New Guitar Day!!

mrstrat

Experienced
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I finally pulled the trigger on a new (2013) Les Paul Traditional Pro II over the weekend. I've been wanting one for soooo long, and I was able to talk the manager at Guitar Center down $400 off the sale price. She plays like butta, and has so much natural sustain. I'm thinking I may swap out the Burstbucker pickup in the bridge. Any suggestions???

BTW, I'll be using it for mostly Classic Rock kinda stuff. (Aerosmith, Boston, AC/DC, Zeppelin, etc.)
 
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Really nice!

On pickups:
Duncan JB in the bridge is always nice (and not too expensive)
Or a Tom Anderson H2+ will probably sound amazing.
 
I put the dimarzio super distortion in the bridge and 36th anniversary paf in the neck of my traditional pro. It's a great mix and the coil taps sound great with them as well.

But my trad pro came with a 57 classic in the neck which I didn't like. And the burstbucker 3 in the bridge I didn't care for either. If it was a burstbucker 1&2 setup i probably would have kept that.
 
I have a Trad Pro as well. Has the Burstbucker 3 in the bridge. Not that fond of it. I'm putting in a 57 Classic+ to match the 57 Classic in the neck. Still a 4 wire so I can split the pickup.
 
I put the dimarzio super distortion in the bridge and 36th anniversary paf in the neck of my traditional pro. It's a great mix and the coil taps sound great with them as well.

But my trad pro came with a 57 classic in the neck which I didn't like. And the burstbucker 3 in the bridge I didn't care for either. If it was a burstbucker 1&2 setup i probably would have kept that.

Ya, mine has the same setup. I actually like the 57 classic in the neck because it has a nice smooth warm tone to it, which makes it perfect for mellower applications. The Burstbucker 3 has a little too much high end for me. I prefer a little more mid-honk in my bridge pickup and maybe even a little hotter. I'm not sold on the coil taps and the push button gain boost on the tone control. If I want single coil sound, I'll use one of my Strats. :)
 
My personal favorite set is the DiMarzio Andy Timmons (AT-1) Bridge & the PAF 36th Anniversary neck. They cover everything from jazz to full blown thrash metal. They coil tap nicely as well. My custom single cut that is almost ready will have the mentioned set in it. :devilish:
 
Love that finish & top!

On pups, I like the '57C/'57C+ combo in my LP, sustain for days & tone ten miles wide, but can get a little muddy. IMO they're still a better fit for classic stuff than BB's (1, 2, or 3)

If you wanted to get fancy, BKP Rebel Yells would slay. Maybe also check out Lollar, Motor City, Wolftones, and the myriad other boutique guys. A set of Duncan Slash AlNiCo II's might also be a great fit for classic tones and would run way under a BKP budget.

I'm personally a big fan of PIO caps. Say what you will, I hear the difference when I roll up/down the tone pot clear as day. NOS Russians will get you there for about 1/4 or 1/5 the $$$ of Spragues. Vintage-correct wiring will really open her up, too.

All of that said, if she sings as-is, might be best to not fix what ain't broken.
 
Very nice sir!
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Happy NGD. What a great looking color and top. The trad pro II's have 57 classic in the neck (great neck pickup for cleans and crunch anyway) and a super 57 in the bridge. I know nothing about the super 57 though. I would totally live with it the way it is for a while dude. Get to know it, it's strengths and weaknesses before looking elsewhere.
 
Thanks for all the great advice folks!! Really appreciate your feedback. I'll probably take the Tonemeister's advice and play it as is for a few weeks to let things sink in. I spent two hours noodling with it through my Badger 30 clean preset using the neck pickup (57 classic) and holy sh*t it was just beautiful...sonic nirvana! :)
 
Keep the burstbuckers dude.

I have a couple of les pauls & the just work for that guitar.

Keep rocking brother.
Same here I have a couple of Les Paul’s also and totally agree with you

I'm personally a big fan of PIO caps. Say what you will, I hear the difference when I roll up/down the tone pot clear as day. NOS Russians will get you there for about 1/4 or 1/5 the $$$ of Spragues. Vintage-correct wiring will really open her up, too.
All my Paul’s have 50’s wiring also, totally agree!!

My advice:
Live with the guitar a while, enjoy it!
If you are going to do something change the wiring to 50’s/vintage, even if you don’t want to go with PIO caps at this time.
For my guitars I have a standard which has seen a shit load of pickups over the past 34 years (mostly during the eighties) but around 95 I got a pair of Duncan Seth Lover recreations and loved them. The irony they were pretty similar to what the guitar came with in the first place. However the Seth Lovers came out last year, I was real curios about the Duncan Joe Bonamassa 59 recreations kind of a similar vide with a more mellow or rounded top end. The difference between the two basically is the SL is a recreation of a pickup that was made in 50’s, the JB is a recreation of a pickup that is 54 years old (as of the day I purchased them)

Then there’s my Les Paul custom I got 3-4 years ago which came with Burst Buckers—
I did change the wiring to 50’s style but the Burst Buckers STAY!
 
What is PAF OP?

Pantent Applied For the OP is just short for Output. Anything classic rock begs for PAF Output, I feel and I'm sure most will agree for a classic tone it's the best way to get it. I like the tone of an A II mag with an OP in the 8.2-9k range. That said a +1 for the SD Slash pup.
 
I like my Burstbuckers on my '02 Std Plus, but they were not potted and squealed. I had them potted and they behave. I think they sound great with the Axe's plexi's.
 
View attachment 21531

I finally pulled the trigger on a new (2013) Les Paul Traditional Pro II over the weekend. I've been wanting one for soooo long, and I was able to talk the manager at Guitar Center down $400 off the sale price. She plays like butta, and has so much natural sustain. I'm thinking I may swap out the Burstbucker pickup in the bridge. Any suggestions???

BTW, I'll be using it for mostly Classic Rock kinda stuff. (Aerosmith, Boston, AC/DC, Zeppelin, etc.)
just reread your post and judging by what you are playing, you are good to go dude. The 57s will do just fine. I'm having major LP envy right now.
 
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