Kong Posted January 11, 2010 Share Posted January 11, 2010 I very recently got a Gibson ES-339 and I love the tone from the 57 classic humbuckers. I thought I was happy with the tone from my Epi Les Paul Custom Silverburst until I got my Gibby. I will say that the craftsmanship on my Epi Custom was a LOT better than some of the Gibson Les Paul Customs I saw at Guitar Center. The inlays were nicer especially on the headstock. The neck is very nice and the guitar looks and feels great. I definitely did not see anything from the Gibsons to justify the $3,200 price difference. Okay I digress. I ordered the Seymour Duncan Hotrodded Humbucker set to try in my Custom. Has anyone tried these and do you think they will have the desired effect on my guitar's tone, based on my preference for my 339 with the classic '57s? You might ask why I didn't just opt for another set of '57s, but I thought it would be fun to do a little experimentation and if the Duncans work out I saved a few bucks. I would love to hear some opinions from those "in the know" regarding the Duncans. If I had not bought the Silverburst, I probably would have gone for one of the Les Paul Tribute Standards. That seems like a steal with the Gibson Electronics and Case included. There is just something about that Silverburst Custom though ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kong Posted January 11, 2010 Author Share Posted January 11, 2010 Oh yeah, while I'm at it should I change the wiring and pots? The stock stuff doesn't look that bad to me, but if there is a big benefit, I could solder in new guts... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kong Posted January 14, 2010 Author Share Posted January 14, 2010 Well no one chimed in on this thread, but I went ahead and put the Seymour Duncan Hotrodded humbucker set in my Epi LP Custom Silverburst. I would have thought there were a lot of guys out there who have changed out the stock Epi pickups on their Les Pauls. I am extremely happy with this mod. I'm a dope though because I wanted to record sound clips before and after. As soon as the pickups showed up today I jumped right into installing them before I remembered that I wanted to record "before" clips. Oh well, guitar modification mania has its drawbacks. Anyway I think they really woke up the sound of this guitar. It is also far less muddy when playing clean with the tone turned down through the neck pickup. I'm basically just a home player and as such I am not qualified to write a professional sounding review, but I could not put the guitar down for a couple of hours after I completed the mod. The bridge pickup is hot, but clear and it sounds awesome overdriven. This guitar is now a blues monster on the neck pickup and also fantastic for some classic rock sounds. If I was one to play out, I would think that this guitar is now gig-worthy. I totally recommend these pickups if you are looking to clean up some of that stock Epi mud. I did leave the stock wiring in the guitar and I was wondering if I should do a complete rewire job pots, caps, switch, and all. I didn't make the change for aesthetics, but here are a few pics anyway[cool] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pravus Posted January 14, 2010 Share Posted January 14, 2010 Ok, I'll chime in...it looks very nice, indeed. I got my LP Custom about a year ago (looks exactly like yours save the pups), and I'm preparing to put in a set of '57 Classics myself. Just this evening I took the back cover off to see what's inside, and I am a little puzzled by the wiring. It looks like there's some sort of splice in there. I've been playing and modding a Strat for the last 15 years or so, so I'm more used to the Fender wiring, but I can't imagine wiring up a set of '57s in this LP could be much different, could it? At any rate, I'd have to agree about the muddy, dark sound of the stock pups in this LP. Everyone else I've talked to have pretty much agreed the '57s will be an improvement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willmak Posted January 14, 2010 Share Posted January 14, 2010 Kong how would you compare the 57 to the hot rod set? I went with a hot rod set over the gibson 57s on my dot...I'm nervous! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest icantbuyafender Posted January 14, 2010 Share Posted January 14, 2010 a les paul custom is all mahogany without a maple cap. That provides a darker tone. I personally love it. Epi pickups do have a darker tone due to cheap electronics that can breed mud. 500k CTS pots will brighten up the sound, as will the hot rod SD set. I hope you enjoy your axe. Looks killer, and Im sure sounds just as good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hungrycat Posted January 15, 2010 Share Posted January 15, 2010 a les paul custom is all mahogany without a maple cap. That provides a darker tone. I personally love it. Only on the Gibsons. The Epis have a cap. From this article: http://www.epiphone.com/news.asp?NewsID=115 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kong Posted January 15, 2010 Author Share Posted January 15, 2010 Kong how would you compare the 57 to the hot rod set? I went with a hot rod set over the gibson 57s on my dot...I'm nervous! The Duncans seem to be higher output than the 57s. Also the 57s sound a little warmer, but hard to do a true comparison since the 57s are on my 339. Difficult to compare a semi-hollow vs. solid. I also use different strings - D'Addario pure nickel 010s bright/warm on my 339 and GHS Boomer 010s on my Les. I think either set are a good choice and I'm extremely happy with both guitars. I think either set are a marked improvement over stock Epi pickups. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kong Posted January 15, 2010 Author Share Posted January 15, 2010 woops double post - why did that happen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanH Posted January 15, 2010 Share Posted January 15, 2010 Sorry Kong, I missed your thread before you made your purchase. I put the JB/Jazz set in my Epi LP Standard Plus a couple of weeks ago. I posted a thread on here with a link to my 'before and after' video but nobody posted a response - I guess people are fed up with pickup upgrade threads. Neverthless, for most Epis, a pup upgrade is the one and only upgrade required IMO. A well chosen/set up Epi with a good set of aftemarket pickups becomes a serious competitor for its Gibson counterpart. Most other upgrades are just for cosmetic or repair purposes IMO. Anyway, here's my vid: [YOUTUBE] [/YOUTUBE] BTW, your silver LP looks fantastic with those black Duncans in it. Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
illmobius Posted February 2, 2010 Share Posted February 2, 2010 Hey man, could you give me some tips on how you installed your humbuckers? I have the same Epi, and I know the wiring diagram, but I opened up the access panel and am totally thrown off by the white clip used in between the pots and the pickups. Should I go around it or use it? How do I connect the wires from my new humbucker into the damn thing? Any advice you could send my way would be great, I'm dying to get this thing in there, but the clip is ruining my whole life right now haha. I'd really appreciate it if you could let me know how you did it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoss49 Posted February 2, 2010 Share Posted February 2, 2010 I know what you mean. I hope some replies to your post. I would like to know about the white clip too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rdsmith3 Posted February 2, 2010 Share Posted February 2, 2010 Kong - looks good. Where did you buy the SD pickups? Where do you live in NJ? I am in NW NJ. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanH Posted February 2, 2010 Share Posted February 2, 2010 Do you mean the tag tie or the clip that looks a bit like an old telephone wire input which joins two lots of wires together. If it's the latter you don't have to touch that. To change your pups your SDs should have come with this wiring diagram: http://www.seymourduncan.com/images/products/electric/humbuckers/501005-110.pdf Each Epi pickup only needs two wires unsoldering, one of which is connected to the first lug of the volume pot and the other of which is connected to the top of the pot for earthing. Once you've unsoldered those and removed the old pups you can install the SDs. For four wire (plus one bare wire) SD models you tape together the red and white wires (if you don't want to install a coil splitting pot that is) and then solder the black wire to lug 1 and the green and bare wires to the top of the pot. Make sure the wires aren't contacting anywhere they shouldn't be and be careful with the iron to avoid burning surrounding wires and messing up your finish. To help me I accessed this video on youtube, some wikipedia article on soldering technique and also a musicians friend webpage covering installing Gibson pickups on Epis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
illmobius Posted February 2, 2010 Share Posted February 2, 2010 Hmm ok. I do mean the telephone clip joining the two lots of wires together. I figured that the clip was the joint between the controls and the pups, but I guess I was wrong. So all that is routed through the white telephone clip is independent of the pickups themselves? Thanks for the help, with your instructions I think I'll be good to go on this! Much appreciated. Can't wait to give it a go when I get home Thanks for the links, too. I had watched the SD tutorial, but didn't see the clip and so figured I was screwed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanH Posted February 2, 2010 Share Posted February 2, 2010 I figured that the clip was the joint between the controls and the pups' date=' but I guess I was wrong. So all that is routed through the white telephone clip is independent of the pickups themselves? [/quote'] .....not totally independent of the pickups, but independent of the parts of the pot you need to work on. Here's the MF link too (I got it from one of the other forum members): http://www.musiciansfriend.com/document?doc_id=100119 When you unscrew the four pickup rings screws and lift the whole assembly out you'll be able to tug on the wires and then you'll know which ones will be coming out and where they are attached to. I'm a novice with a soldering iron and only bought a cheap one. I think I really needed a hotter one as melting the exisiting solder on the top of the cap caused me problems - I ended up just adding extra solder. Have a practice soldering on to bits of scrap metal if you've never done it before. Watch out when you do it for real though. It's really easy to melt wires you shouldn't be touching. Also, use an old rag with a hole cut in the middle to work through in order to protect the finish on the back of your guitar. Do some before and after sound clips, if you can. I'd be really interested to hear how you get on. Good luck with it. Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kong Posted February 2, 2010 Author Share Posted February 2, 2010 Hey man' date=' could you give me some tips on how you installed your humbuckers? I have the same Epi, and I know the wiring diagram, but I opened up the access panel and am totally thrown off by the white clip used in between the pots and the pickups. Should I go around it or use it? How do I connect the wires from my new humbucker into the damn thing? Any advice you could send my way would be great, I'm dying to get this thing in there, but the clip is ruining my whole life right now haha. I'd really appreciate it if you could let me know how you did it![/quote'] Hey illmobius, I replied to your email when I got in from work. I pretty much gave the same info that AlanH did. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kong Posted February 2, 2010 Author Share Posted February 2, 2010 Kong - looks good. Where did you buy the SD pickups? Where do you live in NJ? I am in NW NJ. I always use Musician's Friend. Usually free shipping and no sales tax. Their prices are usually very good too. I live in Flemington - western central NJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kong Posted September 6, 2010 Author Share Posted September 6, 2010 Changed the knobs on my Silverburst. I think it is a huge improvement in the looks department. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
audiomitch Posted September 6, 2010 Share Posted September 6, 2010 I missed this thread the first time, but I had a set of these pickups in a Epi Plus Top LP and later an SG. I ended up selling the LP, and putting a Gibson Dirty Fingers/496 combo in the SG. The pickup set never really grabbed me in any of the guitars I tried them in, and I ended up selling the SD Jazz neck pickup. I later found another used JB for cheap on Craigslist. I put both JBs in a nothing special Ibanez (SA series?)and have them both coil tapped. What an amazing difference! I highly recommend coil tapping these pickups. I didn't know what I was missing, but it adds 100% more character and variables to these pickups. I especially like the clean rhythm sound of a humbucking JB neck and a coil tapped JB bridge. I wish I had kept the Jazz neck and coil tapped it now. Anyhow, you might consider coil tapping, I just used some push/pull pots which work great. Have fun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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