Best blues p/u for an LP type guitar?

[farnsy]

New to this forum. I have a Hagstrom Deluxe F, mahogany body & neck with coil tap. I changed the pots on this Deluxe F to a stacking set where I can control vol & tone of each pup. Most of my guitars are P90's, but I like the humbucker too, just find that the brightness of the Hag Custom 60's in the Deluxe F are too much, as they were designed for enhanced output and crisp highs, more of a rock sound. At 9.5 lbs it's a heavy guitar, but it does have an f-hole and small hollowed out area, so it has more a bit more of an acoustic sound than a LP. I'm strictly an electric blues guy. I recently played a Seth Lover (neck) in a G&L Bluesboy that sounded much warmer, rounder (swamp ash body, maple neck) than my Hag, but I'm not not sure how that guitar compares to more of an LP-type guitar. I'm going to change at least the neck pickup, and I guess my first choice right now would be the Seth Lover. Any suggestions? Thanks!

Update: Wow, thanks for the replies! I realize I need to be more specific. I play through tube amps (Deluxe Reverb II, Silverface Super Reverb, Delta Blues 210, Rivera BM115) with a Keely BD mainly for a clean boost, and Boss RV-3 for a bit of slap. I play a with a pick, not much slide. Style-wise, it's mostly driving pumped-up blues, lots of energy. I prefer to be able to just turn the guitar down a bit for rythym, all the way up for solos, and have that slight breakup come from the pup. I need to cut through the mix, just not with an ice pick! Again, thanks, your comments are much appreciated.

 

[FuseG4]

Re: Best blues p/u for an LP type guitar?

I've used a 59n for almost a year now and I love it. For blues through a neck pickup, I really like it with an a2 magnet. Stock its warm with a bright but controlled high end. It's just slightly scooped sounding, and can be a lil boomy sometimes, but it's not overbearing. But, with an alnico 2 magnet swapped in, the bass becomes a lil tamer, there's some more mids added, and the high end is reduced a lil bit. It's a thicker but articulate neck pickup.
The alnico II pro neck pickup is awesome too. it's got that PAF vibe, but it's smoother than a 59 (59 a2 or stock). Really singing lead tone with some mild overdrive.

These days i use a 59n with an a4 magnet in my les paul. it feels like a stock 59, but more balanced and a bit more like an "aged" pickup feel.

I'd say you're looking at a 59, an a2pro, a seth, or an antiquity. almost any one of those will get you sweet, sweet blues.

 

[vegetablejoe]

Re: Best blues p/u for an LP type guitar?

Seths and Antiquity pickups are single-wire pickups, with the external part of the wire serving as ground. You may not be able to use your guitar's coil tap feature without first modding these pickups by adding the requisite wiring.

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: Best blues p/u for an LP type guitar?

Its pretty hard to tell what is a "Blues Tone" - if you asked Stevie Ray, he would probably have a different idea than what BB would go for, or Freddie King, or Albert Collins, or Robert Cray, or just about anyone....
Having said that...a pair of 59s sound pretty sweet in just about anything - and they have enough high end clarity to end to balance out even the darkest Les Pauls , but with plenty of bass too. I would not call them bright - more like clear, open and articulate with plenty of character. They would almost certainly be an improvement to a Hagstrom because they allow the sound of the wood to come through. They work great for smooth jazz and for more cutting rock type sounds. Awesome all round pups.

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: Best blues p/u for an LP type guitar?

I hope I don't come off as "that guy", but, please, tell us more about your blues style. Is it mostly clean, jazzy blues? Delta? What's the amp situation? Do you use a pick? A slide?

Depending on those variables, you might be able to use anything from Phat Cat set all the way up to a Distortion set.

 

[Stratman]

Re: Best blues p/u for an LP type guitar?

I use different pickups for different amp and pedals as well as different club settings.

The most important item is having the ability to cut through the mix without overpowering the club and rest of the band members, while keeping that mid-range tone with a fair amount of gliss!

On the les paul style guitars that I use - here is my combination (Neck and body wood is the same on each)

1) 59 set with 500K pots and 0.33 caps
2) Antiquity set with 500 k pots and 0.47 caps
3) P-rails with Triple shot and 500 K posts and 0.33 (Bridge) and 0.47 (Neck) caps
4) Stock Gibson
5) Stock Epiphone

 

[blueman335]

Re: Best blues p/u for an LP type guitar?

I'm an electric blues player & have to say that PAF's are great in LP's. Lots of choices from lots of manufacturers.

If you want a hotter bridge, a C5 or 498T works well in mahogany.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Best blues p/u for an LP type guitar?

for a vintage blues tone get a pair of antiquitys. dont have 4 cond wiring.
for a little brighter hotter tone get a pair of pearly gates. these have 4 cond wiring.

use 500k pots and plug straight into a tube amp

59's and seth lovers are great too but i usually prefer the ants and pg's

 

[SirJackdeFuzz]

Re: Best blues p/u for an LP type guitar?

WELCOME TO THE DUNCAN FORUMS :


I am a massive fan of the A2P set.

And now w the new Slash A2P sig set, it can only sound BETTER.

" The Alnico 2 magnet and moderate windings yield a warm, sweet tone with more natural string vibration for great sustain. Classic rock players who get their distortion from the amp rather than the pickup love the APH-1. It allows them to back off the crunch and get beautiful clean tones with softer attack. Compared to the '59, the Alnico II Pro has a rounder sound with a spongier bass response. Comes with four-conductor hookup cable and no logo. "

A2 is deff my magnet type for my type of blooze
Do try and see if you can test a set.

My A2cents

 

[Seth Lover FAN]

Re: Best blues p/u for an LP type guitar?

1.pair of ants .... replace the magnets with either A4 or A5 if needed to match the wood tone
2.500K pots
3.wired vintage style with the cap on the volume pot middle leg ....
4.replace the 2 pair wire with braided thruout the whole guitar including the 3 way switch
5.pay special attention to tweeking the height and pole pieces of the pick-up
6.enjoy

 

[Bludave]

Re: Best blues p/u for an LP type guitar?

I think its somewhat subjective not really knowing the guitar as well as others, but for blues in a humbucker configuration here is wahat I would consider.

1. Jazz Neck & 59 Bridge This guitar appears to be a semihollow guitar. I have this setup in a Semihollow Telecaster. The JazzN & 59B are also 4 conductor wire so you can split the coils.

2. A2 Pro set. These are some of the warmest pickups on the planet. I particularly like these in a Les Paul style guitar, but the Hagstrom I would say is more of a 335 then a Les Paul.

3. Pearly Gates are awesome as well. I think these would do very well in a guitar like this.

4. Pearly Gates in the Neck & a Seth in the bridge. The Seth is a very dark pickup and I don't like it in a naturally dark guitar, but in a naturally bright guitar they really work beautifully.

As some of the others suggested 500K pots, but if the guitar already has HB pickups in it it should have 500K pots? If it doesn't change them, you might also want to wire the coil tap to a push/pull pot if you can. I like the push/pull design, but if you already have a toggle then go with it.

 

[saladin]

Re: Best blues p/u for an LP type guitar?

My favorite hb set used to be a C5/59n and it's great for the alnico5 PAF tones....but now I've switched to a Gibson Classic '57+/Burstbucker 1 set up and I think I've found humbucker nirvana!!!

 

[tone4days]

Re: Best blues p/u for an LP type guitar?

alnico II pro neck (Not the slash sig model)
pearly gates bridge

 

[eggman]

Re: Best blues p/u for an LP type guitar?

Howdy,

I'm sort of a Keith Richards disciple; a rhythm guy. I'm happy with the '59s in my old ES-335. There's adequate clarity for a dyed-in-the-wool Single Coil guy like myself. Admittedly, I've less experience with HBers, but mine sound good clean or nasty. Welcome to the forum and good luck!

Eggman

 

[Baltar]

Re: Best blues p/u for an LP type guitar?

i dig p-rails. p alone, or both parallel

 

[open]

Re: Best blues p/u for an LP type guitar?

As with most here,any paf related pickup(59,ap2,ant,seth,pg) will do.