She’s Fixed!!!! 1984 LPC 🤘

Thanks for all of the comments dudes!!

In this guitar I had the 81/85 combo installed backwards to Zakk, so 85 is in the bridge. It was originally intended to be a bridge pickup and IMHO i much prefer the bigger lows of an 85 in the bridge as it doesn’t have that tinny sound to your rhythm. The 81 in the neck is super clear.

I might experiment and swap them back one day but for now the 85 in the bridge just fucking slays :rock:
Is it wrong to say the 85 in the bridge seems warmer/fatter?
 
Is it wrong to say the 85 in the bridge seems warmer/fatter?
85 has a high mid hump around 1700Hz which is great for standard or Eb. It is definitely full sounding and leads on the bridge don’t feel like needles in your ears - they sound great. The 81 in the neck doesn’t muddy up your lead playing like others do with a smear mentality, it’s chimey but still has a scooped type quality to it that is balanced top to bottom.

I like the flipped 81/85 IMO, it’s more balanced. Every 81 clip I’ve heard in the bridge needed a lot of effects to cover up that tin like hollow sound to my ears.
 
85 has a high mid hump around 1700Hz which is great for standard or Eb. It is definitely full sounding and leads on the bridge don’t feel like needles in your ears - they sound great. The 81 in the neck doesn’t muddy up your lead playing like others do with a smear mentality, it’s chimey but still has a scooped type quality to it that is balanced top to bottom.

I like the flipped 81/85 IMO, it’s more balanced. Every 81 clip I’ve heard in the bridge needed a lot of effects to cover up that tin like hollow sound to my ears.
Sounds like what i'm looking for. I Tune to D Standard. I Use the 60A In the neck though. some guitars i use the EMG - H which is a Hum sized single coil.
 
Not at all - the 85 is WAY fucking warmer and fatter than an 81. Night and day difference. I personally love the 85 in the bridge spot; it's definitely my fave EMG out of all of them i've owned
Thank you man. I Have 5 Les Pauls & at the moment they all have 81's in the bridge. i will be changing the bridge pickups out in all of them except for my custom shop one.
 
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My experiences with EMG's in geetars can be summed up thusly:

89 - Warm, jazzy, creates mush when layering distorted with itself.
85 - Less-warm, less-jazzy, a cross between the 89 and 81.
81 - Rock 'n' roll, baby.
 
I read the comment about the color of the EMG's should be silver but I think the black pickups here look great and they play off the black edges of the tobacco burst nicely!:2thumbsup:
 
I'm not huge fan of EMG's but I do prefer an 85 over an 81 in the bridge. 81 is too surgical and tight.

As far as looks, the Het Set have more of a passive look which I like.
 
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I read the comment about the color of the EMG's should be silver but I think the black pickups here look great and they play off the black edges of the tobacco burst nicely!:2thumbsup:
Yeah man that’s exactly why I went with the classic black look! I also wanted to keep the vintage vibe of the 84 heritage. I didn’t want the modern look of the options EMG has today, it’s got an old vintage look with beautiful teals of faded nitro over pearl on the headstock. It just needed black EMGs IMO.

If I could change anything I would do black pickup rings and pull the poker chip off, but those vintage new pickup rings are rare as all hell right now - Gibson is back ordered for over a year. Stephen found a set and I didn’t ask questions where. Since they are the vintage color/design, they must be custom carved to the archtop of the body they go on, there’s no bolt on option. The pickup rings in vintage for that height needed also only come in vintage white/cream.

I’m happy with the looks and it looks just like an old guitar but with a modern southern rock attitude :rock:
 
I'm not huge of EMG's but I do prefer an 85 over an 81 in the bridge. 81 is too surgical and tight.

As far as looks, the Het Set have more of a passive look which I like.
Yeah for standard or close to standard tuning the 85 is excellent. I thought about putting the 81 in the bridge but honestly the leads and overall attitude of the 85 are closer to what I like and balance out the maple heck and ebony FB bite that the guitar has, which can help balance out the 85. It works in this guitar. Would it sound heavier swapping them? Sure, but I also feel like the woods and pickup voicing would be emphasizing the wrong frequencies in an already bright Marshall circuit.
 
I know this might be all kinds of taboo for this forum but IDGAF, those EMGs sound sick AF in there. Great job on the restoration and choice of pickups.

Metal baby!
Thanks so much for the kind comment! It’s hard to spend Norlin LPC money and then guide a luthier with a laundry list of so much invasive work. I did nothing myself though - it’s all Truly Strings in MD. I am very happy with how it turned out and it’s a monster to play and hear - she’s a real beast.

I fully agree - there’s something about a gibson LPC with EMGs
 
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