Good pickups for my Les Paul

metalhead384 · Post by **metalhead384** » Wed Jun 06, 2012 1:39 am

I have a 1975 Hondo Les Paul in my possession, and recently the bridge pickup just broke, it wasnt anything special, so im not planning on fixing it. I would like to buy a new pickup, that would be good for playing punk and alternative music. I'm on a budget on $50- $75, but i could probably fine any pickup for cheapish on ebay. If anyone has any suggestions i'd thatd be quite helpful.

Now heres a bonus cat photo

damienblair17 · Post by **damienblair17** » Wed Jun 06, 2012 2:50 am

GFS makes a good pickup, especially P90s. If you want something name brand, I would always recommend a Seymour Duncan 59. Awesome pickup clean or dirty.

mastermorya · Post by **mastermorya** » Wed Jun 06, 2012 7:23 am

I really want to get around to putting the GFS surf 90's in my 89 Studio, which has pickups hotter than goddamn molten lava. So I would recommend those but because I am lazy and haven't gotten around to doing it myself, I can't tell you that it will sound good, but people on other forums say they sound great in a Les Paul...

ekwatts · Post by **ekwatts** » Wed Jun 06, 2012 9:17 am

GFS Loudmouths. I have the SUPERHIGHPOWERED ones in my Nu-Sonic, but I think the lower (as in, lower in relation to the ones i have but still fairly powerful at 9.5k) ones might suit you fine. You really need to use your volume control on these. You can go from broken-glass-cock-sex to smooth chordy flowery bullshit in a few notches. And they look ace with their stupidly big polepieces.

h8mtv · Post by **h8mtv** » Wed Jun 06, 2012 12:56 pm

I have been looking at those, also the wraparound bridge GFS sells for the LP Melody maker I ordered.

ekwatts · Post by **ekwatts** » Wed Jun 06, 2012 1:41 pm

You can get surprisingly sweet sounds from them. It's just that they're so superhumanly powerful than with the volume up full you feel compelled to just start chugging some metal, which is missing the point in about the most mindlessly fun way possible.

Sloan · Post by **Sloan** » Wed Jun 20, 2012 2:26 am

Seymour Duncan Distortion

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Post by **Doog** » Wed Jun 20, 2012 8:08 am

GFS/Artec pickups are your friends, for realz.

benecol · Post by **benecol** » Wed Jun 20, 2012 11:43 am

I'm going to buy a set from Zhangbucker for my 335 - he's a lovely chap (been mailing back and forth) and for your budget, he'll make one to your specs.

Fran · Post by **Fran** » Wed Jun 20, 2012 1:46 pm

For Punk/Alternative i'd get something medium output (10k) at the most. Avoid Duncan Invaders and all that malarky.

On a budget Toneriders, Entwhistle, Artec, GFS etc. All decent.

paul_ · Post by **paul_** » Wed Jun 20, 2012 3:05 pm

GFS Crunchy Pat

It's pretty much their equivalent Super Distortion. Ceramic magnet, 14k output for bridge, 10k for neck. Fairly mid-heavy. In the neck position it's a perfect match for a real Super Distortion in the bridge. I actually used to have one of each in my Epi LP Custom, but later changed both pickups to Crunchy Pats as an experiment... the difference is negligible. The Crunchy Pat actually has a slightly less squashy/compressed quality than the DiMarzio (or a Duncan Invader) with high gain, which I call the "chewy" sound.
Incidentally that is my go-to aggressive sounding Les Paul (was kind of meant to harken to the Sylvain Sylvain/Steve Jones LP in looks so I wanted to give it a ballsier sound than my Gibson).

Lots of buckers tend to sound muddy in the neck position of a Paul... this is not one of them.

In my same-factory, same-year Epi SG in which the buckers (which were terrible sounding) literally fell apart over time because they were hoopty as fuck, I used GFS Alnico II and GFS '59 buckers at different times, both of which were fantastic. Thats a more classic sound, which is not to say it can't do punk/alternative... there's probably no wrong way to do that, though.

I did not like the Vintage Split bucker that kinda looks like a WRHB. I thought it had an annoying sound.

I have also put a Dream 90 in the neck of the SG... now that was a beautiful sound. I had that with the alnico II in the bridge and I put them out of phase for the middle position, and added a trem to the guitar... god damn I wish I'd left it alone after that, but I had decided it was my testbed for yet more GFS units and the winning configuration was long-forgotten.

Noisy Cat · Post by **Noisy Cat** » Wed Jun 20, 2012 8:56 pm

The Seymour Duncan JB is their most popular bridge humbucker, I believe.

I've got SD Alnico II Pros (not the Slash versions) in the bridge and neck of my Epiphone LP Standard. Very nice indeed.

Thom · Post by **Thom** » Wed Jun 20, 2012 9:15 pm

Whatever you chose, do yourself a favour and put a humbucker sized P90 in the neck, is glorious in a LP.

MikeG · Post by **MikeG** » Wed Jun 20, 2012 10:16 pm

I wish I had had my GFS Mean 90. Great sound with the right pots.