Meaty PAF pickup for a bright Les Paul

rapaul76

rapaul76

New member
Hi all,

I'm new to the forum and I need some advice. I have a 2014 Gibson Les Paul Studio with a Classic 57 in the neck and a Super 57 in the bridge. The neck pickup is not bad once I dialed in the height correctly (it is going to be replaced down the road). However, I find the bridge pickup really bright and have to dial the tone down to 5-6 to tame the highs. I have already replaced the wiring harness with a new wiring harness with PIO caps/500k pots and played with the pickup heights.

I am looking for a bridge pickup replacement that has more output than the Super 57 but still maintaining the "PAF sound". I'm looking to play everything from blues, classic rock to hard rock. I was thinking about the Custom Custom but wasn't sure how it would sound in a Les Paul. Has anyone here tried this combo?

I have the Slash Alnico Pro II's in another Les Paul and they sound great (this is where the 57's came from). I'm just looking for something with a little more output.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
Re: Meaty PAF pickup for a bright Les Paul

i was gonna say brobucker too. it is the definition of a meaty paf
 
Re: Meaty PAF pickup for a bright Les Paul

A Custom Custom and either a Pearly Gates or Slash in the neck and you should be good to go. Or, before doing that try 300k pots
 
Re: Meaty PAF pickup for a bright Les Paul

Do you like the sound of the pups when you dial back the tone to "5 or 6"?
 
Re: Meaty PAF pickup for a bright Les Paul

+1 to Brobucker

Pearly Gates has some chunk in it but also has sizzle in the top end. I doubt it's too much sizzle for even a bright Les Paul but still, it's not the Brobucker.
 
Re: Meaty PAF pickup for a bright Les Paul

Another hotter PAF i dig is the Rio Grande Barbecue bucker. Its got a nice bit more ooomph and push than a normal PAF without being a distortion pickup.
 
Re: Meaty PAF pickup for a bright Les Paul

From Seymour Duncan, For non custom shop, I have to agree with the WLH bridge, it's got a great chunk to it, a nice growl from the lower midrange, and still good high end and pretty open sounding. I had a brobucker in my 1990 les Paul studio for about 6 months and just couldn't bond with it, it seemed to me to be very midrange focused, and had that vowel sound "wah" that a lot of dimarzio pickups have. It was a great pickup, just not the sound I was after, I sort of like that "kerrrang" or "twang" from the high strings when you hit a chord, and the brobucker seemed to lack that. But, my Les Paul is not real bright, so that may be part of it. I like the dimarzio PAF 36th bridge pickup a lot for my Studio, it seemed more open sounding than the Brobucker, in that guitar. If yours is really bright sounding it might be great!
 
Re: Meaty PAF pickup for a bright Les Paul

Demanic said:
Do you like the sound of the pups when you dial back the tone to "5 or 6"?
Click to expand...

The tone is OK, but seems really thin. The tone control just eliminates some of the highs. I'd also like to add a bit more punch (i.e. power) to the bridge for some harder rock songs.
 
Re: Meaty PAF pickup for a bright Les Paul

Does anyone know how long it takes to order a Brobucker from the Custom Shop (if I can't find a used one online)?
 
Re: Meaty PAF pickup for a bright Les Paul

Anyone have any videos or links to soundcloud so I can hear a Brobucker. I can't find any (or I'm completely inept at finding one).

Thanks
 
Re: Meaty PAF pickup for a bright Les Paul

it sounds thin when you roll back the tone? if anything it should sound fatter
 
Re: Meaty PAF pickup for a bright Les Paul

Aceman said:
Custom/59 hybrid
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Hybrids are brighter than the parent coils. When coils are balanced the 'humbucker effect' adds mids and reduces treble. The more mismatched the coils are, the more single coil-ish tones emerge. '59/Custom coils are very mismatched and also have the alnico with the most treble and least mids. Putting a warm magnet in a '59/Custom would make it a better contender for what the OP wants.
 
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