Les Paul Traditional neck pickup (Page 1 of 2)

You could consider changing the magnet bar out on the pickup.  You currently have alnico II in a 57' Classic.  Its a lower powered magnet that produces warmth.  You could change the bar out for something a little more powerful and not really effect the power of the pickup just shape the tone a bit brighter then it currently is.  I have the same problem with my 57' classics.  all you got to do is remove the nickle plated cover of the neck pickup exposing the bobbins.  Next with a philips head screw driver remove the 4 screws in the back plate of the pickup.  You will also have to remove the 6 screws on the top of the bobbin that are the adjustable pole pieces.  Very carefully you should be able to wedge a flat head screw driver between the bobbins and the back plate.  the wax will make it a bit hard to pull the magnet bar out but you should bearly open the pickup up like I said earlier and be able to push the bar out with the flat head screw driver.  Be sure to mark how it came out so that if you don't like what you've done you can convert it back.  Just note left to right and top to bottom.  If you get any of the directions wrong you'll get a peter green out of phase sound when your between 2 pickups. 

So now you get a choice of what bar you want to replace it with.  http://www.wymoreguitars.com/Humbucker- … _c_60.html for 5 bucks you can buy a upgrade the sound to your liking.  I think you would want to stay in alnico style magnets just to keep it close to the bridge but really anything will work.  You might find that you will have a hard time figuring out how to position the magnet as they are not labeled.  There is no right or wrong way to do this but if you put the poles different from the other pickup you get the peter green sound I was talking about earlier.  You could buy a tester but if you remember that magenets attract when they are N and S you'll get the Peter Green sound.  When they push away (N TO N) your the same and the pickups will sound normal.  To test that you take the bar and place it over the other pickup if it pushes it away its normal if it pulls it in your out of phase and that makes the peter green sound.  I would just go up to a Alnico 3 or 4 as the higher up you go the more power the pickup will make.  You don't want to overpower the bridge pickup.  I hope this makes sense.

I think burstbuckers 1 and 2 get a better Clapton Beano sound personally.

gibson humbuckers as a rule are always 500k.  you could go to the 1 meg that would make it bright.  its cheaper to replace a cap.  have you tried just adjusting the pickup to be closer to the treble strings?

Well, I was told at the store it has 57 Classics in the neck and 57+ in the bridge. Apparently, it has 300k linear volume pots and 500k tone pots. I think I'll upgrade it with RS Guitarworks vintage kit:
http://www.rsguitarworks.net/rsstore/pr … cts_id=392 that means there will be 500k SuperPots which measure at least 520k (I was told).

My only complaint is the neck pickup which is not just dark but also muffled. On the other hand, I quite like the bridge pup. So my question is, will the 500k pot make the bridge pup suddenly too bright? After all, Gibson put 300k pots in there for a reason. Although, traditionally it used to be 500k.
So anyone is welcome to voice an opinion. If anyone has experience with the RS kits or exchanged 300k with 500k pots, please let me know how that worked and tell me whether the difference is dramatic.

why don't you just upgrade the volume on the neck pickup and leave the bridge alone.  RS Guitar works also has a kit that has a 300k volume for the bridge called something like the treble tamer.  That neck needs a 500k for sure though.  As for turning your pickup upside down like one guy said that doesn't work like peter greens pickups you still have to flip the magnet around as I said earlier to get that sound and it won't help you when the neck pickup is the only pickup selected.  Another quick fix is just take the cover off of the neck pickup.  Those nickle covers make them pretty tame.  Last 57' classics are wax potted, Burst Buckers 1,2, and 3 are not.  Burst bucker pro's are wax potted.  If it was me I would go with the rs kit and turn everything 500k.  You can always do like Joe Bonamassa when he uses his bridge pickup and turn the tone control down.  And if you hate it go back to the 300k that you had.  My Gut is your other guitars have 57' classics with 500k pots and you like the sound of those.... So make this one like those.

I was thinking about getting the RS kit to make my Goldtop Traditional more like Joe's LP and capture that vintage tone/vibe.  Let me know what you think of the kit and how much it changed your tone?

Ok I just wanted to add that if you have the pickups 57' neck and burstbucker 3 in the bridge you have a Les paul traditional Pro instead of just a standard les paul traditional.  It will have Zebra strip pickups and no covers.

Bluesbreaker,

What is the neck like on your guitar? I am looking at buying one and I like the slim 60's neck and I have read these have the fat 50's neck but I also read a few reviews where they said the neck was inbetween. What do you think is it more fat or thin?

E