Gibson 498t...in neck?

[Inflames626]

Hi all,
I'm considering a 498t/Dirty Fingers build. Thoughts?

Gibson has the 498t at 14.2k. I think the DFs are 15k. I love the 498t in the bridge (weird for me to prefer an Alnico 5 there), and I find the 500t a little thin and better for solos.

The 496r would be too underpowered I think and it's very dark sounding in my Floyded Epiphone Gothic.

I'm looking for a hot neck pickup in this one. The 498t seems the only logical place to go in terms of output and tone if one wants to stay in the Gibson family.

A 500t in the neck would just fight against the warmer tone of the neck position I think and would not be successful (similar to putting an EMG 81 in the neck--bleh).

Thanks.

[jeremy]

i would think that it would be pretty dark, but i havent tried it

[Rex_Rocker]

Yeah, I would think it would be pretty dark as well. Or at least, darker than the 496R. Plus the 498T is wider-spaced, so it would look kinda silly.

I love the 498T in the bridge, though.

[Inflames626]

Yeah, I would think it would be pretty dark as well. Or at least, darker than the 496R. Plus the 498T is wider-spaced, so it would look kinda silly.

I love the 498T in the bridge, though.

I'm cool with pole spacing not matching up as I use a lot of bridge pickups (even Trembuckers if they are all I have) in the neck. Non-Trembuckers don't look that off.

I know they're supposed to be regular spaced but Gibson humbuckers have never looked weird. On my Floyded Epi Gothic the 500T looks pretty even with the strings.

It's like they're between Gibson and Fender spacing.

[Inflames626]

I figure it's worth a go in this Kramer Nite V.

$400 for the guitar new. $250 for the pickups. $250 for a Schaller OFR.

I think it would be a fairly nice build for under $1000.

[Rex_Rocker]

I'm cool with pole spacing not matching up as I use a lot of bridge pickups (even Trembuckers if they are all I have) in the neck. Non-Trembuckers don't look that off.

I know they're supposed to be regular spaced but Gibson humbuckers have never looked weird. On my Floyded Epi Gothic the 500T looks pretty even with the strings.

It's like they're between Gibson and Fender spacing.

I mean, you could give it a try.

The closest I've tried is either the JB in the neck (which I feel that in the bridge, is kinda sorta along the lines of the 498T, just slightly darker and hotter), and to me, it was just plain unusable. I like smooth and hot neck pickups, but the JB was just too much (for me).

Then, the Distortion Neck, the BW Neck, and the Evo Neck, which are also around 13K, except all have got the Ceramic magnet which brightens them up a tad compared to even the brightest Alnico. The BW and Evo Neck are cool, but the Distortion Neck is kinda meh (to me). But those are all slightly dark-ish round-ish not very bright (compared to say, the Jazz, the PAF Pro, the Burstbuckers, etc.), so I don't know if you're the kinda guy that likes PAF-types in the neck, you'd like those.

I've always wanted to try the regular Norton in the neck (not the Air Norton) to match with high output pickups.

TBH, I've always struggled to find the right pickup to match with a high output triple Ceramic firebreather like the 500T, Black Winter, or like I know the Dirty Fingers is. The PAF-types are all too puny and low output. The Distortion types are all either really sterile, bland, dark, or muddy. A couple have come close, tho. My favorite high output neck pickup is the BW-N, really. The Evo Neck is also EQ'd pretty nice, but it's not really all that hot either.

And the Gibson T-spacing (500T, 490T, and 498T) is not as wide as Duncan Trembucker, but it's wider than DiMarzio F-Spaced. I don't think the Dirty Fingers is T-spaced, tho.

[Inflames626]

I normally like an EMG 60 for bright cleans through the neck, ideally through a Roland JC120. But I'm building more guitars with PAFs in the neck as well. Same with building bright superstrats and warm superstrats. The EMG 60A is underrated as kind of an A2P Slash type pickup in the neck. It goes well with the 85 in the bridge.

I think the 498t in the bridge is one of the most well rounded passive pickups I have ever played. It just does everything really well. For the sake of this build I'm viewing it as a very hot PAF.

I prefer the JB in the neck to the bridge, where I find it pretty flabby. It's beautiful split and clean, and distorted in the neck you can get kind of a Dave Murray sound with out. I plan on doing a JB/Dimebucker build at some point.

You're right about the 500T. The magnet on that is so strong it's hard to solder Triple Shot connections to it because the mag actually pulls the iron down.

[Rex_Rocker]

I don't think of the 498T as PAF-y at all, personally. It's not open, bright (at least not as much as a PAF-type), and scooped. Then again, I tend to lean towards the A5 PAF's. But even compared to A2's, the 498T is a bit too mid-forward. Again, JMO.

Personally, I think of the 498T more as a JB lite. Not really, but it's not as hot, it's slightly brighter, slightly less stuffy (agreed), and less compressed. I love both pickups, personally, the JB and the 498T. But if I had to comapare them, I'd say the 498T is 75% closer to a JB than to say, a Burstbucker Pro or a Duncan '59B.

The thing about actives and passives is I just basically think of them in two different worlds. If I dial in an amp for a 500T, for example, I know I can sorta pull off a good tone without twisting the knobs a lot if I plug in something comparable like a Black Winter, a Duncan Distortion, a D Activator, or even an X2N. But if I try to plug in an EMG 81 or a Fluence Modern, it just doesn't work for me.

I love the Fluence Modern Alnico in the neck, but I also liked the EMG 60 and 66. Hell, I even like the EMG 81 and 85 in the neck for different things. With passives, I always struggle finding a good neck companion for the kind of pickups that I like. At least towards the hotter side of the spectrum.

I like the DiMarzio 36th Anni in the neck as well as the Duncan Phat Cat, but if I'm using anything hotter than a PAF Pro or a Duncan '59B in the bridge, I know it just won't keep up power-wise. I know many people like their neck pickups to be tamer. I like them to be tamer in EQ, but not in output. JMO.

Then again, you seem to experiment with running pickups in parallel, split, and whatnot. I don't. I mean, it's cool to stumble across humbuckers that split well, but that seems to be the case more with pickups wound hot where the split tone is not puny and anemic.

[Inflames626]

For me the biggest challenge is finding a neck pickup that can do bright cleans, warm cleans, and overdriven to distorted solos from the neck.

The best solution I have found for this thus far is a Custom 5/Custom build with a Triple Shot on each pickup. Adding a phase switch thins out the tone if you want it even brighter and more delicate.

Shifting the Custom 5 between series and parallel is essentially a warm/cold switch, and it has enough output to do hot solos from the neck (something I rarely do). If you need brighter, the Custom in the bridge also changes sounds quite a bit depending on whether it is series, parallel, or split.

I have these in a Floyded BC Rich '94 NJ Mockingbird and it is probably the most versatile guitar I have in terms of tones. With outputs around 14k the Custom line is good for creating chunky rhythms that don't get too fizzy or harsh.

The 498t doesn't remind me of the JB. The JB is flabby in the lows and low mids. I find the 498t to be able to do just about anything. Low end is chunky and tight. String separation is good. Cuts through for solos. Doesn't seem to do much split and it doesn't clean up that well in the bridge but it's paired with a 57 Classic Plus, so it's in a warmer build.

[Inflames626]

That said, the Custom line was designed to create a variety of sounds when various wiring options are used.

[Rex_Rocker]

That said, the Custom line was designed to create a variety of sounds when various wiring options are used.

Not really. The Custom was allegedly designed for Van Halen. I know he has a variety of sounds, as far dialing in the volume knob with a raging plexi, but I don't think he was using a variety of wiring options.

Then the Custom Custom came because he liked the OG Custom with an A2 magnet.

I don't think VH has ever used various wiring options on his guitars.



The Custom 5 was created when people from this forum decided it would be a good idea to swap an A5 magnet in the Custom or Custom Custom.

[Inflames626]

True, but I had this video in mind.

If you use the various wiring options, you'll get a lot of mileage out of the Custom line.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLfRvjjAwf0

[Aceman]

I think that Dirty Fingers is gonna be hotter than the 15k Suggests.