es-335 - 57 Classic and/OR BurstBucker #2

[chrros7]

I'm looking for a little advice about pickups. I have an Epiphone Sheraton and a "newer" Gibson es-335 (with NO pickups currently in it).

 

I would like them both to be fairly versatile guitars meaning going from clean jazzy chords to full-on ballsy rock if need be. It seems the 57 Classic is the "preferred" pup by many. My question is would the 57 translate well for a nice clean tone in the the neck position? And if so, for the bridge I was thinking of the 57 Classic Plus OR the BurstBucker #2. Is the BB 2 a good companion for the 57 Classic? Is there enough of a difference or would a 57 plus be better?

 

I know its all subjective but I'm trying to wrap my head around all these decisions. Thanks for any help or input you may have.

[Robin Nahum]

Hi chrros7 and welcome.

 

I had 57 Classics in my 2002 ES345 and to my ears at least, they did not work well for jazz. They just seemed a bit harsh and didn't produce that smooth tone that I was after. Think Kenny Burrell. I suspect today's 57 Classics are more aimed at rock players, and have been told that when they were first released, the design and tone was more akin to the original PAFs.

 

I swapped in VintageVibe Alnico 2 humbuckers and am much happier. Can't tell you how these perform for full-on ballsy rock though.

 

If you are not wedded to the idea of Gibson pickups, you might want to do what I did - which is talk to a few pickup makers about what you are after and see what they suggest.

 

RN

[AlanC]

Hi Robin.

 

From what I understand many of the Gibson hollow bodies and for that matter Les Pauls seem to have '57 Classics in them. In some cases I've found the '57's to be good and in one particular example that is, in my L4 CES I didn't like them at all. I replaced the '57 Classics in my L4 CES with Seymour Duncans, a Jazz in the neck and a '59 in the bridge. The outcome seems much better although more recently I finally found a Polytone amp and now all of my archtops sound so much better including the L4 with the new pickups.

 

Are the VintageVibe Alnico 2's Gibson pickups? If not who makes them? Have you replaced the '57 Classics in any of your guitars other than the 345. My '59 335 reissue is quite mellow and is very good through the Polytone and is less bright than normal 335's.

[Guest BentonC]

We install 57 Classics in almost all of our hollowbody and semi-hollowbody guitars. They tend to be our warmest pickups, but still retain a lot of versatility. This is by far our most popular pickup. As you can see though, some folks need something else, as pickup choice is such a personal preference.

 

My best recommendation to try to get a sense of the 57 Classics would be to lug your amp to a Gibson dealer if you have one close by: www.gibson.com/Dealers. Grab an ES-335 off the wall and let it rip.

[Robin Nahum]

Are the VintageVibe Alnico 2's Gibson pickups? If not who makes them? Have you replaced the '57 Classics in any of your guitars other than the 345.

 

VintageVibe is Pete Biltoft's pickup winding business:

 

http://www.vintagevibeguitars.com/about.html

 

Pete is in Oregon and he winds a fine pickup. I found out about him when I needed a Charlie Christian for one of my homebrew Teles.

 

Just to show I am not a compulsive pickup changer, I have a cheap and cheerful Les Paul Special HB with 490s that was just right as it came. It was interesting to note that this guitar sounded quite different to an identical model that was also on sale.

 

My SS amp is a Henriksen JazzAmp that certainly gives a nice tone with a humbucker - but I don't lke it so much with a lower output single coil. I have yet to try it with a P90.

 

Most of the time I play through an early silverface Deluxe Reverb.

 

Regards

 

R

[Robin Nahum]

We install 57 Classics in almost all of our hollowbody and semi-hollowbody guitars. They tend to be our warmest pickups' date=' but still retain a lot of versatility. This is by far our most popular pickup. As you can see though, some folks need something else, as pickup choice is such a personal preference.

 

My best recommendation to try to get a sense of the 57 Classics would be to lug your amp to a Gibson dealer if you have one close by: www.gibson.com/Dealers. Grab an ES-335 off the wall and let it rip. [/quote']

 

Hi Benton,

 

Thank you for chiming in.

 

My guitar tech tells me that the design of the 57 was changed a few years ago. Would you care to comment?

 

RN

[AlanC]

Hi Robin, The thing that always surprises me is the extent of differences in sound quality between the same model of guitar. Two apparently identical guitars can sound very different. '57 Classics in one guitar can sound great and in another guitar of the same model can sound very ordinary. The '57 Classics in my L5 and 175 are really good but in my L4 CES, they sounded thin and brittle and I had to wind the treble so far back that there was little point in having a tone control. Since I replaced the '57 classics with Seymour Duncans I now have much greater control over tone and the basic sound is better.

 

I also have a silver face Fender Deluxe Reverb and more recently purchased a beaten up '73 Polytone.Whilst I love the Deluxe Reverb, the Polytone is awesome. The Polytone is great with humbuckers but for some reason seems very harsh and brittle with a mini-humbucker! Not sure why?

 

For me I'm happy to make certain types of alterations to some of my guitars such as changing pickups provided that what gets done is completely reversible. My view is that it's better to make the guitar work than leave it in its case because you don't enjoy playing it.

[Robin Nahum]

I also have a silver face Fender Deluxe Reverb and more recently purchased a beaten up '73 Polytone.Whilst I love the Deluxe Reverb' date=' the Polytone is awesome. The Polytone is great with humbuckers but for some reason seems very harsh and brittle with a mini-humbucker! Not sure why?[/quote']

 

Hi Alan,

 

Interesting.

 

Maybe the tone circuit in the Poly is designed to cut out some bass to make the signal clearer - possibly appropriate for a full bucker but not so good with a pickup that doesn't have a lot of bottom - and minibuckers can be quite bright like this.

 

Have you tried the Poly with a small bobbin single coil pickup from say a Tele or a Strat?

 

RN

[AlanC]

Hi Robin, No I haven't tried the Poly with a Tele or Stat as unfortunately I don't own any Fenders nor do I have easy access to any. The mini humbucker is on a 165, a guitar I play a lot often as an acoustic. The 165 has always sounded warm particulary with fender amps but has always been tricky if the volume is turned up to to 10 as it can sound harsh. I tend to back it off and play it at 6 or 7. On the Poly it sounds brittle/harsh and mabye thin at even these volumes.

 

With the '57 Classics and the Seymour Duncan Jazz pickup, your description of the Poly's clear signal seems right. The sound is very clear and detailed almost layered and also warm. It's the sound I have chased for years!