Pickups for '78 Gibson "The Paul"

If6Was9

If6Was9

New member
I have a 1978 Gibson "The Paul" guitar.

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The body and neck are made of walnut and it has an ebony fretboard. I have replace the stock vol/tone controls (300k/100k) to all 500k and replace the caps to PIO 0.015 neck, 0.022 bridge. It has the original "T-Top" pickups which I'm considering replacing, but I'm confused by the number of choices available.

Does anyone here know what would be a good choice to work well with a guitar made of walnut? I have been leaning towards pearly gates or maybe '59, would these be good choices?

I play mostly classic rock and blues.

Thanks,
Joe
 
Re: Pickups for '78 Gibson "The Paul"

Thanks Empty Pockets for responding to my first post here. I have been leaning toward a PG in the bridge and maybe a Jazz in the neck.

I got this guitar new when I was 18 and just love how well it plays. The sound really improved after the vol/tone/cap upgrade, but now I'm itching to do more.
 
Re: Pickups for '78 Gibson "The Paul"

If6Was9 said:
Thanks Empty Pockets for responding to my first post here. I have been leaning toward a PG in the bridge and maybe a Jazz in the neck.

I got this guitar new when I was 18 and just love how well it plays. The sound really improved after the vol/tone/cap upgrade, but now I'm itching to do more.
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Given my experience with walnut "the paul"'s, I worry that those two pickups might be bright or harsh sounding. All "the pauls" I've played have sounded a little harsh and brittle. They're very cool guitars though.
 
Re: Pickups for '78 Gibson "The Paul"

I think a Pearly would sound good in that guitar, maybe even a screamin demon (its not as hot as you would think!) its only alittle bit hotter than a 59... and for the neck, definitely a jazz !
 
Re: Pickups for '78 Gibson "The Paul"

theboatcandream said:
Given my experience with walnut "the paul"'s, I worry that those two pickups might be bright or harsh sounding. All "the pauls" I've played have sounded a little harsh and brittle. They're very cool guitars though.
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Thanks for your insight, I have been told before that walnut is a "brighter" sounding wood, but again my experience about this is low and I'm lost as to what pickups would sound good. Could you recommend a pickup combination that, in your opinion, would not be bright or harsh sounding?
 
Re: Pickups for '78 Gibson "The Paul"

Invader09 said:
I think a Pearly would sound good in that guitar, maybe even a screamin demon (its not as hot as you would think!) its only alittle bit hotter than a 59... and for the neck, definitely a jazz !
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Screamin' Demon? Had not considered it, but will look to see if you tube has any demos of it.

Thanks,
 
Re: Pickups for '78 Gibson "The Paul"

If6Was9 said:
Thanks for your insight, I have been told before that walnut is a "brighter" sounding wood, but again my experience about this is low and I'm lost as to what pickups would sound good. Could you recommend a pickup combination that, in your opinion, would not be bright or harsh sounding?
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Alnico Pro II for sure. But if anyone disagrees with me on any of this, take their word over mine.
 
Re: Pickups for '78 Gibson "The Paul"

Funny that i read about this guitar some weeks before. The guy was regretting about changing and selling these particular 70ies T-Top pickups. He tried to get a hold of them again.
I recommend first changing pots and caps like you suggested and then evalute the pickups again. I will have more volume and bite with this guitar after the change. You maybe want more beef in the bridge, but this could be achieved with a mag swap, too. Be open to the new sound of your guitar and then go on if necessary.

One more caveat: The changing of the bridge volume to 500k could be a little over the top. Some guys like a 300k volume in the bridge. But the 100k and the 300k in neck have to go!
 
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Re: Pickups for '78 Gibson "The Paul"

^ What he said.
But if after doing that and I still wasn't satisfied,I'd put a set of alnico II's in it.
 
Re: Pickups for '78 Gibson "The Paul"

hamerfan said:
Funny that i read about this guitar some weeks before. The guy was regretting about changing and selling these particular 70ies T-Top pickups. He tried to get a hold of them again.
I recommend first changing pots and caps like you suggested and then evalute the pickups again. I will have more volume and bite with this guitar after the change. You maybe want more beef in the bridge, but this could be achieved with a mag swap, too. Be open to the new sound of your guitar and then go on if necessary.

One more caveat: The changing of the bridge volume to 500k could be a little over the top. Some guys like a 300k volume in the bridge. But the 100k and the 300k in neck have to go!
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I have already changed out the vol/tone pots and also installed PIO caps. And yes it make a big difference (in a positive way) in the sound of the guitar. I'm just at a point of wanting to try some new pickups since I've had these for 30 years. I would never get rid of the t-tops, they'll just migrate to a Epiphone SG copy.
 
Re: Pickups for '78 Gibson "The Paul"

Hey Joe! (<= thinly veiled Hendrix riff...)

theboatcandream said:
Given my experience with walnut "the paul"'s, I worry that those two pickups might be bright or harsh sounding. All "the pauls" I've played have sounded a little harsh and brittle. They're very cool guitars though.
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theboatcandream said:
Alnico Pro II for sure. But if anyone disagrees with me on any of this, take their word over mine.
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The boat is right on here. Walnut is a bright wood, ebony board adds more bright and snap, and the thin body pushes the mids up a little higher than the typical low-mids boost of an LP. Then 500k pots? All of that spells DISASTER for PG's (which I totally love!) unless you want a guitar that can cut through steel.

No Jazz or Demons either. Well, maybe a demon - but I'm not feeling it.

The A2P's will have a really nice sound in there IMO. 59's might be really well balanced in there too.

What do you want to play on it? And do you want normal/high output or are you ok with a matched pup set?

I love those guitars! And for what it's worth, T-Tops, like all things from the Norlin years of Gibson are highly variable. I have one in the neck of my 79 LP standard that is not for sale now or ever. Slash would want it badly, but I'm not selling it. The bridge pup - whatever, it just got old and tired.
 
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Re: Pickups for '78 Gibson "The Paul"

Aceman said:
Hey Joe! (<= thinly veiled Hendrix riff...)
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Hey Aceman,

Thank you for the info and comments. I'm defiantly leaning towards the Alnico II Pro's , based on your comments and others who have chimed in on my thread. I had not considered them before, but that's why I asked. I did a search on You Tube earlier this evening for the Alnico II Pro's and am headed back there to check out some more.

Thanks again,
Joe
 
Re: Pickups for '78 Gibson "The Paul"

I had one of those in the mid 80a but I sold it to finance the purchase of a 71 Deluxe.

I am more of a Pearly Gates man myself and the PGn is my favorite neck pickup hands down but the APH-IIs are also a solid choice.
 
Re: Pickups for '78 Gibson "The Paul"

Remember - the AP2 is way more than the Slash sound.
 
Re: Pickups for '78 Gibson "The Paul"

What about the Custom Custom? Would this pup be too over the top? The description says that it works for "bright" sounding guitars and I won't mind a little higher output bridge pup. Maybe a CC in the bridge and a Alnico II Pro in the neck?

Also, would pickups like Pearly Gates, '59, or Jazz work if I changed the 500k vol/tone pots to 300k?

Thanks,
Joe
 
Re: Pickups for '78 Gibson "The Paul"

Peraly Gates with 300K would work, shouldn't have aa problem. And the Jazz neck with a 500 K would be fine IMO.
 
Re: Pickups for '78 Gibson "The Paul"

If6Was9 said:
What about the Custom Custom? Would this pup be too over the top? The description says that it works for "bright" sounding guitars and I won't mind a little higher output bridge pup. Maybe a CC in the bridge and a Alnico II Pro in the neck?

Also, would pickups like Pearly Gates, '59, or Jazz work if I changed the 500k vol/tone pots to 300k?

Thanks,
Joe
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An A2P/CC set might be really good. It would have really smooth highs.

I'm trying to think about how the mids would sound from that. CC has a monster mid boost.
 
Re: Pickups for '78 Gibson "The Paul"

In that kind of guitar I'd put a Seth Lover set, and I'd mod'em putting an A4 magnet in the neck p'ups and an A8 in the bridge.

The magnets that Wymore sells are very good sounding. I'd start there.

HTH,
 
Re: Pickups for '78 Gibson "The Paul"

Thanks for the additional comments, looks like most of the recommendations lean towards the Alnico II Pro's and I'm starting to get a good feeling that this is the way to go.

However, I'm intrigued by the idea of magnet swapping. The T-Tops that are in the guitar now have about 7.3K output with Alnico 5 magnets. How would changing out these magnets affect the sound? The bridge pickup now is very bright, very little bass, what magnet would give it more bass and less highs? Or the fact that it is a 'low' output pickup not make it a good candidate for a magnet swap?
 
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