Pickups for a '76 explorer reissue?

[fenderbender4]

Hi, I got a Gibson guitar (the one in the title) and I am thinking of replacing the stock pickups (496R neck, 500T bridge). I want to get something crunchier like ZZ top/Van Halen/ Lynch-ish in the bridge and something that really sustains well in the neck. Both would need to sound decent clean too. Any opinions? I can get the humbuckers to be split-tapped as well.

 

[Killcrop]

You have a 500T and it's not crunchy enough? Hmmm.
Now if you are looking to tame it down a bit you may want to look into a set of Fralins. Otherwise I think I lost you.

 

[Hard2Hear]

Try the EMG Zakk Wylde set, 81,85. If the 496/500 isnt enough for you, the EMG's may be your ticket. I had them in a Les Paul and they were awesome pickups for bruising the front end of an amp. Not "vintage" sounding like all the botique pickups are. Very agressive and modern sounding.

H2H

 

[fenderbender4]

Oh, I'm sorry I didn't mean more output, I guess I was referring to the sound of the aforementioned players. Sorry, I didn't word that correctly. I want something tamer because as it is, it sounds sort of dry, stale, and too crunchy even on the "clean" side of it.

 

[fenderbender4]

Also, with Fralin pickups and stuff, how many turns should I get? I don't know anything about that stuff.

 

[Chiba]

One of the guitarists in my band plays Explorers, and I'm pretty sure one of his is a '76RI. He has Anderson humbuckers in it, the thing sounds phenomenal, just sweet & crunchy & huge.

--chiba

 

[65galaxie]

+1 for Anderson's...

 

[Riscchip]

I suggest a Seymour Duncan Screamin' Demon in the bridge position...very crunchy, open sounding with lots of detail. Medium output. I've always thought it sounded great for Van Halen type stuff and, obviously, the George Lynch tone is there. It's not a high output pickup, and has lots of nice complexity to it.

 

[j_el_jee]

Originally posted by Chiba
One of the guitarists in my band plays Explorers, and I'm pretty sure one of his is a '76RI. He has Anderson humbuckers in it, the thing sounds phenomenal, just sweet & crunchy & huge.

Uh yeah, that would be me. Anderson H2+ and H1 slapped in there a month or two ago and they are just killer. I wired them up McCarty style with one volume, one tone, and a coil split switch.

I had to remove the little wire clamp on the back of the neck pickup since the pickups are massive and the route is shallow.