Pickups for Gibson Les Paul Standard DC!

[Slartibartfarst42]

I think it depends on how dark your Les Paul is. I tried an Emerald bridge in a PRS SE Custom 24 so quite a bit of mahogany and the pickup was way too bright for me. The tone is great but certainly bright and needs a darker guitar like a Les Paul to tame it. Yours will be a bit brighter than a conventional Les Paul I would imagine but may work. The Cold Sweat is also bright but I didn't find it as bright as the Emerald and I had the Cold Sweat in a maple neck-thru! In terms of brightness, the CS is probably a safer bet but I understand the appeal of the Emerald. If the CS is too modern in its voicing, there are plenty of alternatives that can be bright enough for you. The Rebel Yell, Black Dog, Riff Raff and Mule would all be excellent options for you in my opinion.

[Dave Sloven]

Out of all the pickups mentioned the Cold Sweat will be most capable of Metallica.

Think of it in terms of early Metallica, late '70s and early '80s Judas Priest, late Thin Lizzy, that kind of thing is roughly its ballpark.  Basically it is great for the NWOBHM kind of sounds and can do rock as well, also some glam stuff but I wouldn't really rate it as a glam pickup, that's more the Rebel Yell's forte.

[Alfi27]

Thanks a lot guys! When I listen to the clips and see the tone charts, and of course with my own experiences with the Riff Raff I think it is a little strange that the Riff Raff is recommended but not the Emerald? If the Emerald is even brighter than the Riff Raff I will stay away, that would just be too much, but I find that rather strange listening to the classic rock clips. The Emerald sounds fuller and not quite as upper mid heavy, more balanced but still very hard hitting and bright.

For some reason, single coils rarely get too bright, like my LP Jr for instance like I wrote earlier. The LP Jr is probably as bright as my LP Custom with the Riff Raff, but still it felt too bright... Is this just something in my head?

Well, I think the Abraxas is the safe choice here after all. It certainly does not lack treble and I have seen lots of people using it in Les Paul. If I remember correctly some guy on another forum exchanged a Throbak for the Abraxas in a Les Paul and was really satisified!

[Alfi27]

Alright, so I ordered a set of Abraxas' and new pots with some push-pull fun! Although I still wonder how the Emeralds would do in the guitar and I probably always will, I simply do not want to take the chance... I am a little sick of exchanging and upgrading gear, now I want to actually dedicate myself 100% to the playing. New tuners (hopefully curing the neck heaviness), new pickups and pots, and a new bridge (rattling like a rattlesnake!) should do the trick! I will probably write a review this time as well, stay tuned!

[Slartibartfarst42]

Great, I look forward to reading it 

There's been a lot of positive comments from Abraxas users recently so I'd be surprised if you were disappointed.

[Yellowjacket]

. I am a little sick of exchanging and upgrading gear, now I want to actually dedicate myself 100% to the playing.

HEAR HEAR!!!!  It's the playing that really makes great tone but BKP are always awesome!

[richard]

I have the Abraxas set in my PRS Bernie and I can't imagine anything else sounding better. They are an absolute joy to play.

[Telerocker]

I think the Abraxas is a good choice and a safe bet, certainly for the LP DC.

[Alfi27]

Thanks guys. Really looking forward to getting them, probably next week. I did figure out something about this guitar though. Like I wrote earlier I could not get it right that Gibson started chambering in 1998 for this particular model only, and Gibson themselves confirmed that it should only be weight relieved (swiss holed). However, trying to figure out the pot value I removed the back cover and discovered that it is almost completely hollow under the maple top... I used to have a 08 Standard Les Paul ("supposedly" the first chambered LP) and they at least tried to hide it in that guitar, you could not see the chambers from the electronics cavity. It was really strange, in the DC the pickup wires just went into the large chamber, not in a canal like other LPs. There is no more wood than there has to be, which of course explain why it is so light, and with the new tuners it will become even lighter (probably under 3kg). I really hope that the feedback issues will become better with the Abraxas also, fingers crossed that it was just bad potting at the Gibson factory... All that being said, I won't let this ruin the guitar for me. The guitar still plays great, it looks stunning and even the 498T has grown on me a bit, sounds decent actually. And I could always fill the chambers with foam, haha! Anyone here who have done that?

[Alfi27]

Alright, so I finally got the pickups yesterday. Stayed up almost all night soldering, I wouldn't give up before I had tried them
There was one big bummer though: I ordered the pickups with 4 conductor cables, and when I opened them I observed that they have the dreadful 2 conductor braided cables... I have spoken with them and they want to get it right of course, and actually some compensation. However, I am not 100% certain that I want to bother because I am really tired of exchanging and buying gear, now I just want to stop and enjoy my gear "as is". I won't get them posted yet at least because it is holiday here in Norway until Wednesday, so I might as well enjoy them for that time at least. This time I have decided to not write a review right away, but I will write one soon enough! My initial impressions of the pickups are: like almost every time, my concerns proved to be wrong! The pickup is tight and not too rounded, although I can hear the sweeter high end compared to an Alnico V. Single notes are really vocal, something I really haven't noticed in any other pickups before! It's almost like the guitar is singing words. I don't think I could have done better in this guitar to be honest, glad I went with these pickups 

[Telerocker]

Alright, so I finally got the pickups yesterday. Stayed up almost all night soldering, I wouldn't give up before I had tried them
There was one big bummer though: I ordered the pickups with 4 conductor cables, and when I opened them I observed that they have the dreadful 2 conductor braided cables... I have spoken with them and they want to get it right of course, and actually some compensation. However, I am not 100% certain that I want to bother because I am really tired of exchanging and buying gear, now I just want to stop and enjoy my gear "as is". I won't get them posted yet at least because it is holiday here in Norway until Wednesday, so I might as well enjoy them for that time at least. This time I have decided to not write a review right away, but I will write one soon enough! My initial impressions of the pickups are: like almost every time, my concerns proved to be wrong! The pickup is tight and not too rounded, although I can hear the sweeter high end compared to an Alnico V. Single notes are really vocal, something I really haven't noticed in any other pickups before! It's almost like the guitar is singing words. I don't think I could have done better in this guitar to be honest, glad I went with these pickups 

Good to hear mate! If you want real ''vocal'' you should try Mules one day.

[Alfi27]

Hehe I have no doubts about that, man. I am actually starting to think that I should have gone with a Mule set instead of the Riff Raff/Mule combo. Not to say that the Riff Raff is bad in any way, but I prefer the Abraxas honestly. When I was buying that set someone told me that the Riff Raff is tighter than the Mule, is that really true? The Abraxas is maybe a small tad (almost not noticeable) less tight than the RR and HD, but the difference might be more noticeable with the Mule being really low output?

[Telerocker]

The RR is tighter than a Mule, but it's not a big difference. For me tight enough anyway, as I seldom go into metal terrority. Mules are splendid 59 PAF-copies, very balanced, dynamic, with a superb vocal quality. Clean almost 3D-tones. The inbetween sound is to die for. And don't worry, they can handle loads of gain with authority. Topend is clear, but never earpiercing. My fav pickups for clean, jazzy, funk, blues, bluesrock and rock, if it has to be a humbucker  .

[_tom_]

I loved my Mules in the epiphone lp I had them in. It was mahogany and alder body so probably not as bright as a maple capped lp but sounded great. I kinda regret selling that guitar now! I also sold the Mules since I took them out of it when I sold it and they didn't sound great in my SG. They're really versatile pickups though, you can play anything with them if your amp is up to it.