Which PAF Style Pickup Replacement For All Mahogany Gibson Explorer-Type Guitar?

L

Ltnpd

New member
Hello,

This is going to be sacrilegious to many on this group page ... I'm just trying to make an informed decision on pickups! ... But I am not a Gibson Explorer owner... I am a 2006 Gibson Firebird Studio owner. Don't burn me yet! Please continue reading...

I have a question regarding replacement pickups. My Firebird is not a standard one. It's a glued on neck and all mahogany body. A big slab of wood for a body with full sized humbuckers (not mini humbuckers like a standard Firebird). I figured that a mahogany (not korina) Explorer would acoustically sound very similar to my guitar. This Firebird is a rare beast...

My guitar has 498T/490R Gibson pickups. These are too hot for me. I'm looking for low output/vintage style PAF style Seymour Duncan pickups to replace my current ones. I'm looking for an open sounding pickup for clean to hard rock music ( early Black Keys, Surfer Blood, QOTSA, the Cars, New Order, Jesus and the Mary Chain, Echo and the Bunnymen, Charles Bradley, Sam and Dave, AC/DC, The Who, Stones, Eagles, Skynyrd... the heaviest I go is GnR and The Darkness just for kicks occasionally. Yes, I'm all over the place, so I need some versatility). This is the only guitar that I own with full sized humbuckers. I like my dirty tone to bark like a good SG, not growl like a Les Paul. I don't like super smooth dirt either (although I do sometimes like smooth once in a while when I play GnR sometimes... But I figure I can get that by turning the tone knob down). I don't do metal, so I don't chug often. I'd like to have nice string I string definition with tight bass ... Almost bridge twangy (I don't want a bass heavy pickups since the guitar is naturally dark sounding and bass heavy and I'm not looking for country twang, I have a Gretsch and Telecaster for that). Also I don't want the pickup to be ice picky when using dirt (I've tried BurstBucker Pros in a ES-333 and they're ice picky with dirt. I don't like that). Something with nice clear rounded treble that can still cut through the mix. I use mostly fuzzes and light to medium overdrives for my dirty sounds (the hottest overdrive I have is a Wampler Ecstasy/Euphoria).

I play mostly through a Fender Blackface but my dirt comes from my pedals most of the time because I use a nice sweet clean as my base tone.

The 498T is too hot for me. I play with a lot of 'feel' and I don't 'feel' these. They're not dynamic enough. The 490R is just too boomy and overwhelming. I play the neck clean mostly ... Sometimes dirty.

What Seymour Duncan PAF would you suggest? I can't decide between the Seth Lover, Antiquities, Pearly Gates, Alnico II Pro (not Slash), Jazz or 59. I scoured the net but I mostly find posts regarding Les Pauls... A different beast.

Thanks!
 
Re: Which PAF Style Pickup Replacement For All Mahogany Gibson Explorer-Type Guitar?

I had a 2005 FB studio that killed. Loved that guitar.

Big slab of mahogany loves a Pearly Gates set. 59s would probably do well too. Seths and Antiquities might get a little lost with the lack of (comparitively) high end.

That said. The FBS come witbh 300k volumes. I would put 500k pots in, re-evaluate the stock pickuos and go from there.
 
Last edited:
Re: Which PAF Style Pickup Replacement For All Mahogany Gibson Explorer-Type Guitar?

Hi Jeff,

Wouldn't the 500k pots just make the guitar clearer and not lower the output of the pickups?
 
Re: Which PAF Style Pickup Replacement For All Mahogany Gibson Explorer-Type Guitar?

The Jazz Set is awesome in all mahogany guitars.
 
Re: Which PAF Style Pickup Replacement For All Mahogany Gibson Explorer-Type Guitar?

In my LP's and SG's these pickups play really well together.
WLH set
Jazz set
and if you don't mind jumping ship to DMZ, look into the 36 Anniversary set.

Jazz set did really well in an Explorer that I used to own.
 
Re: Which PAF Style Pickup Replacement For All Mahogany Gibson Explorer-Type Guitar?

Pearly Gates, at their home on mahogany slabs, be that a lp or a explorer (also sounds nice on flying v's)
 
Re: Which PAF Style Pickup Replacement For All Mahogany Gibson Explorer-Type Guitar?

My favorite pickups in an Explorer are Seths and Antiquitys, so I would expect them to do well in your Firebird.

Bill
 
Re: Which PAF Style Pickup Replacement For All Mahogany Gibson Explorer-Type Guitar?

Ltnpd said:
Hi Jeff,

Wouldn't the 500k pots just make the guitar clearer and not lower the output of the pickups?
Click to expand...


It would make them clearer, but give you a better idea of what the guitar realy needs before you spend money on other pickups. Put 500K pots, evaluate exactly what the guitar needs ,and then make an informed choice. No doubt the output won't change, but you may end up liking the 490, and only need to change the bridge. or not. With 300K pots you are not getting a true representation of what you may need and nor will you get a true representation of any of the pickups you are considering. if you put a Duncan a2 of some sort in there, its going to be dulled just like the gibson pups are with the stock 300K pots. But with the 500K pots most humbuckers pickups are designed around, you may find that same Duncan set perfect.

Hope that makes sense.
 
Re: Which PAF Style Pickup Replacement For All Mahogany Gibson Explorer-Type Guitar?

Set your amp and pedals up to work with the guitar in a vintage style, where the neck is for dirty rhythms and the bridge is for cutting-through-the-mix leads. Cut the bass until the neck isn't muddy, Major chords ring out clearly without being overly harsh, and you've got enough drive for single-note runs on the lower strings to not fart out. When you switch to the bridge, it's all about cutting through. Tweak the Volume and Tone knobs to find the best settings for each pickup in each mode.
 
Re: Which PAF Style Pickup Replacement For All Mahogany Gibson Explorer-Type Guitar?

JeffB said:
It would make them clearer, but give you a better idea of what the guitar realy needs before you spend money on other pickups. Put 500K pots, evaluate exactly what the guitar needs ,and then make an informed choice. No doubt the output won't change, but you may end up liking the 490, and only need to change the bridge. or not. With 300K pots you are not getting a true representation of what you may need and nor will you get a true representation of any of the pickups you are considering. if you put a Duncan a2 of some sort in there, its going to be dulled just like the gibson pups are with the stock 300K pots. But with the 500K pots most humbuckers pickups are designed around, you may find that same Duncan set perfect.

Hope that makes sense.
Click to expand...

Yes that makes sense but my guitar doesn't sound muddy at all. The pickups are just too hot and the neck is too boomy. But it's definitely something that I will consider.
 
Re: Which PAF Style Pickup Replacement For All Mahogany Gibson Explorer-Type Guitar?

DrNewcenstein said:
Set your amp and pedals up to work with the guitar in a vintage style, where the neck is for dirty rhythms and the bridge is for cutting-through-the-mix leads. Cut the bass until the neck isn't muddy, Major chords ring out clearly without being overly harsh, and you've got enough drive for single-note runs on the lower strings to not fart out. When you switch to the bridge, it's all about cutting through. Tweak the Volume and Tone knobs to find the best settings for each pickup in each mode.
Click to expand...

That's something I fiddled with but it's not very applicable for playing live and needing to switch pickups during a song. Also even with playing at bedroom levels and low eq settings, it's too much.

It's more than just lower output that I'm looking for, it's also responsiveness and overall flavour of the sound I'm getting. I believe it's a pickup thing and not an amp thing because I don't have that problem with my Gretsch, Telecaster and Coronado. Those three guitars always sound good.

Thanks for your input though! :D
 
Re: Which PAF Style Pickup Replacement For All Mahogany Gibson Explorer-Type Guitar?

Hi all,

I wanted to "revive" this thread after 8 months just in case someone in a similar situation is looking for a great sounding PAF style humbucker that is versatile, responsive, clear, cuts through, open sounding, nice treble that is slightly rounded and not ice-pikcey, that has a tight but not too tight bass, that barks, that has nice grainy overtones and trails when used with OD and fuzzes, not creamy smooth and doesn't make an all mahogany guitar body slab sound like a typical Les Paul but more a mix of the sweetest barking SG and medium heavy sounding Les Paul (you know, not super heavy sounding nor flimsy light sounding)...

I ended up choosing the Pearly Gates set. Found some for a good price on my local Craigslist. After a couple of months of playing them and having them installed in my 2006 Gibson Firebird Studio, I can say that these Pearly Gates do exactely what I described above or very near to it! They work well with OD and fuzzes. Surprisingly well with fuzzes actually. I don't normally like fuzzes through humbuckers, but I guess I never played with great low output PAF style Humbuckers that were responsive. I usually prefer Filtertrons and single coils for fuzzes. But damn, the Pearly Gates sound good through fuzz, different than the filtertrons and single coils obviously.

At first I didn't like them but I played through a friend's great sounding vintage Hiwatt. Great amp, great tone but not good with the Pearly Gates. Lackluster, uninspired sounding, typical sounding and very mid-y. But through my black face Fender amp. Fantastic. Good thing it sounds fantastic through my setup! I'll have to try them through other amps just for kicks...

I definitely have much more fun playing this guitar than ever before and has cut in the Gretsch's and Telecaster's playing time.

Thanks to all who contributed to my choice with great suggestions and feedback.
 
Re: Which PAF Style Pickup Replacement For All Mahogany Gibson Explorer-Type Guitar?

DiMarzio PAF Master, PAF 36th Anniversary, or the Air Classic
 
Re: Which PAF Style Pickup Replacement For All Mahogany Gibson Explorer-Type Guitar?

I'm currently on a Pearly Gates kick right now so I admit that my suggestion is biased ;)
 
Re: Which PAF Style Pickup Replacement For All Mahogany Gibson Explorer-Type Guitar?

59/A8 in the bridge would of been my choice .
Fat tones with real punch with a A8 mag in a 59B without using a flame throwing high output pickup .
 
Re: Which PAF Style Pickup Replacement For All Mahogany Gibson Explorer-Type Guitar?

I also would go with one of these 3:
Pearly Gates
Whole Lotta Humbucker
59

You could probably mix and match too, but they are all open sounding in a slightly different way. I bet that sucker would be heavy, too.
 
Re: Which PAF Style Pickup Replacement For All Mahogany Gibson Explorer-Type Guitar?

I'm going with WLHs, loving the bridge model in a strat, not exactly a huge piece of mahogany, but I think they would do what you are looking for.
 
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