Recommend me a bridge pickup for Gibson Flying-V

[brendan1]

I have a Gibson Flying-V ´68 reissue with Gibson 500T pickups (like this one here). I am interested in something a bit more dynamic, but still hot enough for heavier sounds and soloing.
I have a Duncan 59 on one of my Les Pauls, but what I have gathered it is not so suitable for Flying-V which has pretty bright sound. Recommend me a pickup if you have experience switching pickups on vintage-style Flying-V.

 

[eclecticsynergy]

Re: Recommend me a bridge pickup for Gibson Flying-V

Duncan Custom might be a good match for that guitar. It has a ceramic magnet like your 500T but will be more dynamic, less compressed. It also works very well with various Alnico magnets so you would have the opportunity to fine tune it to your taste by installing A2, A5 or A8 mags. A fairly inexpensive way to get the benefit of several different flavors. The Custom will not be quite as loud as the 500T but its sound is plenty big enough for heavy rhythm and it has a great solo voice.

For a bright guitar, the Rio Grande BBQ is a truly excellent bridge pickup. Stronger than vintage, but it responds well to playing dynamics and it cleans up nicely when you roll back the guitar's volume control. Very expressive for a hot pickup. It has a pretty full sounding midrange so there's likely to be less tonal discrepancy with your neck tone- that's worth considering on a guitar with only one tone control. The low end isn't quite as chunky as the Custom but the highs are more transparent. To me the BBQ feels like an extra wild version of a vintage pickup.

Are you planning to replace the stock 496R neck pickup? That one has a ceramic magnet too, fairly uncommon in neck models. Many prefer Alnico mags at the neck; I'm one of them.

 

[blueman335]

Re: Recommend me a bridge pickup for Gibson Flying-V

- Do you like the '59 in your LP?

- What kind of music are you playing?

- You mentioned 'vintage'. Are you wanting more vintage-sounding tones?

- Is your Flying V bright, dark, or somewhere in between? Not all pieces of wood sound the same, even when cut from the same tree. You need to know before you buy another PU. All Flying V's aren't bright.

- If you're not thrilled about your 500T, I doubt another high output ceramic PU (Custom) is going to be what you want.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Recommend me a bridge pickup for Gibson Flying-V

Going by the info here, I'd also take a look at the Custom, with the 59/Custom Hybrid as well. Right around there you start to get a good balance of power and dynamics. There isn't so much power that it starts sounding compressed.

 

[brendan1]

Re: Recommend me a bridge pickup for Gibson Flying-V

Thanks for the input guys! I will definitely look into Custom. It looks very cool as a bonus

Are you planning to replace the stock 496R neck pickup? That one has a ceramic magnet too, fairly uncommon in neck models. Many prefer Alnico mags at the neck; I'm one of them.

I am not planning on changing it yet, I play mainly leads with neck pickup and it has served that purpose pretty well.

 

[brendan1]

Re: Recommend me a bridge pickup for Gibson Flying-V

- Do you like the '59 in your LP?

- What kind of music are you playing?

- You mentioned 'vintage'. Are you wanting more vintage-sounding tones?

- Is your Flying V bright, dark, or somewhere in between? Not all pieces of wood sound the same, even when cut from the same tree. You need to know before you buy another PU. All Flying V's aren't bright.

- If you're not thrilled about your 500T, I doubt another high output ceramic PU (Custom) is going to be what you want.

I think ´59 sounds good in LP, but I think it is better suited for LP´s darker tone. I like vintage style pickups for clarity, but I also need distorted sounds and good full sustain in solos (I play rock - I like classic rock sounds and big solo tone). My Flying-V is bright sounding one.

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Recommend me a bridge pickup for Gibson Flying-V

If you're not thrilled about your 500T, I doubt another high output ceramic PU (Custom) is going to be what you want.

I agree–perhaps something high output with an Alnico 5 in it? Different flair than a Ceramic...

 

[Demanic]

Re: Recommend me a bridge pickup for Gibson Flying-V

JB, PB or Pegasus.

Sent from my MotoE2(4G-LTE) using Tapatalk

 

[eclecticsynergy]

Re: Recommend me a bridge pickup for Gibson Flying-V

If you plan on keeping the 496R, you'll want something fairly powerful in bridge position. I suggested the Custom as a more dynamic alternative to the 500T, but I will also say that personally I prefer alnico mags to ceramic. A strong A5 pickup might suit you well.

 

[Demanic]

Re: Recommend me a bridge pickup for Gibson Flying-V

Oh, and Alternative 8.

 

[DrNewcenstein]

Re: Recommend me a bridge pickup for Gibson Flying-V

I've got a Custom in an all mahogany Jackson KV2T and while it's plenty powerful enough, it does seem a bit dark to me, and I have a naturally bright tone. My LP Standard was not dark at all, though my other mahogany guitars with Customs sound a bit dark compared to the Alder/Poplar/Basswood ones.

You might be interested in either a 59 with a ceramic magnet, a JB with a ceramic magnet, or an Alt8.

 

[Boogie Bill]

Re: Recommend me a bridge pickup for Gibson Flying-V

I like vintage classic rock and blues tones, and my fave pickup in Vees and Explorers are Antiquitys, Seths, and Pearlys; and the Burstbucker 1&2 set. My amps are Mesas, so I have all the gain on tap I need.

Bill

 

[EDX]

Re: Recommend me a bridge pickup for Gibson Flying-V

well, my top pickups for V's are the Pearly Gates, the '59, custom, distortion, invader and dimebucker, each of them is for a kind of sound and kind of V.
for the vintage lovers the pearly gates set is perfect on dark v's and bright v's, it just brings them to live with lots of character, while the 59 set complements mid heavy v's.
the custom is great when you want more heat than vintage pafs without loosing the vibe, the distortion is excelent when you need to do some heavy work, if want 80's level of dist the distortion is a must (i know the 80's p'up is the jb but it is very picky with mahogany, as it can highlight all the goods of the guitar tone or all the odds, so you're safer with the dist for 80's sound).
the invader is a great way to tame down a bright V and add some balls to the gain for fast and heavy sounds, and the dimebucker is the ultimate solution for cruch, as it will take whatever the guitar sounds like and add a massive tight low end, clean up the mids and add hair to the highs while keeping the original sound of the instrument and a ol' paf vibe at a really high output.

 

[blueman335]

Re: Recommend me a bridge pickup for Gibson Flying-V

- for the vintage lovers the pearly gates set is perfect on dark v's and bright v's, it just brings them to live with lots of character

- I know the 80's p'up is the jb but it is very picky with mahogany

- the dimebucker is the ultimate solution for crunch, as it will take whatever the guitar sounds like and add a massive tight low end, clean up the mids and add hair to the highs while keeping the original sound of the instrument and a ol' paf vibe at a really high output.

- There are better PAF's for a bright guitar, the WLH being one of them. Another great warm set is the Rio Grande BBQ.

- Agree.

- A 16.5K ceramic PU with blades doesn't really have a 'PAF vibe.'

 

[EDX]

Re: Recommend me a bridge pickup for Gibson Flying-V

-well, yep for a SG i would not argue with you, but with flying v's, i feel the WLH and antiquities to be too bland, they sound great on any bright guitar that isn't a flying v, a bright flying v need to be kinda brash and hard on the edges, it is the kinda beast you don't tame so much, if you tame it's scream be sure to boost it's growl and bite otherway it just feels too polite and castrated.

-i agree your agreement on my declaration.

-well oddly enough a 16.5K ceramic PU with thin blades has a big paf vibe when compared to 16.5K ceramic PU's with poles and studs, and even bigger than a 16.5K ceramic PU with allen cap screws, well i kinda need to clarify what i mean by paf vibe, on this case it is for the big low openess, the picking response wich behaves way better than anything on it's output range, the scooppy mids unlikely for a 16.5k pu but very normal on 8.2k pu's and the broad high end, wich are some of the characteristics often used to describe paf pickups tone, so if you compare the dimebucker to anything else 16k ceramic, yup it has a paf vibe, compared to a paf..... it's just a very hot ceramic bucker that happens to balance well with a paf but sound like a hot ceramic pu without too much mids.

 

[TRex]

Re: Recommend me a bridge pickup for Gibson Flying-V

I would go for the custom. It's not overly bright like a JB is going to be like in that guitar.

Worst case if your tone is to bright you can use a tone knobs (or wire a capacitor permanently for less knob fiddling if that works for you)

 

[misterwhizzy]

Re: Recommend me a bridge pickup for Gibson Flying-V

well, my top pickups for V's are the Pearly Gates, the '59, custom, distortion, invader and dimebucker, each of them is for a kind of sound and kind of V.
for the vintage lovers the pearly gates set is perfect on dark v's and bright v's, it just brings them to live with lots of character, while the 59 set complements mid heavy v's.
the custom is great when you want more heat than vintage pafs without loosing the vibe, the distortion is excelent when you need to do some heavy work, if want 80's level of dist the distortion is a must (i know the 80's p'up is the jb but it is very picky with mahogany, as it can highlight all the goods of the guitar tone or all the odds, so you're safer with the dist for 80's sound).
the invader is a great way to tame down a bright V and add some balls to the gain for fast and heavy sounds, and the dimebucker is the ultimate solution for cruch, as it will take whatever the guitar sounds like and add a massive tight low end, clean up the mids and add hair to the highs while keeping the original sound of the instrument and a ol' paf vibe at a really high output.

tl;dr

Just pick any of the Duncan line.

Very helpful, sir.

 

[brendan1]

Re: Recommend me a bridge pickup for Gibson Flying-V

Thanks a lot for the input guys. I tried ´59 on the Flying-V first - it was improvement over Gibson 500T but it lacked "balls" just a bit on a V (it is great for Les Paul). So I went and ordered a JB now. I have many guitars so I can experiment a bit

I put the Gibson 500T to single-pickup superstrat, it fits there much better than to Flying-V. You get EVH / DiMartini kind of tone straight away. 500T is not actually a bad pup - if you want to play high-gain stuff. Of course it is not Duncan

 

[Mincer]

Re: Recommend me a bridge pickup for Gibson Flying-V

Let us know how the JB turns out. It is not really a 'dynamic' pickup due to the high output, but for the guitars and music it works for, it is really perfect.