Just put some 59's in my PRS McCarty

[Dills]

I have to say they are no where near as bright as everyone seems to say they are. Very nicely balanced pickups.

The neck pup at first was a little woofy in the bass but i lowered it and it sounds alot better, i've noticed an increase in sustain which is good.
The pickups seem to "breath" more than the original McCarty pickups which sounded a bit more compressed. They make the guitar sound very thick but with enough bite, there is definetly plenty of mids and the sound is not as scooped in the mids as i expected especially in the bridge.

The neck pickup reminds of early cream/clapton albums i.e sunshine of your love, and the bridge pickup is close to AC/DC tones but a bit thicker due to the thicker body. I'm still yet to warm up to them but they should provide lots of playing time ahead,.

Overall very happy with the pup change and would highly recommend for a les paul mahogany/maple type guitar.

 

[TheArchitect]

Re: Just put some 59's in my PRS McCarty

59n / PGn works even better imo. The PGn solves the wolfy neck position issue.

 

[BluesGuyJ]

Re: Just put some 59's in my PRS McCarty

I've been thinking about putting a 59n in my McCarty instead of the PGn that is in there right now. Curious if the woofy tone of the 59 will pull of a thicker and more sustainful tone. Also may change my Custom to a C5.

 

[TheArchitect]

Re: Just put some 59's in my PRS McCarty

I've been thinking about putting a 59n in my McCarty instead of the PGn that is in there right now. Curious if the woofy tone of the 59 will pull of a thicker and more sustainful tone. Also may change my Custom to a C5.

THicker perhaps, but it wont affect sustain

 

[eggman]

Re: Just put some 59's in my PRS McCarty

Howdy,

I'm glad you like the '59s. I've got a set in my ES-335 and like them. Like you, I find the neck P/U a bit boomy, but that's probably the nature of the beast. Afterall, I'm after vintage tone, warts and all.

Eggman

PS: I agree also that the bridge is fantastic.

 

[EFK]

Re: Just put some 59's in my PRS McCarty

"I have to say they are no where near as bright as everyone seems to say they are."

You can say that again. I think the 59s are the PERFECT representation of a A5 PAF or an early Patent #. Spot-on. Those pickups are *supposed* to be bright! Listen to some of Bloomfield's stuff - it's quite bright. Clapton's tone is not really a great representation of unadultered paf or patent tone as he was obviously working the tone knob. So was Duane Allman, using Marshall bass heads. I think the reason many folks think of these as bright is they're comparing them to recordings wherein the tone was being rolled down and so one then expects the guitar w/ tone and volume on 10 to sound like that. I guess it helps keep a lot of the smaller boutique guys in business (and more power to them!) with many of these specialty pickup sets which appear to be somewhat 'tone-notched' for lack of a better way to put it. I'd personally rather have a very open, bright pickup to use as a base and work the tone and volume (and amp...) knobs from there.

 

[guitfiddle]

Re: Just put some 59's in my PRS McCarty

"I have to say they are no where near as bright as everyone seems to say they are."

You can say that again. I think the 59s are the PERFECT representation of a A5 PAF or an early Patent #. Spot-on. Those pickups are *supposed* to be bright! Listen to some of Bloomfield's stuff - it's quite bright. Clapton's tone is not really a great representation of unadultered paf or patent tone as he was obviously working the tone knob. So was Duane Allman, using Marshall bass heads. I think the reason many folks think of these as bright is they're comparing them to recordings wherein the tone was being rolled down and so one then expects the guitar w/ tone and volume on 10 to sound like that. I guess it helps keep a lot of the smaller boutique guys in business (and more power to them!) with many of these specialty pickup sets which appear to be somewhat 'tone-notched' for lack of a better way to put it. I'd personally rather have a very open, bright pickup to use as a base and work the tone and volume (and amp...) knobs from there.

+1...you can't take away bright that isn't there, but you can roll off high end with that tone knob.

 

[Dills]

Re: Just put some 59's in my PRS McCarty

I've been thinking about putting a 59n in my McCarty instead of the PGn that is in there right now. Curious if the woofy tone of the 59 will pull of a thicker and more sustainful tone. Also may change my Custom to a C5.

I don't think you will notice a big difference in tone, i like it how it sounds thick though but you really need to lower the pickup to get rid of the muddy frequencies. I also have a custom and custom 5 but i much prefer vintage output pickups that roll of clean really well. I like getting the gain from my amp rather than the pickups. I've grown into liking a brighter sound that i can work with the tone knob.