Favorite pickups?

There are better options than stock PRS pickups, but my favorites by PRS are the 57/08 and the McCarty pickups. They are both very good. I prefer non-PRS pickups to either however.

I think that PRS invested in making a great guitar with very good/great pickups, recognizing that the more discriminating players are going to swap their pickups anyhow.

He wasn't aiming to make the best pickups money could buy, just the best guitars.

Companies only focused on pickups generally make a better product.
 
I do want to echo the sentiments that pickups sound different in different guitars. I've played 59/09s in other guitars that sounded great in every position. But I had a Korina McCarty with 59/09s that sounded like pure mud in the neck. I could not tweak it to sound good.

I also had a 91 CE24 with HFS/VB. That guitar absolutely should not have, but in the lead position, it sounded damn near exactly like Clapton's Les Paul on the Mayall Beano album. If I could get along with the Wide Thin neck, I'd still have that guitar.
 
MikeChandler said:
There are better options than stock PRS pickups, but my favorites by PRS are the 57/08 and the McCarty pickups. They are both very good. I prefer non-PRS pickups to either however.

I think that PRS invested in making a great guitar with very good/great pickups, recognizing that the more discriminating players are going to swap their pickups anyhow.

He wasn't aiming to make the best pickups money could buy, just the best guitars.

Companies only focused on pickups generally make a better product.
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Mike, if this were me a couple of years ago, I would have agreed with you 100%. But in the past few years, PRS had REALLY upped their game in regard to pickups and I think the new offerings are as anything out there. Now, all my PRS guitars have Duncan custom shop pickups in them (my jam when it comes to high end aftermarket pickups), but if I were to acquire a new PRS with 59/09's or 85/15's loaded up, I would leave them be......unless I had something really specific in mind.
 
VHTStark said:
Mike, if this were me a couple of years ago, I would have agreed with you 100%. But in the past few years, PRS had REALLY upped their game in regard to pickups and I think the new offerings are as anything out there. Now, all my PRS guitars have Duncan custom shop pickups in them (my jam when it comes to high end aftermarket pickups), but if I were to acquire a new PRS with 59/09's or 85/15's loaded up, I would leave them be......unless I had something really specific in mind.
Click to expand...

I have not heard either of those sets, so you could be right. I just know the singular best set of pickups I have heard are the RS Guitarworks True 60s. FWIW I've gotten a lot of mileage out of the Dimarzio 36th anniversary as well, so it's not just about boutique. But I am a verified vintage PAF guy.

Maybe I've got to try a set of these 59/09s. Might happen - I've been eyeing a korina/brazillian McCarty for some time :)

Thanks for the heads up!
 
I have seen a few people say they like the narrowfield as their favorite. It seems like they didn't get much traction but on les's new northern lights they sounded awesome clean.

Paul also looks to discontinue the 53/10 and 59/09. Any thoughts. It seems like healed improvements but I have 57/08's in 2 guitars and they are great. I can only imagine the 53 & 59 are great also. Why does he want to take our toys away?
 
The 53/10s have been gone for some time. The materials to make them were no longer available.

The 59/09s and 57/08s are still available on Artist Pack and Private Stock builds...
 
Rapdog said:
I have seen a few people say they like the narrowfield as their favorite. It seems like they didn't get much traction but on les's new northern lights they sounded awesome clean.
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I'm really happy I got a set of narrowfields. I don't think I would call them my favourite, but I do feel they are quite special and they make this a very versatile guitar.
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I hear if you get some hand wound custom pickups, nothing can beat them.
Problem is, I see it as a bit of a gamble and the stock pups I have are great (57/08... and soon replacing 59/09 with 85/15 and not sure whether to keep or sell the 59/09s)
 
Gotta go with the 57/08's..all 3 of them. These narrowfields are "57/08 narrowfields". They just balance out so evenly in my studio.
 
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I was just adjusting my Cu24's 57/08's today and it's been awhile but man there is a big tone difference on just adjusting a hair. I have had all the PRS pickups except the 59/09's and have played several PRS's with them pickups but I can't tell a difference in the two. Unless I had side by side I'm sure the 09's are hotter as their specs say they are, but since I'm a PAF lover, the gold 57/08's that came stock in my 2010 25th Anni are so versatile.

Anybody know if the first gold 57/08's are any different than the ones they are making now?
Been awhile since I've been on the forums but have found new love in my ol' PRS again.
These pickups really are special.
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I'm absolutely head over heels for the tone of 57/08s in a McCarty. They're right up there with my longtime favorite PAF types, a Tom Holmes set and a custom wound set from ReWind. The Holmes are supernaturally detailed & stunningly responsive to every slightest nuance. The ReWinds give me a throaty, smoky sepiatone vibe that really feels vintage. Both those sets are in maple capped guitars. But the 57/08s in the all-mahog McCarty strike a perfect balance: crisp yet sweet, rich yet airy. Voicelike, but never nasal. Just luminous. And they have a unique, seductive 3-D magic that's hard to describe but which I never get tired of.

For sounds that are less vintage-oriented the original T&Bs with a 5-way & sweetswitch will always have a special place in my heart. They stay really well-defined with overdrive, I think partly because they aren't overly hot, and partly because of their unconventional slug coils. When I got my first PRS in '87 it rocked my world. I hardly played anything else for years, and to this day consider that axe my #1 out of 40-plus guitars.

link to a post about that guitar and its T&Bs:
http://forums.prsguitars.com/threads/prs-original-pickups-looking-for-specs.14413/#post-240034
 
I like the 58/15s when combined with my McCarty. I find them to be very focused sounding, and as a high gain player the clarity is impressive. I've found that I can run the gain much higher than I could before (although I generally don't it's nice to have the option) and thanks to the McCarty's controls I can get a huge variety of sounds out of my amp using just the guitar.
 
I'd really love to try a guitar with Bareknuckles or custom hand-wound pups vs my 57/08s and 85/15s just to hear if custom hand-wound pups really are better.
 
The more I play with the 58/15 / 85/15s, the more I like them. LOVE them actually. There is something incredibly musical and vocal about them. Cannot really define it. But its there.
 
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