humbucker suggestions

jimistone

jimistone

long standing member
Hey guys. I have put the vantage Les Paul guitar I bought through the paces. Did a setup on it and and new set of strings. It is an AWESOME guitar with one exception....
The pickups. They aren't horrible but they suffer from the same problem most cheap Japanese mid to late 70s humbuckers suffer from. They are too thin and harsh on the bottom 3 strings and too muddy and flabby on the top 3 strings.

I'm going to put in a new set of pups.

I was thinking about something not too expensive like gfs (they have the new "Slick" line of humbuckers)
There is a low priced pickup set by "Guitar madness" on ebay.

Also, for just a few bucks more ($100)
I could get a set of toneriders.

Do any of y'all have experience with the toneriders or the other 2 brands?
I had a set of SD 1959 pickups in my les Paul that I really liked but I don't want to spend $200 on a set of pups. My budget is $100 on this guitar pickup upgrade
 
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Ah... I was gonna suggest a '59 or a Pearly Gates.... probably a little over budget - I think you can get a Pearly Gates for $70 though.
 
JDOD said:
Ah... I was gonna suggest a '59 or a Pearly Gates.... probably a little over budget - I think you can get a Pearly Gates for $70 though.
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I'm leaning towards the Tonerider vintage '59. It has alnico 5 magnets scatter wound bobbins, nickel covers.
I was wondering if any of our HR members have them or have experience with them.
 
I just put a set of Seymour Duncan Distortion Mayhem SH-6 pickups in my Les Paul and they are kick ass. They sound like a more robust version of a Duncan 59. Don't waste your money on cheap pickups because you will not be happy with them. Spend the extra coin and buy the Seymour Duncan pickups that you really want.
 
While not quite in the budget you're after...the Suhr Thornbuckers that I recently installed on one of my Hagstrom guitars solve the problem of what you are experiencing with your pups.... "too thin and harsh on the bottom 3 strings and too muddy and flabby on the top 3 strings"...and what I've found with a lot of HBs, no matter the brand.
It's like with so many HBs, on leads you end up switching to the Neck pup when you play the high 3 strings, and then you go to the Bridge pup when playing the low 3 strings just to have some balance, while maintaining a ballsy tone. :D

The Thornbuckers are not overwound, so if you are looking for that real high-gain stuff, they won't do it...but that aside, IMO they are the most articulate HBs I've ever played, and even when in the crunch zone, they don't mush/hash out...and you don't get the thin brittle sound with the Birdge pup on the high strings or the woofy fat sound with Neck pup on the low strings.
Also, there isn't a real drastic tone change from Neck to Bridge like there is with so many other HBs.

They can be had for about $220 new on eBay for the set.
 
Yeah, thinking about it more.. the pickup is probably the most important part of the guitar when you're considering tone. Don't skimp.
 
Greg_L said:
Super Distortion ala Ace Frehley.
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I have thought about SDH's. The pups I have in there now have the cream colored bobbins. They look so cool. Everything I'm seeing is either black bobbin or zebra. I think the cream colored humbuckers in this late 70s clown burst vantage les Paul were designed to mimic the look of those cream colored SDHs.

Too bad they don't sound as good as they look.
It's a killer guitar though and worth loading with some good pups.
 
best bang for the buck:

Wilde L-90's

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Wilde Bill's Twin Blades
 
Bubba po said:
Surely you WANT a drastic tone change? What's the point, otherwise?
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Well...different strokes and all that...there's certainly a time when you want your guitar to sound like two totally different guitars when switching from Neck to Bridge...but having installed/used these Thornbuckers, I am more pleased with how less drastic the difference is rather than why it isn't.

IOW...you still get a tone shift from one to the other, just more subtle....and not that fat-n-woofy to ice-pick-in-ear-bright-edgy difference.
This is one of the few Bridge pups that I truly enjoy playing, most other guitars I've always stayed with the neck pup for the majority of my paying because I always hated the bright/edgy sounds of most bridge pups, especially since most modern bridge pups are WAY over-wound/hot anyway, IMO.

That said...personal tastes vary, so you have to kinda try 'em and go from there, but Surh doesn't make anything half-assed, and Pete Thorn generally has great tones in his guitar sound, so he understands what it's about.

Here's a couple of YT videos that give you some idea about them.

Here he just talks about the goals they had for the Thornbuckers:


 
OK...I forget you can't post two videos in one post.

Here he just plays through, using both pups on and off...and you can hear the difference, but as I said, it doesn't have that drastic "two different guitars" sound when he switches between them.

The neck pup is just a bit warmer...while the bridge pup adds a touch more bite/level...and even with the crunch, the chords never mush or lose their articulation....perfect. :cool:

 
Whatever you get don't skimp. Why replace cheap shitty japanese pups with cheap shitty chinese pups.

Stick with Duncan, Dimarzio, or boutigue winders. There's a ton of awesome small winders. The Thorns are great, English made OX4 is the closest to real 50s paf I've ever heard, Bareknuckles are sweet, Sheptones are great, lollars are awesome. Lots of good stuff out there.
Be sure to put in a good harness with some good paper in oil caps as well.

The guitar is the body and soul, the electronics are the brain. Thats what gets it to talk. You'll want it to speak well. Maybe even sing.
:D
 
If you are looking for vintage PAF style pickup, look into the Duncan Seth Lovers. You won't find them for $100 though.
 
Robus said:
If you are looking for vintage PAF style pickup, look into the Duncan Seth Lovers. You won't find them for $100 though.
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I dont like the Seth Lovers. They aren't wax potted and they squeal in that microphonic way when you play through a high gain amp. plus they have the alnico 2 magnets that give you the flabby bottom end. That's why I like the Duncan 1959s. They are potted and have the alnico 5 magnets. They are probably what I should get.


It's just that if I start contemplating dishing out over $200 for a set of Duncan 1959s, I would be tempted to put another $300 with it and buy back my Les Paul studio that's already loaded with 59s. I can buy it back for $500. I need to buy another guitar like I need a hole in the head. But...I think the vantage would be an amazingly good guitar with a set of Duncan 1959s. Hell, I know it would.
I was mainly just wondering if anyone had a set of the toneriders (the scatter wound alnico 5 potted ones) and if so give me the low down on them
 
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Actually I have seen some DiMarco Super Distortion Humbucker in my price range but I have never had a guitar loaded with them so I'm not familiar with them. I know they drive the shit out of a tube amp and are great for high gain, but I do a lot of blues and clean guitar stuff. I been a really versatile Humbucker that can cover all the bases. That les Paul studio Input the 1959s in had the Gibson 498T or 500T...something like that. (what ever LP studios come loaded with) and I hated those things. Very high output with not much articulation and an edgy high end that I didn't care for at all.

That what zi would be afraid of if I pulled the trigger on Dimarzios
 
If you're doing blues and clean stuff, then it sounds like you might like Gibson's'57 classic pickups. The guitars that I've heard with those things sound great. Lower output, good balance between highs and lows, nice sounding highs without the ice pick thing.
 
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