A topic that’s near and dear to guitar players everywhere is pickups – what to use, what we love about them, and how to set them up for optimal performance. For our discussion, I’ll be using two examples of what is essentially the same guitar — a 1958 goldtop Gibson Les Paul Standard with PAF humbucking pickups and a 1956 goldtop Les Paul Standard with P-90 pickups.
Let’s first talk about setting up the pickups. I like the pickup height to be close to the strings, especially the bridge pickup. This results in the most output and brightness, which is the kind of attack I like to hear.
