Best Pickup Choices

Schnozz

What do you think are the best pickup choices for a...

Les Paul 
Stratocaster
& 
Superstrat?

There seems to be good things mentioned about Monty's PAFs and I wouldn't mind a backup set of Les Paul pickups in double cream, but I'm usually happy with anything Seymour Duncan puts out.

What would you recommend? I've never changed a set of pickups in over 10 years.

John_A

There is no 'best', lots of good stuff to choose from, my personal favorites

Les Paul
Deacci P1's http://deacci.com/product/pure-vintage-one/
Bare Knuckle Stormy Monday
Peter Florance Voodoo


Strat
Bacchus Yuta
Seymour SSL-1

SuperStrat
Duncan JB

beed84

I often find that I’m happy with what pickups are already in the guitar and never felt the need to change them. I’m probably being naïve but I guess there’s only so much you can do with magnets and some wire.

Alegree

John_A said:

There is no 'best', lots of good stuff to choose from, my personal favorites

Les Paul
Deacci P1's http://deacci.com/product/pure-vintage-one/
Bare Knuckle Stormy Monday
Peter Florance Voodoo


Strat
Bacchus Yuta
Seymour SSL-1

SuperStrat
Duncan JB

Finally someone who gets it
Pickups are 100% your own unique taste.

prlgmnr

I like the possibly ridiculous degree to which Klein go to match the materials and so on of vintage pickups.

StuartMac290

prlgmnr said:

I like the possibly ridiculous degree to which Klein go to match the materials and so on of vintage pickups.

Yep, I'm not a big pickup swapper-outer at all, but I have a couple of guitars fitted with Klein pickups and they really stand out against any others I've had. His Epic 57s are my favourite P90s.

thegummy

The point about it being personal taste is true.

What I can say is that the quality of the pickups and the quality of the customer service is very good from bare knuckle as well as oil city. They both have a very wide range of sounds to choose from.

I personally think it would be very hard to really make an educated choice, you'd need to try a large number in your actual guitar for a reasonable length of time which isn't realistic for most people.

I have bare knuckle mules in my LP style guitar because I knew I wanted vintage and they are widely praised. Would I prefer various other vintage humbuckers? Quite possibly. Could I genuinely tell the difference between them and other vintage hbs, even just seymour duncan or cheaper? Quite possibly not. I don't really have the time or means to find out.

I'd be very confident I could tell between vintage and hot though. That's about it.

I think the person above who said they just stick with stock probably has the right idea, I'd only advise changing if it's a completely different type you want.

Elwood

For me:

Les Paul 
BKP Mules

Strat
SD SSL1 and SSL5 in the bridge 

Superstrat
Oil City Airship Trooper and Dirty Sercet. 

I've only ever tired one of the three options above but that is what i'd be interested in trying. Pickup selection seems to be as random as that, few people can try out so many different types.

Schnozz

I was thinking...

Montys for the Les Paul

Kleins for the Strat

Duncans for the Superstrat

I've always been interested in trying Dimarzios in a Les Paul, but I've never been a huge fan of them in the Superstrats I've tried - There's either not enough bottom end, or I struggle with the output.

Bare Knuckle, Peter Florence and Fred Stuart crop up quite a bit, but there never seems to be many recommendations for Superstrats, so I'll have a look at Oil City.

mgaw

after hearing/playing throbak neck pickup for the first time today i would bite the large bullet their prices create and buy a set..they sound amazing

jesone

I favour vintage Les Paul tones and Wizz pickups work best for me in my guitars.

Moleman

I'm with JohnA on this one:

Les Paul
Deacci P1/2/3's http://deacci.com 
Lindy Fralin Standard PAF's
Lollar Imperials 

Strat
Lindy Fralin Blues Specials

SuperStrat
Seymour Duncan Custom Custom

thegummy

Schnozz said:

I was thinking...

Montys for the Les Paul

Kleins for the Strat

Duncans for the Superstrat

I've always been interested in trying Dimarzios in a Les Paul, but I've never been a huge fan of them in the Superstrats I've tried - There's either not enough bottom end, or I struggle with the output.

Bare Knuckle, Peter Florence and Fred Stuart crop up quite a bit, but there never seems to be many recommendations for Superstrats, so I'll have a look at Oil City.

Never actually tried it but I'd guess purely from the name that the VHII from bare knuckle would be good for a super Strat

chris78

prlgmnr said:

I like the possibly ridiculous degree to which Klein go to match the materials and so on of vintage pickups.

I’ve had a broadcaster set and 57 p90s and they were both incredible

For strats, I’d go lollar, though their tele pickups are very decent as well.

prlgmnr

I've got the Klein nocaster set in a Haar tele and they're great, keep toying with putting a strat set in my MIJ Fender but I get indecisive about which set to go with and never get anywhere with it. I think I had it narrowed down to 1956 or 1962.

grungebob

beed84 said:

I often find that I’m happy with what pickups are already in the guitar and never felt the need to change them. I’m probably being naïve but I guess there’s only so much you can do with magnets and some wire.

I’m somewhat the same, I wouldn’t have bought the guitar if I wasn’t happy with its core tone. 
However you can make a difference with the right pickups but I find it’s trial and error. 
I had an old Ibanez S guitar that I tried Duncan’s, Dimarzios, bare knuckles and even more Duncan’s in but in the end the original pickups worked best. 

guitarfishbay

It’s all personal taste and depends what sound you want... For me:

Les Paul: BB3 / 57 Classic 

Strat: EMG SA

Superstrat: EMG 81/81

grappagreen

Not wanting to seem unhelpful but a bit like asking 'what's the best colour for a Strat'

Very subjective..

The 'best' manufacturers are well know and you can hear a massive amount of samples out there on t'internet..

The big challenge of course is what is right for you/your instrument(s)/target sound etc. Sadly the only way to really find this out is to throw some to time/effort/money at swapping out pickups (based on sensible research) in your guitar(s) and listening/feeling to what works for you.

It's a road many of us have, and continue to travel and there really isn't any other way imho. You're not going to go wrong with the 'names' out there as they are all making good/great pickups - but is it the one for you?!?

Si

Roland

It’s an expensive education, but so is buying and selling on guitars in search of a constantly moving target.

mudslide73

I have SD Surfers and an SSL-5 in my MJT and Oil City Stonetones and an A5 Nightfighter in my HSS Floyd Strat. 

I've still got WCR/Wagner Darkbursts in my L.P... I've alternated the bridge unit with a BK Crawler a few times though. 

crunchman

If I'm unhappy with the sound and resort to changing the pickups, then most of the time I'm unhappy with the sound afterwards as well.  I had a Custom Shop Les Paul several years back, and I put one of the really expensive PAF clones in the bridge position (Throbak I think) and it still didn't sound great.  I've had two other CS Les Pauls since, and they both sound much better with the stock pickups than that one did with the expensive one.  I think Paul Reed Smith says the wood is the voice of the guitar, and the pickup is the mic.  It's quite a good analogy.  If you give Bob Dylan the best mic ever made, he still won't sound like Freddy Mercury.

I have seen improvements through changing pickups, but the only guitars that I didn't sell afterwards anyway were the ones where I liked the sound before.  In both of those cases, I changed the pickups for other reasons - like problems with noise.  For one guitar I made the mistake of buying Kinmans.  I ended up replacing those with Fralins that were absolutely brilliant, but I was happy with the guitar stock, and wouldn't have bothered swapping them in the first place but for the perceived need for noiseless pickups.

If you have a competently made pickup, the guitar it's in is far more important.  That's not to say a really good pickup won't make it better, but I'd still rather listen to Aretha Franklin recorded through an SM58 than Cheryl Cole recorded through some expensive Neumann.

Having said all that, here's my two pennies on the pickups I have experience of.  Fralins are excellent in both Strat and Tele.   That's going back several years though before the likes of Oil City were available. These days I would probably look at a British maker rather than spend the kind of money Fralins cost over here.

I've not done so much swapping on humbucker guitars, but the Duncan JB suits an SG quite well.  Bare Knuckle Mules are good, but expensive.  Duncan Seth Lovers are good, but bright sounding so won't suit all guitars. I really like Gibson's newer offerings (Custom Buckers and MHS) but not some of the older stuff like 57 Classics.  The 490R/498T combo seems to work in an SG but I don't like it in LP style guitars.  Older PRS humbuckers aren't great.  Not played many of their newer ones, but they do have a better reputation.