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gibson les paul custom change stock pickup (490R/498t)


alexandros

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Hi!I have a gibson les paul custom with 490r/498t stock pickups and i am seriously thinking to replace them with 57 classic/57 classic plus or burstbucker1/burstbucker2....IMO 498t is too bright for my taste (i use mesa/boogie roadking and dual rectifier) and even though the palm mutings are sounding good enough, the open chords sounds very thin. The 490r on neck is too flat and lacks character. What kind of pickups are you suggest me for modern rock, post-grunge(deftones, foo fighters, nirvana)? thanks!!!

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Hello Alexandros! The pickups in Your guitar are on the hotter side of Gibson's pickup output spectrum. The 57 Classics are much more mellow sounding pickups. I don't think, if You dislike the 490/498 combo, the others You've mentioned would satisfy Your needs. You might also experiment with capacitor swaps before making a bigger investment of replacing pickups. Cheers... Bence

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Hello Alexandros! The pickups in Your guitar are on the hotter side of Gibson's pickup output spectrum. The 57 Classics are much more mellow sounding pickups. I don't think, if You dislike the 490/498 combo, the others You've mentioned would satisfy Your needs. You might also experiment with capacitor swaps before making a bigger investment of replacing pickups. Cheers... Bence

may be you have right but what about the angus young pickup, is it brighter than the 498t?

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Hello! There are other choices as well. For example: Dirty fingers (http://store.gibson.com/dirty-fingers/). Probably that's what I would choose for the type of music You play. Also 500 ceramics might be the ones You're looking for. [smile] Cheers... Bence

i think 500t would be too trembly, for my taste...i want to find a pickup with fat mids (not only high mids as the 498t has) and good definition as the 498t but less trembly. what about alnico iv, l. fralin pickups?

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Ah so! That's a different thing. You mean Your pickup is too bright? I thought it's not agressive enough. Try paper-in-oil capacitors in place of the ceramics, with the same value (0.022 micro-Farad) at first. If You aren't satisfied, You can still try 0.033, before You change pickups. That's my suggestion. That was the case with my Classic Custom (57 Classic pickups) and the 0.022 PIO cap change helped a lot! Cheers... Bence

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Ah so! That's a different thing. You mean Your pickup is too bright? I thought it's not agressive enough. Try paper-in-oil capacitors in place of the ceramics, with the same value (0.022 micro-Farad) at first. If You aren't satisfied, You can still try 0.033, before You change pickups. That's my suggestion. That was the case with my Classic Custom (57 Classic pickups) and the 0.022 PIO cap change helped a lot! Cheers... Bence

thanks a lot man i'll try it!!

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Have you tried adjusting the pickup height, pole pieces, and rolling back on the volume? I'd start there before spending any money. If you do replace the pickups, why limit yourself to just Gibson pickups? There are many aftermarket winders who produce a far better product. Wolfetones, WCR, etc. Just Google "best PAF" and you will get a ton of good winders.

 

A lot of people also upgrade their pots and caps. Your Custom has 500k tone / 300k volume pots right now. Some feel all 500k pots and PIO caps is the way to go.

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