alchemy Posted May 25, 2009 Share Posted May 25, 2009 I'm new to this forum, and relatively new to working on guitars. I have a epi les paul standard that i bought new in 2007 or possibly late 2006. I am thinking of upgrading the pickups becuase, while i think they are decent, they seem muddy to me and could be a lot clearer. For a while I was thinking of saving up for a Gibson, but after spending a few hours setting it up and tweaking it, I love the way it plays so I am considering just upgrading the pick ups and possibly some other electronics. I guess my question is what are you alls recomendations for pick ups as far as trying to get the clarity and tone of a Gibson LP and what if any other mods are nessecary/worthless? I play mostly metal (slow and heavy at that), but also want a big rich warm clean tone as well as versatility for other styles of music. Thanks for any input. Also, I know it has been covered extensively, but I can't seem to find the threads that discuss the differences between epi and gibson les pauls. can anyone give me a link so i dont have to re ask a question that has been beat to death? Thanks a lot in advance... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MichaelE Posted May 25, 2009 Share Posted May 25, 2009 Welcome to the forum! I don't play metal, in fact I don't even listen to it, so I couldn't suggest an appropriate pickup for that application. The pickups in my Custom sounded muddy too. I think Epiphone uses the same pickup for nearly most of their LP's with a few exceptions. For the big warm smooth vintage tone I have a set of SD '59's in mine. Some like the Gibson T pickups too, and the '57's. You'll have to hear from a metal player to give advise on those. What amp are you using? That will have a lot of bearing on the sound you're getting out of the guitar. After buying the VOX I have now, that's when I decided to change the pickups. The Epiphone pickups weren't sounding much better with the new amp. Sounds great now though. I also installed a Gibson TP-6 tailpiece and changed the pots, switch, and jack. Pots are CTS, jack and switch are Switchcraft. I call it my 'Gibiphone'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vic Flick Posted May 25, 2009 Share Posted May 25, 2009 I'm new to this forum' date=' and relatively new to working on guitars. I have a epi les paul standard that i bought new in 2007 or possibly late 2006. I am thinking of upgrading the pickups becuase, while i think they are decent, they seem muddy to me and could be a lot clearer. For a while I was thinking of saving up for a Gibson, but after spending a few hours setting it up and tweaking it, I love the way it plays so I am considering just upgrading the pick ups and possibly some other electronics. I guess my question is what are you alls recomendations for pick ups as far as trying to get the clarity and tone of a Gibson LP and what if any other mods are nessecary/worthless? I play mostly metal (slow and heavy at that), but also want a big rich warm clean tone as well as versatility for other styles of music. Thanks for any input. Also, I know it has been covered extensively, but I can't seem to find the threads that discuss the differences between epi and gibson les pauls. can anyone give me a link so i dont have to re ask a question that has been beat to death? Thanks a lot in advance...[/quote'] Check out GFS pickups. Excellent quality, a nice variety for all kinds of music, very reasonably priced. Yoy might also want to consider a Gibson Dirty Finger in the bridge position if you want some crunch. Not cheap, but love 'em. A GFS Vintage 59 & the Dirty Finger combo could give you the versatility you're looking for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alchemy Posted May 25, 2009 Author Share Posted May 25, 2009 i'm playing through a newly aquired mesa triple rectifier and 2 4x10 marshall cabs. When going for mesa type overdrive i just use a boost pedal, other times i use an old boss hyper fuzz, and when playing cleanish i use a little reverb and delay. I'll check those pickups out. thanks guys... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karl davidson Posted May 26, 2009 Share Posted May 26, 2009 Hi alchemy, why alchemy? do you change lead to gold? - this actually part of my business name! Any way I'm a new guy to, but being a boring engineer I've looked into this before - lots of the guys on here are more knowledgeable than I. If you know what sound your after, would it not be a relatively safe bet to go for a set up of a similar sounding/type of guitar. the info is out there. for example - From memory I think slash les paul uses duncan seymor pro 2 pick ups. I know most people change the pots/switches and capacitors at the same time and even get fussy about what wire they use.- If your not sure I bet a local guitar shop could do the work, If they have an obsessive entusiastic guitarist, like my one does. Some will say it depends what guitar you have to what sound it will give, but speaking as an idiot on a scientific level if you have a similar guitar/similar set up - other than tolerences in build /other materials used/ natural effect. (ambient temp,acoustics,what amp and leads). I think you should be able to get the sound you want by using some one elses spec, that is unless you are trying to make your guitar sound totally unique. I will be venturing in to this area my self soon. The only thing I worry about is if you tune the guitar up a certain way, will it be as versatile when it comes to making different sounds??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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