58/15LT pups in a ... non-PRS guitar?

I had a Gibson 500T bridge in my McCarty for a while. Got old real fast AND the mounting legs were almost too long. Had to use tiny screws to mount it to bottom of pickup cavity instead of suspending it the normal way.
 
Don't underestimate the BK Riff Raff. I think that like the Black Dog, it will pair very well with your neck LT. In fact, that sounds so good on paper I'll try that pickup combo (58/15 LT/Riff Raff) tonight.

Nice! Please let me know what you think of the LT/Riff Raff...

BK recommended the Mule (neck) and Riff Raff (bridge) but I was worried about the brightness... and I saw a video of Riff Raff (neck) with Black Dog (bridge) that I loved.
 
The new LP Custom buckers are among my favorite pickups.

Yup. They sounded thin to me but maybe it was the amp that I was using... they are also hard to identify when buying used (might be a sharpie mark, might just be a regular Gibson sticker).
 
Nice! Please let me know what you think of the LT/Riff Raff...

BK recommended the Mule (neck) and Riff Raff (bridge) but I was worried about the brightness... and I saw a video of Riff Raff (neck) with Black Dog (bridge) that I loved.

I too was concerned about the brightness of the Riff Raff, but was pleasantly surprised. In fact, I thought I would like the Black Dog way more, but although I have a hard time picking my favorite, the Riff Raff blew me away more, like it had a more wow factor the first time I played one. I guess it's because, although it is a brighter pickup relative to the Black Dog, it still has enough mids to make the Riff Raff sound good without being overly bright, overbearing or ice picky.
 
Okay here is my verdict. Both LT/Riff Raff and LT/Black Dog combos sounded amazing. You really can’t go wrong either way. However, although I’m torn between Mule/Riff Raff and Mule/Black Dog, I liked the LT/Riff Raff better than LT/Black Dog. Mostly because the 58/15 LT is a low output and the Black Dog has a bit more bite to it, so in the middle position it doesn’t sound as good as the more vintage sounding as the combo with Riff Raff on the bridge. Not to say it sounded bad or anything. Honestly, if I hadn’t compared it with the LT/Riff Raff combination, I would’ve been blown away by it. Now I’m curious to hear if I’d be more indifferent if I’d put a regular 58/15 on the neck. I’ll try share my thoughts in an hour or so.
 
Okay here is my verdict. Both LT/Riff Raff and LT/Black Dog combos sounded amazing. You really can’t go wrong either way. However, although I’m torn between Mule/Riff Raff and Mule/Black Dog, I liked the LT/Riff Raff better than LT/Black Dog. Mostly because the 58/15 LT is a low output and the Black Dog has a bit more bite to it, so in the middle position it doesn’t sound as good as the more vintage sounding as the combo with Riff Raff on the bridge. Not to say it sounded bad or anything. Honestly, if I hadn’t compared it with the LT/Riff Raff combination, I would’ve been blown away by it. Now I’m curious to hear if I’d be more indifferent if I’d put a regular 58/15 on the neck. I’ll try share my thoughts in an hour or so.

Awesome. What guitar (with what woods) are you testing them in? I expect that the Black Dog will overpower the LT neck... so I was only intending on either playing on neck in full humbucker or in middle (basically hearing only Black Dog).

I’m currently just waiting to receive my second LP to see if it’s acoustically bright like the other one. If it’s darker sounding or more balanced, I’m cool with LT or Mule but I just don’t know if a bright guitar can handle those two...
 
Awesome. What guitar (with what woods) are you testing them in? I expect that the Black Dog will overpower the LT neck... so I was only intending on either playing on neck in full humbucker or in middle (basically hearing only Black Dog).

I’m currently just waiting to receive my second LP to see if it’s acoustically bright like the other one. If it’s darker sounding or more balanced, I’m cool with LT or Mule but I just don’t know if a bright guitar can handle those two...

I’ve originally tested it on my LP R0, which is a traditionally a brighter guitar than an R9, arguably because of the thinner 60s neck. I did it on the R0 because of the soldering simplicity. I’ve since tried on my 2017 LP standard T and LP Standard 50s achieving similar results. Woods are mahogany body, maple top, mahogany neck and rosewood fretboard. The R0 and Standard 50s has a ABR-1 tune-o-Matic bridge, but the thumbwheel on the R0 is screwed directly on the wood, while the Standard 50s the thumbwheels are screwed to studs that are drilled into the wood. The 17 Standard T has a Nashville bridge. To my ears the R0 indeed sounded marginally brighter than the Standard 50s. I’ve used new D’Addario NYXL 10-46. I’ve set the pickup height at 3/32” on the low E and 2/32” on the high E. Ive used a Marshall Origin 50, a Vox Ac15 (1x12 greenback speaker) and a Victory Sheriff 22.

This is my personal preference, the Mule is on of my favorite neck pickups, but the bridge the Mule is nowhere near as good as the Riff Raff or Black Dog. I thought the Black Dog sounded amazing paired with the 58/15 LT, I just liked the Riff Raff slightly better with the 58/15 LT. The Black Dog is not overly hot, so it doesn’t really overpower the 58/15 LT like I originally thought it would. What I like about the Black Dog is how BK managed to create a mid focused pickup that doesn’t sound overly nasal or boxy. It’s just a beautiful sounding pickup that is pure unadulterated unapologetic uncensored raw and primal rock-n-roll. I added a touch of reverb from Neunaber Immerse, a bit of delay with Catalinbread Belle Epoch Deluxe. Amps were played relatively clean. I then added a bit of gain from Smallsound/Bigsound Mini Overdrive v2. Please don’t ask me to post videos or sound bites of my tests.

While I was trying things out I did give it a go with the regular 58/15. Sounded great, but I realized I like the 58/15 LT even better. I gotta say, kudos for PRS for making amazing pickups. It’s hard to make those 58/15 or 58/15 LT sound bad.
 
I’ve originally tested it on my LP R0, which is a traditionally a brighter guitar than an R9, arguably because of the thinner 60s neck. I did it on the R0 because of the soldering simplicity. I’ve since tried on my 2017 LP standard T and LP Standard 50s achieving similar results. Woods are mahogany body, maple top, mahogany neck and rosewood fretboard. The R0 and Standard 50s has a ABR-1 tune-o-Matic bridge, but the thumbwheel on the R0 is screwed directly on the wood, while the Standard 50s the thumbwheels are screwed to studs that are drilled into the wood. The 17 Standard T has a Nashville bridge. To my ears the R0 indeed sounded marginally brighter than the Standard 50s. I’ve used new D’Addario NYXL 10-46. I’ve set the pickup height at 3/32” on the low E and 2/32” on the high E. Ive used a Marshall Origin 50, a Vox Ac15 (1x12 greenback speaker) and a Victory Sheriff 22.

This is my personal preference, the Mule is on of my favorite neck pickups, but the bridge the Mule is nowhere near as good as the Riff Raff or Black Dog. I thought the Black Dog sounded amazing paired with the 58/15 LT, I just liked the Riff Raff slightly better with the 58/15 LT. The Black Dog is not overly hot, so it doesn’t really overpower the 58/15 LT like I originally thought it would. What I like about the Black Dog is how BK managed to create a mid focused pickup that doesn’t sound overly nasal or boxy. It’s just a beautiful sounding pickup that is pure unadulterated unapologetic uncensored raw and primal rock-n-roll. I added a touch of reverb from Neunaber Immerse, a bit of delay with Catalinbread Belle Epoch Deluxe. Amps were played relatively clean. I then added a bit of gain from Smallsound/Bigsound Mini Overdrive v2. Please don’t ask me to post videos or sound bites of my tests.

While I was trying things out I did give it a go with the regular 58/15. Sounded great, but I realized I like the 58/15 LT even better. I gotta say, kudos for PRS for making amazing pickups. It’s hard to make those 58/15 or 58/15 LT sound bad.

Thanks for all of the details. This helps me out a lot since I don’t have the Bare Knuckles pickups yet. I will try the 58/15LT and Black Dog combo first and if it’s too bright, I will go to plan C (which involves sparing the LT and selling the BD, ordering a different set of pickups... not PRS and not BK...). I want the two LPs to sound different from each other so that’s part of the strategy.
 
I have the Abraxas set in my Bernie. Phenomenal pups.

Thanks! How would you describe them in the Bernie? It’s tough to get a feel online with comments saying that the voicing is gorgeous but just as many folks calling them lifeless. I know I have to wait to get mine to hear how they sound to me but, as my grandma used to say, I was not blessed with patience...
 
Thanks! How would you describe them in the Bernie? It’s tough to get a feel online with comments saying that the voicing is gorgeous but just as many folks calling them lifeless. I know I have to wait to get mine to hear how they sound to me but, as my grandma used to say, I was not blessed with patience...

Dude!!! I was totally dismissing the LT/Abraxas combo, because of the Abraxas being a relatively hotter pickup. However, there are a lot of people who really like the Mule/Abraxas, which lead me to believe that LT/Abraxas will also sound killer. I don't find the Abraxas lifeless at all, despite preferring lower output more vintage sounding humbuckers. They are outstanding pickups. Though to be fair, I've never played a BK pickup I didn't like so far. Some I prefer to others, but I liked everything I've played. With exception of the Rebel Yell that was in one of my friend's guitar, I tend to gravitate towards their Vintage and Vintage hot collection.
 
Dude!!! I was totally dismissing the LT/Abraxas combo, because of the Abraxas being a relatively hotter pickup. However, there are a lot of people who really like the Mule/Abraxas, which lead me to believe that LT/Abraxas will also sound killer. I don't find the Abraxas lifeless at all, despite preferring lower output more vintage sounding humbuckers. They are outstanding pickups. Though to be fair, I've never played a BK pickup I didn't like so far. Some I prefer to others, but I liked everything I've played. With exception of the Rebel Yell that was in one of my friend's guitar, I tend to gravitate towards their Vintage and Vintage hot collection.

Hmmm. You made me think of something. I could split up the Abraxas set like that! The Mule has more mids than the LT, right? The LT is clearer but the Mule is fuller... both could be viewed as kinda thin when split (depending on the guitar). I could put the LT neck with the Abraxas bridge. But then what to do with the Abraxas neck and Black Dog bridge? Shyt. That combo might be awesome too. It would be like the Mule/Black Dog with more ‘bite’.
 
Hmmm. You made me think of something. I could split up the Abraxas set like that! The Mule has more mids than the LT, right? The LT is clearer but the Mule is fuller... both could be viewed as kinda thin when split (depending on the guitar). I could put the LT neck with the Abraxas bridge. But then what to do with the Abraxas neck and Black Dog bridge? Shyt. That combo might be awesome too. It would be like the Mule/Black Dog with more ‘bite’.
But I’d still have a left over LT bridge.... after gutting my McCarty.

Decisions decisions.
 
Was being cheeky, another forumite called Casi “dude”! I couldn’t help myself:oops:

It’s all good. I had Aerosmith stuck in my head all day yesterday because of that...

Then I felt old after seeing a current photo of the band.

Where did the years go? I swear that it was just yesterday when I was watching that video on MTV.
 
It’s all good. I had Aerosmith stuck in my head all day yesterday because of that...

Then I felt old after seeing a current photo of the band.

Where did the years go? I swear that it was just yesterday when I was watching that video on MTV.

I like to think of it as wisdom! Haha
 
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