Pickups for a korina explorer

C

camaross427

New member
Hi, i have a Epiphone korina explorer than i am looking to replace the pickups in.
It's a great guitar, and i love it and the pickups are great but i'm looking to take it to that "next level" per say. I have the amp i want,i have the pedals i want and the guitar, so i'm just looking to fine tune it with some good pickups.


So far i have been thinking getting a set of pearly gates, i've heard good things about them, and you can't go wrong with something that has the approval of billy gibbons, but i'm not sure. anyway with no means of testing the pickups before i put them in i want some advice.

I"m looking for a good all around pickup, i want that classic gibson tone, and i want to get my explorer as close to allen collins ( Lynyrd skynyrd guitarist) signature guitar as possible. However i don't want a pickup that's confined to classic and southern rock. I am also a huge 80's metal fan ( iron maiden, queensryche, dokken, ratt, motley crue) etc.

So i'm looking for something that will do both well, i want to be able to have a vintage tone, but still enough power for solo's and 80's metal type stuff.

So is a pg set what i want? or should i look for something else?

Thanks


also, would coil tapping be a possibility with any of these pickups?
 
Re: Pickups for a korina explorer

The PG set should do what you want, provided that your amp has the gain necessary on tap. If you want something a bit tighter, brighter, and louder than the PGb, the SH-5 Custom makes a great partner for a PGn.
 
Re: Pickups for a korina explorer

I've yet to try the PG, but I suspect they may not quite have what you want for those eighties metal tunes.
My personal choice would be a an SH14 custom five and a alnico II pro in the neck.
The SH14 is one of my fav SD pups for the bridge. Had one in my old tokai explorer and you just couldn't beat it for chugging rhythm. With enough gain it was that hetfield kinda sound. Back off the gain and you're in seventies hard rock heaven.
Damn I want another explorer now :)
 
Re: Pickups for a korina explorer

The 59 or pearly gates either 1 will get you there, Allen didn`t play with alot of overdrive so either 1 will give a good full sound .
 
Re: Pickups for a korina explorer

i would go for the custom 5 in the bridge or maybe even a custom. a pearly gates with a5 mag may get you there too.

and as far as southern rock and 80's metal goes. see what gear molly hatchet used over the years. i know they were never 80's metal but the guitars did have some 80's high gain tone later on



edit
oh yea i know a lot of people say this but maybe the custom 8 would be a good choice. i bet it would do killer with a pearly gates neck.
from what i hear it kills with 80's metal and is also a fine pickup for blues so it would probably do good for southern rock too
 
Last edited:
Re: Pickups for a korina explorer

If you go for an 80's metal pickup (custom series, JB, distortion) then to get more classic tones you could use a push/pull pot to either split the coils or run them in parallel. The latter will give a thinner more dynamic tone which will do well for older southern rock.
 
Re: Pickups for a korina explorer

Yeah, Im gonna be one of those that recommend the Custom 8. It covers ALOT of ground.. It does 80s great, blues, and more.. Its what I use in my Explorer. It retains the guitar's tone too.. Now I will admit I dont have much experience with the PG, but from what I know, its gonna be less output and much have more high end..
What are you running for amp?
 
Re: Pickups for a korina explorer

I'm going to say Custom Custom and either a PG neck or an APH II neck if you want smoother, less grainy lead tones.....sweeter is a good word. The CC isn't nearly as hot as it sounds and the lows are not as flubby as some will say....but nowhere near as tight as a Custom. The CC does nice cleans, good 80's metal and 70's rock really well. The APH will do anything you want and handles gain very well.

I have that set in a really heavy double fat strat and I think it rules. If you want to listen to it, click on my soundclips and listen to Heavens Door and All Right Now. Heavens Door is CC for crunch during the chorus and APH for cleans and leads. All Right Now is all CC all the time.

Just something slightly different to consider that I find to work well for me.
 
Re: Pickups for a korina explorer

PGs will serve you well IMO. If you throw a CC in the bridge you'll get more of a low mid hump and have a bit more oomph.

Luke
 
Re: Pickups for a korina explorer

I'm going in the opposite direction here and say keep the pickups you have, since they're giving you the basic tones you're looking for, but set up a gain-boost pedal that gives the extra gain you're looking for.

As for the 80s Metal tones, Dave Murray/Adrian Smith used DiMarzios from Number up to Powerslave, and stock Gibson/Fender before that. They switched to Duncans sometime in the last 10-15 years.

'Ryche used DiMarzios, IIRC, and RATT used Duncans (Warren used the Custom and JB, and Crosby used Holdsworths almost exclusively, which is basically a JB with an A2 and 2 rows of screws).
Mick Mars used Gibsons (in his LP) and I think the JB in his Kramers and BC Rich.


Mostly the difference between these bands' tones is also what made them similar - they used the JCM800, which, while always having it's own tone, sounds as different depending on who's playing through it as any guitar ever could.
 
Re: Pickups for a korina explorer

thanks guys so far for the help!!

My amp is a bugera 1990, 120 watt all tube stack, ( as far as tone, think marshall jcm800/900) you know that typical marshall sound...


so i guess i have a lot to look at, so either the alternative 8, the pg, or the custom custom. I have heard good things about the 78 but isn't that a pretty expensive pickup?
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top