Les Paul Standard Bridge Pickup Ideas?

[HamburgerShins]

Hello there everyone, I hope everybody is settling in and getting used to 2023. There's always a sort of doldrums for me after the holidays and setting myself to work is the best cure I know of. Last year I bought a 50's Les Paul Goldtop and I'm super happy with it. The neck pickup sounds so good it reminds me of Clapton trying to explain the "woman" sound to that reporter in that clip we've all seen. That being said, the bridge sounds good too, just, not great. It's got a lot of treble output that gets worse the higher the gain. As such, I'm thinking about replacing it with an uncovered humbucker geared for higher gain.

There's just so many to choose from it's a bit overwhelming. I play punk, hard rock some thrash metal and I've narrowed it down to either an alnico 2 or  ceramic magnets. I was on the Seymour Duncan site and either the Invader or the Slash signature seem like worthy swaps. Dunno, I was hoping someone here who'd been through this might drop a pearl or two. Thanks everyone for taking the time!

[Rabs]

Hello..

Have you tried simply lowering the bridge pickup a bit?  Its pretty surprising how much difference that makes..  And you can even take it further by adjusting the individual screws...

Apart from that..  If you can find one a Gibson 496r which is a ceramic pickup is that much hotter. I dont think Gibson make them any more but you can find them on Ebay cos a lot of people swap them out for the lower output pickups.. I have them on my LP Classic (469r and 500t) and love the way they sound (more like a Slash type pickup). They also used to come on Explorers and Vs from what I remember. So yeah a much more metal pickup if you like.

Edited February 2, 2023 by Rabs

[kidblast]

Rabs gives you decent advice,  Try that first

 

[sparquelito]

I agree also with Rabs' advice.

That said, I must confess that the Seymour Duncan Dimebucker is probably the bridge pickup you would enjoy the most, given your playing preferences.

I have owned a few (in Les Pauls) and they kick a$$.

🙂

https://www.sweetwater.com/seymour-duncan-dimebucker/series

 

[Valeriy]

Hello gues,
Well... There is indeed an occasional problem with the overly harsh, not very musical high frequencies that  HamburgerShins has described. This actually happens in some guitars usually for bridge pickup. There is even a patented method for fixing it (https://patents.google.com/patent/US5908998A/en ).  

In general, to avoid or reduce the said harshness particularly evident at higher pitches, you just need to increase the inductance of the bridge pickup. This will provide, as stated in the patent, a truer, more pleasing tonal quality in sound of electric guitar. There are 2 ways to do this. First, as stated in the patent, you can add a ferromagnetic material within the body of the pickup, for example, a steel plate between the coils. By the way, I often use this in my pickups. Second, yes, you can just buy another pickup and choose one that has coils with more turns (i.e., more inductance) than that was before.
 

[jdgm]

Looking at the spec the SD Invader has a massive output metric, as we say these days.   About twice all the other pickups.      Might be less trebly!! 

I put a Hot Rails in the bridge of my Tele years ago and it was too much.  Just wrong, like putting big wheels on the back but not the front.

Edited February 3, 2023 by jdgm

[OrdinaryNimda]

12 hours ago, Valeriy said:

Hello gues,
Well... There is indeed an occasional problem with the overly harsh, not very musical high frequencies that  HamburgerShins has described. This actually happens in some guitars usually for bridge pickup. There is even a patented method for fixing it (https://patents.google.com/patent/US5908998A/en ).  

In general, to avoid or reduce the said harshness particularly evident at higher pitches, you just need to increase the inductance of the bridge pickup. This will provide, as stated in the patent, a truer, more pleasing tonal quality in sound of electric guitar. There are 2 ways to do this. First, as stated in the patent, you can add a ferromagnetic material within the body of the pickup, for example, a steel plate between the coils. By the way, I often use this in my pickups. Second, yes, you can just buy another pickup and choose one that has coils with more turns (i.e., more inductance) than that was before.
 

So, basically a hotter pickup?

[Valeriy]

14 hours ago, jdgm said:

 Looking at the spec the SD Invader has a massive output metric,  as we say these days.   About twice all the other pickups.      Might be less trebly!! 

I put a Hot Rails in the bridge of my Tele years ago and it was too much.  Just wrong, like putting big wheels on the back but not the front.

5 hours ago, OrdinaryNimda said:

So, basically a hotter pickup?

For an Invader with a massive output, if it has 3 magnets like the Invader SH-8, then excess output is not a big deal, it's easy to fix. To do this, you will need to remove 2 side magnets (carefully), thereby reducing the output, and the inductance will remain the same. True, I have never done this, I didn't have this Invader with 3 magnets, but I read about this on one of the guitar forums, and who did, they say the result for the sound is very good.
In one advertisement about the Invader, I read the phrase : By installing Invader, you will completely change the DNA of your guitar. Together with these pickups, it will turn into an aggressive machine .  Probably the machine turns out to be so aggressive that people throw out extra magnets with horror.

[HamburgerShins]

On 2/2/2023 at 2:16 PM, Rabs said:

Hello..

Have you tried simply lowering the bridge pickup a bit?  Its pretty surprising how much difference that makes..  And you can even take it further by adjusting the individual screws...

Apart from that..  If you can find one a Gibson 496r which is a ceramic pickup is that much hotter. I dont think Gibson make them any more but you can find them on Ebay cos a lot of people swap them out for the lower output pickups.. I have them on my LP Classic (469r and 500t) and love the way they sound (more like a Slash type pickup). They also used to come on Explorers and Vs from what I remember. So yeah a much more metal pickup if you like.

Thanks everyone for the advice. I haven’t tried adjusting the height. The guitar came set up so well (Probably the first new guitar I’ve bought that didn’t need dire setup work straight out of the box.) that I’d just assumed it was probably right. I’ll get around to it here in the next few days and report back. 
Anyone ever tried the EVH Wolfgangs? Another Alnico II usual suspectI guess. Really good reviews and at $170.00 you’d kind of think they’d utilize some sort of special sauce, right? 

[Rabs]

18 minutes ago, HamburgerShins said:

Thanks everyone for the advice. I haven’t tried adjusting the height. The guitar came set up so well (Probably the first new guitar I’ve bought that didn’t need dire setup work straight out of the box.) that I’d just assumed it was probably right. I’ll get around to it here in the next few days and report back. 
Anyone ever tried the EVH Wolfgangs? Another Alnico II usual suspectI guess. Really good reviews and at $170.00 you’d kind of think they’d utilize some sort of special sauce, right? 

There is no real thing as a standard setup really as its all down to personal preference and the way you play, how you hold the guitar and even the strings you like...  Its one thing we get on here a lot, people want to know how to set up a guitar to factory standards.. But there arent any really. Its why its a good idea to learn how to do a setup yourself. Its not as hard as people think.

[Sheepdog1969]

14 hours ago, HamburgerShins said:

Thanks everyone for the advice. I haven’t tried adjusting the height. The guitar came set up so well (Probably the first new guitar I’ve bought that didn’t need dire setup work straight out of the box.) that I’d just assumed it was probably right. I’ll get around to it here in the next few days and report back. 
Anyone ever tried the EVH Wolfgangs? Another Alnico II usual suspectI guess. Really good reviews and at $170.00 you’d kind of think they’d utilize some sort of special sauce, right? 

FYI, there are some things that are "objective" regarding a "pro set up", like intonation and fret shaving (if needed to smooth rough edges), yet many things are "subjective", and are only "set up right", when they meet each individual musician's playing style, type of music they play, type of strings they choose to use, the type of amplifier and/or electronics they use, etc..

The "action" (string to fretboard distance"), for example, only needs to be high enough not to rattle on frets, yet not so high that it impedes playability and/or negatively effects intonation. Action height between these two extremes is up to the musician.  

As such, pickup height, is extremely subjective, and truly could never be "set up" to meet your specific needs unless it was done with you being present and actively involved, all while using your rig, (amp, effects, strings, etc..). As little as 1/4mm change in pickup height can drastically effect output tone and volume. Pickups can be adjusted so that the height distance between it and the low E is different than the distance at the high E. Fine tuning this distance can be done per string on your covered humbuckers as well.

   

 

Based on your comments, your bridge pickup, or at least a few of the string to p/u distances on it, are just a tiny bit too high. A few minutes fine tuning each individual "pole" until sound quality at the high gain levels you play at, meets your needs. Lots cheaper, less time consuming, and less invasive that p/u replacement, if it works!  

[Sheepdog1969]

 

[Pinch]

Do uncovered pickups sound less trebly? 

[duane v]

1 hour ago, Pinch said:

Do uncovered pickups sound less trebly? 

I cant tell the difference.

 

[Valeriy]

1 hour ago, Pinch said:

Do uncovered pickups sound less trebly? 

Not certainly in that way. With a metal cover, it really may seem that there are more high ones, but these are distortions, the so-called from a short closed loop. For a neck pickup this can be seemed nice and musical to the sound, but for other positions, especially for bridg, the metal cover degrades the sound making it uncomfortably harsh.

[Big Bill]

I have a 50s LP Standard and I didn't like the Burstbuckers that came in it at all. I didn't like them on other Gibson's I have owned in the past. I am a 57 Classic fan myself. However, on my 50s LP I put in a set of Seymour Duncan 'Whole Lotta Humbucker".  I found it give that classic hard rock sound that I like. If Rabs' suggestion doesn't work out for you, I suggest checking these pups out.