A short story.
Some weeks ago I got a PM from a dutch board for pickup recommendations to go in a les paul. The player experienced some issues with his current guitar, and I already found peculiar that he had those issues on that particular guitar. He found that his new guitar, a les paul custom, sounded mushy and overly warm. I know the previous owner and his playing and his other gear quite well, and he claims, in fact, that that guitar was bright and clear compared to his other LP custom. I know that guitar too, so I can really attest to his statement: that LP custom the guy had who came to me is clear and bright, not warm and punchy.
But ok. He wants more clarity, but not a 'hifi tone'. He is bend on using seymour duncans and he wants low output pickups. So I recommend using the pearly gates B in the bridge and a 59 in the neck. I have had great experiences with the 59 in several guitars. Perhaps that pickup is a bit boomy, but no way you can turn it into a mush.
After he's wired the pickup in, a myriad of problems are bombarded onto me. Too warm, too mushy, not enough output. I find that very hard to believe. Not only are these the exact same issues he's had before with the stock pickups, but a '59 shouldn't be mushy, and a '59 shouldn't have much less output than a PG at all. He thinks it's a short, but that's ofcourse hogwash. If it were a short, there wouldn't be any output at all!
So, I wonder. How much can really be attributed to technique, or the guitar, or the pickups? I have used that set on more than one occasion, and never experienced mushyness. I know the guitar and rig, and they're not 'mushy' either. Is technique really THAT important that it can make a clear pickup mushy and overly middy?
Some weeks ago I got a PM from a dutch board for pickup recommendations to go in a les paul. The player experienced some issues with his current guitar, and I already found peculiar that he had those issues on that particular guitar. He found that his new guitar, a les paul custom, sounded mushy and overly warm. I know the previous owner and his playing and his other gear quite well, and he claims, in fact, that that guitar was bright and clear compared to his other LP custom. I know that guitar too, so I can really attest to his statement: that LP custom the guy had who came to me is clear and bright, not warm and punchy.
But ok. He wants more clarity, but not a 'hifi tone'. He is bend on using seymour duncans and he wants low output pickups. So I recommend using the pearly gates B in the bridge and a 59 in the neck. I have had great experiences with the 59 in several guitars. Perhaps that pickup is a bit boomy, but no way you can turn it into a mush.
After he's wired the pickup in, a myriad of problems are bombarded onto me. Too warm, too mushy, not enough output. I find that very hard to believe. Not only are these the exact same issues he's had before with the stock pickups, but a '59 shouldn't be mushy, and a '59 shouldn't have much less output than a PG at all. He thinks it's a short, but that's ofcourse hogwash. If it were a short, there wouldn't be any output at all!
So, I wonder. How much can really be attributed to technique, or the guitar, or the pickups? I have used that set on more than one occasion, and never experienced mushyness. I know the guitar and rig, and they're not 'mushy' either. Is technique really THAT important that it can make a clear pickup mushy and overly middy?
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