Thinking of getting new pickups for LP Custom

[Swoop]

I was replacing some harware on my LP Custom, and noticed that my pickups are pretty well buggered. I suspect someone has removed the covers before, and damaged the coils, and a lot of the wax has come away, and basically they were falling apart. I'm amazed it still sounded so good!. So basically, I need new pickups. I think I'll go with some GFS ones, because theyre inexpensive and I've heard fantastic things about them.

 

You'll have to forgive my amateur questions. But what's the difference between say a pickup wound to 8K and one wound to 14K? What GFS pickups can you reccommend? I love the way my G400 sounds, crunchy, but defined, plenty of sustain, what GFS pickups could I get that fit that description? Obviously I want to stick with humbuckers too.

 

Also, whilst we're on the subject of technical things. What's the difference between a 500K pot and a 1000K pot. Obviously the 1000K has more resistance, but what is the purpose of that? What about capacitors? I figure if I'm going to get new pickups, I may as well get new pots and caps and have the whole thing rewired. What's the difference between a .022uF oil cap and a .047uF oil cap, and which is necessary for me? I know that oil caps are more desireable, but a ceramic cap or an orange drop cap is a lot cheaper, and probably all I need for my at home playing. What's the difference between a .022mfd cap and a .047mfd cap?

[crazy8s846]

I like these they sound good in my les paul way better than the stock pickups http://store.guitarfetish.com/crpafhiouhuz.html

[Swoop]

I do like the sound of those too, they sound like my kind of pickups. Of course I want gold, covered ones to match all the new gold hardware I got for the Custom.

 

http://store.guitarfetish.com/crpafhiouhug.html

 

Anyone else got any recommendations/explanations about my technical queries.

 

Thanks!

[Vic Flick]

I do like the sound of those too' date=' they sound like my kind of pickups. Of course I want gold, covered ones to match all the new gold hardware I got for the Custom.

 

http://store.guitarfetish.com/crpafhiouhug.html

 

Anyone else got any recommendations/explanations about my technical queries.

 

What's the difference between a 500K pot and a 1000K pot. Obviously the 1000K has more resistance, but what is the purpose of that? What about capacitors? I figure if I'm going to get new pickups, I may as well get new pots and caps and have the whole thing rewired. What's the difference between a .022uF oil cap and a .047uF oil cap, and which is necessary for me? I know that oil caps are more desireable, but a ceramic cap or an orange drop cap is a lot cheaper, and probably all I need for my at home playing. What's the difference between a .022mfd cap and a .047mfd cap?

 

Thanks![/quote']

 

Basically, you want 500K pots and .047 caps for you standard humbucker configuration. You could use other values, but the consensus is that these work best for 'buckers. As a rule, you would use 250K & .022 for Strats, Teles and other single coils to offset some of their brightness. (Lower pot value will cut some highs.) Orange drops are fine, they're my standard cap.

 

I had a GFS Crunchy PAT in one of my guitars (bridge position), crazy8s from Palin country is correct. Really nice pickup if your looking for crunch. If you're looking for a warmer vintage tone, the Vintage '59s are excellent. You can even mix and match 'em.

[Swoop]

Cheers for that. I've been recommended a bloke locally who can do all the wiring for me, I'm just going to collect and supply the parts. I did a bit of reading and it explained that 500K pots and .047 caps are reccommended for 'buckers. I'm thinking I'd like to take advantage of some push/pull pots for coil tapping/splitting. I know there's a difference between tapping and splitting, what's it called when you can use them either as a single coil or humbucker? I'd like to be able to both pickups as a single coil, or a bucker, but I assume when the switch is in the middle position, they're both buckers, you can't have one of each. Is that right?

 

Now I know what parts to get, just gotta wait for a quote on how much it'll cost to wire it!

[Swoop]

Bump! Anyone?