Pickups for an ebony-boarded Les Paul Studio

[jdbwales]

Evening all, just after some advice for some new pickups - to be honest with you I'm mainly after help on the bridge pickup.

My LP Studio is a nice, heavy, fat sounding guitar but I feel it could do with some extra definition, clarity and tightness than the 490's currently in it!

 The bridge pickup should be in the realm of around 12-16k, and I'd prefer Alnico V or ceramic magnets in it. I'd like something harmonically 'alive', tight and fat, but nothing too metal - I don't play that sort of thing.
 
 The neck pickup should be smooth and dark, like a Classic 57 but a bit darker ideally! That's really all I'm after for the neck as I just use it for Gary Moore/Slash type leads.

 The music I'll be playing with the guitar is mainly rock stuff like Manic Street Preachers, Jimmy Eat World, Thin Lizzy, Whitesnake etc - defined, tight and clear distorted tones but with plenty of girth. Nothing too bang-on modern.

 What would you recommend? Thanks!

By the way, I've got an Emerald in my LP Custom and it's the perfect pickup for that guitar, so I've got that as a tone comparison if needs be.

Edit: I've also tried Nailbomb and Riff Raff humbuckers in the past and they're not for me, so don't recommend them! Cheers.

[Kiichi]

One possibility would be an Rebel Yell bridge and a Mule neck.

The RY brings tightness, shiteloads of harmonic content, a gritty and agressive midrange, clarity and a sound I would describe as a modern take on old school rock. Itīs said to work very well in LPs and would probably get you a nice balance with a fat sounding axe.

The Mule neck is classic through and through, nice and smooth, vintage, singing and got amazing cleans. For the type of leads you describe it would work very well I recon. Again working a charm in LPs.

That would be my idea anyways.

[Frank666]

Maybe a cold sweat set?

[jdbwales]

Rebel Yell or Cold Sweat sounds very tempting. I tried a Rebel Yell before in a different guitar, and I liked it but it was just that slight bit too bright for me - however, still a possibility.

 Is the Cold Sweat more balanced?

[Kiichi]

Rebel Yell or Cold Sweat sounds very tempting. I tried a Rebel Yell before in a different guitar, and I liked it but it was just that slight bit too bright for me - however, still a possibility.

 Is the Cold Sweat more balanced?

Yeah, the brightness of the RY is too much for some, just thought it might be a ok in such a full (and I assume dark) guitar.
In what did you try it?

Before the CS I would go for the Holydiver tbh, since the voicing to me feels more in the ballpark of the bands he is after. I recon the CS would be a bit too modern and metal, also with it being ceramic....

[Telerocker]

Fat = Diver, beefy, 80's metal and heavy rock
Fat = Abraxas (more like a hotrodded Mule), but with enough topend chime in a Gibson with maple cap.
Fat = Crawler, but maybe too compressed an not bright and tight enough in a mahogany setneck guitar.

[FELINEGUITARS]

Go ceramic for tightness

I love Cold Sweats for this , but also look at Miracle Man too if you want more midrange saturation

Try MM bridge, CS neck if you want a bluesy neck pickup that isn't too Wylde (sic)

[ElectricTurkey4369]

I have a Holydiver in my Les Paul Studio and it screams. It so fat, warm and articulate, i'm still amazed every time I play.
Though, my main style of music is Metal, the Holydiver can honesty pull off anything. Especially Whitesnake!

[darkbluemurder]

I have a Holydiver in my Les Paul Studio and it screams. It so fat, warm and articulate, i'm still amazed every time I play.
Though, my main style of music is Metal, the Holydiver can honesty pull off anything. Especially Whitesnake!

Well, it can do Whitesnake well but I find that the Cold Sweat does the Sykes-Whitesnake tones better, in particular. The HD is a bit better at the Aldrich-Whitesnake tones.

But based on the description of the OP Emerald set comes to mind.

Cheers Stephan

[ericsabbath]

aldrichsnake tone > sykesnake tone

seriously  :D

[FELINEGUITARS]

aldrichsnake tone > sykesnake tone

seriously  :D

Yeah - but you cant stop Aldrich and Reb Beech doing AWFUL guitar solos live. (nearly 15 minutes of earache at last WS gig

[Nolly]

Rebel Yell or Cold Sweat sounds very tempting. I tried a Rebel Yell before in a different guitar, and I liked it but it was just that slight bit too bright for me - however, still a possibility.

 Is the Cold Sweat more balanced?

Interestingly, the Emerald you're enjoying in your Custom is a brighter pickup than the Rebel Yell, so perhaps that excessive brightness was a result of the guitar it was in? It would be an interesting test to see how the Emerald sounds in your Studio...

Regardless, I think the Cold Sweats would certainly be a good choice. If you want to stick with a PAF-style neck pickup then the Mule, as recommended by Kiichi, is a great idea - although the scatter-winding and slightly lower DC gives the Mule more presence and airiness than the '57 Classic, the Alnico IV smooths the top end and softens the bass response in a way I think you'll find pleasing, based on your description.

[Alex]

If you kind of liked the Nailbomb, you might be happier with either the Black Dog or the Holy Diver. Of those two, the Holy Diver is closer to the NB in that it is hotter and more saturated.

I would think that the BD's round and clear top end works very well with an ebony fretboard.

[darkbluemurder]

aldrichsnake tone > sykesnake tone

seriously  :D

For lead tones I agree - many of John Sykes' solo tones on 1987 sound pretty thin, almost out-of-phase like. The rhythm tones are both equally great but different. And I like both a lot more than the Vaisnake tone.

Cheers Stephan

[Philly Q]

Interestingly, the Emerald you're enjoying in your Custom is a brighter pickup than the Rebel Yell, so perhaps that excessive brightness was a result of the guitar it was in? It would be an interesting test to see how the Emerald sounds in your Studio...

Oh, I didn't realise that!  :o

(Not having installed my Emerald set, naturally....)