70s Tribute Pickup questions

[Mike CT]

I love my older explorer but I definitely prefer my alinco based pickups over the ceramic 496/500.

how does the 70s tribute pickup sound compared to the 498T (have it in my SG) or a JB?   I think the 498 is a tad hotter.  I’m tempted to swap out the 496/500 for the 70s pickups on the new explorers, but I haven’t seen any comparisons.  I’d obviously lose the variety of having a ceramic which sounds great for playing things like Metallica  (at least to me).  I’ve also thought about possibly selling my SG to get a second newer explorer with those pickups.   Love the explorers!

thanks!

Mike

Edited January 15, 2023 by Mike CT

[Pinch]

2 hours ago, Mike CT said:

I love my older explorer but I definitely prefer my alinco based pickups over the ceramic 496/500.

how does the 70s tribute pickup sound compared to the 498T (have it in my SG) or a JB?   I think the 498 is a tad hotter.  I’m tempted to swap out the 496/500 for the 70s pickups on the new explorers, but I haven’t seen any comparisons.  I’d obviously lose the variety of having a ceramic which sounds great for playing things like Metallica  (at least to me).  I’ve also thought about possibly selling my SG to get a second newer explorer with those pickups.   Love the explorers!

thanks!

Mike

I've been drooling over the cream white Explorer too!

[Mike CT]

That would be the one I get.  The other hold up so far for me has been on my Gibsons they all have a 12th fret neck depth of 0.85-0.87 inches which I love.   Those explorers are about 0.93.   I tried a new SG with the current 0.98 depth at the 12th and just hated it.

i haven’t found one to try so I don’t know if it will just feel only slight bigger or just too big compared to what I like.