Crayon Sky Music

Upgrade Epi Les Paul pickups? Or Telecaster?

Ok so heres the deal. Last Christmas I got an Epiphone Les Paul Standard Plus and I love it. I needed a versatile guitar at a reason price so I was suggested an LP and don’t regret it. So here’s my dilemma; should I upgrade the pickups? Or should I get a telecaster? I play all kinds of music, but now that I am getting good enough to want better, I feel the LP as is isn’t the best at pulling it all off. I play mostly punk/metal or true rock and roll. So, should I upgrade the pickups for a better metal/punk sound and gradually save up to buy a Gibson LP? Or should I buy a Fender ’72 Telecaster Deluxe reissue?

I would start with upgrading your pickups and amp before buying another guitar, *unless* that guitar meets your needs significantly better than your current one. For me, for instance, weight is a big issue. I only play standing up anymore, so a mahogany guitar pretty much kills me – I’ve found that basswood bodies tend to give me the tone I want (enough bass to get chunk, enough brightness to be heard in the mix) with a weight I’m happy with.

Remember that you should always get your guitar properly intonated and setup, and change your strings regularly. These things make a huge difference!

I would say to *not* look at the pickups your heroes use. Blink 182, for instance, uses Invaders in the bridge position of a Strat. Invaders are muddy and have essentially no treble response – so while they can be moderately well-suited to chunkier rhythms and still stay out of the sonic space of the bass guitar and drums, they still aren’t going to put out a lot of treble, so for soloing and cleaner rhythm/leads its not going to be very suitable.

A lot of the pros get their tone from the amps they use – so if you’re not using Mesa Boogies or nice tube Marshalls you’re going to have a hard time duplicating those tones exactly.

Quite honestly, though, the tones are generic enough to get on most guitars and amps, I think. Lower the bass side of your pickups (ie under the low E) a fair amount and keep plenty of treble in your tone, and don’t cut your mids too much… adjust gain to taste.

Any of the PAF style neck pickups would work just fine for the neck pickup, I think. The DiMarzio PAF Joe and Seymour Duncan ’59 and Jazz pups are the first ones that come to mind, although certainly not the only ones.

For bridge pups, Rockfield Mafias (great for rock especially), Seymour Duncan Alternative 8′s (very full, round, but tight low end, needs the right pedal/amp for metal though), or DiMarzio Evolution II’s (good for distorted rhythm, so-so for leads, but you’ll use your neck for leads, right? right?) or DiMarzio D Sonic or D Alternative (good clarity but solid low end, great if you tune down especially).

DiMarzios in general will have a more “precise” or “edgier” tone, while Seymour Duncans will in general have a “rounder”, “warmer”, or “more organic” tone. DiMarzios in general take well to distortion and colder/crisper tones…. you can still get those with Seymour Duncan pups, but you’ll need to rely more on proper EQ in your amp and pedals, as you’ll have to dial out a little more mids on your amp.

Hope it helped!

Saul

1992 Fender 72 Reissue Custom Telecaster