A matter of appearances

[Kelsey]

I am thinking about changing the pickups in my Gibson ES-137 Classic and LP Studio from the stock 490R/498T sets to SDs. The current sound is OK, but I'm thinking that Seth Lovers or Antiquities would be a significant improvement. (I'm also toying with the idea of Phat Cats, either as a set or at the neck with a HB at the bridge.) I like what I've heard from these pickups, both clean and overdriven, in various clips and in other folks guitars. I would like better clarity with warmth from the neck pup, and a clarity when clean combined with a nice vocal quality when overdriven from the bridge pup.

My ES-137 Classic is Blue Burst with chrome hardware, and my LP Studio is Wine Red with gold hardware. Aside from sonic differences, does anyone have any experience with how the Antiquity set looks with shiny chrome hardware vs. slowly relicing, shiny gold hardware? Since the sonic results are sometimes difficult to predict in any given guitar, I'd at least like the visual results to be appealing.

[Kelsey]

Re: A matter of appearances

I'm bumping this one with some simplification --

How do the Antiquity humbuckers look in a guitar with shiny chrome vs. gold hardware? Any pics would be appreciated, along with opinions.

[Gearjoneser]

Re: A matter of appearances

Personally, I don't like the look of aged pickups next to shiny chrome hardware.
Then, it's too obvious that it hasn't aged naturally. For that reason alone, many people go for Seths over Ants.

Out of all the Duncan bridge pickups for a 137 or LP, I'd take the Custom 5, since it's the one that excells equally at clean and gain. Most others are a sacrifice in one direction or the other. I've found the Seth neck to be a bit wooly sounding in some Gibsons, and less articulate and clear than a 59 or Jazz.

If your guitars were mine, I'd probably put a C-5/59 in gold in the Studio, and a CC/APII nickelcovered in the ES-137. Your guitars will have more tightess and articulation with those, rather than seths or ants, and they sound vintage with a bit of added balls, yet still clean up nicely.

[Kelsey]

Re: A matter of appearances

Thanks for the response, Gearjoneser. I'll have to check the clips of those pups again, and look for clips of the C5.

Anyone else?