Pearly Gates - What's The History??

[Stairway27]

I'm sure this has been probably been discussed before on this Forum, but I'm very curious about the creation and R&D that went into creating the Pearly Gates pickup. They are my new favorite pickup and I literally just bought 3 sets (covered)!

It's billed as "Originally designed as a recreation of the pickups in the '59 Les Paul® Standard that defined the raw, rebellious sound of Texas blues-rock" which I'm sure everyone has assumed to mean Billy Gibbon's Pearly Gates Les Paul.

What songs/albums of ZZ Top was Seymour listening to when he designed these pickups? I believe that most people originally thought all the early ZZ Top guitar parts were done w/ Pearly (e.g. La Grange, Tush, etc.), but Billy has admitted in recent years that a lot of the early stuff was done on a hard tail Strat that was "doubled by Pearly Gates."

If that's the case, is the PG pickup really a humbucking version of a single coil? Maybe, I'm splitting hairs, but I'm really interested in knowing what Seymour was thinking, listening to, etc. when he designed these pickups. They're really great!

 

[FuseG4]

Re: Pearly Gates - What's The History??

I had always thought that they took they guitar, measured and examined the pickups, played the crap outta them, and then went to R&D with ideas for how to copy the exact pickups of the guitar.

I dunno what really happened but that'd be the best way to do it, IMO

 

[ACH91332]

Re: Pearly Gates - What's The History??

From what I understand it's supposed to replicate the tone Billy gets from his '59 Les Paul that he uses for recording. He uses the PG in all his live guitars where as his '59 Les Paul has whatever stock pickups it has in it.

 

[super rad stuff]

Re: Pearly Gates - What's The History??

the pearly gates is supposed to replicate the stock paf pickups in billy's "pearly gates" '59 les paul. obviously it won't make your guitar sound the same but it's close enough for billy

 

[LtKojak]

Re: Pearly Gates - What's The History??

I'm sure this has been probably been discussed before on this Forum, but I'm very curious about the creation and R&D that went into creating the Pearly Gates pickup. They are my new favorite pickup and I literally just bought 3 sets (covered)!

It's billed as "Originally designed as a recreation of the pickups in the '59 Les Paul® Standard that defined the raw, rebellious sound of Texas blues-rock" which I'm sure everyone has assumed to mean Billy Gibbon's Pearly Gates Les Paul.

What songs/albums of ZZ Top was Seymour listening to when he designed these pickups? I believe that most people originally thought all the early ZZ Top guitar parts were done w/ Pearly (e.g. La Grange, Tush, etc.), but Billy has admitted in recent years that a lot of the early stuff was done on a hard tail Strat that was "doubled by Pearly Gates."

If that's the case, is the PG pickup really a humbucking version of a single coil? Maybe, I'm splitting hairs, but I'm really interested in knowing what Seymour was thinking, listening to, etc. when he designed these pickups. They're really great!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Gibbons

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearly_Gates_(guitar))

HTH,

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Pearly Gates - What's The History??

Although the Pearly Gates set is my favorite set of stock Duncan humbuckers, I doubt they are wound exactly like the '58 or '59 pafs in Billy Gibbons' guitar.

For one thing, they are calibrated for the neck and bridge position. The neck Pearly Gates is underwound for a little less output compared to the bridge PG.

That wouldn't have been the case in 1959. Both pickups would have been more or less identical.

I'm not sure when it started but I think Gibson didn't start underwinding the neck pickup to create a dedicated neck humbucker in pickup sets until maybe the late 70's or early 1980's.

Lew

 

[jeremy]

Re: Pearly Gates - What's The History??

when watching old footage of billy playing pearly its almost always on the bridge pup and i think the bridge pg is damn near perfect for zz top tones

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Pearly Gates - What's The History??

when watching old footage of billy playing pearly its almost always on the bridge pup and i think the bridge pg is damn near perfect for zz top tones

Yes. I've always felt the bridge PG probably is the one wound identically to the pickup in Billy Gibbon's guitar. And that the neck PG is an underwound version of that pickup that would not be exactly like the neck pickup in BG's guitar.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Pearly Gates - What's The History??

i would guess you are correct. but i think that you and i would both agree that the duncan pearly gates neck pup is a great pup, one of the best neck humbuckers ive played.

 

[Seth Lover FAN]

Re: Pearly Gates - What's The History??

I have seen PAF's (pre-winding counter auto stop thingy they put on in 1960) that are as low as 7.84 Ohms and as high as 8.5 and folks who use those old Gibsons live almost always switch the higher output PU to the bridge slot ......
plus, the folks who keep a dozen or so PAF's in a box around tend to put together sets that have stronger PU's in the bridge
I have never seen any info that suggests Billy's Burst was never unsoildered. let alone have the same PAF's in it as it did from the factory ....... In fact, if your smart, one would sift thru a few PAF's to find the right ones for the particular LP in question ...they all sound alittle different jusy like the pick-ups

 

[dr.barlo]

Re: Pearly Gates - What's The History??

https://forum.seymourduncan.com/showthread.php?t=66010&highlight=pearly+gates+cheap+sunglasses

https://forum.seymourduncan.com/showthread.php?t=12589&highlight=gibbons

B

 

[dr.barlo]

Re: Pearly Gates - What's The History??

I love my 8.00K PGb! One of the best neck PAF clones that I have seen.



I, too, think that PGn's should be a bit hotter. ~7.70K or so... The hottest one that I had was 7.30... Maybe it was my bad luck.

Another great PG that I had was a custom shop 8.35K one. I lent it to a close friend of mine after getting a brobucker. Yet, it sure is a great LP bridge pickup. These two (the 8.35K and 8.00K) were to die for in my R7.

I am a big fan of PGs.

B

 

[jeremy]

Re: Pearly Gates - What's The History??

i actually like the lower dc of the pgn, i think it balances better with the pgb.

 

[SFW]

Re: Pearly Gates - What's The History??

History or not, the PG set is my favorite PAF style pickup. In a Les Paul, there is no finer pickup, IMHO.

 

[Aceman]

Re: Pearly Gates - What's The History??

While intesting, I'm in the who cares camp. They are AMAZING IMO. My go to neck LP pup. and what Lew said

 

[BloodRose]

Re: Pearly Gates - What's The History??

alittle side bar..
I normally run 59b models in my neck position to give alittle more cream to my tone. How would a PGb work in the neck? for those who are saying it could use alil more...

 

[ACH91332]

Re: Pearly Gates - What's The History??

I used to use a PGn5 in my neck. I don't really remember sorry haha but I kept it in there a long time before I went with a PAF Joe. I just prefer really bright tones in the neck. The PGn5 was bright while being round and warm.

I think if you used the regular PGn with the A2 it will be warmer than the 59n. I have never used the 59n but based on what I've heard this is what I think. It's kind of like the A2P but with more presence.

 

[FuelGTRX]

Re: Pearly Gates - What's The History??

What's funny is that even though the PG was designed with Les Pauls in mind, I like them WAY more in strats

 

[JOLLY]

Re: Pearly Gates - What's The History??

They're some of my favorites. They sound awesome in the Les Paul I have them in.

 

[LtKojak]

Re: Pearly Gates - What's The History??

I, too, think that PGn's should be a bit hotter. ~7.70K or so... The hottest one that I had was 7.30... Maybe it was my bad luck.

On the contrary, they're precisely up to spec. Adding winds would kill that "Texas Sizzle" the PGs are famous for.

Any PAFish HB neck p'up should range from 7.15K to 7.35K. And up to 7.68K if they're mimicking T-Tops. Any more turns just take away the "sizzle".

I LOVE "sizzle"! :cool2: