Gibson ES 339 : Revisited

jones

jones

New member
I picked one of these up on a whim about a year ago. It really held my attention. After about three months of tweaking, I thought maybe I'd change the pickups. I went back to my strat, it has Antiquities. The difference in not just sound, but quality of sound is apparent right off the bat. The 57's were good, by the antiquities in my strat were great. I thought about selling the 339 for a while. Then my srat neck pickup just went out inexplicably. While I was waiting for a replacement, I picked up the 339, damn, same reaction as when I first bought it. I think I'm gonna definitely get new pickups, but can't decide which ones! The Ants made sense in my strat as its almost ten years old and dirtied up a bit, but my 339 is still near mint.

I keep going back and forth between the Antiquities PAF, or the Seth Lovers.

The replacement Antiquity strat pickup Seymour Duncan sent me is phenomenal, almost feel like it was meant to be...; I like the idea of a unique pickup wind like the Ants, but the guitar is still basically new, so the Seth's kinda make sense, as they don't have the aging process.

Any observations that may help me figure this out?
 
Re: Gibson ES 339 : Revisited

Oh man, no comments? Perhaps my situation isn't very compelling. Anyone simply have a preference of pickup in semi hollows in general then? If so, what and why?
 
Re: Gibson ES 339 : Revisited

Not sure why you think Ants would be a bad thing just because the guitar isn't beaten up?
 
Re: Gibson ES 339 : Revisited

Not a bad thing at all. Just trying to think of the guitar as a whole, including appearance and philosophy behind modification choices. Thanks for the reply! I really love the idea of putting in the Ants, can one order a non aged antiquity style PAF? Or would the Seth basically cover that? The Seth's are all nearly identically wound aren't they? I know the Ants come labeled with their output measurements, which makes each one unique.
 
Re: Gibson ES 339 : Revisited

Whilst not absolutely identical, you're going to get as close as you're going to get soundwise with a set of Seth Lovers and keep the new pickup look. Either that, or maybe speak to the SD Custom Shop and ask about getting an antiquity set made up with new covers.
 
Re: Gibson ES 339 : Revisited

jones said:
Not a bad thing at all. Just trying to think of the guitar as a whole, including appearance and philosophy behind modification choices. Thanks for the reply! I really love the idea of putting in the Ants, can one order a non aged antiquity style PAF? Or would the Seth basically cover that? The Seth's are all nearly identically wound aren't they? I know the Ants come labeled with their output measurements, which makes each one unique.
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No, the Antiquities have significantly more of that "airyness" than the Seths. How much of that would be lost with regular covers I don't know.

The Seths are also a classic set with almost matching bridge and neck, whereas in the Ant set the bridge is higher wind than the neck, and the bridge has some honk to it that the Seths doesn't have out of the box.

You should be aware that you cannot order aged covers without Ants. So if you ever want to resell it might be better to get the aged covers and put on unaged covers yourself, keeping the aged ones in a drawer.

Or fill your trunk with gravel, put the guitar in, and drive around for a month :)
 
Re: Gibson ES 339 : Revisited

I've never wanted to sell a Duncan! I still have my old APS1 that were in my strat before I got the ants, in a drawer somewhere. Those things look almost as corroded as the ants do.

As far as the Antiquities vs Seth, the Ants have simulated aged magnets as well, so it's more than just the look of wear, it's also the sound of an old pickup. But, what really gets me about them is that each pickup has a different number of winds to it. No two are exactly alike. If there was a non aged pickup like this, I think I'd get those.

Perhaps I am over thinking it.
 
Re: Gibson ES 339 : Revisited

I have a 339.

I've had it for a few years.

I am not the original owner. The original owner put different pickups in it.

It has never - not once - occurred to me to change them out. I will - never - change them out.

These are they:

Neck

Bridge
 
Re: Gibson ES 339 : Revisited

Those look nice, I tend to go for matching sets myself. How much does the bridge sound like a 59? I briefly considered those for my 339.
 
Re: Gibson ES 339 : Revisited

jones said:
Those look nice, I tend to go for matching sets myself. How much does the bridge sound like a 59? I briefly considered those for my 339.
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The bridge is a tad hotter and less brittle than the 59. Somewhat more of a high-midrange eq bump. Very hot-PAF-like with that kind of hollow clunk that some of the old PAFs have.
 
Re: Gibson ES 339 : Revisited

If you want the Antiquities, but don't like the way they look, you can simply replace the covers and screws. That said, I'm not really sure I wouldn't just get Seths instead.
 
Re: Gibson ES 339 : Revisited

Yeah, stop over thinking it. Buy a set of Seth Lovers.

seth-lover-01.jpg
 
Re: Gibson ES 339 : Revisited

sosomething said:
I have a 339.

I've had it for a few years.

I am not the original owner. The original owner put different pickups in it.

It has never - not once - occurred to me to change them out. I will - never - change them out.

These are they:

Neck

Bridge
Click to expand...

Those are alnico 2 pickups. I'd probably like them.

My favorite humbuckers are also alnico 2 pickups.

I can squeeze the notes out more easily with alnico 2 and the treble is sweeter.

I have a set of alnico 2 Tom Holmes humbuckers with nickel covers in my ES-335 and the Duncans that are closest would be alnico 2 Antiquity, Seth Lover or Pearly Gates with nickel covers.

They're all great, but I tend to favor the Pearly Gates.
 
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Re: Gibson ES 339 : Revisited

Lewguitar said:
Those are alnico 2 pickups. I'd probably like them.

My favorite humbuckers are also alnico 2 pickups.

I can squeeze the notes out more easily with alnico 2 and the treble is sweeter.

I have a set of alnico 2 Tom Holmes humbuckers with nickel covers in my ES-335 and the Duncans that are closest would be alnico 2 Antiquity, Seth Lover or Pearly Gates with nickel covers.

They're all great, but I tend to favor the Pearly Gates.
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The bridge pickup (Marshallhead) is A5, actually, but I still think you'd like it. :) the top end is very musical and sweet - not brittle like A5 can sound sometimes.
 
Re: Gibson ES 339 : Revisited

In a blind taste test, you will hear the difference between Seth's and ants. Buy one or the other and you'll be happy...
 
Re: Gibson ES 339 : Revisited

Thanks for the input. Still can't make up my mind though! Kinda leaning ants I guess, but only just. I may just have to get another 339. Ha! Either way I'll like the guitar even more afterwards, of that much I'm sure.
 
Re: Gibson ES 339 : Revisited

I love the Seths, and the Ants...but I also love the Classic '57s in my 335s.

And one of my other favs is the Gibson Burstbucker 1 & 2 sets in my Les Paul Historics. I have heard these in a friend's 335, and I was impressed at the change in character. If the Classic 57s are smooth jazz, the Burstbuckers are more rock and rockabilly. The 57s sound like they have a blanket over them in comparison.

For classic rock, blues, jazz, country...I really don't think you can go wrong with any of them.

Bill
 
Re: Gibson ES 339 : Revisited

jones said:
Oh man, no comments? Perhaps my situation isn't very compelling. Anyone simply have a preference of pickup in semi hollows in general then? If so, what and why?
Click to expand...

59's in hollowbodies are my go to's for blues. Other than that, I use Distortions for when I play metal, and that's including the hollowbodies.
 
Re: Gibson ES 339 : Revisited

I'll second the idea mentioned above of just getting some Ants and a set of new covers.

The other thing you can do is polish the Ant covers up a bit. I have a set that I just thought were a bit too aged - complete with beer spills and whatever. So I polished them up lightly with some polish to remove the worst of it. Now they look like pickups that have seen the world, but also been looked after a bit more nicely.

Might affect resale value I suppose, but I ain't sellin'.
 
Re: Gibson ES 339 : Revisited

Boogie Bill said:
I love the Seths, and the Ants...but I also love the Classic '57s in my 335s.

And one of my other favs is the Gibson Burstbucker 1 & 2 sets in my Les Paul Historics. I have heard these in a friend's 335, and I was impressed at the change in character. If the Classic 57s are smooth jazz, the Burstbuckers are more rock and rockabilly. The 57s sound like they have a blanket over them in comparison.

For classic rock, blues, jazz, country...I really don't think you can go wrong with any of them.

Bill
Click to expand...

The guitar sounds fantastic as is. I agree, just looking for something different/more. I'm not in a rush, I've even been considering doing the Jimmy Page wiring to it! That raises a whole other set of concerns/choices.
 
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