McCarty pickup in a Les Paul?

[lespaulreedsmith]

A tad off PRS yet still on their pickups... Highly subjective I know but I love my McCarty bridge (some do - some don't, I do).

Would my Les Paul Standard benefit from this pickup? My stock Lester 498t just has too much upper mids or something. Would McCarty wiring on the pickup be a problem? Any tone gurus out there with thoughts? AND are there any Seymour Duncans or DiMarzios that are tonally similar to the McCarty bridge? (less $;) )
The gold McCarty is $130!! yikes but if I gotta, I gotta...

thanks,
Jay

[Brian]

2 Things

#1 - Don't order the McCarty through the PRS Website, you'll get about 45% off that price if you go through a dealer (WMC, Magdon, etc.)

#2 - I don't believe you'll have any issues with the McCarty wiring, in fact, you may want to consider putting in a push pull on one of your tone knobs and adding coil tap. The more tonal options the better.

You may also want to look into #10s - supposed to be very PAFish or #7s which come standard on the PRS singlecut. Neither of those are splittable however.

[geno]

I just bought a set of McCart'ys I plan to put in my Epipone Dot,It was my first electric and paid to much to ever sell it so I figured why not hot rod it,I found a set of 89 Les Paul Custom volume and tone pots.I hope the PRS PUs will fit with LP PU rings.It sounds like I need to put a coil splitter in to?I don't know much about what will and won't fit.

[Chiba]

The #7, while a great sounding pickup, sounds much, much more modern (i.e. "scooped") than a McCarty or PAF. I've never used one, but the #10s are supposed to be very PAFish.

When I go for PAFish, I head for the tried & true Seymour Duncan '59. I like it a lot, it might be my favorite humbucker...in the top 3 at any rate :)

--chiba

[DoobieK]

My McCarty is considerably brighter than my Les Pauls. The stock McCarty pickup sounds pretty fat and not as crisp in the highs as I like, yet if I use say a Duncan '59, the guitar is way brighter than the same pickup in my LP's. I would think a McCarty in an LP would be very middy and dull sounding. My cousin has a Dragon II in the bridge of his LP Standard. It is pretty hot and sounds killer with some o/d or distortion but still sounds pretty good clean.

If you are interested in a double black McCarty pickup, with no cover, email me. I have a spare I will sell. Make me an offer.

[lespaulreedsmith]

tone report: Jack at Magdon's sold me a gold covered McCarty bridge and I put it in. nuff said... She rocks. Doesn't sound like my McCarty but has a deeper grind to it (the McCarty also weighs 7.1 lbs and the Lester is 8.5 lbs.). Still plenty of highs and lows. Got lots of compliments on the sound of it the last time it was in the lineup... :dude:

[DBornack]

#7s which come standard on the PRS singlecut. Neither of those are splittable however.
Wrong.. #7 is splitable.. I did it in my TSE

[Brian]

Wrong.. #7 is splitable.. I did it in my TSE
Standard aftermarket #7s are not splittable...splittable 7s must be custom wound

[Chiba]

Standard aftermarket #7s are not splittable... splittable 7s must be custom wound

He's right, I'm afraid - neither stock-in-the-guitar nor stock-in-the-box #7s are supplied as splittable - to get that, they must be custom-made by PRS especially for you.

--chiba