to suck it up and figure out how to wire the thing myself (I trust my local tech shop, but not quite enough to put this guitar in their hands). All I want is 50s wiring and a phase switch for the neck pickup, using a push-pull pot on the neck tone control. No splitting, series/parallel, crazy Jimmy Page stuff with eleventeen different tone options. So really only the neck pickup needs to be 4-wire, with one push-pull pot. Need to find a wiring diagram for that. -edited to add, nevermind! The SD website has that diagram, except they depict a push-pull volume, whereas I'd rather use the tone.

 

[Athos]

After watching a video from Throbak, it doesn't look that hard to desolder the pickup cover, so I'm going to go ahead and do the magnet flip on the stock neck pickup next time I change strings. First I'll change the stock wiring over to 50s. I'll give these changes a try for a while before deciding if I really want totally new pickups.

 

[c_wester]

After watching a video from Throbak, it doesn't look that hard to desolder the pickup cover, so I'm going to go ahead and do the magnet flip on the stock neck pickup next time I change strings. First I'll change the stock wiring over to 50s. I'll give these changes a try for a while before deciding if I really want totally new pickups.

When you push out the magnet there are 2 wires to look out for.
It is not complicated to do. But you have to be aware of them.

Also the modern Nobels odr1 (cheap) sweetens the sound quite abit.
And buy a used Catalinbread Belle Epoch (small version) and dial up the boost inside.

These are small cheap tips but with a good amplifier it sweetens the sound quite much.

 

[Athos]

Thanks, they also mentioned the wires in the video. I’ll be careful.

There’s a model of the ODR-1 in my StompXL, might try that in front of the amp and see if I like it. I most definitely do not want a boost on my delay though, as I put it in the loop of the amp. Don’t much care for delay in front of the amp unless it’s set pretty clean.

 

[c_wester]

Thanks, they also mentioned the wires in the video. I’ll be careful.

There’s a model of the ODR-1 in my StompXL, might try that in front of the amp and see if I like it. I most definitely do not want a boost on my delay though, as I put it in the loop of the amp. Don’t much care for delay in front of the amp unless it’s set pretty clean.

My point is not to have the delay. But the Echoplex booster.

 

[Athos]

I see. Unfortunately I have no more space on my board, so I’d have to kick off my existing boost, which is based on a Klon but with a six band GEQ built in.

I generally only use it on the clean channel to get a medium overdrive sound, as I haven’t really thought it did much for the lead channel (which has tons of gain already). Perhaps I should play around with the pedal a bit more on the lead channel.

Got around to recording a little today, which maybe helps me evaluate the tone more objectively. I think I really like the stock neck pickup, especially on cleaner tones. The stock bridge T-type is just not what I want for high gain. Very useable, but not quite there; bass is a bit flubby . There’s a huge height discrepancy between the pickups at equal volumes, which tells me they are probably pretty close in output.

I had a couple of Manlius pickups in my old LP standard, a Landmark neck and Fat Diane bridge. Maybe I just need another bridge Fat Diane for this guitar?

 

[Offshore Angler]

Thin T-tops are usually a sign you have your amp too low. They are very nice and sought after. I would suggest instead:

1) Before anything else, spend time learning how the volume and tone controls interact. Too bright is never a problem that can't be tamed with the guitar's controls. Lack of high-end is a different story.

2) Trying a smaller amp you can get on the hump.

3) Investing in an EQ pedal. I would try this first before anything. If nothing else, you'll learn what frequency band you need to tone down and that will help you make a much more informed decision if you do intend to change the pickups. An EQ (pedal or virtual) is the magic sauce that many of us that play for a living rely upon.

Can you describe your signal chain in detail? Maybe there are clues there. For example, time-based effects and spring reverb can add a bit of aggressive high end if you're not careful.

Chuck

 

[Offshore Angler]

The other thing, if you need to tighten up the bass try going down in string size. Too twangy and a floppy bottom is the exact definition of the effects of too much string for the application.

 

[Athos]

Thin T-tops are usually a sign you have your amp too low. They are very nice and sought after. I would suggest instead:

1) Before anything else, spend time learning how the volume and tone controls interact. Too bright is never a problem that can't be tamed with the guitar's controls. Lack of high-end is a different story.

2) Trying a smaller amp you can get on the hump.

3) Investing in an EQ pedal. I would try this first before anything. If nothing else, you'll learn what frequency band you need to tone down and that will help you make a much more informed decision if you do intend to change the pickups. An EQ (pedal or virtual) is the magic sauce that many of us that play for a living rely upon.

Can you describe your signal chain in detail? Maybe there are clues there. For example, time-based effects and spring reverb can add a bit of aggressive high end if you're not careful.

Chuck

For my Marcus amp (Mark IIC++/III clone), the signal is this:
guitar > Dunlop ZW wah (not always, it's battery-powered and off the board) > gate > TU-3W tuner > J. Rockett Rockaway Archer OD > NUX analog chorus > amp input > effects send > gate > Ibanez Pentatone parametric EQ > MXR CC Deluxe analog delay > Keeley Aurora digital reverb > effects return > Marshall 1936 2x12 with G12T-75s. Noise gate is an Ibanez Pentatone Gate before the tuner and after the preamp.

I've got some other pedals available that aren't on the board (delay, reverb, tremolo, OD) that I'll be using more with the 5E3 combo.