Conference napalm::guitar

    There is a sea of pickups out there to choose from. My choice
    would be Seymour Duncan. He makes several differant humbuckers
    ranging from PAF copies to super distortion, and invaders.
    I am assuming if your guitar is a Les Paul copy, that it has
    dual coil humbuckers. Even if it has soap bar pickups, Seymour
    Duncan makes some nice soapbars as well.
    
    Good Luck
    Mark Jacques in the good old US of A.
    

    Welcome to GUITAR!  Always nice to see a new noter.
    
    For pickups, I really like the EMG actives.  Great sound and pretty
    flexable.
    
    Greg

    
    Well, I'd need more info, but....
    
    If your Les Paul copy has a bolt on neck, I would suggest Seymour
    Duncan's like of pickups. They have a `thick' sound to then and
    can help `fill in' some of the tone lost in a bolt on neck. If your
    LP copy has a glued in neck (like the real mccoy's), I'd suggest
    checking out the DiMarzio line. In My Opinion, DiMarzio's sound
    better for (real) Les Pauls becuase LP's are so dense they have
    a big tone to begin with, and Syemour's usually make a Les Paul
    sound kind of muddy.  The DiMarzio's are wound so their voicings
    sound great in SOLID body guits (like the Paul's).  DiMarzio also
    has a voicing chart on their pickup literature so you can kind of
    tell what it will sound like (FYI, they rate High, Mid, and Low
    freq. response from 1 - 10 on each pickup.)
    
   
    Go 4 it,
    wjb

    Andy,
    		Another U.K. guy crawling out of the woodwork !
    
    		I was up in Denmark st. earlier today with the
    		same problem, I own a Fender Flame, not every
    		bodies cup of tea I know, but 200 quid for a
    		first guitar, it seemed v. good value at the time.
                (anybody tell more about the guitar ? they
    		sold in the U.K. initially for 550 cased but
    		dropped to 200 when they didn't sell, why ?)
    
    		To the point, I have been playing for a
    		year and have an idea of the 'sound' I want,
    		so on a 3.5 hour lunch hour! I am down to two
    		humbucking type pickups. Either the Di Martzio
    		PAF copy or the Semour Duncan jobbies. EMG Selects
    		wern't bad either. 
    
    		I wanted a clean sound with an edge if that makes
    		sence, If you've heard 9 below Zero 'live at
    		the marquee'(London R$B band). 
    		That's the sound. I think the old B.B. King/
    		Chuck Berry sound (can they becompared ?) best 
    		discribes it.
    
    		Are you gonna say chuck the Fender buy a Gibson ?
    
    		Should you need any kit finding, the choice is huge
    		in Denmark st. give us a shout. VIVIAN::BENNETT
    
    Graham *8^)
    		

    Andy,
    		On reading the your note and the replys sofar
    		I ask myself what sound is Andy looking for ?
    		
    		I ask the chaps in the know, what pickup best gives Andy
    		the sound he's looking for ?

 Graham 'deep and meaningful thought provoking' Bennett
 London SPS.      

    Hmmm, what kind of sound do I want ? That's difficult to say exactly...
    
    I am really after improving the strength and sustain of the current
    sound. I tend to cut out as much treble as I can with the tone controls
    on the guitar when I am playing lead. This gives a much thicker
    sound when played through a distortion box but eliminates a lot
    of the attack so the (occasional) fast lick I play sounds muddy.
    I would like to keep the attack but have a thicker sound.
    
    For rhythm playing, I also cut out most of the treble. Again this
    is for a thicker sound. This also sounds muddy when strummin' hard.
    
    I guess its obvious from the above that I don't really know what
    sound I want - I just want an improvement ! Armed with the knowledge
    you guys have passed on, I will visit my local music store to
    investigate further. Thanks for all your help...
    
    Andy