New Guitfiddle... What pickups?

Dale B

Dale B

Well-known member
So... I picked this up the other day. It's a Gibson Les Paul Standard in Olive Drab. I remember seeing something in a guitar shop 25 years ago that was similar to this, so the purchase was part nostalgia and part I like the color. What pickups need to go in it? I've been looking at Bare Knuckle Mules, Jim Wagner American Steel and a typical JB/Jazz-59 thing.

The 61 Burstbuckers... They're not my thing. The bridge is all right, but the neck is just way too dark. The guitar resonates quite well. There aren't any pingy highs or anything. It definitely needs a little brightness in its life.

Anyway, what do you guys think?
Gibson-OliveRS.jpg
 
Traditional-ish: DiMarzio PAF (your pick) in the neck; Super Distortion in the bridge.

Modern-ish: DiMarzio D Activator-X set.

IMO
 
Beautiful LP and congrats. Always did love the olive drab. They did a 355 in that color. Was sweet looking. No idea what neck pickup to go with so lemme know how it works out cause I need a better neck pickup in my Edwards LP. The Seth Lover neck is too bright and thin IMO. Good evening Dale B.
 
Dale B said:
So... I picked this up the other day. It's a Gibson Les Paul Standard in Olive Drab. I remember seeing something in a guitar shop 25 years ago that was similar to this, so the purchase was part nostalgia and part I like the color. What pickups need to go in it? I've been looking at Bare Knuckle Mules, Jim Wagner American Steel and a typical JB/Jazz-59 thing.

The 61 Burstbuckers... They're not my thing. The bridge is all right, but the neck is just way too dark. The guitar resonates quite well. There aren't any pingy highs or anything. It definitely needs a little brightness in its life.

Anyway, what do you guys think?
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Those, I believe, are what's in my SG. For it, they're great. For a bigger, fatter LP, no so good.

It really depends on what you're after. Personally, I love an SH-5 in an LP. It covers alot of ground up to even heavier high gain. Tight and clear, but not nuts in the output. The Aldrich works well too. I've always wanted to try Icebuckers.
 
MetalHeadMike said:
That's sick and i'm not an LP guy. What genre?
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Rock and Hard Rock mainly.

napalmdeath said:
Those, I believe, are what's in my SG. For it, they're great. For a bigger, fatter LP, no so good.

It really depends on what you're after. Personally, I love an SH-5 in an LP. It covers alot of ground up to even heavier high gain. Tight and clear, but not nuts in the output. The Aldrich works well too. I've always wanted to try Icebuckers.
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I have the Aldrich in my Cinnamonburst right now. It's fixing to get replaced soon. Which ones do you have in your SG?
 
Limited experience but Rebel Yell is definitely a good one in an LP. Brighter/more crisp pup. Mids are quite unique with bright upper mids. My LP sounds great for hard rock and classic rock with that bridge, like really good. But it is a unique vocal quality to the mids.
 
REMEMBER THE POTS.

While you're changing the pickups, please also change the pots. Modern Les Pauls use 300k pots which sap a TON of high end out of the guitar. I have no idea why they made this bad decision but that's the deal. Put some 500k pots in the guitar when you change pickups to get the brightness back.
 
TheGreatGreen said:
REMEMBER THE POTS.

While you're changing the pickups, please also change the pots. Modern Les Pauls use 300k pots which sap a TON of high end out of the guitar. I have no idea why they made this bad decision but that's the deal. Put some 500k pots in the guitar when you change pickups to get the brightness back.
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I thought about that for a split-second the other day, and forgot all about it. I haven't checked the pots yet. I bought a dozen pots a few months ago, and I wound up matching 3 good sets out of them. They were all around 520 to 545.

Thank you!!! It's now drilled into my head.
 
TheGreatGreen said:
REMEMBER THE POTS.

While you're changing the pickups, please also change the pots. Modern Les Pauls use 300k pots which sap a TON of high end out of the guitar. I have no idea why they made this bad decision but that's the deal. Put some 500k pots in the guitar when you change pickups to get the brightness back.
Click to expand...

Definitely keep this in mind if you go with the Mules. I threw a set into my G&L and they were unusably dark with the stock pots.

Those are a solid choice. I've also been digging the Suhr Thornbuckers and Fralin Pure PAF's lately.
 
cobrahead1030 said:
Definitely keep this in mind if you go with the Mules. I threw a set into my G&L and they were unusably dark with the stock pots.

Those are a solid choice. I've also been digging the Suhr Thornbuckers and Fralin Pure PAF's lately.
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Yeah, there is a crap-ton of stuff out there. Did you get your Mules potted or unpotted? I've been reading about the unpotted versions not being that big of an issue because of the way they're wound/built. @SFW sent me a video of some he had, and they were unpotted. Then, I saw his other videos, and he has probably tried every pickup under the sun.
 
MetalHeadMike said:
Limited experience but Rebel Yell is definitely a good one in an LP. Brighter/more crisp pup. Mids are quite unique with bright upper mids. My LP sounds great for hard rock and classic rock with that bridge, like really good. But it is a unique vocal quality to the mids.
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Just recently installed the RY in one of my LP’s. I don’t like 95% of the pickups I try in that guitar but the RY is great for a hotter LP sound. Just plain fun and sounds killer
 
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