Looking for Vintage Tone!

[phread]

To start, I recently acquired an '02 R8. Love the look, the way it plays, and
everything about it except... I have a number of vintage guitars, and this is
lacking a bit of the vintage tone. Now if I'm going to mess with pickups and
wiring, I'm more inclined to replace everything... Getting new CTS pots is
already in the queue, but...

Looking for a set of zebra pickups and bumble bee caps. Sound/tone I'm
looking for is along the lines of Billy Gibbons and Joe Perry. Vintage tone with
a bit of hair on it. Although Tony Iommi is one of my favorite guitarists, I'm
not looking for that level of saturated distortion out of this Les Paul.

So what humbuckers should I check out? And where can I get a decent
set of caps at a reasonable price?

I am sure this has been covered in other threads, but when I started digging
thru them with *search* the topics were too scattered and muddled...

Cheers,

Phread

 

[GuitarToneFreak]

I've heard real good things about DiMarzio's PAF 36th Anniversary pickups, and I think (don't hold me to this) they're about $68 each. Guitarfetish has a pair of Vintage '59 pickups for $40 each, but I personally haven't heard any reviews either positive or negative about them. If you're looking for Billy Gibbons how about trying a SD Pearly Gates pup?

 

[phread]

I used to put a lot DiMarzio pickups in guitars back in the late 70's/early 80's when I
worked in a music store. Decent stuff, but didn't impress me enough to classify them
top-shelf. I will check them out again though since it's been a while. I actually have
a 70's PAF and X2N in one of my Les Pauls.

Just got a set of Guitar Fetish pickups to try in a Strat, but not too happy with their
customer service. Will continue to explore that avenue...

I'm looking for something a bit better than a Burstbucker 2 and 3. I had considered a
set from Voodo Labs, but a friend of mine just installed a set and discovered that one
of the pickups was bad right out of the box (unless it's supposed to sound like an
anemic Tele). Don't know if it's bad luck or bad quality. I do have a set of Peter's
pickups in a Strat and am happy with them so far.

As far as Seymour Duncan, I've probably bought about 20+ of their pickups and they
sound great for a couple of years, but I've got a box of them now that are so
microphonic, you can use them to announce your next song. If it happened to one
or two, I'd be okay with that, but I've probably got around 10 that have deteriorated
and that's the reason I don't buy Duncans anymore.

Anyway, it's a top-shelf guitar and I want something that is perfect in terms of tone
and looks. I'm normally not so picky about this, but with this guitar I was picky about
what I bought and I'm going to be picky about what I put in it.

Same reason I'm looking for a set of bumble bees...

 

[R8R6Ben]

for　pickups I recommend Skatterbranes... Rod is great and knows how to wind an amazing pup.

I have a review with sound clips here:
http://www.mylespaul.com/forums/pic...nes-review-part-2-more-depth-sound-clips.html

as for caps there is only one way to go: Jonesy!

 

[Tim Plains]

Just google "Best PAF clone."
Throbaks, Sheptones, WCR, BareKnuckle, Wolfetones, SKATTERBRANE, OTPG (over the pond guy)...just to name a few.
The only higher-end aftermarket pickups I've tried are Throbaks SLE-101 LTDs, Wolfetone Dr Vs and Marshallheads. I love all three but the Throbaks are something else!