Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Pickups => Topic started by: Slarty on February 20, 2008, 12:31:49 PM
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Hi,
Since I can't think of anything imaginative for my first post...
I have a Les Paul Supreme with 490 and 498 pickups in. Frankly they don't cut it. Tim has suggested a Nailbomb calibrated set which would allow me to get a variety of tones from good clean to classic rock to full on hair to metal.
Just wondering what other forumites think. I am concerned about putting high output pickups in a chambered body and also don't know it the guitar currently has 300 or 500K volume pots, which could be behind the pickups' poor show.
Cheers!
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I can't offer much more than that I have a Nailbomb set in my MIJ Tokai LP and I love it. :)
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the nail bomb is a wicked pickup and the matched set is wicked
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I am concerned about putting high output pickups in a chambered body
Don't be. "Chambered" isn't the same as "Hollow" so you won't have any problems with feedback.
Nailbomb works very nicely in Les Pauls.
...don't know if the guitar currently has 300 or 500K volume pots
Probably 300k. A change to 500k will open up the top-end a bit more, but it won't be ab earth-shattering difference.
FWIW, I have a very dim view of Gibson pickups, I've found the stock pickups in every Gibson I've owned to be muddy & microphonic. IMO a Nailbomb set would be a huge improvement.
I'd also give serious thought to a Cold Sweat neck with the Nailbomb bridge.
JMO, YMMW...
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Antag, we all know about your views on Holydivers in alder body/maple necked guitars, but what about HDs in Les Paul-like guitars?
If i remember correctly there was a clip of your HDs in your LP std, but you never seemed to comment or recommend this combo passed this point... did it decieve you?
Cheers
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If i remember correctly there was a clip of your HDs in your LP std, but you never seemed to comment or recommend this combo passed this point... did it decieve you?
No, on the contrary - my Std Vintage Burst still has Holy Divers & is my favourite of my 3 Les Pauls. It sounds absolutely massive :twisted:
However, a note of caution: I first put that Holy Diver set in my Std Goldtop & didn't really like it.
In my experience of trying Les Pauls (I've played more than I can count over the last few years while searching for "the one" :)), there are huge variances in weight, sound & build quality.
IMO weight plays a big part. The really dense pieces of wood in the heavier LPs seem to give them a big booming bass & bucket loads of sustain - they just want to be played hard & loud :twisted: However the lighter ones seem more balanced, with sweeter mids & a more dynamic/responsive feel to them. My Vintage Burst is only ~8lbs but my Goldtop is nearly 11lbs.
My impression is that the light ones are less numerous than the heavy ones (just gut feel - no, I haven't been taking my kitchen scales into music shops! :))
So I've kinda avoided recommending HD for LPs, simply because of the experience I had with the same pickup set in two different guitars.
The clip you refer to was the last clip (http://www.bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?topic=9744) I posted, & the first since I got my Engl Savage (NB: I made a second (http://www.bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?topic=9744&start=15) recording on pg2 as the bass was off the scale first time round :lol:)
Hope this helps...
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Just remembered that there's an earlier clip of my Vintage Burst LP w/HDs combo: The second clip in this (http://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?topic=6460) thread :)
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Cheers for the input guys, I have a friend who has just put a calibrated Cold Sweat into his Heritage, which is like a Les Paul but not :)
I'll check out some more clips. Cheers.