Les Paul Pickup Suggestions

[t-rey]

Yep. Another thread.

I like the way my Epi Les Paul Custom plays, but never play it because it generally sounds like hot garbage. I think one of the next things I should do (aside from finding a distortion pedal) is replace the pickups and wiring in the Epi. Since it's not exactly an expensive or nice guitar, I'm not looking to put a shit load of money into it, so the hypothetical budget is like $200 for the set. I've been thinking Duncan 59s or a Distortion in the bridge and 59 in the neck.

I also have exactly zero idea about wiring or any of that, so what should I be looking for?

Any other relatively cheap/simple upgrades that would make a positive difference? Bridge, tuners, nut, setup, ect...

Suggestions and advice. They are welcome.

[Ancient Astronaught]

The guitar fetish website is gonna be your best friend for this project, you can easily keep it under 200$ to replace EVERYTHING on the guitar. Pickups, electronics, hardware, nut.... everything but a setup. I love GFS pickups personally, sure they aren't bareknuckles but for 1/5th the price they deliver 80-90% of the tone and have a huge array of options.

[lapsteel]

They got some lace signature sensors (wino's lifers) on sale at musicians friend right now for $174 (set). I have been thinking about these for a while...and the price is right. However I gots no experience with these pickups...and lace makes a special pickup for drop tunings (drop and gain)... I sound like a lace ad... I am gonna stop typing right here.

[t-rey]

I really should waste a bunch of time on the GFS website looking at the pickups.

And I had totally forgotten about the Lace stuff. I will definitely be reading up on the Wino and Pike pickups.

[LOCOPELAND]

John knows a bit about Lace pups, he's got them in numerous guitars. I think he's got some in his LP, too.

[pelliott]

All I've done to my Epi LPC is put a Duncan Distortion in the bridge and a Phat Cat P90 in the neck, get a decent setup, and proceeded to tune it to drop A. It slays. The Distortion is really great and affordable.

[AxAxSxS]

Lp has a SD superdistortion and a lace hemi. They blend nicely together.
Lately I've been on an alumitone kick. Deathbuckers in my main guitar and I really really like em. The keep enough clarity throughout the signal range so that things dont get to muddy. This is a 12 string I am talking about though so YMMV.
Really it depends on what you want your guitars voice to be. I like going for a very clean neck pup with something that has a bit more color in the bridge. I've done this to a few with the afore mentioned lp being the first. My jackson has a hemi/ gibson 57, the backup 12 got a deathbucker and Iommi combo. The jackson sounds glorious, maybe the best of the bunch but the 12 with the 2 deathbuckers works best for what I do. I wont go into lace sensors, as you want humbuckers, but the golds are probably best. I would stay away from the dual sensor ones.
I'm itching to try pkes or winos. If you go that route let us know what you think

[conky]

I put a Duncan Distortion in my Standard and it sounds great. Can't go wrong with it. I wanna get a Pearly Gates for the bridge or another PAF style pickup. I have PAFs in my Custom and like them too.

[HeavyXIII]

I've heard some pretty good things about these. Never used them, but I'm looking at some Hot Slags or Steam Hammers if I get another "modder's guitar" or swap pickups again.
http://www.irongear.co.uk/irongear_032.htm

[new05002]

you could get Avedissian to wind you custom stuff for a nice cost.

[misterstomach]

I have a Duncan distortion in my artist. I think it's a great fairly cheap choice for lp type guitars.

[FuzzHugger]

Some GFS stuff is good...a little hit or miss overall at GFS, but I was pleasantly surprised with one of their mini-humbucker pickups. Rude, full-body...

My current favorite is BG Pups, cause I like supporting one-man shops...and they're not priced like US-made pickups. I have a couple of his pickups, and I really want to try his Lizard humbucker.

I had a pair of P-Rails in an LP style guitar that I really liked (for sheer versatility, but they sounded good all-around).

I've never tried the full-size Dimarzio Tone Zone, but I have a couple of the strat-sized versions in guitars, and I love that pickup in any position! (I wire them with 3-ways for series, parallel, split).

[HeavyXIII]

I actually had a full sized Tone Zone, but it was in a mahogany super strat guitar. Yuck. I never understood why I didn't like it until very recently. It's a high resistance pickup (~17k), which means it's very bottom focused. On top of that the pickup is supposedly voiced very dark. Cool if you're playing only the dronest of doom and don't need articulation, or maybe you have a REALLY bright amp, but I just didn't mesh with it.

I find a lot of pickup makers don't list the EQ of their pickups with their DC Resistance in mind. Some pickups are listed as "bright", but then have a DC resistance of something like 17-18k. Am I doing it wrong?

I'm currently gassing for a new bridge pickup too...

[ryan summit]

i just ordered a bridge gfs loudmouth
it was an impulse buy
was gettin new knobs
and i dont know
i just did it
without consulting
im sorry
what the hell are they
fuck it

[Ancient Astronaught]

i just ordered a bridge gfs loudmouth
it was an impulse buy
was gettin new knobs
and i dont know
i just did it
without consulting
im sorry
what the hell are they
fuck it

hahaha I've wanted to try one of those forever, its supposed to be pretty beefy and hot. Like a SD Invader, but not as overdone. Please report back after you get some time with it.