Pickups - too much choice, help!

p90fool

I like the 498 too, I bunged an alnico 3 in mine for a fiver and it made it way more clean-friendly too. 

ICBM

Talk to TheGuitarWeasel (Oil City) or Alegree, who are both here - I don't have any personal experience with Alegree's pickups yet but Oil City's are wonderful. You'll get pickups which are made by someone who understands what things need to be got right to give you the sound you want.

Personally I would no longer bother with American-made pickups when we've got makers like this (and Creamery, Mojo, Bareknuckle, apologies if I've forgotten anyone!) here in the UK. I hope that doesn't sound 'xenophobic', but the British guys can do the same job at least as well, and cheaper.

For what it's worth I used to be a big fan of Duncan pickups but I've never liked the Pearly Gates at all - thin-sounding and too bright. 59s are better - the neck one is still one of my favourite pickups - but the bridge is still a bit too bright.

rico

Thanks for all the comments chaps. I dropped the LP off at @FelineGuitars earlier this week and we agreed that some slight tweaks to the electronics (changing where the capacitor is placed) and a general tweak would open the guitar up (and be kinder to my wallet!) so I look forward to picking it up and reassessing how it sounds. 

ICBM

Actually, if it's a modern LP with 490/498 pickups then it will probably have 300K volume pots. Changing these to 500K will make a big difference in opening the sound up, and won't cost much.

sweepy

I can recommend OX4 PAF’s, they transformed my LP Traditional. 

FelineGuitars

We've initially gone with a few pysical changes to improvethe playability of the guitar and get the best possible unplugged sound, so that @rico can asses better what direction he wants to go pickup-wise.
The pots were 500k , so we didn't have to change them , but swapping to 50s wiring instantly gave back a bit of clarity and a better sweep on the controls.

The Nashville tunamatic had collapsed , so a Tonepros replacement seemed like a good idea and we have tried swapping the zinc tailpiece for a light aluminium one (which often seems to give a bit more top end zing back.

Finally (and importantly in my opinion) we have changed the nut to an Earvana one andgiven the guitar a fret dress.

Now she plays beautifully and is both more in tune and has more of an even frequency response.

It may be that a change of pickups to something will still be in the guitars future , but with the work that has been done the full value of that swap will be even more revealed.