Hi everyone, this is my first post here, so please be gentle. 
I've been going crazy trying to figure out what pickups to put in my guitar. I've read and reread posts in the forum, watched YouTube videos galore, the whole nine yards.
Here's my setup and what I'm going for.
Guitar Specs:
I play an Epiphone Les Paul Baritone tuned to drop A with .14-.74 gauge strings and high action.
Body:
Mahogany Body
Carved maple top
Neck:
Set maple neck
Rosewood fingerboard with no inlays
27.75" Scale
1.68" nut width
Binding:
Single-ply body & neck
Electronics:
Alnico Classic & Alnico Hot humbucker pickups (both Alnico V, from what I understand)
1 Vol. 1 Tone
3-way selector switch
Genre:
As you might suspect from a guy with a drop tuned, jet black, baritone Les Paul, I play heavy music with lots of distortion—specifically melodic crust. I like my tone thick and warm and gigantic with diesel powered low-end brutality (His Hero is Gone, Fall of Efrafa, Martyrdod, Agrimonia, etc.). I do not like the typical buzzsaw metal sound—thus the Bari LP.
I play powerchords a lot, of course, but I also play just as many (if not more) "weird" chords with 2 or 3 or even 4 strings at once, and very infrequent single string action. No djent here. No shreddy metal leads.
The kind of music I play also uses the clean channel, always through the neck pickup, and for this I love huge, warm, sweet, melancholy tones. Piano-like may be a good phrase. I'm not sure if "vintage" is the word for this, but it very well could be. I dig that fat, buttery tone with all the fixin's.
Here's why I want to swap pickups:
The neck pickup in the Ep actually produces some great, fat, warm clean tones, and it's one of my favorite things about this guitar.
However for distorto-mode, I use the bridge pickup (the stock pups are mismatched, so the middle position is basically useless). The bridge gives me strong output and the tone is alright, but the definition—especially on the crazier chords—is pretty muddy. Kind of a "what the hell chord was that, exactly???" sort of a sound.
I want more clarity in the bridge—but not so much that everything is all crisp and shiny like someone juts broke the cellophane off of it. I want it to be very thick, but with the melody just peeking through, like a smoky alto (perhaps Maureen Forrester) belting out a baroque aria in a thunderstorm; or a lost gem of power shimmering in the depths of a dark pool.
My concerns with new pickups:
I don't want to drastically change the fundamental character of this guitar—like I said, I love it. But I do want more clarity in the bridge, and in general just some higher quality electronics.
I'm worried about high output pickups being too strong in my Baritone LP, and I'm worried about strong magnets warping my intonation and sustain.
On the other hand, I'm worried about vintage and mid-output pickups being too weak for what I have in mind.
I'm worried about ceramic magnets sounding too brittle and cold.
I'm worried about Alnico II being too mushy in the bottom end, though they are known for warmth, which intrigues me.
I'm worried about pickup options being poor choices for my tonewoods, body-shape, and low tunings. For example, the Pegasus/Sentient sounds great in the videos, but it's being played through basswood, 7-string, metal things bred for djent and shred. No LPs, no big strings, no big chords, and certainly no baritones—so perhaps their "sound good" won't sound good for me and my Bari LP.
And I've never heard an active set that I thought sounded good in any situation at all ever—I have absolutely no idea what people see in them.
Potential pickup options according to my research:
Neck: Alnico II Pro, 59 Neck, Whole Lotta Humbucker, Antiquity Neck, Jazz Neck, Sentient
Bridge: Alnico II Pro, Antiquity Bridge, Custom Custom, Custom 5, 59/Custom, Duncan Custom, JB, Invader, Distortion, Nazgul, Pegasus, Full Shred
As you can see—days of research have only expanded my list. :-<
Conclusion:
If you've read this far, I commend you. I'm just bewildered, and thus beseech you, oh Gods of Tone, to help me find the right pickups to help my guitar.
Thanks in advance for any and all advice you can throw my way.
And sorry for going on so long.
—Peter
I've been going crazy trying to figure out what pickups to put in my guitar. I've read and reread posts in the forum, watched YouTube videos galore, the whole nine yards.
Here's my setup and what I'm going for.
Guitar Specs:
I play an Epiphone Les Paul Baritone tuned to drop A with .14-.74 gauge strings and high action.
Body:
Mahogany Body
Carved maple top
Neck:
Set maple neck
Rosewood fingerboard with no inlays
27.75" Scale
1.68" nut width
Binding:
Single-ply body & neck
Electronics:
Alnico Classic & Alnico Hot humbucker pickups (both Alnico V, from what I understand)
1 Vol. 1 Tone
3-way selector switch
Genre:
As you might suspect from a guy with a drop tuned, jet black, baritone Les Paul, I play heavy music with lots of distortion—specifically melodic crust. I like my tone thick and warm and gigantic with diesel powered low-end brutality (His Hero is Gone, Fall of Efrafa, Martyrdod, Agrimonia, etc.). I do not like the typical buzzsaw metal sound—thus the Bari LP.
I play powerchords a lot, of course, but I also play just as many (if not more) "weird" chords with 2 or 3 or even 4 strings at once, and very infrequent single string action. No djent here. No shreddy metal leads.
The kind of music I play also uses the clean channel, always through the neck pickup, and for this I love huge, warm, sweet, melancholy tones. Piano-like may be a good phrase. I'm not sure if "vintage" is the word for this, but it very well could be. I dig that fat, buttery tone with all the fixin's.
Here's why I want to swap pickups:
The neck pickup in the Ep actually produces some great, fat, warm clean tones, and it's one of my favorite things about this guitar.
However for distorto-mode, I use the bridge pickup (the stock pups are mismatched, so the middle position is basically useless). The bridge gives me strong output and the tone is alright, but the definition—especially on the crazier chords—is pretty muddy. Kind of a "what the hell chord was that, exactly???" sort of a sound.
I want more clarity in the bridge—but not so much that everything is all crisp and shiny like someone juts broke the cellophane off of it. I want it to be very thick, but with the melody just peeking through, like a smoky alto (perhaps Maureen Forrester) belting out a baroque aria in a thunderstorm; or a lost gem of power shimmering in the depths of a dark pool.
My concerns with new pickups:
I don't want to drastically change the fundamental character of this guitar—like I said, I love it. But I do want more clarity in the bridge, and in general just some higher quality electronics.
I'm worried about high output pickups being too strong in my Baritone LP, and I'm worried about strong magnets warping my intonation and sustain.
On the other hand, I'm worried about vintage and mid-output pickups being too weak for what I have in mind.
I'm worried about ceramic magnets sounding too brittle and cold.
I'm worried about Alnico II being too mushy in the bottom end, though they are known for warmth, which intrigues me.
I'm worried about pickup options being poor choices for my tonewoods, body-shape, and low tunings. For example, the Pegasus/Sentient sounds great in the videos, but it's being played through basswood, 7-string, metal things bred for djent and shred. No LPs, no big strings, no big chords, and certainly no baritones—so perhaps their "sound good" won't sound good for me and my Bari LP.
And I've never heard an active set that I thought sounded good in any situation at all ever—I have absolutely no idea what people see in them.
Potential pickup options according to my research:
Neck: Alnico II Pro, 59 Neck, Whole Lotta Humbucker, Antiquity Neck, Jazz Neck, Sentient
Bridge: Alnico II Pro, Antiquity Bridge, Custom Custom, Custom 5, 59/Custom, Duncan Custom, JB, Invader, Distortion, Nazgul, Pegasus, Full Shred
As you can see—days of research have only expanded my list. :-<
Conclusion:
If you've read this far, I commend you. I'm just bewildered, and thus beseech you, oh Gods of Tone, to help me find the right pickups to help my guitar.
Thanks in advance for any and all advice you can throw my way.
And sorry for going on so long.
—Peter
