Gibson 57/57+ vs Alnico II Pro

[Chistopher]

Re: Gibson 57/57+ vs Alnico II Pro

It made the guitar much more resonant.

Can you clarify what you mean by this? That word "resonant" gets thrown around a lot.

But I can see what you mean about them being very particular to the guitar. My #1 hollow body has a set of 57s in it and often times I have to roll the tone back a bit and turn the bass up on my amp. But then again, I had a set in my Epiphone Standard LP and they were a bit dark. They also play well with mag swaps. An A3 in the neck and UOA5 in the bridge sorts out most of the issues people have with them.

 

[ExplorersRock]

Re: Gibson 57/57+ vs Alnico II Pro

There was better sustain, tonal balance, and responsiveness to his Epi LP once I installed the 57/57+ set. The guitar's overall sound became bigger and had a better range in sound. In my Gibson LP, the 57/57+ set sounded like all of the output was mids and highs, with very little low end and it sounded a little bright. The set in my Gibby now is a '59n and a '59/Custom Hybrid. Fits perfectly and gives just enough extra oomph in the bridge. The A2Ps were great but I wanted just a bit more kick in the bridge.

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: Gibson 57/57+ vs Alnico II Pro

Please elaborate.

In my case, it's true, though the Burstbuckers played a bigger part than the 57's in launching me.

 

[Chistopher]

Re: Gibson 57/57+ vs Alnico II Pro

In my case, it's true, though the Burstbuckers played a bigger part than the 57's in launching me.

What exactly about them made you start winding pickups? This seems like an interesting story.

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: Gibson 57/57+ vs Alnico II Pro

Not that interesting a story, maybe you had to be around before the Boutique Boom (those who remember, tune out, you've heard this all before) but in those days if you were looking for a bridge humbucker, everything was either 8.5k or below or 14k and above, huge no-man's land in between. It's still largely true with the big names though Duncan, especially in the Custom Shop, has ventured past the barbed wire.

95% of the vintage offerings at the time were razor blade sharp in the treble and all of the hot winds were either just too compressed or just too hot. Of the vintage offerings, most had this uncanny ability to be both too dark and too bright at the same time: it's too bright -- yikes! -- roll the treble back -- now it's too dark, roll the treble back up to get some detail. Nope, just a brighter shade of 2-dimensional and my ears are bleeding again! (And with such 2-dimensionality, imagine the problems with mud in the neck no matter where you set the treble.)

The Burstbuckers in particular were so bad in this way that it seemed like the work of an evil genius -- nothing could be this bad by accident. To be fair there are certain guitars that Burstbuckers actually sound pretty good in, but none that I ever owned. I'd had it, it was time somebody did something, and I volunteered myself...

 

[Discharged]

Re: Gibson 57/57+ vs Alnico II Pro

Are people aware that the '57+ is NOT the same p'up as the '57 Classic +?

Specs are different.

/Peter

 

[Chistopher]

Re: Gibson 57/57+ vs Alnico II Pro

Are people aware that the '57+ is NOT the same p'up as the '57 Classic +?

Specs are different.

/Peter

I do not believe the 57+ is even a thing, just a short hand for the 57 Classic Plus. I have never seen it on anything Gibson related, even the chart they released showing the relative output of all of their pickups.

 

[Ben1962]

Re: Gibson 57/57+ vs Alnico II Pro

Made up my mind, the 57s are coming out of my Epi and being replaced with a nice sweet set of BLACK WINTERS!! I cant say I hate the 57s, its just everything else I have tried from Duncan is better to me.

 

[Discharged]

Re: Gibson 57/57+ vs Alnico II Pro

I do not believe the 57+ is even a thing,

You better believe it, I've just got one on my workbench last week... it's an OEM only p'up, like the MHS, '59 tributes and others.

As I've said: different specs from the '57 Classic +. Having known about the usual Gibson production floor shenanigans, I'm pretty sure they called it so with the sole purpose to have the effect it did have on you, while saving money by putting about 10% less wire at the same time.

The end result is quite a few complaints in about every forum I participate about'em being "brittle", "puny", "anemic", and those "attributes" didn't match AT ALL the sound of the '57 Classic Plus everybody knows and (some) love.

The one I got measured 8.35K, against the 8.89K of my own '57 Classic Plus from 1995 did The .6K difference are the equivalent of about 1,000 turns of AWG#42 wire per p'up.

/Peter

 

[Chistopher]

Re: Gibson 57/57+ vs Alnico II Pro

You better believe it, I've just got one on my workbench last week... it's an OEM only p'up, like the MHS, '59 tributes and others.

As I've said: different specs from the '57 Classic +. Having known about the usual Gibson production floor shenanigans, I'm pretty sure they called it so with the sole purpose to have the effect it did have on you, while saving money by putting about 10% less wire at the same time.

The end result is quite a few complaints in about every forum I participate about'em being "brittle", "puny", "anemic", and those "attributes" didn't match AT ALL the sound of the '57 Classic Plus everybody knows and (some) love.

The one I got measured 8.35K, against the 8.89K of my own '57 Classic Plus from 1995 did The .6K difference are the equivalent of about 1,000 turns of AWG#42 wire per p'up.

/Peter

Come to think of it, that's probably why a lot of people don't like the 57 Classic Plus, the only experience they have of it isn't even the same pickup, I bought my set aftermarket and they are almost worth the $300 a set.

 

[AlexR]

Re: Gibson 57/57+ vs Alnico II Pro

This is something thats only just changed if the specs on the website are right. Both the 57 Classic and 57 Classic+ now show the lower 7.5k and 8.3k values that is what is being seen with Discharged's pickup on the bench.
Highly likely that any sticker printing change could be simply admin related. I doubt they have 2 models of the same pickup with different names.

The lower value will change them, but I have fat bridge pickups at less K and clear neck pickups at a lot more K.

 

[NJLK]

Re: Gibson 57/57+ vs Alnico II Pro

Well, I installed the Alnico Pros and the folks on this forum seem to be spot on. Great sounding pickups. Fuller and smoother sounding than the 57s, but without completely changing the guitar's feel and sound. The neck pickup, in particular is excellent, so is the middle position. Ideally, I probably should have gone with something a tiny bit hotter and darker in the bridge, but that's just nit-picking. This set will do me just fine and certainly fits my needs much better than the Gibson 57s.

Big thank you to everyone!

 

[Discharged]

Re: Gibson 57/57+ vs Alnico II Pro

I bought my set aftermarket

Exactly! The 57+ is an OEM p'up. It's NOT for sale aftermaket.

/Peter

 

[Discharged]

Re: Gibson 57/57+ vs Alnico II Pro

Both the 57 Classic and 57 Classic+ now show the lower 7.5k and 8.3k

Which are BOTH wrong. As many other things published on the Gibson website.

I have an aftermarket set right here to install and they meaure 8.02K and 8.78K. And that's consistent with the "right" values I've been seeing since 1990.

/Peter

 

[NJLK]

Re: Gibson 57/57+ vs Alnico II Pro

Which are BOTH wrong. As many other things published on the Gibson website.

I have an aftermarket set right here to install and they meaure 8.02K and 8.78K. And that's consistent with the "right" values I've been seeing since 1990.

/Peter

So, I went back and checked what the 57s I took out say on the back. They are stamped "57" and "57+" and were made in 2015. The word "Classic" doesn't appear anywhere on the pickups themselves. The pickups were taken out of a 2016 Limited Run Les Paul Classic. Gibson's description of the guitar reads: "57 Classic and 57 Classic Plus zebra humbuckers yield that dynamic PAF-style tone that is the stuff of dreams." Never mind that these pickups produce nothing close to "dynamic PAF-style tone that is the stuff of dreams." The description clearly claims that they are 57 Classics. I wonder if Gibson just didn't print the full name on their OEM parts. Or, you could be right and they could just be misleading us.

 

[Discharged]

Re: Gibson 57/57+ vs Alnico II Pro

So, I went back and checked what the 57s I took out say on the back. They are stamped "57" and "57+" and were made in 2015. The word "Classic" doesn't appear anywhere on the pickups themselves. The pickups were taken out of a 2016 Limited Run Les Paul Classic. Gibson's description of the guitar reads: "57 Classic and 57 Classic Plus zebra humbuckers yield that dynamic PAF-style tone that is the stuff of dreams." Never mind that these pickups produce nothing close to "dynamic PAF-style tone that is the stuff of dreams." The description clearly claims that they are 57 Classics. I wonder if Gibson just didn't print the full name on their OEM parts. Or, you could be right and they could just be misleading us.

Seems that you overlooked my earlier statement about the many specs published on Gibson's website being wrong. I suspect that the people taking care of the website are NOT musicians and just publish the info the they feed'em with or what they already can find in the site's DB. So, they just don't know what it's right and what it's wrong and they're NOT paid for checking for congruence and/or veracity of the data.

BTW, what are the DC readings of those? Would you be so kind to post'em?

/Peter

 

[NJLK]

Re: Gibson 57/57+ vs Alnico II Pro

I don't have any way of measuring it. And, I just sold them on Reverb. But, I was definitely curious. For what it's worth, the bridge pickup was pretty hot for a vintage-style pickup - just a little quieter than the Super Distortion I have in another guitar. The neck had about the same output as the Alnico Pro I just installed.

 

[symptom]

Re: Gibson 57/57+ vs Alnico II Pro

Does anyone has experience with A2Pros in an SG, especially when compared to a Les Paul? Currently I have both guitars (both Epiphones) and the LP has the A2Pros in it. I love the combination...

 

[Mincer]

Re: Gibson 57/57+ vs Alnico II Pro

I've installed them in an SG, and it was great! It was like super buttery, with nice bloom to the notes. The high mid content made musical feedback forever. I liked it a lot (this was in an SG Standard).

 

[Ben1962]

Re: Gibson 57/57+ vs Alnico II Pro

"most had this uncanny ability to be both too dark and too bright at the same time"
Exactly how I would say my Slash set sounds to me