Am I the only one who thinks …

that it is ridiculous that Gibson is putting American made custom buckers in Epiphones but putting Burstbuckers in their USA made LPs that cost more than twice as much? Do they think nobody will buy historics if they put custom buckers in USA LPs? I think it wouldn’t change a thing. People who want custom shop guitars want custom shop guitars. Seems like an unnecessary slap in the face for customers paying almost $3K for a Nashville LP.

When I ordered my M2M, I put 57 Classics in a $7,000 guitar.

I can’t keep up with all the different ‘buckers, so I went with what I know.

Zero regrets.

I have an Epiphone with the Custom Buckers.

I bought it, in part, because it has them. They sound incredible. Not really like a PAF, imho, but maybe more like what people imagine a PAF should sound like. In a good way.

I also have two guitars with the most recent iteration of Burst Buckers (BB 2 and BB 3 in both cases).

The recent Burst Buckers are awesome. The BB 2 and BB 3 sets are very much in the 'hot' PAF zone, to me. They sound a little different to the Custom Buckers, but they sound great, no two ways about it.

In the 90s and early 2000s, I loved 57 Classics. The new BBs sound a lot like what I thought was so great about those earlier 57 Classics; warm and sweet and very classic/vintage toned.

JMHO.

So your issue is that the G-USA Stds and such don't have CBs, but the higher-end Epis do? No, it doesn't bother me. I think Gibson is pretty good about selecting the right pickup for the right guitar. For my Std-60s, the right pickups are in there; I wouldn't want CBs in it. At least ... I don't think I would.  LOL

Yeah, my Standard 60s has the 61-something or others in it.
They work fine.
No complaints.
But would the 57s I’ve had in so many other guitars work better?

I dunno.

Time will tell.

Too many buckers to keep up with all those fuckers. I still like the 57's. They just sound good! I have some other buckers in my other guitars too... In the end I don't remember what they came with. I NEVER plug straight in.... Too many amps and pedals all over the place. So no matter if it's this bucker, that bucker or some other thing in a strat or tele... I turn some knobs on the distortion/fuzzbooster and search for the sound. I guess if I was a purist I would plug straight in.... All kinds of nice tube amps to play with, but I get bored. I need to color my sound. I don't think any of the music I listen too was plugged straight in.

I'm not too picky with pickups, I do know I like '57 classics. And of all things I have some dimarzois I like. Whatever came in my '23 r9 is no better than any of my other pickups. I was expecting more from the legendary r9. I get pissed when I play the traditional with '57's and it just works so damn good. I find the neck to be the most important thing in any guitar. It could have the snake oil pickups, but if the neck is not doing it....

Doesn't bother me at all. Pups are so subjective, Gibson can't win whatever they do.

I'm one of the weirdos who really like the 490R/498T combo. I've got a set waiting to go in my Epi SG this summer.

The good news is it's a five minute job to swap the ones you don't want for the ones you do. And you'll not have any problems moving the ones you don't like on if that's what you want to do.

It all depends on which pickups you like, and how important that is to you.
Ifit matters to you, it matters.
To some it won’t.

I wish Epiphone had installed their own P-90 in my '57 Reissue Junior instead of a P-100, wherever that one came from.

That’s an easy fix.
With absolutely no downside.

Well, except trying to get someone to buy the P-100 from you.
That probably won’t happen.

Southwest said:

I'm one of the weirdos who really like the 490R/498T combo. I've got a set waiting to go in my Epi SG this summer.

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I really like the 490R too. I took it out of one of my Gibson SGs, and dropped it in one of my Epiphone LPs, and it just rocks!

The custombucker thing doesn’t bother me. I’m sure in short order they’ll be some “insertnamehere”bucker that will be the new, greatest, most expensive HB. And they’ll still be putting the 490/498’s in various shit as always.

All my guitars have different HBs, and may require some knob turning going from on to the other.

Couldnt care less. Burstbuckers sound great to me ymmv. And yes i have custombuckers here too.

Southwest said:

Doesn't bother me at all. Pups are so subjective, Gibson can't win whatever they do.

I'm one of the weirdos who really like the 490R/498T combo. I've got a set waiting to go in my Epi SG this summer.

The good news is it's a five minute job to swap the ones you don't want for the ones you do. And you'll not have any problems moving the ones you don't like on if that's what you want to do.

Click to expand...

I like that combo also. My first Les Paul had them and I’ve always liked them. I have them in a lot of my guitars. The second pickup I have second most is the 57 classic. Like those alot too.

I still have the 490/498 in my ‘93 Standard (avatar guitar).
They work fine.

I don’t love them, but it sounds different than my other Les Pauls.
So they’ve stayed all these years.

Who knows?
I might swap ‘em at some point.

Leee said:

That’s an easy fix.
With absolutely no downside.

Well, except trying to get someone to buy the P-100 from you.
That probably won’t happen.

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If I replaced the P-100 I would likely put it with my bag of parts (knobs, P-90 covers, etc.)

Gibson pickups? I've always liked them.

Custombuckers, I flat out love them! My favorite so far.

As far as being put in some Epiphones, not that big a deal, imo. Just business.

I haven't played/owned Custombuckers, but I've played/owned a bunch of Gibson pickups and I like the vast majority of them. First Les Paul I ever owned was a mid 90s Studio, 490/498 set. Fantastic sounding guitar. Sold it to a buddy after he really loved it, and 30 years later, he owns several Les Pauls, and still gigs the stock Studio regularly - because it sounds amazing. My next was a 99 Classic, with the 496R/500T set - gasp, ceramic magnets! Guess what - sounded great. I owned a Classic Antique - 57 Classics. They sounded great. My now #1 60s Standard - 61 Burstbuckers. I freaking love them. The exception - my 24 Studio - I didn't care for the BB Pros. Replaced them with 61 Burstbuckers, because I freaking love them.

So no, I'm not upset that GIbson is putting the Custombuckers in the $1500 Epis, because they're putting great pickups in everything. And if they weren't, I'd drop in some Wolfetones.

Aahzz said:

BB Pros

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I replaced the ceramics in my 2000 Classic with BurstBucker Pro Vs, and they stayed in there for years.

I never loved them.

I have no idea if it was the pickups, or the guitar, or what. But I was never happy with the way it sounded.

Leee said:

I replaced the ceramics in my 2000 Classic with BurstBucker Pro Vs, and they stayed in there for years.

I never loved them.

I have no idea if it was the pickups, or the guitar, or what. But I was never happy with the way it sounded.

Click to expand...

I found the neck muddy, and the bridge thin. I could make either sound reasonable through height adjustment, but I couldn't get them balanced in the middle position, and I live in the middle position.

Gibson probably put CBs in the Epiphones to raise the profit level on those guitars. I bet there isn't really much of a production cost among the various models, just different profits at the parts counter

I have ten Gibsons but haven't thought about the prices of the pickups. I'm a bit light on humbuckers. 2 with BB Pros, 1 with BB 2&3 and one with minis. Then there's 5 with P-90, P-90S and a lone lipstick LOL. And one acoustic.
The lipstick is one replacement I did when I took the weird slug single out of my Melody Maker. The other was swapping P-90s for the minis in my Tribute.
I have never considered replacing any full size 'buckers.