thinking about ditching the 496/500's in my explorer. Throw me suggestions

Kapo_Polenton said:
Ok, mine is a 2017 or 18 so must be what 500k or would they drop em to 250k with a tone pot? If 500 then the neck pup blows even worse. Not sure who voiced that thinking they did a great job
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2017 is all 500k for sure so maybe the pickups just suck :LOL:

Could be the tone capacitor too. They affect tone even when wide open.

Also note the 2017/18 Explorers do NOT have a 500T bridge pickup. One of the few years that happened.

Here are the specs of your model/year:

http://legacy.gibson.com/Products/Electric-Guitars/2017/USA/Explorer.aspx
 
guitarbilly74 said:
2017 is all 500k for sure so maybe the pickups just suck :LOL:

Could be the tone capacitor too. They affect tone even when wide open.

Also note the 2017/18 Explorers do NOT have a 500T bridge pickup. One of the few years that happened.

Here are the specs of your model/year:

http://legacy.gibson.com/Products/Electric-Guitars/2017/USA/Explorer.aspx
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  • 496R and T humbuckers: High-gain humbuckers
Looks right... the guitar honestly plays fantastic, nice finish. Very impressed but the pups....meh. I think the bridge is passable but the neck offends me in every way possible lol.
 
Kapo_Polenton said:
  • 496R and T humbuckers: High-gain humbuckers
Looks right... the guitar honestly plays fantastic, nice finish. Very impressed but the pups....meh. I think the bridge is passable but the neck offends me in every way possible lol.
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At the risk of asking the obvious: have you tried to raise the polepieces in the neck pickup a bit? Not the entire pickup, just the polepieces. Gibson tends to overtight them sometimes. Give them about a 1/4 turn counterclockwise and see if they open up a bit.
 
guitarbilly74 said:
At the risk of asking the obvious: have you tried to raise the polepieces in the neck pickup a bit? Not the entire pickup, just the polepieces. Gibson tends to overtight them sometimes. Give them about a 1/4 turn counterclockwise and see if they open up a bit.
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Never tried that, didn't even think that did much. Need me some education
 
i would consider an Aldrich set, or a SD Antiquity set. i have both in sets in LP's and the neck position of the aldrich in another paired with a dimarzio super distortion. pretty awesome across the board.

an outlier that i always wanted to try is Railhammer. i threw a Railhammer Anvil and a Railhammer Humcutter (noiseless P90) in an SG a few hours ago and i am totally digging it. however i can't say a whole lot because i have not gotten enough time in on them yet (obviously). the chisel set would probably be more keen to what you like, but its something to look into at least.

not directly related, but i would try bornes pots for the tone and CTS for the volume. i realize this is odd, but i prefer the taper of the bornes for the tone over CTS. The Green Russian NOS PIO caps are a great sounding and cheap cap to delve in with i have a hundred or so around and i like them. i also use bumblebees and black beauties frequently, but they are a little more expensive.
 
guitarbilly74 said:
Go to a 498T/ 490R set. It will match your requirements to a T. I think they're the best sounding "modern" humbuckers Gibson makes. They sound good on just about any Gibson guitar. You can probably find someone willing to do a straight trade on your set.
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I like them in my LP, but I am really diggin the 57 classics in my SG and think they'd go we'll with the LP or explorer.
 
I can speak from personal experience. My keeper Explorer tried out Afwayus, Aldrich(es?), BKP Nailbombs, even Gibson 57/57+, and still with all those awesome pickups, it wasn't right. Mrs. I bought this for my b-day, so I mean it's mine for life, so I may as well figure out what works. Ultimately, strangely, amazingly and embarrassingly, what sounds better than ever, better than this guitar ever sounded, were the stock 496/500 pickups. Go figure.

My suggestion: Try others. If they work, cool. If they don't, make sure you have the original set.
 
Played around with the polepieces and I think I might need a bit more day/night for the neck. Might be ok with the bridge to get a smidget more clarity but def. the neck has to go. While in there might just do em both and rock the Air Classic and Aldrich. Probably be a pretty mean combo.
 
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