New bridge pick up on a les paul studio

[Ale84]

I have talked with Tim and he suggested the riffraff so i'll go for them. I'm also considering a pot upgrade. I think the stock are 300. Is it worth? Do they really change the sound of the guitar?

[darrenw5094]

Humbucker pots should be 500k. For some bizzare reason, Gibson put 300k in their guitars, which will cut some high end off the tone.

The BKP 550k pots will be brighter than the Gibson 300K.

[BigB]

I have talked with Tim and he suggested the riffraff so i'll go for them.

Should work fine for you. A bit punchier / middier / more focused than Mules but still classically voiced and with great cleans - the RR neck is one of BKPs hidden gems IMHO.

I'm also considering a pot upgrade. I think the stock are 300. Is it worth? Do they really change the sound of the guitar?

They don't change the basic voicing / character of the guitar but higher values pots will bring back a fair share of high end content - and you'll always be able to tame the highs again with your tone pots if needed.  Technical part :  even wide opened your pots act as part of a low-pass filter circuit formed by the pickup / pots / cable / next stage input (amp or pedal or whatever). The higher the resistance, the higher the cut-off frequency.

IOW :  go for 500 or 550K pots, and while you're at it get better caps also (not sure the type of caps - ceramic, paper in oil or whatever really makes a huge difference but higher quality caps will be closer to the nominal value and _this_ can make a very obvious difference) and try either a gibson 50s wiring or a treble bleed cap - both are ways to avoid loosing too much trebles when rolling down the volume pot, each has it pros and cons (IOW choose whatever works for you).

[Wayne_S]

Yes good quality pots and caps do make a difference. Insures you get the results that your pickups were designed to sound like. Also a good quality solder job is important as well !! Over heating can damage and sometimes ruin the components. I gutted my whole guitar and redid everything, even pulled the tailstock stud and replaced the ground wire. Id even go as far as suggesting replacing the factory stuff, which most of the time is garbage, before swapping pickups. This will give you a baseline on what you have and how to approach a new pickup purchase tho we all want them new pups regardless  :lol:

I wouldn't say a overhaul on the wiring kit produces dramatic results but it lends clearer definition and improves the guitar-amp response relationship.