Pickup wiring

How do I swap the 4 conductor lead on my probuckers for braided 2 conductor cable? I want to do it soon to save money and they sound awesome, very close to/maybe better than Gibson burstbuckers. I think it was Jim that suggested this to me and I'm gunna give it a go or anyone know where I could have them sent to get this done for me?

Connect negative North to positive South and tape over to insulate. Connect Positive north to the core of your single conductor lead... then connect bare and negative South and/or the bare ground lead to the braided shield. Tape over the connections or heat shrink them. I would disassemble the pickup so I culd get the new wiring inside the baseplate and just have the new braided Gibson wire sticking out.

Be precise and neat. Keep the old leads as short as possible and your solder joints small and clean. Don't fuck it up. Its 1st try or throw it out.

you talk so much smack about these epi pickups, its funny... you have no basis for comparison or a very limited one. "They sound as good or better than such and such pickup I have only tried in a different guitar in a store for 15 minutes... and I have never played a 50s Gibson with original PAFs anyway so I am blowing smoke to justify my personal preference for a much maligned stock bucker. But I have a strat with a JB and this is way more PAF than that." Well sure it is. The only thing a pre-dirtyfingers gibson bucker design and a JB have n common is 2 coils of wire. Why not just say, "I really like them and wanna salvage them" ????who cares if they are "better than a burstbucker?" lots of stuff is to my ears and lots of stuff is just plain different. YMMV, man. No need to talk up a pickup to justify yourself. 'Better' is so subjective anyway. They work FOR YOU. That's more important than a subjective comparison with something you don't own and have never gigged with. None of your gear would work for me. I am not used to it. I am ooked on the 59/custom hybrid, but I warn everyone its a "me" thing and that its maybe not great for everyone.

Yes, I am smacking you down right now so you will just accept that one man's trash may be your treasure and that's a god thing. If you sound good to you with these pickups then they are great pickups for Liam. Are they better than a burst bucker? They are for you! For me neither will be good as I can only seem to get into the pro Neck and then only if tis connected with a much hotter bridge. But I owned all of em for a bit and didn't say they were bad, just abd for me.

In the end there is good tone, bad tone.... and my tone. The 1st 2 are contextual and kinda fanciful. The third is not to be had by anyone who isn't willing to cut off my hands and sew them to their their own bleeding stumps while making off with myJMI ac30....

although I recorded the entire UYB recor with only marhsalls and fenders and still sound like me... completely different guitars too...hmmm

I have used Burstbuckers in other peoples guitars on more than one occasion and tried a few guitars with them but I guess what you are saying is true really. I asked a guitar store if they could do it for me but they refused to. I guess I'll give it a go myself and hope for the best. if it fails I'll buy something with Alnico 2 magnets and braided 2 conductor wire. I quite like the Slash set and they aren't too expensive neither or I might get some Gibson Classic '57s which are in my les paul and sound awesome

What is the gist with the gibson SGJ, SG special and the SG standard? I like the SJ juniour, they felt very nice when I played one but seem hard to find both in stores and used as I don't think they're made anymore. also why is the special £400 cheaper than the Standard? what cost cutting do Gibson do to get such a low price? I've been looing at SG standards on the use market as I want to get one maybe later this year if my Fiancee will allow it LOL. The SG standards come up pretty cheap actually, around £500-£700 depending on the year but I don't remember between which years you said they were made very well

on paper the difference is pickup configuration and neck binding... period.... in the 60s the SG jr had a wraparound bridge, 1 dog ear p90 and no binding, the special had the same wrap bridge, 2 soapbar P90s and binding and both were directly equivalent to the LP jr and special (the TV doublecuts being the basis for the whole SG design with the butt joint at the neck and big cutaways for fret access)... the standard had 2 PAF humbuckers, a an abr1 bridge and stop bar and neck binding.... and of course the custom was a standard except it had 3 humbuckers, an ebony fingerboard with binding and the larger, multi-ply bound headstock.

Somewhere in my childhood the SG jr disappeared and the special became an SG standard without binding but with 2 uncovered bukers that are typically the same as th stsndard's covered humbuckers.... occasionally the SG jr would be reissued in place of an lp jr that year and for a while they made the SG classic that was essentially a vintage SG special with an ABR1 instead of a wraparound bridge (these guitars were universally badassed if you like P90s and really work well with a bigsby,,, fucking Pat Smear plays a classic with a Bigsby sometimes, and he can afford whatever he wants as a foo fighter and 80s punk icon)....

but along the line the attention to detail on the special went down. The neck shapes felt less and less "finished" for want of a better term. The neck angle wasn't always just right like a standard, and the pieces of mahogany were never well-mated tonally...

my favorite Sg standards overall are from the late 90s until like 2010 (I think, my cutoff was the year Gibson got raided by the EPA)... mid 90s and earlier SGs tend to have a slimmer enck than I like unless it was a year with a non-cutom-shop 61 SG reissue, but whatever the eyar was that the regular Nashville 61 SG RI became a standard model was the year the SG standard was switched permanently to a 59/60 roundback profile that is my favorite

Ahh, that cool :) shame gibson don't pay much attention to the necks on the specials I'm gunna try to get myself a SG standard towards the end of the year though. I could get the covers off of the Epi pick ups but did solder longer cables to the wires. I also wired up my switchcraft long toggle to find I need a deep nut which I have just ordered -.- also have got pots on the way so fingers crossed I can get it all back together over the weekend and get some strings on it. I have drilled 3 of the pots holes out for cts pots. one already had a cts pot in it so didn't need drilling out. Its just sat on the sofa at the moment in bits whilst my daughter is in bed haha

I love pat smear. Awesome guy!

I mean, that's my impression of the special. The enck just feels less shaped than a standard, a lot of time the neck angle is a little off too, which isn't technically a big deal, but it can limit you setting the action low if you like low action or conversely it can make it difficult to get the stop bar set for optimal sustain. A neck angle that's off a degree or two also effects string tension and how the strings pass thru the nut when tuning.... you get the idea. The specials aren't awful, they're just not a stripped down standard, which is how they are marketed. They're a whole other playing experience that is just not for everyone. As well as binding the fingerboard, Gibson just seems to put a lot more care into the standard necks, probably because they just HAVE TO do more sanding on the shoulder to get the neck binding flush with the wood for finishing. Might as well really create a nice neck profile by hand while you are doing all that tricky binding work.

I know all about waiting for parts when your stash runs out or you have the wrong shaft diameter on a pot or toggle. Infuriating, right?

I am trying to talk myself out of another fixer-upper guitar right now. I can technically afford it, fix it for $15 plus my labor and if I need the money later or don't like it I could flip it for a tidy profit.... but it would probably be wiser to keep my money in the bank, plus I have no idea when I will have time to sculpt and cut a new LP nut. I don't need a late 70s Japanese 59/60 burst copy, right? Its not one of the best ones, just an OKAY one. Lacquer and fret-edge binding, correct 2 piece plain top, but I suspect its a pancake body like the earlier, less accurate versions of this model and its on the heavy side for my taste, the high side of 9lbs. Las time I had a 10lb Gibby I found myself at the chiropractor for a year! Plus 8 to 9 lbs seems to sound better for how I play. Lively, but still with plenty of sustain. Another point is that its completely unplayable and VIRTUALLY unsellable in its present condition... still, my dealer buddy in Tokyo is willing to mail it to me for almost half the USA market price on one of these. And it really is on of the better ones. Hes like a guitar vampire sucking my financial blood with all his awesome finds. He knows I can't resist a steal... I told I'm no, but he's like "are you sure, James-san?"

I've just always wanted a Gibson SG standard, I have tried them a few times and have always been happy with how they play. Before I tried on though I hated the SG. I played a friends very poor Epiphone G400 which just felt really quite shit to tell you the truth. I hated how it played and for some reason it had a crazy fat neck just felt like a baseball bat. I have never played a Gibson SG standard that feels like that. I have never tried a SG special so I don't have a clue how those feel to me and I have heard great things about the 2014 Gibson SGJ.

I hate waiting for parts but least I have my switch wired up ready and my ground wire tinned. I'm hoping my pots will be here soon so I can get everything wired up. I have a set of D'Addario extra heavy 12-60 strings on the way too.

By the way, brass vs titanium vs aluminum saddles for the tune o matic? I know brass gives a darker sound but how do titanium and aluminum effect tone? I am abit tempted to change the saddles to play around with how the guitar sounds. Going for 12s because I can just about play them in E standard. Was messing around to day in drop D but also dropped the high e to D as well, double drop D I think it called. It was quite fun to play with just random stuff I do when I get board really. I occasionally tune up to F too but mainly stay in E standard. Do you screw around with tunings?

You should consider a second hand epi LP to do up. The ones with the Gibson truss tod cover are usually great guitars. What is this Japanese lp copy?

Titanium sounds a lot like brass but is indestructible like steel. Aluminum is really light and not very dense. It will wear diwn fast under heavy strings. Its most commomnly used for stop bars, 50s noncomp wraoarounds and tele barrels. You need a big chunk of it with no string grooves to resist string tension without being gtound doen or bent. It has a sound though.

I haven't even done drop d for a decade unless i am playing slide. I had a tele in keef open g 5 string for awhile but i never played it. Standard works. I am fluid and badassed in standard tuning.

I have never played an epi lp that wasn't mij or very early 90s mik that was worth a damn. The current epi mic 'pros' really look the bill but everything about them feels slightly off in a way upgrade hardware will not alleviate. They are not to my liking nor are the chinese 335s. Even the slash epi lp. I wanba like them because i could buy 2 or 3 for what i paid for some if my instruments, but even blindfolded i think i would balk at the feel of the neck and fingerboard. I do want to try the epi bonamassa signature. He seems like a tool but he really stands behind his signature gear.

The damged lp in question is a 70s greco 700 model so its got a mix of norlin era features and 50s features to it leaning heavily towards 50s.

I've seen alot of companies using titanium lately, like Floyd rose etc. Apparently it has much better tone than brass, zinc or steel. I have even seen trem blocks made from granite and the company claims it will give much better tone and sustain than brass or rolled steel blocks. I don't buy into personally, I can't see the added tone and sustain out weighing the added weight of granite and also if you drop you guitar regularly I can imagine braking a granite trem block eventually.

Shame you haven't played a Epi you like. I admit there are a lot of shit examples both old and new but if you do find a good well made epi it is worth it. One thing to watch out for on some of the pro models from 2012-2014 is flat spots on the neck profile on the curve of the heel and near the headstock under the nut. It don't affect tone or playability really but don't like amazing and can notice it occasionally. My epi has a thinner neck than my Ibanez lp copy by a fair bit really. I like it but many wouldn't. Spec wise high end epis are great but the craftsmanship can let them down and it can be kinda like finding a needle in a hay stack but when you find a good one they're usually great. Mine is anyway. The QC at these Chinese factories just isn't tight enough for the price really. I like my Epi and it plays extremely well but I guess I'm lucky lol. Some friends and random people who own many Gibsons are shocked at how great my Epi feels.

Sounds like it could be worth it if you have the cash to do it.

My parts are here had to bore put the switch hole slightly for the deep nut to fit but other than that everything fits perfectly. I have put the pots in but will take them out when I do the caps probably

"has much better tone than..." 5 words only a marketer would put together in that order... its different. Titanium as a saddle or a trem block is definitely closer in tone to brass than it is to steel and it lasts forever. Does it have better tone than steel or brass? well? in my experience its a good balance between steel and brass in a tele saddle but the fact of the matter is I wound up with steel on one tele I kept and brass on another, so better? just different. My esquire is super traditional. Light swamp ash body, maple fingerboard, traditional bridge.... it came with mid 50s steel saddles, I put compensated hipshot brass ones on. After trying a complete rutters milled bridge with his "invisibly" compensated steel saddles on my frankentele I decided to try his titanium broadcaster sized abrrels.... I wound up back with the hipshot brass ones. The mids were the same from the titanium but the brass just had a more "narrow" frequency response that sounded better to me. The titanium had too much of everything, whereas steel is strong and tight bass and bright top... its so subtle though. If durability is a primary concern like it is for Floyd guys who have that knife edge to deal with and all those moving parts bashing around as the divebomb, then titanium provides an excellent tone that has the fatness of brass as well as some of steel's characteristics too and it LASTS FOREVER.

The main thing to watch out for shopping for epihone LPs as far as I am concerned is a good one. If there are any good ones made since 1995 I am still watching out for it! the stuff your describing should not happen on any guitar with the moniker "pro." Every one of the epi versions of the grownup gibsons has some flaw like that flat spot you mentioned.... I think if your actual Gibson weren't from the oddball run last year you would be as critical of your epi as I am of chinese epis and some korean and Indonesian ones in general. Face up, you are fixing her and keeping her for sentimental reasons. Your fiancée gave her to you. That's a big deal. If my ex-wife ever gave me a guitar, even a recent import epi? I woulda treasured that thoughtfull and well-meaning gift and maybe we wouldn't be divorced! I also woulda made a point of playing the guitar in front of her all the fucking time whether I liked it or not.... but shes still a cheap, questionable made student guitar. A lot of the absolute dregs of the Gibson USA line are in the same boat. Cheaply made student guitars with inflated price tags. At leas the import stuff doesn't carry the glorious Gibson logo, right? I prefer unauthorized foreign copies that were made for the direct Asian market. They are generally better bang for buck, even new MIJ copies like ESP's popular Edwards lacquer-taste series.... even if I look at guitars meant for export to the west, I would take the right LTD eclipse or Schecter LP shape over an epi (I ahte to say this, but the schecter Robin Zander signature school's the epi dot pro in every way, you have to spend double to get an acceptable epi 335 type guitar), the "other" brands who are based in Japan and use factories in Japan and Korea to produce guitars for the US market are generally vastly superior guitars if you can find one where the cosmetics aren't horribly "brutal".... LTD makes a sparkle top eclipse I am always tempted to buy.... or you want a really good import setneck at a great price? FUCKING REVEREND, dude. They even do a semihollow SG shape... every one I pick up plays like butter and sounds pretty damn good stock. Their boltons rule too. Worthy successors to the USA made reverend boltons that were a cult favorite when Iw as a kid (wish I ahd bought one then, damn).

I agree that it should not be happening. It really shouldn't especially not on guitars costing £400 and up. Just what the fuck is up with that? Epiphone need to pull their shit together with that. I love the ESP LTD guitars. a friend has one and it is extremely well built! Can't remember the model but its a eclipse and even the LTD pickups sound really good on it. I don't think it cost anymore than £250 new. I wouldn't mind getting one for modding really.

I have rewired it and done a awesome job at it. All the joints are very tidy and nice and shinny. Tinning the soldering iron really does pay off! and taking your time too, I normally rush it when I solder and can occasionally do a bad job of it. I think this is my best solder work by far though. Theres a picture on my profile thing if you want to have a look

yeah, dude, you need to retin your each of your iron's tips every so often. You can't count on extra solder from the last job sticking to it and 'tinning' it. Solder flux can help a lot too, expecially with ground bus wire to the bridge or the abck of pots. It seems un-rock, but doing it right 1st time saves hassle and saving yourself hassle is VERY rock n roll.

Haha, yea. I never used to till I did the Epi, will comment on how it sounds tomorrow when I have strings on. I bought those Daddario NYXL 12s. I wanted to see if they are as good as the hype and they aint really hugely expensive. I use flux cored solder and the CTS pots I got have a bakelight coating whatever that is, I'm inclined to think it is flux. With the neck pick up I soldered white cloth wire to the ground because thats all I had that was long enough and then heat shrinked over the ground and the new wire then I solder the green and white together and heat shrinked those and then I soldered red cloth wire to the red wire of the pikup and heat shrinked then got a large bit of heatshrink and put them all together and heatshrinked those that should hopefully keep it all nice and secure under there if I ever want to pull the pickups and put them in something else. The bridge pick up lead was just about long enough so just left it as it was and removed that clip. I hope it sounds good with the new wiring harness. I can't wait to try it and am very pleased with my soldering. My 15w draper iron did the job very well, only took about 2 seconds to heat the back of the pots enough for the solder to flow on them. very efficient iron for £10 draper are a english company who make tools etc. Most of their stuff cary a lifetime warrenty too.

I think I will make a new harness for the Gibson because I don't like the Gibson pots in there. Too easy to turn and I also don't like the pcb electronic and all that lot. I think I'll do that though when I have all of the parts waiting.

no, bakelite is a vintage plastic, one of the earliest types of plastic. It was used in early electronics parts as an insulator/dialectric and for pickguards and pickup covers for very early fenders and other electrics of the era.... its a real "Americana" thing....

I've never head of it in my life. Pretty cool. Dunno what I'm thinking of that they have put on the bases of the pots to make soldering easier then :P

Fuck my life. I just order a Gibson SG standard off amazon by accident. I'm wondering how finance works on the amazon but didn't mean to click buy now. thank god I aint got a grand in the bank and that I noticed and cancilled straight away. need a new tv so trying to work out how you do this shit

Maybe you don't need an SG standard right now... get the new TV, that benefits everyone in your family. I mean, you HAVE a brand new LP you are just getting to know. I am naybe not the guy to be telling you this with my long running history of rabid guitar acquisition, but I have slowed down substantially since becoming a dad. I have gotten rid of way more stuff than I have purchased. I went through a burst of guitar buying and selling over the summer around the time I joined EB, but I had mostly been selling gear for the last year or so before I started to feel like I wanted more guitars again and decided that I was enjoying the SG I got the year before u was born SO much that I was going to move over from fenders and gretsches and do more Gibson an guild type of stuff. No joke, I had 6 tube amps from the 50s thru present now I have 4. And the 4th is not particularly valuable, just an ac4hw. I had like 20 fuzzes. Now I have one or two. I had 4 or 5 ODs, now I have NONE. I had a pile of attenuators, I sold them because I never use them (and the ac4 made the weber one redundant for home playing too... if 15 watts is too loud I can play the ac4). I got rid of the last of my rack gear that was just sitting here. Even a piece I wanted to keep, the electrix filter factory. I never use it anymore and its worth a lot so I could her. I bought it new in the store like 15 years ago. Oh well. Seriously, bursts of guitar and gear purchasing need to be offset by liquidating stuff you aren't using so much anymore... especially when you are a DAD.

Also, the SG standard is a guitar I would really do used, man. The last handful of years have NOT been good years for the SG. There's a guitar center only version from 2013 that's not bad, has a medium neck and tappable 57 classics, but otherwise things had been going downhill for SG production since the start of the new decade. They really had a good patch during the time that Gibson also offered the SG classic and the Pete Townshend signature SG special. But really anything from the late 90s into last decade is pretty good. I have just personally encountered more good SG standards made between 05 and 10. I have't played the 16 traditional SG standard yet, but I know last year they had a few models without innovations and they were kinda meh and the 2014 ones were not up to snuff in my opinion. I played a lot of Sgs made between like 2011 and 2014 and it was the slightly older ones I really liked for tone and feel. I wound up with an older one. The one I fell in love with and bought is an 08 I think. I forget now. She has been in her case mostly these days. Her and my 77 Greco mick ralphs don't sit on stands because the neck joints are too delicate to risk being knocked over by the sprout. I am seriously thinking of buying one of these from a dealer I know. I think the one he is unloading is a 79 or 80:

http://img13.shop-pro.jp/PA01277/346/product/87956270_o1.jpg?20150318130536

By the way, thank the BBC or whoever was responsible for that kids' show Mr Maker. Me and Lu have been way into it!

I don't want a SG till at least the end of the year and I am going used and aiming for 2010 or older. I didn't mean to almost buy one was just working out how to get on the finance section of amazon. Applied for a credit card now and have been accepted and have a £2400 limit which is pretty good. Zero interest for the first 23 months of each purchase then you pay 23% apr there after but I plan to pay stuff off before that time. Gunna be getting a tv and some more furniture soon for our flat. Quite excited. My grandma is giving me her car at the start of march too.

Is that a old 335? Looks nice. Looks like a worthwhile investment. I was thinking to myself last night that I'm gunna sell up alot of pedals after I get a amp. Keeping my old amp for my fiancee though. I'm selling the DS-1, the Digitech HW SC-2, the Electro Harmonix Small Clone and the Germanium 4 Bigmuff. They don't suit my playing anymore. With the money I'm going to get a Boss HM-2 made in Japan because it seems like a good investment and I love the HM-2. Then I'm going to get a few modulation and a wah pedal. For my third distortion I'm going to use the amps dirty channel because that is free and sounds good

its actually a proto-339 by Greco, called an sa500. Gibson custom copped the small size from Greco for the small bodied ES models in the 90s. The original MIJ version is the same depth as a 335 whereas the Gibson version is a little thinner than a 335. I have come close to buying 2 different 339s that had great necks and a good over all sound, but didn't have the hollowness I was seeking. Sounded too much like les pauls in the end (I was A/Bing with comparable LP and 335 models from the same year both times at the store... all 57 classic equipped through a vox ac15 heritage or HW depending on what the store had). The other thing the old Greco has going is a block that only runs from neck joint to the bridge so there's even more air space to add the hollowness. That also makes it lighter than a 335 or even a 339, even with the added depth. The one I am looking at is only a little over 7lbs. the one I pictured has nicer flame, the one I might get is more of a plain top. I am debating doing it. The price is great and the frets are in great shape and the overfret binding is intact, but there's a lot of lacquer wear and chipping and the body binding is cracking in a few places. If I buy her I know I should sell something of comparable value, but I am so happy with my stable that I cannot pick a guitar or amp to part with so I'm kinda hedging. This is from the same Japanese guitar-pusher who offered me the fixer-upper Greco LP that I finally passed on. This costs even more but is 100% functional. I am nervous because the price is really good. I have dealt with this guy before and I wanna trust him, but I keep thinking there must be something hes not disclosing that has him selling her 20% under current market value... its always a crap shoot with dealers, man. I bought my Yamaha from him, but there were some little issues with that when I got it that he coulda been more open about. His assessment of the truss mobility on that guitar was not so accurate and its only because I ahd him completely slack the rod prior to shipping to the USA that I was able to lubricate the adjustment bolt and get the encka s straight as I prefer. He also didn't tell me how worn out the nut was and that's hard to see even in a high res photo.... so who knows what this Greco is really like. it appears to have some deent PAF copies in her. The Maxon and Gotoh made fabulous PAFs with vrious magnet grades and different coil windings from abou 75 to 90. I was always skeptical until I got that Greco Mick Ralphs with the good Maxon-made PAF clones. Wow. They don't sound exact;ly like any of the old gibbies I have played, but they DO have the elusive "2nd note" thing happening on single notes into overdrive with mazingly complex doublestops, the magical tone shift on your vibrato and they have the right EQ response with tight bass, thick mids with NO sub-800hz honkiness to them and an airy, jangly top even when crunchy. And I haven't heard any other PAF clones that do all of that, whereas even the weakest output and hottest output PAFs in old-ass guitars exhibit those mystical qualities. Whatever Maxon did, they put a lot of work into ear testing the formula before going into production. or they just got lucky because all the parts and tooling were more readily available less than a decade after the end of PAF production....

I am rambling at you, but you get what I am saying.

what's an HM2 again? using the amp's inbuilt features is always a great place to start. Know your amp. Why buy a 2 channel an amp and live on the clean channel. I am an ac30 guy and they do not have a dedicated drive channel or anything, but I really use all the channels on all 3 of mine. I use the vib/trem even for non modulating. It has its own voicing and I use the shit outta it for focused midrange soling. I am one of those guys wholoves the AC normal hannel too. Its got a billion uses, man. People get put off by how dark it is below noon, but its just a tube and a straight wire with gain, nothing bogging you down. Dark? yes, but FAT. Loves telecaster bridge signals to boot. Loves em. Know your amp before you buy anything else. Odds are it does a lot between all the footswitch features and your guitar's knobs. As an LP guy you have a world of options before you even mod the stock controls. If you add a phase or coil tap the sky's the limit, Liam.

I saw some Gotoh pafs not long ago but I was unsure if it was worth getting them. Can't remember how old they was but I thought to myself gotoh aint known for making great pickups so I won't bother. Probably should have but all well. I love most of the Gotoh stuff though, all great quality. I have some Ibanez tuners that are made by Gotoh laying around in a parts box, possibly the nicest stock tuners I've used besides the rotomatics on my epi. I highly reccomend those Daddario NYXL strings when you next change strings. Extremely nice strings, I can't comment on how long the last but they do sound alot better than the Ernie Ball Cobalts I tried in the past. I personally don't like Ernie Ball, I used to think they was the shit at one point though, mainly because metallica etc use them but they just don't last long and break very easy compared to the daddario equivalent in my opinion.

The HM-2 is just the Boss Heavy Metal 2. A very nice sounding pedal, has volume, distortion and high and low controls. It has a nice thick distortion that doesn't scoop out the mids which I like. Also I'm going to get a made in Japan one from I think the early 80s because they hold their value. I agree theres no point living on the clean channel unless you have a truely shitty dirty channel I guess. I think I might buy a cheap boost pedal if I need it, I'll see how the digitech works out as a boost if I even need to.

I love LPs both copies and the real deal. same with teles though I don't own one apart from one I built from a kit from Ebay and the neck doesn't sit right, beyond shims etc. I'm thinking with the Gibson if I'm still not 100% on the tone from the pickups after I get a new amp and change the pots and caps I'm going to get something from seymour duncan with mismatched coils or something higher output and chuck the classic 57's in my Ibanez lp copy and sell the cheap no name alnico pafs that are in there. I quite like just plain old humbuckers without all the push pulls for splits etc. I hardly use them enough to justify having them installed. Its funny because with a strat or tele I love the single coils and couldn't care for chucking a humbucker in their place too much really. I'm going to sell the JB I think, I don't like its sound, too ice picky with the highs or whatever, I don't know, I just don't get on with it but it seems to be like marmite, you either love it or you hate it from what I have read. On my LPs I like rolling the tone all the way off on the neck pick up because I love that tone I get from it for lead work

the good gotohs are VH-1s. The best VH-1s have braided Gibson wire, the ones with the grey plastic cable aren't as good and anything else is really meh... in Maxons any U series pickups are pretty decent, each type supposedly has different magnet grades and winding pattern/turns. The most PAF-like are the "dry Z" maxons, but the U and PU series pickups ALL sound good. Some Ibanez and some Tokais used the Maxon stuff apart from Greco who used them until about 85, Burny always used the Gotohs as did the lower end Tokais. I think Ibanez rebranded all their pickups.... the super 70ss Ibanez bucker that has such a following is a rebranded Maxon whereas their hotter offerings in guitar slike the destroyer were Gotoh copies of dimarzios.

I don't like the cobalts or anything that's not mostly nickel so I'll stick with my classic ernies... I am sued to them for better or for worse and everything else sounds and feels wrong, not to mention it requiring me to reintonate the guitar just to try them... ugh!