New pickups for Sheration II

[stevet]

I'm thinking of replacing the stock pickups in my Sheraton II with some better pickups. Any ideas? I know there are Gibson pickups, and there are a lot of third-party pickups. And is this even worth doing? I played a Gibson 335 and a new Sheraton II in the store a couple of weeks ago, and the 335 seemed to sound better. But my Sheration is a '97, so it may sound different from the new one?

 

Steve

[Parabar]

I'd advise you to have a clear idea of what "better" means to you before replacing the stock pickups. Do you want higher gain? Fatter tone? Brighter? More dirt?

 

There are plenty of fine pickups out there in many price ranges, with a variety of tones, and you'll have the best chance of being satisfied with the results if you have a very clear idea what you want. Gibson makes several types of humbuckers that would fit in your Sheri, but many folks here have been pleased with pickups from GFS, which are much less expensive. You could also use a P-90 single coil in a humbucker housing, or go for something different like a TV Jones if you're after that type of sound.

 

The standard pickups in an ES-335 are Gibson '57 Classics, but even if you used those, you'd still get a somewhat different tone because of the Sheraton's maple neck versus the 335's mahogany. Many players are quite happy with the stock Sheraton pickups, and you might find that your money would be better spent on a different amp rather than changing the pickups. What I'm saying is, the more you can narrow down what kind of sonic difference you're looking for, the better you'll be able to determine what gear will best accomplish your goal.

[milod]

I'd agree mostly with what Parabar wrote.

 

But I'd also add that Epi1 wrote in the HenryJ version of the Gibson forums that Epi recently did a significant upgrade on pots and switches.

 

I got a new Dot a cupla months ago and frankly I don't wanna change a thing - well, if there were an instant master volume I might consider it, but that's my own little "GAS fetish," I guess.

 

Changing pots and getting all that end of the electronics upgraded might be more bang for the buck than "better" pups run through the same relatively weaker pups, but I don't know for sure about the Sheraton of your "year."

 

As Parabar wrote, "better" is awfully subjective. I'd say if you really wanna mess with the guitar, consider the pot/wiring upgrade first. Just adding a bit of stuff that way may show the original pups ain't all that bad unless you want a more non-standard sorta sound. Heck, at that point maybe some old Gretsch-style stuff?

 

m

[BoBoBlues]

I installed S-D antiquities in my Sherry and love 'em! Supposedly, Seymour himself winds these by hand and then ages them to look 50 years old. They are signed on the bottom, and I'm not sure how they are aged, but I can tesify that you can wipe them all you want, and they still look 50 years old. As for the sound, they are very close to classic 57's.