Pickup Suggestions For Blonde 89 Emperor

[58flame]

57 Classics will work fine and while you’re in there, replace the pots, caps, jack, and switch with better stuff. You could even wire it up 50s style too. Good luck.

[Boze]

57 Classics will work fine and while you’re in there, replace the pots, caps, jack, and switch with better stuff. You could even wire it up 50s style too. Good luck.

Thanks for this. I've been waffling about just soldering the 57 into the Emperor's original harness. With two handsome hollowbodies plus the ES125 in need of electronics attention I think it's time I got some soldering practice and treated them to new pots etc. I can start with the Zephyr maybe since it's a simpler harness with just one pickup.

[DawgBone]

Thanks for this. I've been waffling about just soldering the 57 into the Emperor's original harness. With two handsome hollowbodies plus the ES125 in need of electronics attention I think it's time I got some soldering practice and treated them to new pots etc. I can start with the Zephyr maybe since it's a simpler harness with just one pickup.

Epiphone usually have crap pots and switches. I'd pull all that out while I was installing the new pickups and save yourself the headache down the road. It will definitely make it a whole new instrument if you use some quality stuff in there.

I like the '57's myself but I usually like ones that read higher rather than lower output. I had a set of the Seths and replaced them. 57's beat the Seth's hands down to my ears. Incredible pickups. No need for a low wind IMO but it'll probably work really good in an archtop.

[Boze]

Epiphone usually have crap pots and switches. I'd pull all that out while I was installing the new pickups and save yourself the headache down the road. It will definitely make it a whole new instrument if you use some quality stuff in there.

I like the '57's myself but I usually like ones that read higher rather than lower output. I had a set of the Seths and replaced them. 57's beat the Seth's hands down to my ears. Incredible pickups. No need for a low wind IMO but it'll probably work really good in an archtop.

Hmm... do you think it makes more sense to use the underwound on the Zephyr because it's bassier with the deeper body and I'd prefer to tame that a bit or does it make more sense in the Emperor because there's considerably less space between the pickup and strings? Before taking the electronics out of the Emperor I had its crappy stock pickup backed down almost into the bracket (shared some pics in an earlier post).

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I keep the Seth on the Zephyr quite far from the strings so it seems like I prefer a lower output/less hot tone for a hollowbody pickup.

I got the underwound on sale from Sam Ash (the last one) for $152 shipped instead of $180 but can return it for a ten dollar return shipping fee if it's not a good hack for either guitar.

Despite my inexperience soldering I guess the real question is just which Epiphone to try the underwound 57 on first. ?

[DawgBone]

Hmm... do you think it makes more sense to use the underwound on the Zephyr because it's bassier with the deeper body and I'd prefer to tame that a bit or does it make more sense in the Emperor because there's considerably less space between the pickup and strings? Before taking the electronics out of the Emperor I had its crappy stock pickup backed down almost into the bracket (shared some pics in an earlier post).

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I keep the Seth on the Zephyr quite far from the strings so it seems like I prefer a lower output/less hot tone for a hollowbody pickup.

I got the underwound on sale from Sam Ash (the last one) for $152 shipped instead of $180 but can return it for a ten dollar return shipping fee if it's not a good hack for either guitar.

Despite my inexperience soldering I guess the real question is just which Epiphone to try the underwound 57 on first. ?

The real answer to your question is just spend hours swapping and testing pickups because your rig and playing style differs from mine. It's all player dependent. Even on something easy like a strat or les paul you are talking about quite a few hours of messing around but if you are chasing tone then it's worth it long term.

The question is do you like the Seth in there enough to keep it? My experience is a lowered down '57 sounds better than a lowered down Seth. I find pickups retain most of their inherent character set high or low but I too have had a guitar where there wasn't enough depth in the route to get my chosen pickup set correctly. I actually couldn't use it. But it was a blade pickup, so no adjustable pole pieces, and was very high output so it was pure ice pick not being able to lower it down. I had to put it in the bridge position, and hopefully make it usable for something. I was pleasantly surprised when I was able to lower it down far enough at the bridge. It worked amazingly well. You gotta take your time and experiment.