Gibson '57 Classic Reissue

Potted humbucker with medium output - alnico II magnet, vintage enamel coated wire, nickel plated pole pieces, nickel slugs, maple spacers and vintage-style, two-conductor braided wiring

Installed in the neck position of a Guild X-150D (2-PU) archtop, maple lam constuction. A good replacement for the stock, bit-too-bright Guild humbucker. Wire leads on the bridge PU were switched to keep both neck&bridge PU's in-phase.

The medium output and deeper, balanced tone makes this a perfect pickup for maple-lam archtops, which are inherently brighter sounding instruments. Being wax potted helps control feedback. I play jazz with this guitar, and only use the neck PU - but the middle position sounds fine for rockabilly - make sure both PU's are in-phase. I play through a decent, consumer-level tube amp - it sounds great.

Having played the Guild for about 5 yrs, I feel this pickup improves the tone, and makes it more comparable to Gibson's ES-175 - the main difference being around $1500 (less). My approach is gin-clear tone, moderate to low volume, zero breakup. I suspect some of the other, less expensive maple-lam hollow-bodies could benefit from installing this PU.

Nickel cover

1991 Les Paul. I replaced the crappy ceramics. Don't know if they were stock or not, bought it used, but they were horrible.

Output level is rather low for a humbucker, but that's exactly what I wanted. Output is not balanced between neck and bridge (but that's ok with me). Neck is lower than flush and the bridge is higher than I would normally have it and the neck is still louder, but again, it doesn't bother me. I get great sounds in all 3 positions.

The sound is springy and bouncy. I know that's not a good way to describe it. Think of the tones on Let There Be Rock, especially the rhythm. I love the raw sound, but it's not gritty, more smooth, yet still "nasty" sounding.

The exact sound I wanted. I think too many people rely on high output pickups and mistake that sound for good distorted tones. With a lower output pickup, I can turn the amp up louder and let it do its thing without an unnecessarily loud or "gritty" pickup getting in the way.

Passive Gibson Humbucker about 8.5 ohm nickel cover. Features that Gibson PAF tone, Single lead.

02 Gibson Les Paul Standard 50's neck, Neck pickup, Replaced a Burstbucker pro and Seymour Duncan '59 SH-1n, Bridge is a Classic Plus. I got the guitar new with Burstbucker Pros and couldn't get rid of them fast enough. They were not the PAF tones I grew up with nor was the Duncan SH-1n.

Output is medium to me, they are bright and especially rich in the mids. Running thru a Marshall JTM45 they are very familiar old school. I need to share my opinion of tone difference between the '57 Classic, Burstbucker Pro and the Duncan '59 (which they admit are a little scpooped in the mids. The Pro and the '59 are pretty but soft and unfocused. They sound nothing like the '57 to me. The Classic '57 is bold, tight and focused right into a true PAF tone. They are very mid strong and can be edgy and brash if you don't dial in your amp and effects for them. Once I adjust my gear for these pickups they have the undeniably best professional sound. Clean there is a huge range of tones on my les paul with the Classic and Classic Plus combination. Allman Brothers to Jimmy Page. I replaced the bridge pickup from a Classic to Classic Plus thinking I would get closer to the famous "'59 PAF tone". I'm not sure about the '59 tone but I do like the Plus better than the classic in the bridge. It seems to sound almost identical to the classic but the bass and treble are a little hotter (which leaves a very very slightly scooped mid, not like the Duncan '59 where the mids are totally elusive). The Plus in the bridge works a little better for distortion. With a Boss DS-1 in front of my JTM45 the sound is Ted Nugent to Scorpions and a lot of snappy blues licks. While the bass gets a little mushy (not muddy) it's still rich and when I play lead up around the 12th fret it all just screams. I can nail the "Rock you like a Hurricane" lead tones. I have an Ibanez with a Duncan JB in the bridge which I really like too but it's very different than the Classic. It's tight with good mids and bass but the upper mids and treble are not as rich as the Classic. Good for harder and heavier but still steril when compared to the Gibson. I may get another Les Paul and experiment with other pickups but this one is keeping the '57 Classic/Classic+ combination. It's damn near perfect!

I will always have a Les Paul with these pickups in it. I've got close to 40 years of music in my head and I here these Gibsons all over the place. I do love them. Alnico II's. Slash plays a Les Paul thru a Marshall. I think he has a pretty clean tone (Marshall Jubilee!!) and a decent distortion tone (Marshall/Les Paul combo) but he does NOT have the tone the Classic '57s have. He has the Duncans. Maybe it's the Vintage 30's (I like my Greenbacks) but I have never really liked his tone. But it's HIS tone, he has made his mark, and has come a hell of a long way as a player. Respect. BUT these Gibson '57 Classics are the real thing. They take me there.

Humbuckers Low - Medium Output

Epiphone Les Paul
57 Classics in Bridge and Neck Positions

Changed out of stock pickups which were okay, but muddy.

Low to Medium Output
Using Sonar and Amplitube Mainly

Tone is balanced perfectly. Good highs and mids and fat bottom. Most importantly each note is CLEAR. The clarity and depth of tone is outstanding. You may not get a particular 'sound' 'out of the box' - but all the greats make their own. What these pickups give you is a great starting point of just good, clear tone. Harmonics are strong. Both bridge and neck positions are great. Be sure to calibrate pickup height before you judge!!!

I play Rock, Classic Rock, Blues
Heck Yes it's a good match - Perfect Match for Les Pauls.

I would absolutely replace these pickups. The negative reviews for these pickups are hard to buy because none of the complaints refer to how these actually sound. Their issues sound like either incorrect installation or other issues in their gear chain. If there's any turn-off it's the mid to fat bottom end. But there are hardly any complaints about that!!! Definitely too bassy for screaming metalheads.

8.20 K

Gibson Gary Moore Les Paul

Neck and Bridge

tried everything (see later)

Yes

Noting sounded good

Quite strong... just right

Egnater TOL 50, 73' Park superlead 100

Quite open, bright, but fat at the same time

Classic rock, blues, country rock

Works well in all positions

That guitar came with Burstbucker 1 in both position. It sounded rather harsh in the treble area, ans the front pickup never quite had that "woman tone"...just too bright and "spikey". Then, I tried a Burstbucker 3 by the bridge... The same annoing high-mid spike...just louder. Then, I replaced the bridge pickup with a PRS HFS. mbetter, but didn't sound organic enough...Too modern and, when both pickups were selected, didn't sound right to me. Next were a pair of Duncan's Seth Lover. Almost right, but a bit tame, and the front pickup was a bit dark... So a spent more money and bought a 57 Classic to put in the front, and a 57 Classic + to put by the bridge. Still didn't sound like what a $2000 guitar should. But, and try to follow me on this, I then discoverd that the volume pots on this guitar were 300K... (weird, isn't it?)... I changed them to 500K...Lot better, but the 57+ had kind of a bloated midrange content...Lower in frequency than the Burstbucker, but still... So, I bought an other 57 Classic to replace it... Now it is just right... Not really less powerfull than the 57+, but more open, brighter, but still fat. Now it sound like the Les Pauls that we grew to love so much...

This pickup is a passive humbucker modeled after PAF's of the fifties.

I installed this into my 1975 Les Paul custom in the bridge position to replace a broken EMG some idiot put into the guitar before I bought it.The neck pickup is the stock 1975 Gibson (made in USA stamped)humbucker. I wanted this pickup to be close in output level to the stock front pickup and it is.It's an exact replica of the old PAFs and it fit perfectly with no messing around.

I'm playing it into my Marshall reissue SLP plexi head and into my 1968 Fender Deluxe Reverb, and into my 1969 Fender Super Reverb.
First of all, years ago I swore I'd never buy another Gibson replacement pickup after being so disappointed in the sound of the humbuckers they made in the 1980's and 90's but I took a chance on this one and was very happy to discover that it's a great pickup.
It's got tremendous harmonic content, great bright presence without any brittle thin high and, perfect amount of mids and bass, and tone, tone, tone. VERY close to old PAFs I've heard, very musical, not nasal and frequency notched like a lot of boutique pickups....it's a very nice, balanced, wide frequency spectrum that doesn't accentuate any particular part of the sound spectrum and therefore sounds very musical and sweet....a poorly made humbucker always spikes in a particular frequency and can sound either nasal or shrill....the Gibson 57 classic doesn't have any of those problems. You really hear the sound of the guitar, the sound of the strings, ....after all a pickup is just a microphone...this pickup/microphone accurately reproduces almost ALL of the pleasing harmonic content of the guitar accurately. I play blues, pop, heavy metal, rock-a-billy and surf music and this pickup can handle it all. It sounds amazing through my Deluxe Reverb especially. The stock 1975 Gibson neck pickup sounds very good but this 57 classic is a lot sweeter and more musical.I don't think it's a good choice for someone who wants a "modified stack" sound because it's not a high gain pickup. You'll get a lot more distortion out of a high-gain pickup than you will out of this pickup but if you play clean too, this pickup blows away most high gain pickups for tone. I use Dimarzios in my other guitars, (Fred, super distortion, and Steve Morse models) and they are good pickups for loud stuff but can't compare when I'm playing a clean song.
So....if you want to sound like Metallica, don't buy this pickup, but if you want to sound like old Clapton or Peter Green, buy this pickup.

I would definitely buy more of this pickup for my vintage guitars. I've been playing over 30 years. I'm glad to see that Gibson's pickups are vastly better than they used to be. If your style leans towards classic rock, this pickup is perfect for you. It avoids the major flaw of most boutique pickups....it doesn't accentuate one particular sound band...yeah, you might love your old Barden pickups but they sure sound middy to me....and I hate that. it's all about HARMONIC CONTENT.

Straight from the Gibson website:

"The '57 Classic features Gibson's special Alnico II magnet, vintage enamel coated wire, nickel plated pole pieces, nickel slugs, maple spacers and vintage-style, two-conductor, braided wiring."

It is a passive humbucker, not sure of the impedance.

I installed this pickup in the bridge position of my '75 Gibsin Les Paul Deluxe. Whoever owned the guitar before me removed the original mini humbuckers and routed it out to fit full size ones.....one of which was a Seymour Duncan SH-6 Duncan Distortion in the bridge (the other in the neck position is an unknown SD humbucker). As far as artists who use these '57 Classics....beats me. After seven years of getting by with the SD in the bridge, I realized I wanted a more classic, "vintage" type of sound. I found myself not using the Les Paul regularly, which I realized was a crime. I needed a clear, average output humbucker that would let the amps do the breaking up.

The output is average. Not as high as most modern humbuckers....more than the Burstbucker 1, and about the same as the 490R. When I'm playing, I like to combine two or even three different amps at once to achieve a bigger, more full sound (not to be overly loud or drown everything else out). My setup goes: Gibson Les Paul Deluxe, sometimes into a Dunlop Crybaby Wah or a Proco Vintage Rat, into a Fender Hot Rod Deville 2x12, a 1980 Marshall JMP 2204 head, and a 1981 Marshall JCM 800 2203 head (each head is going into a single Marshall 1960AV 4x12 cabinet with Celestion Vintage 30's, with each head pushing two of the four speakers simultaneously). I just had the guitar worked on by a local tech. It was in pretty bad shape from years of abuse, neglect and road wear. He refretted the entire neck, repaired some dings in the fretboard, moved the bridge a little, and at my request, removed the old SD pickup and installed this in its place. I immediately noticed a huge difference with the '57 Classic in the guitar. Whereas before I was getting nothing but an overly harsh, saturated metal kind of sound, with the new pickup the tone had much more of a classic rock kind of vibe. It did still seem a little hot, so I lowered the pickup a little and....voila. Almost perfect. It was still a little on the trebly side, so I had to dial out all of the treble on each of the Marshalls. But THIS is the sound I was after. A ballsy, punchy, clear tone with pretty much a perfect tonal balance. I also love that the output isn't overly high. This allows me to crank the amps' volume controls and not be completely deafening. I can imagine this pickup being suitable for just about anything, but it EXCELS at classic rock, garage, early punk type stuff. To be more specific, it nails Malcolm Young's rhythm tone on AC/DC's early stuff, leading up to and including "Back in Black."

If this were stolen or destroyed, I would probably go for another of these, but I would be tempted to try the Burstbucker Pro. Still, it seems kind of pointless to try anything else when you've found what works for you, and this pickup does the job as far as I'm concerned. One thing that bothers me is that, through the JCM 800, it squeals a little from time to time. I run the preamp at 5 or 6 and usually crank the master to 5 or 6 also. Which doesn't elicit an overly high gain kind of sound, so....I don't know why the feedback is occurring since these are supposed to be wax potted according to the Gibson site. Overall though, I'm happy.

Passive humbucker, Alnico II magnet, probably 80s vintage, chrome cover. Impedance I believe in the 7.5 to 8K range

Came already installed by a previous owner in the neck position of a pre-ESP Navigator Les Paul from 1980 (awesome LP, built to '59 specs with old-growth air-dried wood like you don't really get anymore). The bridge pickup is a Dimarzio "PAF" which is better, but we're talking about the '57 Classic here...

Moderate output, as per a PAF replica. Sounded nice through a Marshall 3203 artist 30W head through an open-back cab with alnico speakers, but that's it. Through any other rig I've tried it through it just sounds dull, stiff, scooped, clangy and MUDDY. And this is with a 0.15mfd Vitamin Q "Bright" cap. As neck humbuckers go, I can hardly hear any difference between this and Gibson's lousy 490R. The '57 Classic is maybe 5% better at most.
I have experience of Seymour Duncan's Antiquity and '59 as neck humbuckers and both of them take a long, hot piss from a great height on Gibson's hapless '57 Classic

It's coming out as soon as I can find time to sit down & yank it. I already have "something else" lined up. I only have this pickup because it came with the guitar. I would never buy the thing as like anything with Gibson's name on it, it's mediocre and criminally overpriced. Why do you think I play a Japanese guitar in the first place? Yes, I've been playing a long time.

Humbucking, PAF style

Installed in a maple-body '81 Gibson Explorer in the neck position. It is replacing a dead pickup. Currently, the bridge pickup is an old DiMarzio Super Distortion.

Output is strong (it balances well with the SD in the bridge). The pickup has a very thick woman-tone quality, but with clarity. Very mellow and sweet, with low string pull due to the alnico II magnets.

All in all, a great pickup which works well with my Explorer's naturally dark tone. I like that I can get a really fat midrange without any mud. (By contrast, I've played several guitars with the Gibson Burstbucker 2 in the neck, and I thought these sounded very muddy.)

Passive, humbucker. '57 Classic

Neck pickup on a Carvin SC90S guitar, replace the Carvin pickup.
The Carvin sounds good, but I thought it is somewhat lean.

With the '57 Classic on the neck position, the sound becomes warmer, thicker and yet still punchy midrange. For playing Classic Rock and Blues, this pickup is well matched, worked very well with tube amp.
When playing clean, this pickup can produce clear and balanced tone.

I've been playing over 25 years, with Classic Rock and Blues. I hvae Fender Strat and Gibson Les Paul.

I like this Gibson '57 Classic more than SD '59, the '57 is a little mellow but can scream when pressed hard, for clean Blues playing, it has just beautiful clean tone, that the SD '59 doesn't have.