Gibson 490R Original Humbucker Pickup Gold

I use this guitar mostly for praise music at church, but still love to rock out to the old tunes from yester-year.

These pickups are the "Orginal" inheritor, on the same branch of the pickup family tree with Gibsons own PAF, PAT and T-Top humbucking pickups. The trend that saw the widespread popularity of PAF "clone" or reproduction parts, began in Japan, not Nashville or the USA and it had mainly to do with an interest in "accuracy" of the appearance of the re-issue Les Pauls...not so much concern for their tone - though most of the PAF clones were great. Ive used many of Gibsons own "BurstBucker", "57 classic" and custom shop variations , like the Memphis Bucker over the last 20 + years .Guitar Centers description of the sound of these pickups being, "like a 57 classic" but with a more forward midrange is accurate.Its also true that these 490's are, in most guitars, a slight bit more aggressive - more snarly for lack of a better term, but they dont lack any subtltey or "sweetness" played at lower volume .. I have 490 sets installed in all of the Gibson guitars Im using now.

Got a used Epiphone Studio Deluxe. Didn't pay a lot and love it. Really high quality, straight finger board, level frets nice finish and a really good tone. The Epiphone came with a vintage umbucker in the neck position and what I'd call a hot rod humbucker at the bridge. Sounded good but after playing some Gibson Les Pauls with 490's or Burstbuckers, it didn't really compare. I like the vintage tones better than hot pickups. It was a tough decision as to which of the two Gibson pickups sound better. plus with the burstbuckers you have to decide on #1, #2, or #3. I guess for the old PAF classic type tone you'd get a #1 for the neck and #2 for the bridge. The Bustbuckes sound great as do the 490's. I wont go into all the details of why I chose the 490's. For me they had the best tone.It was close. Tried other pickups too, Dimarzio's are great, I personally didn't care for the Seymor Duncan as much, didn't like the Wilkinsons. Actually like the Epiphone better than the Wilkinsons. Put the 490's in and couldn't be happier. Everyone has their own taste on what they think are the best or what is better, these just happen to my favorite. I think they're awesome............ This morning I found out Tom Petty past away.I'm sure a lot of people are as saddened as myself by this news, especially guitar players. God bless you Tom Petty, you will be missed.

Like someone else, I got a pair of 490's to upgrade my Epiphone Les Paul studio deluxe custom shop limited edition and a partridge in a pear tree. Not having mega funds but mega bills, I got the Epiphone instead of a Gibson. Love the Epiphone. Well built, on par with Gibson. The pickups were really nice. Hot bridge pup. I prefer classic tones tho. It was a choice between these or Bustbuckers. To describe the sound, hhmm, Like the classic humbuckers of '57 but with a bit more bite in the high/mid range. And I think a bit better bottom than the Burstbuckers. I said the Epiphone classic plus were good, but compared to these they sound a bit muffed (like when your strings are old). Could be cause the Epi's pickups are potted in wax. I don't know. The 490's seem to be more open with very a vibrant tone. Hard to explain what they sound like. I guess the best thing to do is go down to Guitar Center and try out some Les Pauls with these pickups. Does it sound like a Gibson Les Paul? Or maybe even better? Honestly, I can't tell the difference. I'm no tone expert, I only have 9 guitars. These pups made my cheap Epi one of my favorites .

This pickup is the best part of my Les Paul Studio. It has the best classic rock and clean tone. It has a really great tone when the tone control is rolled off. It's not the highest gain or highest output, but it is a great vintage sounding pickup. It has a great sounding clean sound which is great because my 498 pup almosts sounds like chorus is added to the clean tone. This pup sounds great with a warm sounding guitar like a mahogany guitar.

this pickup is very nice for classic rock! I have just put 2 of these pickups on my bridge and neck and wow it sounds so much more better than the stock pickups! But! If your going to play a lot of metal or punk rock than this might be a bad idea because it doesn't have a hot output which when you play metal solos and stuff it lags because its not an hot output pickup! If you want a good pickup for metal than go for seymour or other pickups! But! so far! this pickup rocks!