Help me, puhhleeasssee!

[jamesonk931]

Hey guys, new here. I have a 2019 61'  Standard SG that I love. The pickups which I am told are 61 Burstbuckers, are just IT for me! My issue is when I travel, I play a smaller guitar that is abit of a swiss army knife for me. My Musicman Luke iii. I am trying to find pickups like the Burstbucker 61's for my Luke iii, but I need them in 4 conductor. What is the best Gibson pickup to get me in that ballpark? I have the same single gauge wire pickups in my LP also. I just adore the sound. I must have 4 conductor to make the 5 way switch valuable for multi song use. Thanks. 

[paddybrown]

I have the 61s in my favourite Les Paul, and I much prefer them to the Burstbucker Pros in my other Les Paul. The 61s are smoother and brighter, and cut through better in a live setting.

According to the spec sheet of my guitar, they have Alnico 5 magnets, and the outer coil with the screws is wound slightly hotter than the inner slug coil - 5000 turns on the slugs, 5261 on the screws. (That's the opposite of the Burstbucker Pros, which are also Alnico 5 but the slug coil has more winds that the screw coil.) The DC resistance is 7.75K ohms, which is a little less than the Burstbucker Pros, but they feel hotter somehow. Unlike most pickup sets, the bridge and the neck have the same number of windings.

Gibson don't seem to sell 61s separately, and none of the ones they do sell seem comparable, but a quick search on Ebay finds a number of them for sale. Alternatively, you might want to apprach a local pickup maker and see if they can replicate them for you.

[merciful-evans]

While pickups can change your sound, they can't make your MM sound like a SG. 

I've changed out pickups and not gotten the result I was after. The design/build makes a massive difference to the sound of a guitar.