What's the cleanest GIBSON pickup??

Hello folks. Not a new member but have been away for awhile. Good to be back.

Anyway I recently bought a Gibson Les Paul Studio 50s tribute in vintage sunburst. I sold my telecaster because unfortunately I never could get used to the feel of it and never bonded. Sorry guys :cry: I tried real hard it just never clicked with me. It wasn't the sound though, it was fantastic clean tone. As a mainly acoustic player I never could get used to the sensitivity of the thin neck and my guerilla grip. But anyhow I hope I'm still welcome here and to get some honest answers.

But moving on, the les Paul with the fat beefy 50s neck profile fits me like a glove and I love the feel of the les Paul. The problem is the 490/498 humbuckers that come stock in it. It has a real gritty tone at the bridge and the neck is muddy and very bass heavy. Basically, the clean tone SUCKS! I like to play old country instrumentals and clean bluesy stuff. The closest I get to rocking out is Duane Eddy type stuff or chuck berry. So these heavy metal pickups don't work well with my clean taste. But I do like that big thick Gibson sound. And by the why.....why the heck would Gibson put heavy metal pickups in a 50s tribute guitar??? There wasn't even such a thing then.

So the real question. What's the cleanest gibson humbucker??? I've just about narrowed it down to burstbucker pros or the 57 classics. I hear the burstbuckers are thin sounding and I don't really want to loose the fat gibson sound, but I want the crystal clear clarity. So as of now I'm leaning more forward 57 classics. Am I on the right track?? It's hard to find a good example on YouTube because all the les Paul guys demo there pickups with high gain distortion stuff. That's fine and dandy but It gives me no clue to what the natural tone is.

Help me out guys. If anybody knows about clean I'm sure it's the friendly telecaster club. I've asked in the les Paul forums and Not got one usable answer.

I would go with the 57's and I have studied both sets. Use 500k pots and .022 uF capacitors

Why did you not buy a P90 LP? 

Well gibson discontinued the 50s tribute with p90s, and the humbucker version was canned at the end of 2011. I actually have one of the last batch sent from Gibson in late December 2011. A limited run thing

And well I like and always wanted a humbucker Gibson. The problem is this one has the wrong set of buckers in it. It's a simple fix, just a matter of making the right choice on replacing them

I would go with the 57's and I have studied both sets. Use 500k pots and .022 uF capacitors

This is the best answer. The '57s are magic.

+3 on the 57's

You can get the 57s with or without a cover. You might prefer the UNcovered version, if you're looking for clean clarity.

+4 on 57 Classics. I have them in my Traditional and they do the clean PAF tone to a T!

Not gritty or thin by any stretch of the imagination.

57 Classics with a push/pull that goes series/parallel sounds great too.

Interesting!

I had a set of '57 Classics that it took me about 8 years to give away. Finally accomplished it this very week . . . .

57 Classics with a push/pull that goes series/parallel sounds great too.

^This. I have a set in my Epi 60s Tribute LP with series/parallel switching, and it's a nice option. The 57s are my favorite factory-made pickups. Thick, sweet and articulate.

^This. I have a set in my Epi 60s Tribute LP with series/parallel switching, and it's a nice option. The 57s are my favorite factory-made pickups. Thick, sweet and articulate.

THAT is where I got the idea. Got my hands on one of the first Tribute models and was blown away at how good that guitar sounded...versatile too.

I would go with the 57's and I have studied both sets. Use 500k pots and .022 uF capacitors

+1. 500k pots are a must!

You might try the Burst Bucker Pros as well. They're a little ice-picky so you'll have to fiddle with the knobs but they are clean and 'woody' sounding. Personally, I can't stand them but I like the metal, chigga, chugga, wugga sound. The 57's are great all-rounders. They even sound good with an idiot strumming chords in front of them. (Personal experience)

http://www.dimarzio.com/pickups/humbuckers/ej-custom-bridge Save your self some money and buy some of these. A great almost single coil sounding humbucker for around $65. Coil taps into a sweet thin fendery sound.

Wow lots of love for the 57 classics around here! They are definitely On top of my list right now. I've also heard about the 57 classic plus for the bridge. What's the deal with it? A bit more output maybe? I've read about guys putting a 57 classic in the neck and a 57 classic plus in the bridge. If its a higher output I suspect it would dirty the tone some.

Anyway thanks a lot fellas. This really boosted my confidence that the 57s may be what I'm looking for. But obviously I'm gonna have to get my hands on a guitar with them and have a test drive once. I'd rather play guitar than tinker with it so I wanna make the right choice the first time.

I've read about guys putting a 57 classic in the neck and a 57 classic plus in the bridge. If its a higher output I suspect it would dirty the tone some.

That's the way my Les Paul came, stock. The bridge is only wound a touch hotter, to even out the volume with the neck pickup. Really, if no one told you, you probably would find it hard to tell a classic from a classic plus.

Unless it has to be Gibson, any good lowish wind PAF style humbucker should work. And if you don't use much gain, you could try getting non potted pickups. I'm pretty happy with a set of Leosounds classic humbuckers. About 7.5k and 8k, alnico 2, no wax, and pretty bright and open sounding for a humbucker. Germany might be a bit far to ship to the US, but there are lots of good pickup makers out there!

Mini-humbuckers would be the cleanest pickups for the Les Paul.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_a0szX-Oq5o&feature=relmfu

The above YouTube clip is the first of 5 by Jason Lollar demonstrating how to install mini-humbuckers in a Les Paul.

Unless it has to be Gibson, any good lowish wind PAF style humbucker should work. And if you don't use much gain, you could try getting non potted pickups. I'm pretty happy with a set of Leosounds classic humbuckers. About 7.5k and 8k, alnico 2, no wax, and pretty bright and open sounding for a humbucker. Germany might be a bit far to ship to the US, but there are lots of good pickup makers out there!

While I like the 57 classics myself (a lot, BTW), if you want to do the extra research the above is very good advice.

About 10 years ago, I had John Suhr make me a set of pickups, aged magnets, unpotted 7.8k neck 8.5k bridge, and they are clear, crisp and quite bright. Bridge has a nasal whine that is great, and neck is clear and spanky.

Avoid overwound pickups at all costs if you want clear.

You can save some money by just using the low input on most amps to avoid overdriving the preamp and getting crunch you don't want. We get in the habit of always using input 1, but a Gibsons like input 2 for chime and good cleans.

P

That's the way my Les Paul came, stock. The bridge is only wound a touch hotter, to even out the volume with the neck pickup. Really, if no one told you, you probably would find it hard to tell a classic from a classic plus.

Yup, mine too.

A large percentage of guitars today have hotter bridge pickups to make up for the reduced vibration sweep of the strings near the bridge.


The other thing I did was lower my pickups a good ways away from the strings. This really brought out the woodiness and clarity nicely.

My 57's sound like P-90s with a bit of mids added in. I have compared them directly with some P-90's in a Custom Shop R4. And, I mean they are crazy similar... just a bit fatter.

The 490s,57s,burstbuckers all, have some nice gain?
Maybe you want underwound,,more jazzy..

http://www.vintageandrare.com/uploads/products/12547/64734/original.jpg

57's

Not Gibson . . . but if you really want CLEAN, FAT, and CLARITY you must check out the recently launched Railhammer humbuckers from tone legend Joe Naylor (Reverend guitars, amps, pups, pedals, etc.): http://www.railhammer.com/sound_samples.html

Site has tons of sound samples.

Lem

Not Gibson . . . but if you really want CLEAN, FAT, and CLARITY you must check out the recently launched Railhammer humbuckers from tone legend Joe Naylor (Reverend guitars, amps, pups, pedals, etc.): http://www.railhammer.com/sound_samples.html

Site has tons of sound samples.

Lem

Checked out the site the other day - those seem very interesting, especially the Hyper Vintage set.

The cleanest brightest Gibson-brand humbucker (normal sized -- the mini-humuckers are smaller and brighter/cleaner than the big ones) is the Burstbucker 1. It's brighter and cleaner than the 57 Classic. If you're willing to go to other brands there are a lot of choices, I'd probably suggest Lollar Imperials for you based on what you've said you want.

I second the recommendation of Gibson's Burstbucker #1s. Have a set in my MIC LP copy & they do all the 'toppy' stuff - i.e. NOT heavy rock/ metal/ grunge etc.

Seth Lovers are pretty clean

I use a Seymour Duncan Jazz p/u for the neck and a JB for the bridge on a 74 Les Paul Custom and it sounds great through any amp.

Also recently bought a Les Paul Studio with an ebony fret-board and high output pickups (500T, 496R) which is an exclusive to MF & GC so understand what you mean. Have found that backing off the volume controls on the guitar cleans things up considerably and I keep my amp volume higher to compensate. Plus it has coil-splitting which provides some variety & can cover any type of gig.

Those pickups are higher output than yours - I was also going to change them but they can handle anything from jazz to blues to modern rock plus I don't want the same sound on each guitar I own.