Epiphone 57 classics… REALLY!?!?!

P

pskorz

New member
Long story short, I took the distortion/jazz pickups out of my Jackson Kelly to put the pickups up for sale on the dreaded ‘bay. Merely as a placeholder I put in a set of epi 57 classics….

to my complete shock and horror, they sound…. Awesome in this thing!

dammit, who’d a thought that? :D
 
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They are great pickups just a bit too bright for my tastes. However, I have a very dark tone. I can definitely see them shining in that guitar.
 
I'm glad they have improved. The pickups that came stock in my '99 Epiphone Dot were some of the muddiest sounding humbuckers I've ever heard. Just brutal.
 
The 57 classics are not new. I've happily taken them out of Epis 15 years old and replaced them with WAY better sounding SD pups.
 
GuitarDoc said:
The 57 classics are not new. I've happily taken them out of Epis 15 years old and replaced them with WAY better sounding SD pups.
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Oh yeah. I was just pleasantly surprised that they sounded pretty good (it’s inherently a good sounding guitar) and gave it a different, fresh, fun vibe compared to the Duncan’s.
 
It was the old "Alnico Classic" & "Alnico Classic Plus" that earned the nickname mudbuckers.
AFAIK the Classic Plus had a DCR up around 14K, and they were encased in a solid block of wax under the covers.
Decent in a bright sounding guitar, but dull in many others. And far from lively because of all the wax.
(Some actually used to heat them up so some of the wax ran out; it was claimed to make a noticeable difference.)

Epiphone changed the specs around 2010, renaming them the Alnico Classic Pro set and after that they were much better.
Unfortunately it's easy to confuse them with the old design because the names are so similar, but the Classic Pros are quite nice.
They can be had cheaply used too since some will replace them just on principle, rather than because of sound.

Epi Classic 57s are whole different thing, modeled after Gibson's 57 Classics.
Like the Gibsons, they're a symmetrical wind (I think) but PAF-ish and fairly bright-voiced.
Probuckers use some coil offset, like Burstbuckers.
 
eclecticsynergy said:
It was the old "Alnico Classic" & "Alnico Classic Plus" that earned the nickname mudbuckers.
AFAIK the Classic Plus had a DCR up around 14K, and they were encased in a solid block of wax under the covers.
Decent in a bright sounding guitar, but dull in many others. And far from lively because of all the wax.
(Some actually used to heat them up so some of the wax ran out; it was claimed to make a noticeable difference.)
Click to expand...

Yup. I had a 2004 LP Standard Plus with them. Yanked the cover off the bridge pickup and removed all the wax. It looked like a bar of soap with a pickup in it when I took the cover off. It made a noticeable difference once removed.


eclecticsynergy said:
Epi Classic 57s are whole different thing, modeled after Gibson's 57 Classics.
Like the Gibsons, they're a symmetrical wind (I think) but PAF-ish and fairly bright-voiced.
Probuckers use some coil offset, like Burstbuckers.
Click to expand...

These are miles better than the old Alnico Classic pickups. The biggest advancement that was done with Epiphones is the pickups and electronics. They've really improved there.
 
ErikH said:
Yup. I had a 2004 LP Standard Plus with them. Yanked the cover off the bridge pickup and removed all the wax. It looked like a bar of soap with a pickup in it when I took the cover off. It made a noticeable difference once removed.
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This has always confused me. How does wax (which is magnetically inert) impact the way the pickup sounds?
 
ErikH said:
It's like wrapping the pickup in a blanket. Then add the cover. Quite muffled.
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Yeah, I get that. I've heard it many times. But . . . why? The pickup is magnetic, it picks up magnetic signals. Why does a non-magnetic material matter at all?
 
GuitarStv said:
Yeah, I get that. I've heard it many times. But . . . why? The pickup is magnetic, it picks up magnetic signals. Why does a non-magnetic material matter at all?
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The science behind it, IDK. But I know what my ears told me.
 
eclecticsynergy said:
Epi Classic 57s are whole different thing, modeled after Gibson's 57 Classics.
Like the Gibsons, they're a symmetrical wind (I think) but PAF-ish and fairly bright-voiced.
Probuckers use some coil offset, like Burstbuckers.
Click to expand...

This. And there is a surprising amount of love for the Gibson 57's. Might not be my thing, but can't hate.

I love the Alnico Classic Pro's in my Epi 339. Perfect for that guitar and what I play with it.
 
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GuitarStv said:
Yeah, I get that. I've heard it many times. But . . . why? The pickup is magnetic, it picks up magnetic signals. Why does a non-magnetic material matter at all?
Click to expand...

A pickup also vibrates in sympathy with the body and strings - this can affect both sound and feel.
Wax helps inhibit feedback because it absorbs vibration.
Too much wax deadens all the vibration and eliminates any liveliness pretty much completely.

That's why some prefer unpotted humbuckers - livelier feel and a slightly more open tone.
Especially important in the airy high frequencies which carry little kinetic energy and are most easily damped.

Some boutique builders pot their pickups very lightly - a quick dip that doesn't allow wax to penetrate the innermost windings.
This helps resist squealing but is said to affect the tone less than deep potting.

Another thing - given today's generally-lower stage volumes, IMO squealing is a less ubiquitous problem than it used to be.
 
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