Author Topic: Gibson stock pickups? (Read 6500 times)

carlaz · « **on:** June 28, 2005, 04:52:28 PM »

This is a dumbass question, but it just occured to me that, since I am a complete muppet, I actually have no idea what the Gibson pickups in my LP Std are. I mean, they could be 490N/490T pair, but I suppose there could be 498T or something in there. I've always just thought of them as "silvery-metal covered stock pickups". Does anyone know what a bog-standard 1990 Gibson LP Std would have been loaded with at the factory? I got the guitar used, but not very used, and I don't think there had been any modifications made to it by the prior owner.

Being sure of what I have would likely be useful background knowledge when trying to pick out BKOP replacements!

Ced777 · « **Reply #1 on:** June 28, 2005, 05:17:52 PM »

90's Gibson LP std: 498T + 490N. Good pickups but far from BKP, IMHO.

_tom_ · « **Reply #2 on:** June 29, 2005, 08:29:45 PM »

slap some mules in that bad boy :twisted:

dooogz · « **Reply #3 on:** June 29, 2005, 08:32:06 PM »

Quote from: Ced777

90's Gibson LP std: 498T + 490N. Good pickups but far from BKP, IMHO.

Yeha i recieved a pair of these and put them in my epi, sounded ok, but at the time i just wanted duncans, so i did, sounded slightly better, and logically the next step would be BK's ;) i wish!

Skybone · « **Reply #4 on:** June 29, 2005, 10:21:54 PM »

I used to have a mid 90's LP Studio. Stock, both it and the Standard came with a 490R and a 498T Alnico V humbuckers.

While I had it, I bought my blue Tokai Love Rock, and loaded a Seymour Duncan 59 neck & JB bridge pickup as the Tokai's stock one's were real un-potted PAF replica's, and so had a tendency to squeal a bit! In comparison, the Studio's sound was simply outclassed by the SD loaded Tokai (plus better playability/look/etc).

My Tokai really sings, now that it's proudly wearing a pair of BKP Black Dog's. The change has given it a raucous rock 'n' roll bark.

rinse_master · « **Reply #5 on:** June 30, 2005, 09:42:48 AM »

I had a 498T & 490N in my studio, not Too bad, but do sound rather flat sounding when compared to others, but some people really like them, each to their own.

Ratrod · « **Reply #6 on:** June 30, 2005, 11:04:16 AM »

Had them in my LP. I transferred them to my Epi Explorer along with all the electronics. They sounded pretty good in it.

carlaz · « **Reply #7 on:** June 30, 2005, 01:06:09 PM »

Quote from: _tom_

slap some mules in that bad boy :twisted:

Yeah, I vacillate back and forth between Mules or some yet hotter BKPs almost hourly! (It's so easy to start being seduced by the word "Warpig", ya know! :twisted: It all seems to depend on which post I've read most recently ;) ....

Anyway, thanks for the tips folks -- seems pretty certain that 498T and 490R is what I got. They've always seemed good enough that I've never had the courage to take the plunge on anything else, but that said I've never been happy with their definition -- crank up the gain and things soon start to feel unnecessarily mushy to me.

Anyone know the specs for the various Gibson pickups? I've googled about a bit without finding a lot of hard info. The 490R seems to have an Alnico II, the 498T an Alnico Vs; the 498T must have resistance around 14K, the 490R maybe half that?

I've got to buckle down and understand what I've got so I can better figure out which in BKPland pups will take me where I want to go :)

rinse_master · « **Reply #8 on:** June 30, 2005, 02:33:20 PM »

Quote from: carlaz

Anyone know the specs for the various Gibson pickups? I've googled about a bit without finding a lot of hard info. The 490R seems to have an Alnico II, the 498T an Alnico Vs; the 498T must have resistance around 14K, the 490R maybe half that?

A guy over at the SD forum posted this a while back: 498t (~14.00-14.50K a5) bridge and 490R (~7.50-8.00K a2) neck.

Other than that I don't know of any other specs for Gibson pickups...