Same pickups in a Les Paul vs. Stratocaster

[Lewguitar]

Anybody compared this? I have!

Yesterday I was snowed in so I spent the day playing, repairing and installing pickups.

I removed the alnico 2 Tom Holmes pickups from my Les Paul 59 Historic and put them in my Fender Stratocaster that's routed for two humbuckers.

Master volume and master tone. No second tone control. 500K pots and .02 cap in both, with the leads from the Sprague Orange Drop cap attached to middle lugs of the volume pot and tone pot - 50's style.

What do I hear as the diff?

In the Les Paul they were much more aggressive. More bass, more lower mids and maybe even more volume. They certainly seemed louder. It was always a little difficult for me to get a clean enough tone from the neck pickup.

In the Strat the bridge Tom Holmes sounds a lot like the Custom Shop 78 in my other Strat. The two Strats are virtually identical, with jumbo frets and rosewood fingerboard.

I like them better in my Strat. The tone is a little brighter and clearer and less muddy. The neck pickup is definitely much clearer.

I just thought I'd tell you guys about it, and I'm glad I did it.

Lew

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Same pickups in a Les Paul vs. Stratocaster

Good grief! Ed Roman sells a pair of the Tom Holmes pickups for $769. per set! http://www.edroman.com/techarticles/tomholmes.htm

They're great - but Seymour Custom Shop pafs like the 78 are just as good, IMO.

 

[The Usual]

Re: Same pickups in a Les Paul vs. Stratocaster

Nice report. I have been debating a 78. Can you remind of the output on it? I think it's A2, right?

 

[Mononoaware]

Re: Same pickups in a Les Paul vs. Stratocaster

Good grief! Ed Roman sells a pair of the Tom Holmes pickups for $769. per set! http://www.edroman.com/techarticles/tomholmes.htm

They're great - but Seymour Custom Shop pafs like the 78 are just as good, IMO.

Yup. Of course, I think it's also safe to opine that Ed and Seymour are from entirly different branches of the genetic tree. :dot:

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Same pickups in a Les Paul vs. Stratocaster

Here's a funny video demoing the Tom Holmes pickups. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=309387567006649920

It's funny to me because all three settings (bridge, b&n, neck) sound almost identical with the way he has his amp set up.

 

[Christopher Caruana]

Re: Same pickups in a Les Paul vs. Stratocaster

Nice report. I have been debating a 78. Can you remind of the output on it? I think it's A2, right?

its 9.1 and yes an A2 mag

 

[uOpt]

Re: Same pickups in a Les Paul vs. Stratocaster

I tried a couple, although it's hardtail Strats and a Floyd Rosed Kramer Focus.

For bridge pickups it's more comparable. Pickups like the '78 come out very well in both, as do high-gain pickups.

The neck is a different matter. A pickup like a '59 is way too boomy in a Strat and I can't make many humbuckers sound right. I should probably try my Jazz.

 

[Laughing Kookaburra]

Re: Same pickups in a Les Paul vs. Stratocaster

I've dropped buckers in a few Strats through the yrs w/great results. In my case, though, they were always hot pups, such as Invaders or DMZ X2Ns.