Which Vintage P/U is for me? Bit of everything

[Attica!]

Hi again,

After my last post, I realised that BKPs weren't for me this time, and the JB/Cruisers combo won.

This time round, I think BKPs have won the battle of the brands. Seeing as I'm after a pickup with clarity and great responsiveness and dynamics, I feel I'm in safe hands here.

I've always wanted to upgrade the EMGs in my white ESP Eclipse to a nice set of vintage pickups. I'm a big fan of reading as much music as I can, in as many styles as possible. I've pretty much got my Hard Rock and upwards tones covered with the Duncan JB. So I'm looking for a set of pickups that can provide me with tones to cover a wide range of styles like Blues, Country, Jazz, Funk, Indie, Reggae, etc. I must add, this guitar will be playing Blues, Jazz and Country, for 90% of the time. Any other styles will just be small segments from magazines: say a Funk or Reggae song, or maybe a Classic Rock song. But the 3 styles mentioned are the intention for this guitar tone wise.

You can probably understand my dilemma on the vintage pickups in this case? Virtually every vintage pickup (minus the Riff Raff) is suitable for what I want. I do like the description of the Stormy Mondays. And the PG Blues also sound interesting. The same with the Mules: I'm loving the versatility and tonal options with these. I'm just think maybe the Stormy Mondays would be better suited to Jazz/Blues/Country?

Oh I thought I'd also add that I will do a fair bit of rhythm playing on this guitar to: from classical style finger picking, to strumming chords, to Mark Knopfler style finger picking. So an exquisite clean tone is a must. But I'm sure all the pickups mentioned have :)

Thanks :)

[Telerocker]

Eclipses tend to be a bit brighter than a Les Paul. How is yours?
If wellbalanced (from bass to treble) Mules are unbeatable for beautiful, almost 3D clean tones. The middleposition is great for strumming full but chimey cleans and also for fingerpicking. The Mule-neck imo is unsurpassed when you're looking for a genuine 59 PAF-necksound.
I can see Stormies working too, but the guitar needs to have some natural meat in it's tone.
And: maybe you want to experiment with a humbuckersized p90? Look at the Blue Note!

[Attica!]

I was actually about to update my post with questions about the HP90s right this minute.

With my Eclipse, I find it really nice to play unplugged. The sound isn't muffled: it has great presence. The bass is nice: not surgically tight, but not too loose. And the top end has a nice twang to it. I'd say it's balanced all the way through if I'm honest. I could see any pickup working and myself liking it. I've had a JB/59 combo in it which the JB sounded great. People normally say it sounds too sharp.

I'm going to look at HP90s this minute :)

[Kiichi]

I can pretty much just echo Telerocker. I am a Mule fan, but I also think that the other vintage humbuckers are usually under-recommended. Yeah, you canīt really go wrong with the Mule, but if the other fit you should seriously consider them. The factors are as Telerocker already notes.

I also am a huge proponent of P90s. For what you name a P90s set, likely Blue Notes, or at least a neck could be absolutly killer. The P90 magic of that full single coil frequency response, humbucker fulness plus that warm, organic, roaring mid range that you can only find with them...and they are just soooo open and defined in the low end. Insanity.
If you are not afraid to use the volume and tone controll to shape your sound these should be a very serious consideration.

[Attica!]

Well I was considering a Black Dog/Mule combo (seen this recommended recently) for my ESP Eclipse which has a thinner body. But do you think a Mule bridge with Blue Note neck could be cool? I forgot to add, the guitar is a Full Thickness Eclipse...just bought today :)

It's a hard decision :/

[Kiichi]

Well I was considering a Black Dog/Mule combo (seen this recommended recently) for my ESP Eclipse which has a thinner body. But do you think a Mule bridge with Blue Note neck could be cool? I forgot to add, the guitar is a Full Thickness Eclipse...just bought today :)

It's a hard decision :/

The main question that guides our recommendations is: How does it sound compared to classic Gibson Les Paul?

The classic LP is often Mahagony heavy, which results in a warm and middy sounds. Slighly round top end, and not super low lows cause of the scale. That is something that in my mind favors P90s extremly well cause they extend both the high end low end in terms of response, while opening up the dense midrange of the LP. Those two are just made for each other imho.

If your Eclipse is brighter a P90 neck still very much works, especially if you like a neck that is on the bright side. You also canīt forget that a bright AIII magnet is bright in a different manner than an AIV or AV (more sweet and round for lower gain stuff).

Whether you go for a P90 neck or not I would suggest going AII or AIII for the neck pickup. In terms of jazz and blues there just is a certain something extra about them (imho). Also perhaps unpotted neck (bridge stronger maybe, depending on your preferances) if you really aim for low gain tones. Low powered alnico plus unpotted just gives a level of natural detail that is...well that, detail. But if you are looking for those last 20% unpotted can make up 10% or more and a low alnico magnet the rest.

[Attica!]

Well the guitar is basically a LP Custom. I have a few thinner ESP Eclipses. But this one is the Full Thickness. Do you think a set of Mules may be a great starting point? These will be my first low output pickups. Maybe the Mules would be a great point to start to think over the space of a year? And then maybe see what I like and don't like about them? Kind of a neutral start...

What do you think?

[Telerocker]

Well the guitar is basically a LP Custom. I have a few thinner ESP Eclipses. But this one is the Full Thickness. Do you think a set of Mules may be a great starting point? These will be my first low output pickups. Maybe the Mules would be a great point to start to think over the space of a year? And then maybe see what I like and don't like about them? Kind of a neutral start...

What do you think?

Mules have fantastic, detailed cleans and handle highgain very well. The bridge is clear, but the topend is not shrill. The neck oozes 59 PAF-tone, and the inbetween position is very good for fingerpicking or funk. I can pull out real nice jazzy tones from my Mules-set. Just work with the toneknob. I like the balance alnico IV-magnets are famous for.

[Dave Sloven]

Seems like it's hard to go wrong with the Mules for PAF tones, unless the guitar is really dark, when Riff Raffs would be a better choice

I'd be cautious about unpotted if you want versatility.

[Attica!]

I may go for the Mules in that case. Is it worth Coil Tapping the Mules? I was thinking so that I can have the original 3 position LP style config. But then also have the centre coils as well?

Regarding Un-potted and Potted, I'm absolutely clueless. I can see myself playing a bit of Guns N Roses if I get a set of Mules. Purely for fun. So do you think Potted would be best?

[Yellowjacket]

unpotted + Gain = FEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEDBACK!

[darkbluemurder]

If you only play clean you can go with unpotted. Anything gain plus high volume can make it prone to uncontrolled microphonic feedback and difficult to handle - in that regard potted pickups are much more well behaved.

Cheers Stephan

[Dave Sloven]

Regarding Un-potted and Potted, I'm absolutely clueless. I can see myself playing a bit of Guns N Roses if I get a set of Mules. Purely for fun. So do you think Potted would be best?

Definitely potted (standard).

[Telerocker]

Regarding Un-potted and Potted, I'm absolutely clueless. I can see myself playing a bit of Guns N Roses if I get a set of Mules. Purely for fun. So do you think Potted would be best?

Definitely potted (standard).

Potted Mules have plenty of mojo. I would not coiltap them. The neck and bridge together have all the chime and dynamics you need.

[Attica!]

Do you recommend the 550k pots?

Also on the wiring diagram, it recommends .022 caps for both pickups. Isn't the .015 better for the neck?