Pickup suggestions

[fdecaprio]

Hi all, I just picked up a really nice AS820, but I’m not enamored of the pickups. Any suggestions? My band does 60’s covers. Was thinking about Pearly Gates.

[Partscaster]

PG's, a good choice, IMO.
I have Gibson Classic 57's in a 335 style guitar. They sound really good in a semihollow 335 style and are quite popular in 335s. I'd at least check the Classic 57's out via some vids before dismissing them, or jumping right to the Pearly Gates. I was going to take mine out when I got the used guitar, and test swap in various boutique sets that should be great...but the 57's have been so good, I havent brought myself to test others yet. I will test others, but now I wont be surprised if the 57's end up back in. I like 60's bands myself.

[tonebender]

Burst Buckers are awesome and are the 57's. Of course I am a Gibson freak. With one exception I have never changed the pups in a Gibson. I purchased one of the anniversary Melody Makers in 2014 which came with some P90's that were not the usual Gibson P90's. I swapped them out for Gibson mini hums just because I loved the guitar but I had several Gibsons with P90's and wanted a mini hum Gibson. For the guitar you are talking about I would think a nice set of hums with Alnico II magnets would sound nice. Nothing too hot though. I just put a nice set of Buddha Alnico II pups in my semi Firefly and that thing is amazing.

[artandsoul]

alnico 2 for sure imo, i like the elcheapo guitar madness or sansman pickups both on ebay, reverb is cheaperr for guitar madness if there listed on there. you can pickup a nice set of alnico 2 probuckers for 40-50 a set max on ebay or reverb thee my go to cheaper pickups. the

[tlarson58]

I put in a set of "Greenies" from @andrewsrea. The guitar really, really opened up.

[doc-knapp]

Seymour Duncan Saturday Night Specials.....

[toomanycats]

I'll answer that question by way of a question:

What did Sam Andrew (Big Brother and the Holding Company), Robby Krieger (The Doors), and Jorma Kaukonen (Jefferson Airplane) use to achieve their open, airy, woody, vocal, and percussive 60s tones?

The short answer is the Gibson PAF.

Seek out the closest approximation. That means low output, unbalanced coils, A2, and preferably non wax potted.

Short list from major manufacturers would be Burstbucker or Duncan Antiquities, though any quality boutique or custom hand wound pickups matching those specs would fit the bill.

[andrewsrea]

Hi all, I just picked up a really nice AS820, but I’m not enamored of the pickups. Any suggestions? My band does 60’s covers. Was thinking about Pearly Gates.

As a pickup builder, I find semi-hollow the most challenging and has personally done a lot of experimentation with different designs. IMHO, the best sounding semihollow bodies have 2/3's rocking humbucker vibe + 1/3 hollowbody woodiness and acoustic bleed. This requires precision in the wax potting, the right magnet and wind.

For me, the 1964 Gibson 335 is the gold standard, for sure, which had transition T-top pickups. Transitions are pickups which still used some PAF era bobbins and magnets but wound with very consistent counts and wire quality.

If that is what you are after, then something in the family of a Gibson T-to, which was a very tight tolerance small Alnico 5 at 7.5K humbucker.

For my AMI pickups, I'd recommend the 'Greeny' bridge (endorsed by @tlarson58 ) and the 'Serenity' neck. The Greeney has an Alnico 2 magnet and winds at around 8.3K DCR. The Serenity is modeled after a 1963 transition T-top with a calibrated Alnico 5 magnet and weighs in at around 7.3K DCR. Together they present a complex mid-range, solid lows and buttery highs which maintain articulation. These do not sound like they have a blanket on them like a lot of humbuckers, nor do they sound harsh.

My 1985 Ibanez AM70 semi has a set of AMI 'Mr. Butterfingers,' which are reproduction PAFs (expensive, exact spec parts). Very nice sound, with more of a 50% woody and 50% rocking. Definitely not as strong and a little more 'V' shaped in the frequency response. These were well liked by @golem who put them on a few of his guitars and James Shaffner, who hasn't been on AGF in a while.

My prices are not GFS or Amazon territory but are of Lollar / Fralin quality at a fraction of their prices. PM me if you are interested.

[fdecaprio]

Thanks for all the suggestions!

[redman]

I had a Wolf (AIO) clone of a 335 before I ever joined AGF and had mucho problems with choosing a set of pups for it. I tried Seymour,s JB/59, a Hot Rodded SH-2/SH-4,s, one I took out of a PRS I think it was a custom 22, some gibson pups I had in my parts that I had swapped out of something sometime back. I chose the JB/59 set.
About 3 years later I was in a small music store in a town about 45 miles from my home and they had a set of Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates complete with dust on the box and I asked about them and he said that he had them a long time and he would sell them 1/2 price so I jumped on the deal knowing I could sell them with a complete upgrade on something. About a month later I got to wondering what they would sound like in the Wolfand man did they sound good in that guitar I had my match like they were custom made to that I wish I never sold it but, I sold it to a friend I jam with almost every Tuesday morning with and it's become his favorite "take and play" guitar so I play it and he plays one of mine.


THIS IS THE BEST PICTURE I HAVE OF IT.

THIS IS THE GUY THAT BOUGHT IT

[andrewsrea]

I'll answer that question by way of a question:

What did Sam Andrew (Big Brother and the Holding Company), Robby Krieger (The Doors), and Jorma Kaukonen (Jefferson Airplane) use to achieve their open, airy, woody, vocal, and percussive 60s tones?

The short answer is the Gibson PAF.

Seek out the closest approximation. That means low output, unbalanced coils, A2, and preferably non wax potted.

Short list from major manufacturers would be Burstbucker or Duncan Antiquities, though any quality boutique or custom hand wound pickups matching those specs would fit the bill.

Add in a Blackface Twin on '7'.