Man I just love the Pearly Gates Plus

Re: Man I just love the Pearly Gates Plus

I just dug into old posts, and yes, the weird thing I was remembering about the spacing is that they were NOT trem spaced, while you would think that they *should* have been.

So, PG+ are: A5, slightly overwound, non trem spaced. They were designed to work with two Fender Texas Specials.
 
Re: Man I just love the Pearly Gates Plus

They also went into the Big Apple Strat, which was HH. I don't remember now what was in the neck, but I want to say it was a 59'; and it had 5 way switching.
 
Re: Man I just love the Pearly Gates Plus

Speaking about the OEM/black back '59, I've found this 4-conductor version interesting: its bass is not boomy as regular '59 in neck position. I'm actually happy with this PGP - '59 set in my LP.
 
Re: Man I just love the Pearly Gates Plus

A great bridge pickup. Nails blues tones and with the right amp it's easy to land in EVH-land, too. Just an outstanding, musical humbucker that cuts through without being overbearing or ugly about it.
 
Re: Man I just love the Pearly Gates Plus

Jeff_H said:
They also went into the Big Apple Strat, which was HH. I don't remember now what was in the neck, but I want to say it was a 59'; and it had 5 way switching.
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The Big Apple and its successor, the American Series Double Fat Strat, had a Pearly Gates Plus in the bridge slot and a "Custom 59" at the neck.
 
Re: Man I just love the Pearly Gates Plus

Since it was made for Fender by Duncan for use in Stats, I used to think it was spaced wider than a regular Duncan, but someone in a post on the Forum said that The PG+ is the same as a normal Duncan. They don't make different models for neck and bridge, so that's probably correct. Some Strats, older Mexican Standards and some American models, have regular 2 1/16" string spacing anyway on the trem units, so maybe they only used it on those models.
Al
 
Re: Man I just love the Pearly Gates Plus

I thought the PG was modeled after the pickups in Billy Gibbons’ Les Paul...
 
Re: Man I just love the Pearly Gates Plus

Zombiwoof said:
Since it was made for Fender by Duncan for use in Stats, I used to think it was spaced wider than a regular Duncan, but someone in a post on the Forum said that The PG+ is the same as a normal Duncan. They don't make different models for neck and bridge, so that's probably correct. Some Strats, older Mexican Standards and some American models, have regular 2 1/16" string spacing anyway on the trem units, so maybe they only used it on those models.
Al
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The one I have right here is 1 15/16' a tad light center to center on screws
 
Re: Man I just love the Pearly Gates Plus

Gtrjunior said:
I thought the PG was modeled after the pickups in Billy Gibbons’ Les Paul...
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Thats unofficial I guess, that way we dont have to pay extra at least just like the WLH or Demon
 
Re: Man I just love the Pearly Gates Plus

Remember - a 25 1/2 scale poplar/ash Strat is a different beast than a 24 3/4 Mahogany Les Paul too.
 
Re: Man I just love the Pearly Gates Plus

Inkstained said:
The Big Apple and its successor, the American Series Double Fat Strat, had a Pearly Gates Plus in the bridge slot and a "Custom 59" at the neck.
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Custom 59 meaning reverse polarity to play nice with the pgp when split coil combined
 
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Re: Man I just love the Pearly Gates Plus

Mark Cearlock said:
Custom 59 meaning rwrp to play nice with the pgp when split coil combined
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I have that big apple strat HH setup in 4 of my strats along with a switchable treble bleed, it is amazing how quacky and stratty sounds you can get with HH, who needs single coils anyways........I also run the PGP and 59 reverse polarity in an old 76 ibanez les paul with a maple neck and they sound amazing in that guitar, the middle position is pretty amazing too. Ive had everthing from super 70, invader,jb,59/cust and really old 59 in this guitar and the PGP sounds the best so far.eKo9pO.jpg
 
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Re: Man I just love the Pearly Gates Plus

Gtrjunior said:
I thought the PG was modeled after the pickups in Billy Gibbons’ Les Paul...
Click to expand...


It was. Billy wanted his other LP's and other guitars to sound like the real 59' Pearly Gates LP, so Seymour delivered. If I remember the timeline, it was 1979 or 1980 when it was developed and released. It's my opinion that, since BG wanted this pickup to make his other guitars sound more like the original PG, the PG pickups works so well in so many guitars, and for so many genres.


It's somewhat unfortunate that they used the PG name on the pickup for the Fender Strat. It's caused a lot of confusion over the years. But the properties and differences have been noted well above.
 
Re: Man I just love the Pearly Gates Plus

lazyfinger said:
I have it in a LP copy, and it's true that it's bright in a way that it has no mud. It's the anti-mud PAF/humbucker, but not cold, sterile or Hi-Fi sounding. Just warm and sweet. And personally I can get some growl back by backing off the tone and volume pot, and increase the volume on amp. With this pickup, it's really easy to get Back in Black or Achilles Last Stand sort of tones. I may try the PGP on a Fender strat with SSL-2 in the neck.
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Holy humbucker! This pickup continues to surprise me, I put it on the bridge of my Fender Strat and it's... :eek2:

I was impressed with PGP in the LP copy, but in the strat it's just amazing! It's like having 3 guitar tones in 1, I get the HB sound, stratty sound, and surprising amount of tele sound in the skinny strings.
 
Re: Man I just love the Pearly Gates Plus

Jeff_H said:
It's somewhat unfortunate that they used the PG name on the pickup for the Fender Strat. It's caused a lot of confusion over the years. But the properties and differences have been noted well above.
Click to expand...


Some people ditch PGP from their guitars or bash it on internet while others who look for '59 but more or somewhat tighter PG lean towards mag swap or more expensive PAF option. It's been there all along but doesn't get much love. It's unfortunate but ironically enough I like this condition. Their trash is my treasure.

It works well as a neck pickup in 24 frets guitar, btw.
 
Re: Man I just love the Pearly Gates Plus

Yep, an underrated gem. Mine's the factory bridge in a bubinga top Fender Showmaster. One of relatively few non-vintage humbucker guitars in my collection where the pickups remain stock.

 
Re: Man I just love the Pearly Gates Plus

I am curious if the Fender Diamondback Humbucker was an attempt to replace the PG+. I'm not sure of the timeline on Fender's use of the two pickups. I have a Diamondback, and I think it sounds about like my PG, or maybe just like a PGb. It's a fine pickup; I have it in my LP Special.
 
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