Electric guitar pick ups

[spacelabstudio]

Hey. I've got a Les Paul studio with microphonic pick ups. Piercing feedback with any kind of gaininess in the signal at all, even mild overdrive. I'd like to replace them but am having a hard time tracking down any good info. So far everyone I've called on the phone falls into one of two categories:

1) Uh, we got some pickups on our wall that say "Gibson" on them. I don't know if they'd work in a Les Paul.

2) We have these sweet sounding boutique pickups for $230/pair.

I'd rather buy from somebody who at the very least knows what it is they're selling and speak about it intelligently. Or failing that, I'm hoping maybe somebody here who knows more about guitar pick ups than I do will point me to some info that would enable me to make a decently informed choice and maybe even some place employing intelligent informed people willing to sell them to me.

As a point of reference, I'd rather have a sweet toneful pick up than something with a really hot output. That's what the gain on my amp is for. In all likelihood these Lindy Fralin pick ups for $230 would sound fantastic, but that's a lot of dough. Maybe just the stock replacement parts from Gibson would be fine, but I can't even find those on the Gibson web site, much less info anywhere else. Anybody?

I started to get into this several months ago and walked into a local store and asked the guy there what they had in pick ups for Les Paul style guitars. He picked up a set of pickups and said, "These." I asked, "Why?" And he goes, "That's what I use." I didn't buy from that guy.

Thanks for any help,

rossi
--
http://spacelabstudio.com

[dougo]

Rossi,

Go to these guys:
http://www.fatsoundguitars.com/

I live out in CA and I bought my Dr Z amp from them. They really know their shit about guitars and amps.

By some chance they don't have an answer talk to my friends Luis or Mark in the electric department of Buffalo Brothers. Guitar wizards.
http://www.buffalobrosguitars.com/

[spacelabstudio]

Rossi,

Go to these guys:
http://www.fatsoundguitars.com/

I live out in CA and I bought my Dr Z amp from them. They really know their shit about guitars and amps.

By some chance they don't have an answer talk to my friends Luis or Mark in the electric department of Buffalo Brothers. Guitar wizards.
http://www.buffalobrosguitars.com/

Hey thanks for the advice. They are local to me and I like those guys a lot. They are the ones with the Lindy Fralin pick ups for $230. Like I said, I'm sure they sound great, but I'm looking for more options. The only other option they mentioned were some Seymour Duncans, but I'm not into those hot rodded pick up sounds.

thanks,
rossi
--
http://spacelabstudio.com

[maz]

If you want some drop in simple replacements for your LP, just get Gibson 57 Classics. They are Gibson's reissue of their PAF pickups and are really great sounding.

THey are about $100/pickup new, but can be had for like $80 on eBay.

I've got one in nickel cover that I'll sell you for $60 shipped. I put it in an old Les Paul copy but it's not worth it having it in there.

They you could buy one on eBay for $80 and have yourself a nice set!

pm or email me if you are interested, but either way, those are the pickups I'd go for.

[Scodiddly]

You can buy some decent humbuckers from Stewart MacDonald for great prices:

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Electronics ... ctric.html

Elderly Instruments is another good place:

http://www.elderly.com/new_instruments/cats/PUE.htm

Seymour Duncan pickups generally get a lot of respect for good aftermarket pickups with non-boutique prices, especially their replacements for classic pickups.

[Zeppelin4Life]

I really love Gibson guitars, but I cant stand their pickups today. too muddy to my ears. I really am in love with The Duncan 59, and also you can get the Jimmy Page editions for about $160 each if you special order them, and I hear they are PAF/Jimmy Page clones, the same lady is winding them that wound Jimmys.

Dave

[maz]

I really love Gibson guitars, but I cant stand their pickups today. too muddy to my ears. I really am in love with The Duncan 59, and also you can get the Jimmy Page editions for about $160 each if you special order them, and I hear they are PAF/Jimmy Page clones, the same lady is winding them that wound Jimmys.

Dave

I don't know about other Gibson p/ups but the classic 57s are definitely not muddy. I had a Duncal little 59 (which is a humbucker fit into a single coil size) and it was the muddiest piece of crap ever made for a guitar. But the regular 59 is supposed to be really cool.

The Classic 57s are PAF clones as well, designed by Tom Holmes, whose pickups regularly sell for $400 a piece! It's probably the cheapest way to go, being that he said $230 a pair was too much.

[justinf]

Somewhere in the middle are Rio Grandes--on the expensive side, but really nice sounding. I have a set of their P-90s in my asat tele and they're warm and tonally rich yet have a nice hot output too.

[chema]

i totally agree with the p-90 suggestion, i have a set in a vintage es330 and they sound way better than my prs's stock humbuckers and one of my clients' stock es175 humbuckers (new), sweeter tone, and only slightly less gain, which seems to work well for recording anyway, tighter and cleaner sounding.

[gravy boat]

I like the Duncan JBs and 59s. You can get direct Gibson replacements about anywhere. Something cool to think about, a lot of companies are making P90s that fit a regular humbucker space. No need to rout, they are drop-in replacements.

[maz]

yeah, p90's are the way to go in a 330!!!

An Epiphone Casino is the poor man's version of that and sounds great with P90's

It would be different sound than regular humbuckers in an LP... but it's a very cool sound. A little less chunky.

[Everybody's X]

Ill third the seymour duncans

go to musiciansfriend.com and search for seymour

there's all kinds of options that all sound killer
of course if it was my les paul I'd put in a pair of old gibsons
I have an 81 custom and the pickups in it are just perfect.

You can always buy a set on ebay for next to nothing because somebody ripped theirs out and put EMG's in their LP or something


OR you could soak yours in paraffin wax and get rid of the problem perhaps

[Zeppelin4Life]

oh yeah and watch out for fake PAFs.well, not that you would bid, but its funny seeing a $50 pickup with dirt on it and a cheap P.A.F. sticker go for like $1400

[spacelabstudio]

Hey, thanks for the tips guys. I didn't realize before I got into this how much these things cost. That $230 doesn't seem so boutique now that I've looked around a bit. Anyway, a local friend of mine actually happened to have an LP with some Gibson '57s and he let me borrow it. There very will might be and probably is something that sounds better, but these sound great to me, so I'll probably play it safe and get a pair of these. And try to find some money somewhere.

thanks,
rossi
--
http://spacelabstudio.com

[brianb]

http://lollarguitars.com/cgi-bin/mercha ... ry_Code=PU This guy is great I plug him every chance I get . Rebuilt a pickup for an old lapsteel of mine and the thing sounds like a dream. About $80 for his p-90's.

Brian