Epiphone 58 Flying V, Korina, What Pickups?

M

Monsta-Tone

New member
I went to a friend's house last night to help him with some amp repair and he gave me a 1998 Epiphone Flying V, 58 reissue, Korina body & neck.
While I don't normally care for lower end guitars, I've always had a thing for V's.

Anyway....The guitar is in almost mint condition, just the normal tarnishing on the cheap gold hardware and some extra holes in the head stock from a tuner change. Someone replaced the Kluson style tuners with Grovers.

I need some pickup suggestions for this guitar. I've never had a Korina V.
The last one I had was a mid 80's Gibson V (the one year they were made out of Alder) and the only pickups I could use in it that wouldn't feed back horribly were EMG's.


I'm looking for warm, fat tone with great sustain and lots of sparkle.
I do not like bridge pickups that are really bright. Basically, I like for my bridge pickup to sound like a really beefy neck pickup.

I have a set of Duncan Alnico II's in my McCarty that sound beautiful, but I'm not sure about a Korina body.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, and thanks in advance!
Andy
 
Re: Epiphone 58 Flying V, Korina, What Pickups?

I recently put a set of gold covered Seth Lovers in my Flying V, and I'm blown away everytime I play that guitar. They seem to fit the bill for what you described as to what you are looking for.
 
Re: Epiphone 58 Flying V, Korina, What Pickups?

Another vote for Seths, expecially if you're wanting that vintage '58 V sound.

If you want something hotter, and warmer, a Rio Grande BBQ is great.
 
Re: Epiphone 58 Flying V, Korina, What Pickups?

Right on, thanks guys!
I forgot to mention what tones I am looking for.....

I like stellar cleans with lots of warmth, ala Led Zeppelin

I also use lots of high gain distortion. My amp is configured to sound much like the Vintage high gain setting on a Mesa Tremoverb.
Warm, fat and buttery with massive crunch!

I am looking for lots of pick dynamics and hopefully something that sounds great with the volume rolled back or split.
 
Re: Epiphone 58 Flying V, Korina, What Pickups?

Make sure you put new pots is there, 500k. I had one of those and it was a fairly dark guitar because it had 300k pots.
 
Re: Epiphone 58 Flying V, Korina, What Pickups?

Nice score!

IMO, #1 = good quality pots, jack, and hardware. You can be held over with Epi pickups just fine for a while, but that stuff I mentioned is pure crap IMO.

I am not putting "stellar cleans with lots of warmth" and "Led Zeppelin" together at all. After the first two albums (mostly on a Tele TMK), I find Page's tone kind of dry and cold, and lacking in as much voice or presence as the earlier stuff. Can you explain that a bit more? Do you want something with more of a hard blues-rock personality, like their early albums, or something more massaged, processed, and '70's rocky, like the later albums?
 
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Re: Epiphone 58 Flying V, Korina, What Pickups?

ItsaBass said:
Nice score!

IMO, #1 = good quality pots, jack, and hardware. You can be held over with Epi pickups just fine for a while, but that stuff I mentioned is pure crap IMO.

I am not putting "stellar cleans with lots of warmth" and "Led Zeppelin" together at all. After the first two albums (mostly on a Tele TMK), I find Page's tone kind of dry and cold, and lacking in as much voice or presence as the earlier stuff. Can you explain that a bit more? Do you want something with more of a hard blues-rock personality, like their early albums, or something more massaged, processed, and '70's rocky, like the later albums?
Click to expand...

:chairshot
Guess you're right. I went back and listened to a few songs that I had in mind. Most were acoustic parts.......
I'll settle for extremely bluesy but holds together well with gobs of distortion.
I really like the sound clips of the Seth Lovers, but since they are not potted, I'm thinking I will have lots of feedback issues.

I installed a set of Duncan 59's (got them in a trade) in an old PRS that I am putting on the bay this afternoon. They sound much better than I expected in that guitar!

I'm really leaning toward Alnico II's or the 59/Custom hybrids.

Formula 73:
I love the distortion tones that EMG's have, but just can't get along with the cleans at all. Too punchy for me.


I'll change all of the pots, jack, & switch out this week. If I have the parts in stock, I'll leave the old pups in and try them with new hardware. If not, I'll probably order everything together. They don't sound bad, they just don't have much character. Could definitely use a better jack & cap!
 
Re: Epiphone 58 Flying V, Korina, What Pickups?

I second the brobucker. Haven't played a 59 but many would recommend it in this situation as well. The Brobucker loves doing vintage and will keep its cool with more gain.
 
Re: Epiphone 58 Flying V, Korina, What Pickups?

Maybe an Alnico V PAF (e.g. Jazz, '59, Burstbucker V/Pro) in the neck slot and an Alnico II PAF (e.g. '57 Classic, Seth Lover, Pearly Gates) in the bridge slot.

That being said, the in between position has some real mojo when you have a high output pickup in the bridge and a low output pickup in the neck. So I might also be thinking about a JB in the bridge slot if I were you.
 
Re: Epiphone 58 Flying V, Korina, What Pickups?

Nice score!

I have one of these Epi V's. nice little guitar after I:

Replaced ALL of the electronics... 500K CTS pots, PIO caps, Switchcraft 3-way and jack.

Replaced the crappy bridge with a Tonepros (if you want any kind of consistent intonation).

Replaced the pickups with:
PG Bridge with a UOA5 mag
59 Neck with a roughcast A2 mag
 
Re: Epiphone 58 Flying V, Korina, What Pickups?

I recently got one of the Epi 58 Explorers(Ebony/Gold),& the DiM Super Dist kills in it!!!
 
Re: Epiphone 58 Flying V, Korina, What Pickups?

I have the 58 korina explorer version and the Dimarzio super distortion was a match made in heaven for the tone of this guitar. I also put a 36th anniversary paf in the neck and out of all the pickup combinations I tried in it this one sounds the best to my ears. It gives me some of the best lead tones and surprisingly the super d cleans up really well. Another good sounding pup was the slash alnico 2pro in the bridge position. For a mid priced epi these are actually pretty nice guitars and after a few upgrades play really well. I get some great blues rock tones from mine.
 
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