Two 50's Neck, Gibson Les Paul Standard's, Did I choose the wrong pickups?

[Benguitar]

I had Seymour Duncan's put into my two Gibson Les Paul's about a year ago, Pearly Gates in the necks and Custom 5's in the bridges. I first noticed that the neck pickup wasn't as loud as the bridge, so I looked them up on Seymour's website and found that the Pearly Gates are "mid range" and the Custom 5's are "high output."

The whole, "different volume per pickup" is getting rather annoying, and the only reason I got them was from a suggestion on another guitar website, I was going after the Slash tone in the neck and the Steve Clark from Def Leppard tone in the bridge.

So, I am currently using a 1964 Fender Bassman and in the process of possibly selling it to Joe Perry from Aerosmith so I can get my ideal amp, a Mesa Boogie Stiletto Trident Halfstack.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I should do to level out the volume or should I just save up and do another total pickup replacement, OR just replace the bridge or the necks and keep the others?

 

[uOpt]

Re: Two 50's Neck, Gibson Les Paul Standard's, Did I choose the wrong pickups?

The problem isn't straight "output". The problem is that the C5 is extremely dynamic and just gets very loud when playing hard, as opposed to the Duncan Custom which compresses as you play harder.

If you like the C5, try a 59 in the neck. If you don't, well...

 

[Aceman]

Re: Two 50's Neck, Gibson Les Paul Standard's, Did I choose the wrong pickups?

A pg and a c5 should have no problem balancing output wise if they are adjusted properly.

And Slash/Clark is either:

A2P/59
A2P/Dirty fingers
A2p/498

 

[dr. ad]

Re: Two 50's Neck, Gibson Les Paul Standard's, Did I choose the wrong pickups?

They're different volumes you say? Its too bad theres no little screws that allow to you adjust the height of the pickups.

Oh well, I guess ya better just throw them away, an start over.

heh heh...

and tell joe perry he fcking rules

EDIT - and welcome to the forum!

 

[Benguitar]

Re: Two 50's Neck, Gibson Les Paul Standard's, Did I choose the wrong pickups?

They're different volumes you say? Its too bad theres no little screws that allow to you adjust the height of the pickups.

Oh well, I guess ya better just throw them away, an start over.

Here are two pictures of my Les Paul's. My guess is the neck pickup needs to go up a little on both guitars?

heh heh...

and tell joe perry he fcking rules

EDIT - and welcome to the forum!

Thanks! I'll tell him If he says yes.. Aerosmith is coming to Florida on tour this summer, so I might actually take the amp TO HIM. :scratchch

 

[super rad stuff]

Re: Two 50's Neck, Gibson Les Paul Standard's, Did I choose the wrong pickups?

lower the bridge pickup a bit and raise the neck

 

[Benguitar]

Re: Two 50's Neck, Gibson Les Paul Standard's, Did I choose the wrong pickups?

lower the bridge pickup a bit and raise the neck, it ain't rocket science

I know it's not,

But the last time I messed with the hight of my pickups, I ended up sending the bridge pickup in my goldtop down WAY to far, and it like "fell" down and I couldn't get it back up. So I stupidly took a screw driver and pried the pickup back up and into place, Ruining the Gibson Pickups that were in there, so I had Seymour's put in. :doh:

 

[super rad stuff]

Re: Two 50's Neck, Gibson Les Paul Standard's, Did I choose the wrong pickups?

I know it's not,

But the last time I messed with the hight of my pickups, I ended up sending the bridge pickup in my goldtop down WAY to far, and it like "fell" down and I couldn't get it back up. So I stupidly took a screw driver and pried the pickup back up and into place, Ruining the Gibson Pickups that were in there, so I had Seymour's put in. :doh:

:lol:
when it "falls" like that, you just need to take the ring off and replace the screw and spring in the ring. when you mess around with pickup heights though, tiny increments are usually all that are needed. 1/16" differences have very noticeable changes in output and tone. same goes for the adjustable coil screws.

 

[Benguitar]

Re: Two 50's Neck, Gibson Les Paul Standard's, Did I choose the wrong pickups?

:lol:
when it "falls" like that, you just need to take the ring off and replace the screw and spring in the ring. when you mess around with pickup heights though, tiny increments are usually all that are needed. 1/16" differences have very noticeable changes in output and tone. same goes for the adjustable coil screws.

I know that NOW! :smack:

 

[super rad stuff]

Re: Two 50's Neck, Gibson Les Paul Standard's, Did I choose the wrong pickups?

I know that NOW! :smack:

lol sorry i don't know what you know, seeing as you're a new member 'n' all:yo:
but try adjusting in tiny increments and see if that helps.

 

[uOpt]

Re: Two 50's Neck, Gibson Les Paul Standard's, Did I choose the wrong pickups?

Here are two pictures of my Les Paul's. My guess is the neck pickup needs to go up a little on both guitars?

Well, no surprise that the bridge pickup is a little bit on the hitter side.

What you actually need is a more moderately high bridge ring. You seem to have one of these ultra-high DiMarzio rings (some Gibsons also have them).

I should go back to demanding photos before I give advice...

 

[Benguitar]

Re: Two 50's Neck, Gibson Les Paul Standard's, Did I choose the wrong pickups?

Well, no surprise that the bridge pickup is a little bit on the hitter side.

What you actually need is a more moderately high bridge ring. You seem to have one of these ultra-high DiMarzio rings (some Gibsons also have them).

I should go back to demanding photos before I give advice...

You would like more photos of my bridges?

 

[Oudy]

Re: Two 50's Neck, Gibson Les Paul Standard's, Did I choose the wrong pickups?

A pg and a c5 should have no problem balancing output wise if they are adjusted properly.

And Slash/Clark is either:

A2P/59
A2P/Dirty fingers
A2p/498

didnt steve clark use a super distortion though

 

[Benguitar]

Re: Two 50's Neck, Gibson Les Paul Standard's, Did I choose the wrong pickups?

didnt steve clark use a super distortion though

"As we said in last months issue, his [Steve's] main guitar of late is a white Les Paul Custom (photo 6). This is mounted with three Gibson 1959 humbucking pick-ups with their covers removed. In addition to the familiar circuit where the pick up selector switches between front / centre + rear / rear positions, the volume pot for the centre + rear position uses a push pull type pot which acts as a coil tap switch to allow the centre and rear pickups to be simultaneously switched to single coil. The tremolo system is a Kahler #2200B."

"The black Les Paul Custom (photo 7) is a new acquisition and differs slightly from his older one. The circuitry is the same as on the white one but the black one differs in that there is a Gibson “Dirty Fingers” mounted in the rear pick up position and for the tremolo he has chosen a Kahler #2200K. Also, the twelfth fret position marker is his name “Steve” and the pegs are different. The only point of difference with his black Les Paul Custom from before is the coil tap part, so for the most part they look the same."

Source

 

[Thunder]

Re: Two 50's Neck, Gibson Les Paul Standard's, Did I choose the wrong pickups?

Take some time and TWEAK. They can be balanced.:scratchch

 

[Oudy]

Re: Two 50's Neck, Gibson Les Paul Standard's, Did I choose the wrong pickups?

"As we said in last months issue, his [Steve's] main guitar of late is a white Les Paul Custom (photo 6). This is mounted with three Gibson 1959 humbucking pick-ups with their covers removed. In addition to the familiar circuit where the pick up selector switches between front / centre + rear / rear positions, the volume pot for the centre + rear position uses a push pull type pot which acts as a coil tap switch to allow the centre and rear pickups to be simultaneously switched to single coil. The tremolo system is a Kahler #2200B."

"The black Les Paul Custom (photo 7) is a new acquisition and differs slightly from his older one. The circuitry is the same as on the white one but the black one differs in that there is a Gibson “Dirty Fingers” mounted in the rear pick up position and for the tremolo he has chosen a Kahler #2200K. Also, the twelfth fret position marker is his name “Steve” and the pegs are different. The only point of difference with his black Les Paul Custom from before is the coil tap part, so for the most part they look the same."

Source

oh thanks for that, steve clark was always one of my favourites and i assumed he used an SD or SD3 like phil collin (and now vivian campbell too) did.

 

[dr. ad]

Re: Two 50's Neck, Gibson Les Paul Standard's, Did I choose the wrong pickups?

Here are two pictures of my Les Paul's. My guess is the neck pickup needs to go up a little on both guitars?

Thanks! I'll tell him If he says yes.. Aerosmith is coming to Florida on tour this summer, so I might actually take the amp TO HIM. :scratchch

crikey. yep... she's a bit close mate

IMHO it will more likely be a case of your bridge pickups needing to come down, than the neck pickups needing to go up.

if these adjustments aren't something you're familiar with, i'd do them while the guitar's plugged in - it's a bit noisy, but i adjust p/up and pole heights while a guitar's plugged in so you can hear the difference through the amp's hum.

 

[Christopher Caruana]

Re: Two 50's Neck, Gibson Les Paul Standard's, Did I choose the wrong pickups?

"As we said in last months issue, his [Steve's] main guitar of late is a white Les Paul Custom (photo 6). This is mounted with three Gibson 1959 humbucking pick-ups with their covers removed. In addition to the familiar circuit where the pick up selector switches between front / centre + rear / rear positions, the volume pot for the centre + rear position uses a push pull type pot which acts as a coil tap switch to allow the centre and rear pickups to be simultaneously switched to single coil. The tremolo system is a Kahler #2200B."

"The black Les Paul Custom (photo 7) is a new acquisition and differs slightly from his older one. The circuitry is the same as on the white one but the black one differs in that there is a Gibson “Dirty Fingers” mounted in the rear pick up position and for the tremolo he has chosen a Kahler #2200K. Also, the twelfth fret position marker is his name “Steve” and the pegs are different. The only point of difference with his black Les Paul Custom from before is the coil tap part, so for the most part they look the same."

Source

Do you know what pickup steve had in the neck slot? (on the LP that had the dirty fingers in the bridge).