Help me make my Les Paul unique sounding?

[honkyjonk]

Okey,

I'm a little tired of the stock pickups on my epiphone les paul.
I must admit embarrassingly that I know nothing about what different styles of pickups sound like.

What I need to know is, what kind of pickups are compatable with a standard epiphone LP, first of all.

And if anybody has any helpful reading on the basics of what different pickups sound like, that would be cool too.

The idiot's guide to pickups or something.
Is it possible to put a lipstick pickup on a les paul? Like say a Danelectro one?
What's the difference between fender style pickups and Gibson humbucking style?
What would a fender style pickup sound like on a les paul?

What would be cool is putting something that can easily be trashy and fuzzy sounding on the neck pickup and something more chimey for the bridge pickup.
Or maybe visa versa I don't know.

Any ideas?

I've somehow paid no attention to pickups for as long as I've been playing so I know nothing. Any info would be helpful.

Jon

[0xeneye]

Pickups Have *everything* to do with sound. I suggest Seymour Duncan, he's a good guy, he's done it for 30 years, and he knows what quality is.

You need to do a lot of reading and testing : Try the Harmony Central Pickup database, ALong with site by Kinmann pickups , Lace Sensor, Bill Lawrence, and Harmonic Design, and also Jason Lollar.

For a LP, I recommmend a Seymour JB 59 and a Classic 4.

[Reuben]

P90's will always get my vote when it comes to Gibsons.

Mmmmmm, chewy.

[bad_dude_69]

run it through an EH Q-Tron followed by a zvex machine, then into a ring modulator. oh, and play it with an e-bow.

[phalex]

I have a Les Paul with P-90s, I like it a lot.

[gravy boat]

If you want different than the "standard" Les paul/Marshall thing, try one of the new P90's that fit a standard humbucker rout. Duncan makes them, gibson and Van Zandt too. Some Epi Les Pauls sound great, others are complete dogs. I guess that really can be said about any guitar. IMO, stay away from anything that is extra "hot" or high output. They tend to take any subtle harmonic thing away from the chain. Hope that makes sense.

[honkyjonk]

Thanks guys for the recommendations,

Yeah the Epiphone just sounds a little, well, predictable. A little compressed sounding actually, and just so noiseless.

I'm looking for something that breaks up and fuzzes out easier for the neck (in a trashy way, not like instant ACDC) and something kind of surfy on the bridge.
I know I probably have the wrong gutar for a surfy sound but what the hell.

The quest begins. . . . .

[black mariah]

Fuzzed out trashy neck... Definitely a P90 of some kind. The Kent Armstrong conversion P90's are pretty fucking good (I've used them before). Pick them up on eBay for cheap.

Surfy bridge... P90's suck for surf. Except the Jazzmaster ones, but we're not going to talk about that. *AHEM* Anyway, I have one word for you... FILTERTRON. Twangy and clangly like a mofo.

[@?,*???&?]

I've always wanted to hear a set of Strat pick-ups in a Les Paul. What would a single-coil rear pick-up sound like? With the semi-hollow body, raised top of a Les Paul, that could fill in the sound.

[Derrick]

I've always wanted to hear a set of Strat pick-ups in a Les Paul. What would a single-coil rear pick-up sound like? With the semi-hollow body, raised top of a Les Paul, that could fill in the sound.

Listen to Ten Years After to find out.

[Catoogie]

I've always wanted to hear a set of Strat pick-ups in a Les Paul. What would a single-coil rear pick-up sound like? With the semi-hollow body, raised top of a Les Paul, that could fill in the sound.

Les Pauls aren't semi-hollow? What planet are you from?

[phalex]

I've always wanted to hear a set of Strat pick-ups in a Les Paul. What would a single-coil rear pick-up sound like? With the semi-hollow body, raised top of a Les Paul, that could fill in the sound.

Les Pauls aren't semi-hollow? What planet are you from?

I think some of the more expensive ones have chambers in them to make them more lightweight and resonate better.

[marqueemoon]

Try taking your neck pickup and turning it around so the poles face the bridge. This will give you an out-of-phase middle position and put the poles of the neck pickup closer to the bridge (more treble, less bass).

[Catoogie]

I think some of the more expensive ones have chambers in them to make them more lightweight and resonate better.

Well, they now make chambered ones (which cost a bazillion dollars) and I've seen a custom shop or special model Les Paul with F-holes but for the most part when you talk about Les Pauls they are not semi-hollow.

[jrsgodfrey]

No one's mentioned mini-humbuckers, ala Firebird. I like Duncan Antiquity mini-humbuckers.

Cheers,

Jay