MoreCowbell

Well, I wasn't looking for a philosophical argument about splitting here. I really wanted to get feedback from people who have tried out the 4-Conductor 57 Classic, or are familiar with this pickup....and see what their impressions were, and how the output level compared to other pickups.

Can anyone shed some light on the (new) Gibson 4-Conductor 57 Classic pickups? I'm referring specifically to these pickups: 4-conductor 57 Classic The Gibson web site lists that their output is 8.3 (higher than for the normal, 2-conductor 57 Classic pickups output which is listed at only 7.5). However, I talked with one customer service person at Gibson who said that the normal 2-conductor, and the 4-conductor 57 Classics pickups both were really around 8.0 for the output, and that there was no significant difference between the two in terms of output. The reason for my question is that I want to know if the 4-Conductor 57 Classic pickups have a high enough output to where it would sound good when the coils are split. A low output pickup would sound too weak and too thin (and not be musically useful) when split. Unfortunately, Gibson does not make a 4-conductor version of the 57 "Classic Plus" or I'd be looking in that direction instead. I have an old Carvin SH 225 semi-guitar, which has a ES-335-like body and I wanted to upgrade the pickups. But one of the things I don't want to sacrifice is the usable single-coil tones that I currently get out the Carvin with the stock pickups. Does anyone have experience with this (4-conductor) pickup in split mode? Does this pickup have enough beef to it (for single coil tones)? Thanks for the help