Pickup Replacement for Gibson L-5 CES

[Jimmy Mack]

Thank you Gustavo, that seems like a fun experiment.
The tone I like is what I achieved when playing a '68 L5 CES at Sam Ash some years ago. Sweet. Through a Fender Deluxe Reverb.
It was returned to the store from Eric Clapton's backup guitarist, I heard that it just wasn't right for him, and at $6500, it just wasn' t right for me either, but what a sound. Still dreaming about it.

So, now I contemplate trying some sweeter sounding p/ups, I have some great Fender amps to try them with, and the L5 of .

[Madansi]

Hi all !
I'm the happy owner of an archtop based on a L5-CES from a french brand, Lâg. Solid carved top, this is my first archtop.

Here are some pictures to please the eyes







I'm very happy about the craftmanship of this guitar, but not quite pleased about the pickup. Seymour Duncan APH-1 in neck and SPH-1 in bridge.

In my current setup, i'm not satisfied with the bridge pickup at all, the neck being pretty great in sound but not in sensitivity. Not plugged in, the guitar is very reactive to the attack of my play but not plugged in

I'd like to swap pickup. I'm in love with the P90 sound ( Kenny Burrell, Grant Green... ) but i also love that sweet and round neck humbucker sound.
So i thought of a configuration with both a P90 and a humbucker. But which should go to the bridge and which should go to the neck in your opinion ?

I have a nice pickup builder that proposes P90 in Alnico 3 ( like old Gibson ones, perfect for jazz as i saw ) that could fit the neck position, and also " warm " P90 that could be great for a jazz tone in bridge position...

Any review or advice is welcome

Forgive my english as it's not my native language

[feet]

Access to this page has been denied.

I don't know if they are any good, but you get them both in the same pick up

But if you could only do one of each, my first reaction is to put the p90 in the neck and the humbucker in the bridge. But that humbucker in the bridge won't help much for jazz. Maybe listen to clips of guitars with mixed sets and see what you prefer.

Then again, what you need is a humbucker sized p90, which isn't exactly the same thing, but hopefully close enough.

That's a beautiful guitar, by the way.

[Madansi]

Thanks for your awnser feet !

Yes i was talking about humbucker sized P90.
About the P-rail, i tried them and there are nice pickups, but i really wanna buy pickups from the builder that i know, he made an extroardinary set for my Telecaster and his pickups rocks !
If i ever go to a p-rail system i guess it'll be P90+single sized Charlie Christian, but i think i'll loose tonal quality both from P90 and CC...

About the humbucker in the bridge i guess that in middle position + tone rolled down from the humbucker, it'd add a bit of extra bass to the P90 for a bit more round sound... But i guess bridge P90 would add extra bite to a neck humbucker also.

[citizenk74]

Nice guitar!

[Madansi]

Thanks !
It's a bit heavy and string are a bit high in the upper frets, but with a good set up and a great strap it'll be perfect for me
Currently i have 13's Thomastik on it, may switch to 12.

[BigMikeinNJ]

?Very nice guitar, it has an ABM tailpiece, I have similar ones on my Unitys. Good luck choosing pickups.

[lawson-stone]

I put the Seymour Duncan "Phat Cat" Humbucker sized P90 in my Epiphone Zephyr Regent Re-Issue (like an ES165) and I'm loving it. With the tone on 10 it's very crisp, lively, open, but when you roll back the tone you get that 50's soft tone that you hear in the early Jim Hall recordings. I"m seriously thinking of putting these in one of my Gibsons.

[Madansi]

?Very nice guitar, it has an ABR tailpiece, I have similar ones on my Unitys. Good luck choosing pickups.

Guitar came stock with this tailpiece, can't tell how it is compared to wood piece. But i don't have to complain at all, the guitar is staying in key very well

[Hammertone]

Lâg sourced some tailpieces and hardware from ABM, including the ABM 1281G tailpiece used on the "South Side 2 H" and "South Side 1 H"models featured in their 2002 catalogue:

[Madansi]

Lâg sourced some tailpieces and hardware from ABM. The "South Side 2 H" model is featured in their 2002 catalogue:

Yes i saw that catalogue. These handcrafted guitars are pretty uncommon.

12 with floating P90 and 12 with dual humbuckers only were produced. 3 lefthand guitars for each model

[Madansi]

Decided to order a pickup from Pete Biltoft - Vintage Vibe Guitar today...
Humbucker sized, 1 single sized CC blade, 1 single sized P90, both asked to be Alnico III ( heard that's great for that old swing era jazz sound ), jazz voiced ( so i guess low output ? )
Will give you review and maybe soundclips when it'll be installed !
Same model as in the picture i add here