i have a Gibson les paul standard Goldtop what BKP to replace stock

[PhilKing]

I am not a fan of Crawlers in Les Pauls, I think they are more suited to longer scale length guitars (PRS, Fender).  I changed mine out for Abraxas and really prefer the sound.  The PG Blues have a lot of definition, but are not just for playing the blues.  They are a great rock pickup too.  I have a lot of BK's in Les Pauls, and have also played a lot of Tim's guitars too, and for blues and classic rock, a lower output pickup set will give the best sound.  You can always use pedals to boost the output (that's what we all did back in the 70's before there were overwound pickups).   I'm also a big fan of Emeralds in Les Pauls, I have a set in one and one in combination with a mule neck in another.   They give a really nice harmonicly rich tone and take overdrive really well.

[Slartibartfarst42]

I couldn't argue with much of that to be honest. The Emerald is a very under-represented bridge pickup here yet the tone is fantastic. I only sent mine back because it was too bright but in any darkish Les Paul it would be incredible.

[peter]

the sound in my goldtop is very clean acoustic like not bright not dark im thinking crawler set but maybe pg blues set to not sure and probably gonna think it over maybe next month i buy crawler og pg blues set the soubnd from factory on the guitar is pretty sweet to
just a little weak its gibson burstbucker pros but they i dunno i like then and i dont like them kinda looking for a better overall sound usable for blues rock everything without loosing the gibson sound and havent found that perfect pickup in demo sounds yet im very picky :)

[Dave Sloven]

I understand the concerns here regarding the darkness of the Crawler in a Les Paul.

If you like blues rock I am wondering if you have checked out the Emerald set.  Personally that would be my first choice for blues rock in a Les Paul, and it's certainly a lot brighter sounding than a Crawler if clips and opinions here are anything to go by.  I had a good listen to the Emerald clips one day and really liked what I heard.

[peter]

ok il check out emerald im into blues and rock was what i was thinking just typed it wrong and continued to sry lol
anyway im thinking crawler neck and pg or emerald bridge or just crawler something about that rock sound that gets me on the clips

[Slartibartfarst42]

The Emerald is certainly more Rock than Blues, hence the Emerald neck is very much a modern interpretation of a more traditional PAF sound. The bridge Emerald is tight and bright whereas something like the Crawler is fat and smooth but with a real growl to the tone. They may be able to cover similar ground but they're very different beasts in my experience. One of the many things I love about the Crawler is its huge operating window. It splits really well, the cleans are fantastic and the distorted tones sublime. It will play Blues all day long and run all the way into Metal territory, covering everything inbetween. I never thought I would live to say this, but the Crawler has actually surpassed my beloved Holydiver and become my favourite Bare Knuckle pickup. In a dark Les Paul I agree, it has too much bottom end but if it's in any way similar to a PRS CU24 or Vintage V100, it will sound incredible. For neck pickups, I have no experience of the PG Blues but if Kiichi says it's good, I wouldn't argue. The Mule might also be a good one to consider as it's very similar to the Crawler and Abraxas neck pickups but a bit brighter. I used to run an Emerald neck with mine which worked really well as I like a slightly more modern cut to my pickups but I'm now running a Holydiver with the Crawler, which is a hell of a lot more vintage sounding than I expected and sits beautifully in that guitar.

[Telerocker]

For blues/bluesrock I would narrow it down to Mules, or a little hotter and a bit more mids, Abraxas. You can't go wrong with those two in a Les Paul.

[Slartibartfarst42]

Yep, both great choices in my book and in many ways the Mule, Abraxas and Crawler are related. The Mule is your ideal PAF pickup while the Abraxas is a hotter version of the Mule so it's a bit darker and a bit more compressed. The Crawler takes things a stage further so it's a bit darker again and more compressed sounding. To help give the hotter wind more clarity it switches to an alnico V magnet and as a result, although it's still VERY smooth and rich sounding, it has more of a growl to it.

[peter]

i was googling and the new dimarzio transition looks kinda cool a set of them in a les paul would be cool
but still i have that raw crawler set in mind to even rebel yell set  maybe a second les paul for pg set i dunno only time will tell

[peter]

i bought a benedetto jazz a6 neck humbucker  used it before super nice sound clear warm fath rich harmonics but need a bridge to
use with it etihter im going to use stock Gibson burstbucker pro bridge or im getting somekindsa duncan or bareknuckles but what to match benedetto a6 any sugestions they are produced by seymour duncan custom shop for benedetto guitars
some raw blues or rock bridge that still can do super clean notes any one know?

[darrenw5094]

Abraxas

[peter]

thanks