Guitars are Japanese LP customs. I have bursbuckers in one of my guitars & they are great balanced pickups & excellent for clean work. I have another guitar with 2 Duncan SH6s in it. I always knew I didn't like SH6s, but the guitar was an excellent player & had a perfect neck so I bought it with intention to switch PUs later. I want to throw a different set of Gibson PUs in it. I was thinking 57s, but now I don't think they really fit my style.

Who has a good recommendation?

I assume you're looking for humbuckers. Is your style heavy distortion or more clean style? I really like Bill Lawrence L-500's in a Les Paul.

Definitely humbuckers. Style is heavy, but I have enough PUs for that. I'd like something more rock sounding.

You want rock sounding?

I like the 490T and 490R a lot....the epitome of rock sounding IMO. They are just right there, not too much of anything - not too pretty, not too agressive, just a nice balance and great harmonic overtones. In fact, they are my all-time favorite humbucker for rock (and the DiMarzio Tone Zone is my favorite for heavier, high gain stuff).

I also have one guitar with the 498T in the bridge but don't like it as much as the 490T. Although it's a tad hotter, it just seems to lose something.

I hate the 500T (dirty fingers). They are too much of a buzz saw sound to me.

Oh....a must for these IMO is that they be open coil. Personally I have a thing for Zebra coloring, not that they sound different .

I also totally dig Gibson P90s, although I know that's not an option.

The thing you said about 490, 498, 500 reminded me my view on Duncan SH1, SH4, SH6.

I don't really bother to look for a guitar with P90s since I'm going to get a Gibson SG Classic at some point.

Right now I have bunch of Duncans, EMGs & burstbuckers.
I think 490 could be a good compliment, since my amps are thick sounding I might go for 498 bridge or maybe not.

What does Bill Lawrence L-500 sound like?

Bill Lawrence are custom made pickups. The 500's you can order in 4 different models. L-500Clean / L-500Regular / L-500Lead / L-500eXtraLead
Make sure you order direct if you're thinking of buying one. There's another company that sells pickups and uses the Bill Lawrence name. Those are the ones you see on ebay and other websites.The ones that are endorsed by Dimebag. Not the same pickups. www.billlawrenceusa.com is the other comapany I'm talking about. Not sure why or how they got the Bill Lawrence name, but the pickups I'm reffering to are made by Bill Lawrence himself in a small shop. www.billlawrence.com - shoot him an email if you have questions. The first time I heard one of his pickups I was just floored by the tone. Hard to describe for me, but IMHO was just right.

The Gibsons are not like the 59er IMO.
The 490T has bite, growl and chime, whereas the 59er is more smoky.

FWIW, I tried a bunch of Duncans way back when. It started with the original parallel axis trembucker, the first pickup I know of to be spaced for a floyd rose. It worked as advertised, bringing back the high E, but is not magical in any way. Still, I kept it, it is useful (I actually have a Joe Barden bridge PU in the neck (only other pickup on the axe) because the PU is slanted and I wanted something where the magnets lined up and the Barden rails are staggered.....works well actually....very interesting).

Anyhow, I tried the duncan custom, custom custom, JB, 59er, and others. I really didn't care for them. I was really disappointed in the JB (I had high hopes).

None of them had the bite, growl and chime of the 490T. Then again, neither does the 498T.Somehow, being slightly overwound, it just loses the magic of the 490T (and I have them in the same exact guitars.....well, except for the color ). It's a little hotter, a little warmer, at a price of a lot less magic. I wouldn't buy it again.

Hey, wanna try something totally different? Try the Dimarzio Bluesbucker. They advertise it as a P-90 sort of sound, but it is different. Not quite the cast iron sound of a P-90. More modern, more like stainless steel than cast iron sounding. Has tremendous bite, cut and slice, Great overtones. Really different and I really, really like them a whole lot. It's definitely not PAF territory, don't know I'd want it in my Les Paul, but it is a great pickup.

Here it is in one of my Hamers - it works great in this guitar (very lightweight and resonant....and very different from a Les Paul, I know):

quote:

Originally posted by DaveG62:
Not sure why or how they got the Bill Lawrence name, but the pickups I'm reffering to are made by Bill Lawrence himself in a small shop.

There is a lot about it on the net. It sucks that someone has the right to use your name and a very similar pickup design.

All BL pickups are very good IMO.

I'd describe his humbuckers as being tight, articulate, defined and having sting (instead of bite). More modern sounding than the PAF types. Listen to Nuno Bettencourt for the Bill Lawrence tone.

So far the best humbuckers I've used are the Torres hand wrapped rock and the blues. I have these in 2 of my guitars. About 10 of my clients have also bought them as soon as they heard them.
You can read about them at
Torresengineering.com They are killer.

Jeff

Hey Jeff,

What do you like about them relative to other pickups?

quote:

The Gibsons are not like the 59er IMO.

I meant your comparison between 490/498/500 was like SH1/SH4/SH6, not like they sound anything alike. I like the 59 & JB. Maybe it's your amp or style that makes you dislike them.

Hi guys
has anyone tried Fralin Pups?
I have some PAF style coming soon
I'll let you know what they sound like in a reissue custom shop les paul standard
I have a set in my 64 strat and like them as good or more than the originals

Let me know what you think. Love Lindy's single coils...just bought his amp, too.

I've got a heritage 535 that could use a nice matching set...it's currently got a SeymourDuncan of some kind in the bridge and the stock in the neck--the both sound great, but are voiced so different that the inbetween doesn't have quite the right chime.

I've always liked Duncan HBs. JBs my fave, but then I've never had them in anything approaching a Gibson, so--YMMV.

It's weird...never liked Dimarzio HBs, but love their singles...never liked Duncan's singles, but love their HBs. it's that descepancy that's got me wondering how wonderful Lindy's HBs are. Look forward to hearing what you think.

Hello Madguitarist. Love the name BTW. I think the Torres are some of the best balanced and clean PU's iv'e ever heard. I don't mean clean as in no distortion, I mean clean as in you don't hear the PU imparting extra "stuff". You really get to hear the amp open up and breath. Many over-wrapped pickups get a more solid mid by just adding more mids. I don't like that. That causes the mids to break up before other frequencies. The Torres is so balanced everything breaks up as a whole. They are VERY reactive/responsive. I do lots of guitar mods for my studio clients and 95% of hummbucker replacements are Torres. NO I'm not a dealer just die hard fan of these. The Vintage line are so sweet they will make you cry. The blues and the rock are ballsy but wide open tone and no compressed crap going on. My only complaint (and this goes for all great PU's BTW) if you have a crappy amp--be prepared to hear more crap!!

Try them, you'll like them
Jeff

quote:

Originally posted by Jeff Sers:
Hello Madguitarist. Love the name BTW. I think the Torres are some of the best balanced and clean PU's iv'e ever heard. I don't mean clean as in no distortion, I mean clean as in you don't hear the PU imparting extra "stuff". You really get to hear the amp open up and breath. Many over-wrapped pickups get a more solid mid by just adding more mids. I don't like that. That causes the mids to break up before other frequencies. The Torres is so balanced everything breaks up as a whole. They are VERY reactive/responsive. I do lots of guitar mods for my studio clients and 95% of hummbucker replacements are Torres. NO I'm not a dealer just die hard fan of these. The Vintage line are so sweet they will make you cry. The blues and the rock are ballsy but wide open tone and no compressed crap going on. My only complaint (and this goes for all great PU's BTW) if you have a crappy amp--be prepared to hear more crap!!

Try them, you'll like them
Jeff

Now after this you've got to let us listen to some recordings...at least!

Thanks Jeff.....they sound like something I would like.

nbarts, I like the 59er but didn't like the JB. It just lacked the overtones I like. Actually, I have 2 lil 59ers in strat type guitars I have with 4 single coils (two each at the treble position....so I use them as my lead pickups.....cool setup).

As for setup - yep, the guitar they are in, amp, style all contribute. EX: I mentioned the DiMarzio Tone Zone is my favorite high gain pickup, but I don't like them in my neck through shredder guitars.

Actually 2 59 setup works awesome. In LP bridge 59 sounds so thick, the same 59 in Shecter neck doesn't sound that thick in comparison. IMO 59 is the best PU Duncan ever made. The only one I haven't tried is custom, but as far as I know it's pretty close to SH6 sound.

still waiting on the fralins will let you know when i pop them in
i'll probably record before and after examples
I also have the single coil fralins and liked them so much i'd thought i would experiment with the HB
Torres makes good stuff Now i'm curious
Which one is closest to and old PAF?

i love the bill lawrence 500L in my custom strat...

but the body sound of that guitar, is so different then a paul....

that said, as cheap as they are, i think it'd be totally worth the experiment.

you'll end up dialing less treble on the amp.

and sometimes, that's a GREAT thing!

Hey Wailinfree, I think the Blues edition might be the closest to a PAF but give Dan (the owner) a call. He's a good guy and full of great info.

Jeff