Never knew a set of 59's were this good!!!

[LesPaulRules]

Just removed a JB/Jazz set from a Gibson Les Paul Elegant. They sounded real good, but always thought the JB lacked a little clarity, while the Jazz lacked some warmth.

Soldered some nickel covers to a matched set of 59's, then popped them in the guitar, using some new CTS 500K pots.... WOW, this guitar now sounds like a cross between Jimmy Page "Since I've Been Loving You" and Early Billy Gibbons/ZZ Top. I can't get over how clear and warm these pickups are. The notes of a chord with full on distortion can actually be heard. For kicks, I then used a Tube Screamer, and was in Gary Moore territory. Why was I using hi-output pickups all these years?

I guess the JB/Jazz combo now gets a long rest in the old parts drawer

 

[Artie]

Re: Never knew a set of 59's were this good!!!

Yup . . . my 59's are one of my favorite sets. Although, I use 250k pots to "tame" them a bit.
Its classic Duncan tone.

Artie

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Never knew a set of 59's were this good!!!

Yup . . . my 59's are one of my favorite sets. Although, I use 250k pots to "tame" them a bit.
Its classic Duncan tone.

Artie

The 59, especially the 59B and 59B Trembucker, is such an under appreciated pickup! I use it in more guitars than any other humbucker. To me, it has the tone that started the whole "Les Paul through a Marshall" craze 35+ years ago. Reminds me of Eric Clapton with Cream and that's my very favorite humbucker tone to this day. Lew

 

[twoheadedboy]

Re: Never knew a set of 59's were this good!!!

With '59s, it all depends on the guitar. In fat sounding guitars, they are amazing. In thin sounding guitars, they make me want to die. I really liked the set I had in a les paul once. When I first got them, I thought they sounded a little too tight and articulate overall. Just a LITTLE bit too hi-fi. I used a classic trick to remedy that problem. I took the pickups out of the nickel covers and carefully hit the top of the bobbins on a piece of wood a number of times. I wouldn't recommend this because if you aren't careful, you can bust the coils. This has a two-fold effect. 1st, it loosens the wax potting from the outside of the coils, giving them a bit more of that 3D unpotted vibe (BUT, it makes them more likely to feedback). 2nd, it allows the coil windings to loosen and space out a tiny little bit. This softens the bottom and top end a little bit.

 

[walt]

Re: Never knew a set of 59's were this good!!!

I've played JBs, Customs, CCs, C5s, Distortions in the past and have found the 59s (both are bridge models in the neck and bridge) in my strat kick major butt!! I can get almost any type of tone from them and they seem to keep their clairity more so than the forementioned pickups.

 

[lescarr]

Re: Never knew a set of 59's were this good!!!

I was thinking about 59's for my Elitist 335 RI but I felt they might be too powerful for a semihollow body "body resonsnce" i think my guitar teacher who's p;ayed for years likes them but he plays solid body almost exclusively .

 

[Surgeon]

Re: Never knew a set of 59's were this good!!!

I use a '59 set in my '335 copy and the tone is just to die for... seriously, this set in a hollow-body is just amazing. Yes, you can put some ants or seths in there but I just looove the tone of the '59s in semi-hollow guitars... Plus, look at the price/tone ratio there... it's probably the most wide produced duncan (along with the jb), super easy to find used, and yet underrated... great pick-up set indeed and, IMO, they sound better used as a set...

 

[ErikH]

Re: Never knew a set of 59's were this good!!!

I haven't tried a full size 59 in a long time but I do love the Little 59 in the bridge of my Strat. It goes from clean to mean real fast.

 

[madguitar26]

Re: Never knew a set of 59's were this good!!!

i hate to admit it but you guys are right.
i had a 59 on a very thin bodied washbrurn idol and it sucked on the dirty channel.
then i played and epi LP standard with the 59 in the neck again and it was as fat as hell.
MAJOR DIFFERENCE

 

[saladin]

Re: Never knew a set of 59's were this good!!!

I have a set in my #1 Tele and they are staying! Great sounding pickups.

 

[gripweed]

Re: Never knew a set of 59's were this good!!!

Yup . . . my 59's are one of my favorite sets. Although, I use 250k pots to "tame" them a bit.
Its classic Duncan tone.

Artie

Artie, do the '59's still get that chimey tone that I love with the 250k pots? The highs in my Paul need a little taming, but I don't want to lose that chime!

 

[Artie]

Re: Never knew a set of 59's were this good!!!

Hmmm . . . to be honest, I would never use the word "chimey" to describe the tone from my 59's. The high-end, though, had an "edge" to it that is now smoothed out with the 250's. Its a subtle change.

Also, I use my own "de-mud" mod on the neck pup. Its a 500k resistor in parallel with a .001uf orange drop, in series with the red and white wires. Works great. I use it on my neck Distortion also.

Artie

 

[Surgeon]

Re: Never knew a set of 59's were this good!!!

Artie, do the '59's still get that chimey tone that I love with the 250k pots? The highs in my Paul need a little taming, but I don't want to lose that chime!

Why not just roll the tone pot down a bit? That's what I do with my PGb in the ec-1000 for rythm work....

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Never knew a set of 59's were this good!!!

The 59 has one of the best voices out of all the pickups out there. I think it's been around so long that people overlook it sometimes. If you're a player that goes between clean and gain a lot, the 59 is great because it's so balanced sounding.

Personally, I think Fender should have used it with their Fat 50 neck and middle for all their HSS guitars. PG/Texas Specials wouldn't have been my choice.

 

[ErikH]

Re: Never knew a set of 59's were this good!!!

The 59 has one of the best voices out of all the pickups out there. I think it's been around so long that people overlook it sometimes. If you're a player that goes between clean and gain a lot, the 59 is great because it's so balanced sounding.

Personally, I think Fender should have used it with their Fat 50 neck and middle for all their HSS guitars. PG/Texas Specials wouldn't have been my choice.

Good point. One thing I love about it in my Strat, even though it's the Little '59, is that I can go from mild blues, or even country, to all out screaming rock and metal with a touch of the volume knob. The TBX tone control works great with it.

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: Never knew a set of 59's were this good!!!

Personally, I think Fender should have used it with their Fat 50 neck and middle for all their HSS guitars. PG/Texas Specials wouldn't have been my choice.

Mine either. I prefer an SSS or sometimes an SSH Strat (neck humbucker) but don't usually go for an HSS. But if I did, I would prefer a 59 over a PG though if the Strat was typically thin-sounding, I'd prefer a Seth or Fralin over a 59.

I'm not generally a fan of the 59 because of the mid-scoop but I have learned that they have to go in the right guitar, meaning a guitar with midrange to spare, so they probably would sound good in a typical 335.

I replaced some pickups of unknown origin with a set of 59's in a '73 SG for a guy and they really sounded great. It was all-mahogany (as most SG's are) which I'm sure had something to do with it, and to my ear it was an unusually good-sounding hunk of mahogany to begin with. I was really stunned at how good the 59's sounded in it. Lesson: Almost any pickup (assuming decent quality) can sound good if you hook it up with the right piece of wood.

This is what makes me curious about the thread-starter's LP Elegant. I used to own one and played several. They are chambered and you'd think this would add midrange but it actually sucks it out. All of the Elegants I played (including the one I owned) were very thin and bright sounding, albeit in a good way. Almost Tele-like.

So I would think that an LP Elegant would be the very LAST guitar you'd want to put 59's in -- but he's the one who heard his LPE before and after putting in 59's and I didn't, so I'll have to take him at his word.

 

[LesPaulRules]

Re: Never knew a set of 59's were this good!!!

Thanks for all the replies.

Hi Zhangligun, you make an interesting point about many of the chambered Les Paul's can lack midrange. I have played a bunch myself and have found that they are all over the map (goes for the Cloud 9's too). Some were dead sounding, some sounded like the best ES335 ever made, while a few were more solid body sounding. I tend to think that mine is in the middle, as it certainly has some midrange. (One mod that really seemed to change this was to use an aluminum tailpiece with locking studs, then top wrapping the strings.)

I probably would have to disagree with those who think the 59's lack midrange. It's certainly not like a JB, but I do hear some midrange going on there, it's just not overpowering. The only problem I've had was that the 59n (neck position) seemed a little muddy. Lowering the pickup helped quite a bit, though I'm still not sure. This guitar has had a Jazz in the neck for years and I might just be accustomed to that sound. Time will tell...

The '59 in the bridge will never leave!!!

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: Never knew a set of 59's were this good!!!

A Jazz also doesn't have a lot of midrange either, especially low mids, which the 59 does have. So going from a Jazz to a 59 probably would sound like you've beefed up the mids.

The chambering on the Elegant is very different from that on the Cloud 9's or any other chambered Les Paul. They have 2 versions -- the one with the 3 extra chambers forming sort of a square with the control cavity (the original Elegant design which I had -- a '97 with the Custom Shop wreath on the headstock) and the other with one large chamber under the pickups.

I've tried both and they both seem to lack those mids. But then again, as I've said many times, every piece of wood is different -- so you could have an Elegant made out of a hunk of mahogany that is so mid-rangey that chambering it just makes it sound like a normal LP.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Never knew a set of 59's were this good!!!

I replaced some pickups of unknown origin with a set of 59's in a '73 SG for a guy and they really sounded great. It was all-mahogany (as most SG's are) which I'm sure had something to do with it, and to my ear it was an unusually good-sounding hunk of mahogany to begin with. I was really stunned at how good the 59's sounded in it. Lesson: Almost any pickup (assuming decent quality) can sound good if you hook it up with the right piece of wood.

I think 59's are the PERFECT pickup for an SG. The big but tight bass of the 59 as well as the midrange contour and treble of the 59, is the perfect compliment to the somewhat twangy, midrangey tone of an SG. They both, the 59 pickups and the SG guitar, bring out the best in each other I think.

 

[Big Mike Blues]

Re: Never knew a set of 59's were this good!!!

I think 59's are the PERFECT pickup for an SG. The big but tight bass of the 59 as well as the midrange contour and treble of the 59, is the perfect compliment to the somewhat and twangy, midrangey tone of an SG. They both, the 59 pickups and the SG guitar, bring out the best in each other I think.

That makes a lot of sense in my guitar. I have a PRS Standard 24 that I could never hit the right balance with. The stock HFS/VB were TERRIBLE and then went to PRS Artist (better) Dragon 2's(better yet) Uncovered Dragon 2 (Step backwards) Alnico II/JB (much closer). and finally a set of 4 conductor 59's. The stratty positions on the 5 way are great, and both the lead and neck tones are killer. I have the sweet switch installed, to tame some high end for rhythm. It's a great setup. Been doing less with pedals since I used them.

I think the 59's are a great match for the solid mahogany bodied guitars.