Pickup upgrade for Epiphone Les Paul (hard rock/metal)

[jeremy]

i have a fender mustang thats 24" as well. its also strung with 13s

 

[Chistopher]

Maybe my first neck I make will be a proper 22" scale Fender style.

 

[Rex_Rocker]

And a lot of Gibson's use a 24 9/16" scale length instead of the advertised 24.75" , especially the historically accurate ones. I don't think Epiphone ever has.

The more I get into guitar making, the more I realize the generalizations people make about guitars line up with some lesser known measurements

I was aware that Gibsons were slightly shorter, but I didn't know which were. I'll take some measurements tonight with my Les Pauls.

 

[Rex_Rocker]

Where are you supposed to measure the scale lenght? I measured from the edge of the nut to the saddle, and it's different on all strings, but on average, it's 24.75 on mine?

 

[MikeS]

Where are you supposed to measure the scale lenght? I measured from the edge of the nut to the saddle, and it's different on all strings, but on average, it's 24.75 on mine?

Measure from the nut to the crown of the 12th fret and double it so you don't factor in any compensation of the saddles and angled TOM.

 

[Rex_Rocker]

Oh, it's 24 9/16 in that case, indeed. I suppose I have my saddles pushed back more because I tune low and I used heavy-ish strings.

 

[MikeS]

I have a BOSS Katana 3 50W.

I've not played a Katana 3, but with modeling amps I'm more concerned with the EQ in my pickups than I am output.

My experience has not been that the JB sounds muffled or that the Custom is flat. When you characterize it as "characterless" I think I understand where you're coming from - it's a very subjective and hard to define term but one that I attribute to a lot of ceramic pickups (ironically, I've always thought the Custom was far from the worst offenders).

I'm still going to put in a plug for the 59 Custom Hybrid. It has a very mild scoop, some of that warmth from the 59 and some of that brighter top end from the Custom series. It's capable of a wide range of styles, and with a modeling amp I'm not at all concerned about a slightly lower (but still above vintage) output.

 

[weepingminotaur]

Agreed. The BW also responds very well to the VOL knob; rolling it back gives you a more classic vibe.

Absolutely, and I should have mentioned that. It's eminently usable even when the volume knob isn't at max.