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mooseherman « Classic Pickup that sometimes is forgotten »
Published on 09/20/10 at 12:17This is the original Gibson go-to pickup, that they put in all of their electric guitars until the humbucker replaced it in 1957. Because of this, most people do not associate this pickup with the sound of a Les Paul when they hear it. However, it does have a really interesting quality. Being a larger pickup, it looks like a humbucker, but is actually single coil. It really doesn't come close to the sound of a Strat or Tele pickup, though, as it's not nearly as bright or shrill as those can be (I love those pickups by the way, that's not a diss).
The interesting thing about these pickups is that while they lack the brute force of a humbucker, and are obviously noisier, they quite possibly work better for lighter rock situations than a humbucker would, especially in a Les Paul. While you can't rock out like Slash from Guns n' Roses does, you can get a nice Free/Bad Company/Thin Lizzy style sound with these pickups and the right amplifier (most likely a Marshall or something similar). This is with distortion, of course. A clean sound with these pickups will quite honestly sound fantastic in the right amp. With a Fender twin, these pickups can give you a great smooth tone that still cuts through a mix and comes right out front.
The original Gibson pickups are hard to get a hold of, but Seymour Duncan makes replicas that are virtually identical. They sound pretty much exactly the same, and only cost about 70 dollars, so it's not exactly a bank-breaking purchase. It can make a nice alternative to the standard Fender-style single-coils, or a respite from the enormous sound of humbuckers. While they really aren't for everybody, I do recommend that most people check them out.
The interesting thing about these pickups is that while they lack the brute force of a humbucker, and are obviously noisier, they quite possibly work better for lighter rock situations than a humbucker would, especially in a Les Paul. While you can't rock out like Slash from Guns n' Roses does, you can get a nice Free/Bad Company/Thin Lizzy style sound with these pickups and the right amplifier (most likely a Marshall or something similar). This is with distortion, of course. A clean sound with these pickups will quite honestly sound fantastic in the right amp. With a Fender twin, these pickups can give you a great smooth tone that still cuts through a mix and comes right out front.
The original Gibson pickups are hard to get a hold of, but Seymour Duncan makes replicas that are virtually identical. They sound pretty much exactly the same, and only cost about 70 dollars, so it's not exactly a bank-breaking purchase. It can make a nice alternative to the standard Fender-style single-coils, or a respite from the enormous sound of humbuckers. While they really aren't for everybody, I do recommend that most people check them out.