how close in tone 490t/57 classics

[guitar_randy]

How close in tone are the 490t pickups compared to the 57 classics.It states they are similiar.How similiar?Is there a distinct difference or would there be a big tone change swapping the 490t for a 57 classic?

[bobv]

I have both pickups so I'll take a stab. I have a 490R in the neck position and a 490T in the bridge position of an Epiphone Dot Deluxe. The '57 Classics are in both spots on my new ES-339.

 

Technically, the 490R and T differ because of the polepiece spacing but I think that's more of a question for the neck position and wouldn't be an issue for you in the bridge position - the 490T and '57 probaby are the same in this regard.

 

The major difference is that the 490's are described as being a little bit overwound, so one would expect more midrange and perhaps less high end sparkle. I tried them because I was going for a jazz type color and I expected to be rolling back the tone controls anyway. I would say that in practice they actually are duller than the '57s. In order to get a more open, brighter sound out of the 490s, I have those pickups pretty low away from the strings which sort of defeats their character of being overwound. Not that I'm unhappy with them, but it often occurs to me that the '57s would have worked just as well.

 

At the same time the '57's in my 339 sound great fairly close to the strings and in fact that guitar is louder - the pickups will drive the amp sooner. That's probably a factor of the pickup height since they're technically not as high an output as the 490's (there's a chart on the Gibson site with the relative oomph of their pickups).

 

Here's a thought to muddy the waters: consider that the Burstbucker 1-2 combination is being used in the reissues (Lesters and ES's) so I gather that the Custom Shop considers them to be the closest thing to the PAF sound (whatever that is...). The un-matched windings on the two bobbins in a Burstbucker are supposed to replicate the happy accident of late fifties manufacturing before they had electronic controls counting the turnings - with tongue in cheek I have to say I really don't understand exactly how that's supposed to change the sound. Some say they're grittier, some say they're the classic creamy PAF sound...