Antiquity 4-conductor Humbucker 2-piece Pickup Set - Non-aged Nickel Covers Review

Good Vintage pickups but....

I was trying to make my Les Paul Studio sound more vintage. I think they did achieve that but they are a bit brighter than I expected. It took quite a bit of change in amp settings and setting of the controls on the guitar to get it to sound right. That said, I also switched to a JonesyBlues Jimmy Page style wiring harness. It's a 50's style with bumble bee caps. This could be what… read more brightened it up. Don't get me wrong. I wanted it a bit brighter anyway. The person I had install it for me said that one of the leads was the wrong color or something. He said the neck, if wired the way it would be normally to the pots would be as though it was tapped. He simply move the wires around on the volume pot I think and it fixed it. Now, I bought these before I knew about a certain person winding pickups within driving distance. I think if I had it to do over again I would have bought the underwound PAF's he winds but maybe I will get an SG in the future and try them in that. Now, I have to say, at times, I swear that in certain settings and a cleanish amp I can almost get a tone similar to Les Paul in the 1950's so let that speak for itself. On the other hand there was a certain metalic sort of sound that I think a lot of 59 and 60 Les Paul's get that I don't. That could be a wood or hardware issue. But it does sing sweetly.

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Seymour Duncan Custom Shop Antiquity’s

I expected exceptional Pickups from Seymour Duncan that"s why I"m so surprised that they exceeded those expectations. I just can"t accurately describe to you the level of the Tonal qualities and the Articulation of these Custom Shop Antiquity"s! My Paul Reed Smith Core Custom 22 10 Top sounds as good as it looks finally!

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Amazing Pickups

Just installed these in my 2017 Goldtop LP Classic with Fralin partial coil tap resistors on CTS push/pulls. Honestly I really, really liked the 57 Classic set that was in it, but these pickups are soooo much better. Just very vibrant and sensitive and warm and punchy and and and...so many words to describe these. And the single coil tones when partially tapped are so so usable.… read more It is a pricey set, but soooo worth it! Thanks to Greg Baum for always taking such good care of me too!

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The Sound i've Been Looking For

These pickups are just fantastic. They have that sound I've heard for many years in vintage Les Paul's played by people like Jimmy Page, Mike Bloomfield, Jeff Beck and so many others. They're powerful, very touch sensitive with unbelievable harmonics and sustain. They sound best when driven hard, but clean up nicely with the volume rolled off on my guitar, which is an Epi Les… read more Paul. The guitar itself has been a project and after a series of upgrades, it's now complete and sounds as good as any custom shop Gibson LP. I didn't make use of the four wire setup. Originally I was going to use the old push/pull tone pots that I had on the guitar, but used instead a new aftermarket wiring harness that didn't allow for split coils, so I can't tell you what the pickups sound like with the coils split. It wasn't a big deal and I do have that option to do so in the future... There were a lot of pickup choices out there and I did a lot of research, but ended up picking the Duncan Antiquity model because I've never been burned with a Duncan pickup -- they always sound as they're advertised and after quite a bit of thought and comparisons with other Duncan models and other brands, I made my choice and I'm very pleased with the results. Special thanks to David Neely of Neely Guitars in Hollywood, CA for his expertise in making this project happen!

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Duncan 4 Conductor Antiquity humbuckers

Wanted to wait for awhile before doing this review. I had picked up a beat to **** 1978 wine red les paul custom from a pawn shop about 10 yeas ago. It had a super distortion in the bridge, and a Al Di Meola in the neck, not bad but not well balanced. had a friend talk me into a set of dimarzio steve Morse humbuckers (4 conductor). They were really good tight, good tone and well… read more balanced, But I wanted to get back to a more traditional vintage/paf sound. Here was the problem. I really liked the ability to split/turn off coils with the Steve Morse's. After a lot of research, I came up on the four conductor Duncan Antiquities. I have Antiquities in all my Strats, but never a les paul. So I called Seymour Duncan and talked with them in the custom shop, then talked with Zach at Sweetwater, all were a great help in my choice of these pickups. Had then placed, coil tap option, and wow, is all I can say. These have all the tone/sustain/ feel that my strat antiquities have, but with paf humbucker grit. Very touch sensitive, clean up very well turned down , but jack the volume pots up, and hold on....All this with coil tap to boot. I have been playing my les Paul o most non stop and love there pickups more with each note.....try em out. unbelievable tone, clarity, and drive and with that PAF tone.. Great job Seymour Duncan Custom shop, and thanks to Zach at sweetwater....

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