Swap out pickups on Gibson ES-345?

[Odin]

Hi guys,

I’m new to playing jazz and I can’t seem to dial in a sweet tone.
I’m thinking of maybe swapping out the pick ups on my ES-345. They have always seemed a little dull compared to my Les Pauls. Right now they have the original Gibson pat no. I was thinking maybe a Seymour Duncan 59 in the neck and a JB in the bridge. Any thoughts?

Ken

[citizenk74]

Hi guys,

I’m new to playing jazz and I can’t seem to dial in a sweet tone.
I’m thinking of maybe swapping out the pick ups on my ES-345. They have always seemed a little dull compared to my Les Pauls. Right now they have the original Gibson pat no. I was thinking maybe a Seymour Duncan 59 in the neck and a JB in the bridge. Any thoughts?

Ken

Longtime ES-345 owner here. My ES-345 was my #1 for many years, and has patent-sticker pups. I would never replace them. That said, I had an Epiphone Les Paul with the SD'59/JB combo and it sounded great. It's your guitar, do what you like, but hang on to those pups!
Does yours have the stereo Varitone? have you ever tried using two amps? Just curious.

[citizenk74]

Hi guys,

I’m new to playing jazz and I can’t seem to dial in a sweet tone.
I’m thinking of maybe swapping out the pick ups on my ES-345. They have always seemed a little dull compared to my Les Pauls. Right now they have the original Gibson pat no. I was thinking maybe a Seymour Duncan 59 in the neck and a JB in the bridge. Any thoughts?

Ken

What are you playing through, if I may ask? I primarily played mine through an original Brownface Vibroverb* and a Music Man 112 RD. It also sounded great through my Princeton Reverb.The best, sweetest, cleanest tone was with the Music Man (1-12" JBL)) and an extension cabinet I built with a 15" JBL. I used a stereo-to-mono chord for mono output. For stereo, I used a pair of Blackface Deluxe Reverbs socially distanced at six feet apart with a stereo cord. HUGE sound.
It may be worth mentioning that I run my pickups lower than most. I feel it gives a sweeter and cleaner sound that way. How close are your strings to the pups?

* Ultimate Blues/Fusion Amplifier Supreme

[doc w]

Another long-time 345 player here. I have recently been more intersted in jazz (effect of old age?) but I never really liked the 345 for that kind of sound. So I guess I am agreeing with your observation. For everything else, especially blues, the 345 is wonderful. Mine is a 1961 with original PAF's.

Before I got my Gibson archtop, I played jazz on a Telecaster or a Les Paul with P90s. Both worked fine but I got drawn to the sound of an acoustic archtop.

[Stringswinger]

I had a 68 ES-335 with Patent sticker PUPS (probably T-Tops) and I was able to get fine jazz tones through a Polytone amp. I would submit that the PUPs in your 345 are not the problem. Consider different strings, a different setup, a different amp or maybe , a different guitar.

[Spook410]

I didn't like the pickups in a perfect 1989 Heritage 535 for what I was doing at the time. Thing is, I didn't want to muck with a guitar that some would really want in it's original condition. Not that I would ever sell it. But, you know, posterity and stuff. So I bought an inexpensive semi-hollow body guitar and played with the pickups in that. That worked out very well.

[Odin]

Longtime ES-345 owner here. My ES-345 was my #1 for many years, and has patent-sticker pups. I would never replace them. That said, I had an Epiphone Les Paul with the SD'59/JB combo and it sounded great. It's your guitar, do what you like, but hang on to those pups!
Does yours have the stereo Varitone? have you ever tried using two amps? Just curious.

I wanted to change the pickups only because I’m not sure if the pickups are functioning properly. My ES-345 is from early 70s, and I know it has stamped pat no. I like your thoughts about running a second amp. I should try that before I do anything drastic.

[Odin]

I had a 68 ES-335 with Patent sticker PUPS (probably T-Tops) and I was able to get fine jazz tones through a Polytone amp. I would submit that the PUPs in your 345 are not the problem. Consider different strings, a different setup, a different amp or maybe , a different guitar.

Right now on the ES-345 I’m using a set of Gibson strings 11-50 vintage re-issue. Amp is a Fender Stage 112. As far as trying a different guitar, this was the second choice. I still have a couple more I could try but I thought the ES was the traditional best choice.

[Esport]

I have a ‘71 with T-Tops and with Chrome 11’s it sounds nice and sweet through my Katana 100 or some of the modelled amps I’ve built in Amplitube. I have my neck pup rather low, too. I love the sound but sadly the frets are low and the neck is too narrow for me so I almost never pick it up.

[jads57]

Generally lower output PAF type Humbuckers sound a bit less muffled and mid heavy. Many flavors available by many fine wonders.
My favorite are Manluis Landmark neck and Hot Rod 59 bridge. The perfect balance in double humbucker thinlines!

[Gilpy]

I had a '61 ES 355 mono (original PAFs had been replaced) and I felt that the neck pickup was a little muddy and one dimensional. A Duncan Phat Cat fixed everything. Kind of a non-traditional choice, though.
Another good choice for an overly muddy neck pickup is the DiMarzio "Humbucker Foom Hell", which sounds nothing like its name.

[RobbieAG]

Swapping the pickups will reduce the value of a vintage guitar. If you do decide to do it, I'd replace both pickups and all the wiring with a new harness so the originals can easily be swapped back in without cutting wires etc. If you're just concerned whether they're working properly, you should be able to get the pickups tested without swapping them out.

[P.J.]

I would try adjusting the height before swapping them out. Experiment and see if you can find the sweet spot that works best for you.

[Odin]

Thanks everyone for the friendly advice. I’m going to try some of these suggestions. I really want to keep this guitar as original as I can.

[citizenk74]

Swapping the pickups will reduce the value of a vintage guitar. If you do decide to do it, I'd replace both pickups and all the wiring with a new harness so the originals can easily be swapped back in without cutting wires etc. If you're just concerned whether they're working properly, you should be able to get the pickups tested without swapping them out.

This reminded me of the one time I had to have the ES-345 worked on. This was before I had a stereo-to-mono cord made. I had just been inserting a regular guitar cable into the stereo jack just the right amount to get both pickups engaged. The pup selector switch still worked and every thing was fine for a couple of years until one night the output jack snapped. Good thing I always carry a spare guitar! Anyway I took it to the shop where I had done the most business and the owner kindly replaced the jack for me and made me a stereo-to-mono cable adaptor. When I asked how much I could pay him, he politely demurred, saying "There's not enough money in the world to make me do this again..."* The one downside of the guitar is that everything - the pups, the switch, the jack, and the not-inconsiderable mass and bulk of the Varitone - have to go in and out of the pup holes. It's rather intricate - something to consider if you're pondering changing pups.

* We continued doing business at scale. I was a frequent flyer, so to speak.

[Lobomov]

No reason to be religious about it ... There is Tim Pierce demo'ing a couple of his '69 Gibson's .. He's changed the pup's on both his SG and 335 an is very happy with the result!