Turning a Les Paul Studio into a versatile guitar for worship - what pickups?

[CHalbach72]

So let me explain what I'm trying to do first.

I have a 2006 Les Paul Studio, a guitar that sounds great, but I need a bit different tone to come out of it. It's my new project to upgrade the pickups, as well as put a Bigsby on it.

The style of music warrants that I be able to play good, clean songs, but I want to be able to have a little bite in the bridge - not so much as a JB, but something that has some more treble to cut through on louder lead lines.

What I've been looking at currently is the Sentient neck pup, and a Pearly Gates bridge pup.

I'm positive I want the sentient - I have a guitar with the jazz pickup, so I want something with a bit of a different sound. For the bridge, like I said, I want to keep it sparkly, but still have a good low/mid presence.

If you have any suggestions, please offer up. I'm open to any thoughts, comments, etc...

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Turning a Les Paul Studio into a versatile guitar for worship - what pickups?

Do you know what pickups are currently in your LP? Can you expand on what you don't like about the current pickups/what is lacking to need the change? I use to play a LP Studio in Church that was loaded with the Gibson Ceramic Set (496R&500T) which was a very good combo for Worship IMO.

The Pearly Gates Bridge can definitely handle good cleans and a bit of bite to it–great choice there! Get's incredible pinch harmonics as well. I have a PGb with a UOA5 Magnet in it and made it a tad bolder–currently paired with a Phat Cat with UOA5s for some killer P90 tones...just something to think about.

I have no experience with the Sentient, so I will leave that suggestion up to others.

Best of luck!

 

[CHalbach72]

Re: Turning a Les Paul Studio into a versatile guitar for worship - what pickups?

I believe they're the 490R/498T pups.

They aren't bad, but the neck pickup doesn't have quite the treble I need out of it, it's just a bit too warm for me!

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Turning a Les Paul Studio into a versatile guitar for worship - what pickups?

I believe they're the 490R/498T pups.

They aren't bad, but the neck pickup doesn't have quite the treble I need out of it, it's just a bit too warm for me!

I've really struggled with neck pickups...my favorite neck pickup of all time is a Fender Fat 50; however, that is a single coil pickup. My second favorite is a DiMarzio Liquifire but I have no experience with that in a LP or Mahogany...in Alder and Basswood Strats it gave me an almost piano like chime and feel to it. But again, I don't know how it would respond in Mahogany or a LP.

SD's description of the Sentient places it between a '59 and Jazz which are two extremely popular neck pickups, definitely sounds like something you should give a try!

Oh and another bridge pickup I will throw out there is the Dimebucker–super articulate pickup that really is underappreciated. Pristine cleans and extremely articulate under any amount of gain you throw at it...originally built for Mahogany.

 

[leevc5]

Re: Turning a Les Paul Studio into a versatile guitar for worship - what pickups?

So let me explain what I'm trying to do first.

I have a 2006 Les Paul Studio, a guitar that sounds great, but I need a bit different tone to come out of it. It's my new project to upgrade the pickups, as well as put a Bigsby on it.

The style of music warrants that I be able to play good, clean songs, but I want to be able to have a little bite in the bridge - not so much as a JB, but something that has some more treble to cut through on louder lead lines.

What I've been looking at currently is the Sentient neck pup, and a Pearly Gates bridge pup.

I'm positive I want the sentient - I have a guitar with the jazz pickup, so I want something with a bit of a different sound. For the bridge, like I said, I want to keep it sparkly, but still have a good low/mid presence.

If you have any suggestions, please offer up. I'm open to any thoughts, comments, etc...

I would go for P-Rails with triple shots. They have the broadest range of tone of any dual Humbucker setup I have tried.

http://www.seymourduncan.com/pickup/p-rails-with-triple-shot-arched-set-black-3

 

[Aceman]

Re: Turning a Les Paul Studio into a versatile guitar for worship - what pickups?

Jazz Neck, 59/Custom hybrid bridge.

 

[jmcorey]

Re: Turning a Les Paul Studio into a versatile guitar for worship - what pickups?

^^^^^ This.

 

[beaubrummels]

Re: Turning a Les Paul Studio into a versatile guitar for worship - what pickups?

Whole Lotta Humbucker set with "Jimmy Page" wiring. But note that versatility comes with the price of a whole lotta soldering.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Turning a Les Paul Studio into a versatile guitar for worship - what pickups?

I like the the Sentient, but I am with Ace, with the 59/Custom Hybrid. Throw in a push/pull pot to split it. Bingo, awesome versatile LP.

 

[TroyBaer]

Re: Turning a Les Paul Studio into a versatile guitar for worship - what pickups?

Honestly, just about any good set of vintage-to-medium output pickups will do; it just depends on what works and sounds best for you. I do the vast majority of my playing in a worship band using LP/Singlecut style guitars, and lately I've been mostly gravitating toward Alnico 4 based pickups (like PRS' McCarty pickups or Tonerider Alnico 4 Classics) because they tend to have a relatively even/flat EQ profile. Also, 4-conductor wiring for coil splitting and/or phase reversal is handy because some times you'll want a more jangly sound in worship settings, especially if you're in one of the many P&W groups that use U2/Edge style atmospheric delay sounds on a regular basis.

 

[swissmountain]

Re: Turning a Les Paul Studio into a versatile guitar for worship - what pickups?

Jazz Neck, 59/Custom hybrid bridge.

No experience with the Jazz neck but I agree to the 59/Custom hybrid suggestion.

 

[guitarkid]

Re: Turning a Les Paul Studio into a versatile guitar for worship - what pickups?

I primarily play worship music, and I just put a Pearly Gates in the bridge and a Jazz in the neck of my Les Paul this week, and it sounds incredible. That pair really matches well together. But since you are wanting something besides the Jazz for the neck, maybe just Pearly Gates set?

 

[Laughing Kookaburra]

Re: Turning a Les Paul Studio into a versatile guitar for worship - what pickups?

What Ace said. I've used both, and I think that they'll do the trick for you.