Asking for advice: hard rock / metal pickups

  • Hey everyone!


    I don't know much about PU's so I thought I'd post this here so the nice people in this forum could maybe help me a lil' bit.


    The story is:


    I have a guitar I haven't played in a LONG time... it's not the best guitar but it's not super bad either: it's a 2004 (ish) Gibson Les Paul Special Faded and it was the first guitar I bought with my own salary back in the day while at the university (oh, those days...^^).


    I played with it a lot during many years but now I own other guitars which are better or more playable, and so on...


    The point is I'd like to 'recover' this guitar, so I thought I'd buy new pickups, a new bone nut, take it to the luthier so it gets properly adjusted and maybe give it a new paint job.


    So my main struggle is finding some suitable PU's for it... and I don't know even where to start LOL


    With this one I'd mainly play hard rock / metal but wouldn't mind something very versatile....



    Any suggestions?


    Thanks in advance:)!!!

  • Hi Sercho, great decision to play the guitar again :thumbup:


    Finding the right PU can be a science and in the end it's just a matter of your personal taste. If you have really no idea where to start I suggest you try to find out with which combinations of amp, cabinet, guitar (Les Paul type) and PU some of your favourite sounds on recordings were used. If you can find at least 3 good sounds (in your ears) that were created with the same PU, it can't be that bad ;)

    Another good idea might be to go to a local guitar store and try some Les Pauls with different PUs.

    Seymour Duncan have a "Pickup selector", which may help to get an idea, what kind of PU might match your taste:
    https://www.seymourduncan.com/pickup-selector-step-1

    It's almost impossible to give an advise for "your" PU... there are so many good, bad and average. You'll have to try and find it out for yourself.

  • Expensive but the best ( in my mind)....Bare knuckle. They do a wide range of voicings to suit style and guitar and if you contact them they will give you direct advice depending upon guitar or style.


    Otherwise, Seymour JB is always a good heavy rock pickup...


    Or go mad and get EMG's a la Zakk Wylde...they are very tight and aggressive. Some people love actives and some don;t, but listen to any Zakk period Ozzy to hear what they sound like..