pickups for my epiphone les paul special II

[tattoodane]

I just bought an epiphone les paul special II and it should be to me later this week. I had a question about changing out the pickups, would the DiMarzio DP159 Evolution Bridge and DiMarzio DP158 Evolution neck Pickup be a good swap out? It's a black guitar and I'm trying to keep everything on it black including everything on the pick ups

[MAXGOUGH]

Don't know about the Dimarzio's, but I have a black Sp II that I just installed burstbusters on. Taking it tomorrow to have it re-setup. Hopefully, it will sound better than the stocks.

[lp junior freak]

go with wb pickups man there the best

[tattoodane]

wb pickups are the best for what type of playing? do they have a good set that come in all black?

[Marshal]

I have a set of Will's HVTP"s. I play Classic & Southern Rock mostly as well as a little country. I love them! The best thing to do is contact Will at WB Pickups and tell him what sound you are looking for. I'm sure he can help.
And yes you can get them in Black, Gold, Nickel, Chrome or my favorite...Zebra!

[tattoodane]

thank you for all the help. I will look into those pickups. thanks for all your help

[MIDNIGHT]

well, wen i get my Epi LP, i plan to replace the stocks with WB's ..

[coldsteal2]

I really liked the sound of those WB's on that Marshall
Heritiage video.


OH WOW, i just found out WB is just 50 miles
north of me! hahaha, in Redding my old stompin
grounds where i started my rock carrer!
who would have thunk!
I can just drive up there

[Iceman0124]

I dont want to sound rude or piss anyone off, but I really fail to see the point in putting high end pups that cost as much or more than the guitar in a beginners guitar, granted you can swap them out when you move up, but honestly, an LP special II is not a guitar of choice for an intemidiate or advanced player, and if thats all you can afford, you would be best served combining the budget for the guitar and pups and put it towards a better axe, not neccesarilly a more expensive, but a more featured better constructed one,there are several out there, and if you are a beginner, new pups are a waste of money, stock are perfect to cut your teeth on, just my own personal opinion.

[overdriver]

Originally Posted by Iceman0124

I dont want to sound rude or piss anyone off, but I really fail to see the point in putting high end pups that cost as much or more than the guitar in a beginners guitar, granted you can swap them out when you move up, but honestly, an LP special II is not a guitar of choice for an intemidiate or advanced player, and if thats all you can afford, you would be best served combining the budget for the guitar and pups and put it towards a better axe, not neccesarilly a more expensive, but a more featured better constructed one,there are several out there, and if you are a beginner, new pups are a waste of money, stock are perfect to cut your teeth on, just my own personal opinion.

+1 but some for one reason or another, some like those specials .I think the pups are cheap ceramic not sure ,any way IMO a set of epi alnico classics would sound a bit better if the stock are ceramic, or maybe go as far as a set from GFS. Epi classic go real cheap on E bay. Then again a person can always take what ever replacement pups with them to put in what ever new axe they buy. I would not bother ,heck I would never want one of those specials in the first place ,each to their own.

[Iceman0124]

Ceramic doesnt mean bad, I have an epi LP classic with a 500T bridge, BBpro neck and full gibson wiring,and I love it, the 500T(ceramic) screams bloody murder, and warms quite nicely with bb pro in the mid position, it adds up to a very versatile guitar, spanky/buttery warm clean/ blues/rock/metal/full shred with a flick of a switch and a twist of a knob or two, after doing mine, my tech has been doing the same setup on many LP type guitars since, including his own gibson 04 standard, , it all boils down to personal prefereance, but I love having a guitar I can easily make fit for all the styles I play. Bottom line, cheap guitars usally have cheap electronics, but beginner type guitars are usually best left stock, In my opinion, if you love it, and you gig with it, always want to play it no matter what else is at your disposal, then an upgrade might be worthy, but in most cases, its not money well spent in the long haul.

[tattoodane]

I see what you're getting at Iceman, and I've been playing for around 13 years now and own a bunch of different guitars, however, I've never modded any of them, so this is my first sorta project guitar. I don't make a lot of money, but I had a few bucks for a guitar and due to the fact that I'm in Iraq, didn't feel much like spending a lot of money on a guitar to have it get all messed up from all the things that mess up nice stuff out here. So I was curious about getting some pickups for it to make it just that little bit more reasonable. As nice as it would be, and as much as I wish I could get it and nothing would ever happen to it, I just can't see spending all my money on something nice to have it messed up. perhaps when I get back from my deployment. who knows. but thank you for your opinion

[overdriver]

Originally Posted by Iceman0124

Ceramic doesnt mean bad, I have an epi LP classic with a 500T bridge, BBpro neck and full gibson wiring,and I love it, the 500T(ceramic) screams bloody murder, and warms quite nicely with bb pro in the mid position, it adds up to a very versatile guitar, spanky/buttery warm clean/ blues/rock/metal/full shred with a flick of a switch and a twist of a knob or two, after doing mine, my tech has been doing the same setup on many LP type guitars since, including his own gibson 04 standard, , it all boils down to personal prefereance, but I love having a guitar I can easily make fit for all the styles I play. Bottom line, cheap guitars usally have cheap electronics, but beginner type guitars are usually best left stock, In my opinion, if you love it, and you gig with it, always want to play it no matter what else is at your disposal, then an upgrade might be worthy, but in most cases, its not money well spent in the long haul.

Yes each to their own . I would not use a 500t if you paid me to. But hey whatever does it for a peson I guess. Tattodane ;For a person that can not spend much money on trying different pups IMO look at Untitled Page (GFS pickups) or Vintage Vibe Guitars or Kent Armstrong Pickups Hey the vintage vibe pups come with magnets you can change a set of Alnico and a ceramic set if you got those you could hear the diff for yourself

[coldsteal2]

Originally Posted by tattoodane

I see what you're getting at Iceman, and I've been playing for around 13 years now and own a bunch of different guitars, however, I've never modded any of them, so this is my first sorta project guitar. I don't make a lot of money, but I had a few bucks for a guitar and due to the fact that I'm in Iraq, didn't feel much like spending a lot of money on a guitar to have it get all messed up from all the things that mess up nice stuff out here. So I was curious about getting some pickups for it to make it just that little bit more reasonable. As nice as it would be, and as much as I wish I could get it and nothing would ever happen to it, I just can't see spending all my money on something nice to have it messed up. perhaps when I get back from my deployment. who knows. but thank you for your opinion

Keep yourself safe over there.....

[hedzeppelin]

I have an Epi standard plaintop, and I put a DiMarzio DP100 super distortion in the bridge, and a DiMarzio PAF in the neck. I am totally satisfied with the combo, and it only cost me $120 USD.
And, DiMarzio has a policy that if you're not happy with the sound,
you can exchange them.

[tattoodane]

ok, so my dimarzios showed up and now it comes down to me wondering how the heck to install them. I'm sure somewhere there is a how to. only one little problem, I have a special II which has only 1 tone knob and a volume knob. but I have so many wires from the pickups. haha HELP

[MIDNIGHT]

Originally Posted by tattoodane

wb pickups are the best for what type of playing? do they have a good set that come in all black?

well, even if Will (Will Boggs thus WB ) doesn't have one that comes in all black, he can sure as heaven make you one!



he makes custom pickups according to your personal specs so you can just tell him that you want 'em in all black

check out his site

WB Custom Pickups: guitar pickups wound by hand



(Hey Will, you should thank me and Josef for advertising your product haha .. just joshin' ya )

[overdriver]

Originally Posted by tattoodane

ok, so my dimarzios showed up and now it comes down to me wondering how the heck to install them. I'm sure somewhere there is a how to. only one little problem, I have a special II which has only 1 tone knob and a volume knob. but I have so many wires from the pickups. haha HELP

Just follow the wires guy, only two to solder if going straight HB , do them one at a time , the Gibson site as well as the Symour Duncan site have pics on how to install, the Ducan site has a video. If your new pick ups are four conductor and you are not going to use them other than being a straight HB , two or the wires need to be rat-tailed together and taped off. The pickups should have come with instructions.

The pick up wires are soldered to the respective volume controls the hot to a lug on the pot ,the ground to the back of the pot. (pot= volume control in this case)

If you after seeing the video ,or for whatever reason get cold feet , you could always splice the new pick ups on to the existing wires , leave enouth wire so that in the future you can unslice them and install right at some point. Some people do that sort or thing .