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71Tele

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Mathijs
I am of the opinion that tinkering with the pickups of a Strat yields lesser differences in tonal quality than with a Tele and especially a LP. There’s some variation though. About all pickup manufacturers provide vintage spec PU’s. These in my opinion sound the best, with Seymour Duncan’s Antiquity the best of the best, and Fralin’s and Fender CS second. There are the overwound Tex-Mex pickups, of which I find none very good. They all sound too muffled and muddy in my opinion and only good if you play with high treble Fender amps turned way up. Then there’s PU’s with piano like qualities, where you have a very clean sound with great string separation and pick attack –Suhr V60’s and most of Jason Lolar’s. These are great for clean sounds, Jazz etc., but too clean for my taste for rock music. Then there’s a whole range of ‘early 60’s’, ‘late 60’s’, ‘Woodstock’ and whatever wounds with or without base plate. All can sound great, but are more marketing expressions than anything else. These are made to appeal fans of Hendrix, or fans of SRV etc.

So, I would go for SD Antiquities myself, or a set of Fender CS ’54 or ‘69. Or, I would contact Bare Knuckle, and ask them to make a custom set. They can build anything you want, with whatever magnet, plates, wiring etc. If you ask them to make a bridge pickup to sound like Keith Richards, a middle pickup to sound like Hendrix and a neck pickup to sound like SRV they will and can.

In any case I would stay away from Noiseless, SCN, Hot, stacked, rails and buckers etcetera unless you know it is what you want.

Mathijs

Question for you Mathijs: I picked up a '57 Les Paul Jr. that someone had put a Lollar pu in. Should I find an original P90 dog ear (very expensive I am sure)? If not, what's a good replacement for the original? Thanks.

Quote
Mathijs

Quote
71Tele

Quote
Mathijs
I am of the opinion that tinkering with the pickups of a Strat yields lesser differences in tonal quality than with a Tele and especially a LP. There’s some variation though. About all pickup manufacturers provide vintage spec PU’s. These in my opinion sound the best, with Seymour Duncan’s Antiquity the best of the best, and Fralin’s and Fender CS second. There are the overwound Tex-Mex pickups, of which I find none very good. They all sound too muffled and muddy in my opinion and only good if you play with high treble Fender amps turned way up. Then there’s PU’s with piano like qualities, where you have a very clean sound with great string separation and pick attack –Suhr V60’s and most of Jason Lolar’s. These are great for clean sounds, Jazz etc., but too clean for my taste for rock music. Then there’s a whole range of ‘early 60’s’, ‘late 60’s’, ‘Woodstock’ and whatever wounds with or without base plate. All can sound great, but are more marketing expressions than anything else. These are made to appeal fans of Hendrix, or fans of SRV etc.

So, I would go for SD Antiquities myself, or a set of Fender CS ’54 or ‘69. Or, I would contact Bare Knuckle, and ask them to make a custom set. They can build anything you want, with whatever magnet, plates, wiring etc. If you ask them to make a bridge pickup to sound like Keith Richards, a middle pickup to sound like Hendrix and a neck pickup to sound like SRV they will and can.

In any case I would stay away from Noiseless, SCN, Hot, stacked, rails and buckers etcetera unless you know it is what you want.

Mathijs

Question for you Mathijs: I picked up a '57 Les Paul Jr. that someone had put a Lollar pu in. Should I find an original P90 dog ear (very expensive I am sure)? If not, what's a good replacement for the original? Thanks.

I definitively would try to locate an original late 50’s P90 for three reasons: 1) they just sound better and more vintage than any new P90, 2) you will bring back your guitar in a more original state and 3) late ‘50’s P90’s can still be found quite cheap. I bought a ’56 or ’57 a year ago for 250 euro’s / 300 US dollar.

They are so ‘cheap’ because about all Gibson and Epiphone guitars from the late 40’s to early 60’s where equipped with P90’s, and just a few with PAF’s.

This used to be a good retailer:

[www.vintageguitarparts.org]

Or check at www.lespaulforum.org.

Mathijs