Do you guys with expensive Archtops swap pickups?

[shawntp]

Hey TGP'er with those 3K+ archtops (L5's/Wes Montgomery/ES-175's/etc).

I know in Les Paul and 335 land that pickup swapping is pretty common. While I think the Classic 57 is a great pickup I've found some that I like even better in my Les Paul.

With that - used Les Pauls and 335's are not near the price of some of those exotic higher priced Gibson Archtops (other brands included).

So with something like an L5 - does the body of the guitar make for more of the sound characteristics so the difference between a Classic '57 and a WCR Crossroad in an L5-like guitar would not be as noticeable as on a Les Paul or something?

Just wondering - it seems more people keep their archtops stock and I wonder if its because of value/or that the 57/other is a great sounding pickup to begin with. Feel free to drop your experience/opinion/2 cents/whatever.

[MartinPiana]

Not on this one. This Benedetto/Duncan humbucker has zero noise, and really emphasizes the acoustic properties of the instrument.

http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u143/martinpiana/LV2.jpg

[sonhenry]

My L5 CES sounds *perfect* with the stock gibson pickups. Why change? It was right straight out of the box. Nice woody tone, killer when you blast it through a Super Reverb....

FWIW, I'm not really a pickup-changing guy in any of my guitars.

[shawntp]

Ah L5 CES is my dream guitar - I play a lot of traditional blues, if I learned/played more Jazz I might be able to justify it some day.

I was just wondering if the nuances of one PAF to another PAF come through as much in a hollow full bodied guitar as in something like a Les Paul.

[gitman]

of course an archtop will sound different when you swap pickups. i have tried about 3 or 4 different hummers in my Borys jazz box (ES-175 type, single neck pup) before going back to the original Kent Armstrong PAF type. an older Gibson Pat-Number pickups was very nice, also. i'd decide first if i wanted a more electric tone (like the late Wes or Pat Martino etc) or if i'd go the hybrid, more acoustic sounding route. in that case, a Benedetto pickups would be a good choice.

[archtop]

I have a Gibson L4CESN from 1989. I've thought about changing the pickups, not because I didn't like the sound of what I had, but I just wondered if there was something better. I decided not to change pickups because I figure in the long run with that kind of guitar, that maintaining originality would be preferable in terms of resale. But I'll probably never sell it...