1989 Les Paul: Pickup and Electronics Reliability

[jwoods]

Hello everyone,

I recently acquired a 1989 Gibson Les Paul, and while I love the sound and feel, I've noticed some issues with the pickups and electronics. I’m reaching out to see if others have experienced similar problems.
I’ve noticed that the stock pickups seem to have inconsistent output levels, especially when switching between the neck and bridge pickups. Has anyone else experienced this? Are there particular types of pickups that you’ve found work best as replacements for the 1989 models to enhance clarity and sustain?
What are your thoughts on the quality of the pots and switches used in the 1989 models? Should I consider upgrading them for better performance?
I’m eager to hear your thoughts and any personal experiences you can share regarding these issues. slope game

 

[metropolis]

I've got two 1989s - a Les Paul Standard and an ES-335. Neither came with original pickups so I can't comment on those Bill Lawrence circuit board ones. Coincidentally both had Lollar Imperials when I bought them, and the LP now has Monty's PAFs. There's an endless list of options for pickups - if you can describe the sort of tone you like I'm sure people will help. I lean towards lower output brighter pickups hence the Montys.

The Les Paul came with the original loom and honestly I thought it was a mess. I don't think there's a tangible tone difference but I didn't trust the wiring in there (quality of wire and some rough looking solder joints) so I switched them out. The previous owner of the ES-335 had already done that (although I have the original loom too) so I can't compare it on that, other than I don't like the pot tapers he installed so I am going to replace it myself.

And to clarify; both guitars have been modded before I got them so I didn't worry about removing original solder joints to mod them. If yours is pristine and you want to keep it original I would see what you can do with cleaning the pots and checking all the solder connections.

Long story short - by all means switch the pickups out if you want a different tone or you think they have issues. I am very comfortable switching out the wiring loom especially when I don't trust the original, but you've got to be happy to lose the originality of your guitar.

PS. Show pics!