Taller

Agree with you on the thought of replacing the pickups!? And to that - I sat down and really played and listened to my guitar, adjusted the pickups, noodled in all switch positions, and rolled the tone controls to see/listen to what's going on here. Still not knocked out by the '59s, but I ask myself if it's worth the trouble to pull them and go about the perpetual experiment of pickup swapping? I'm not gigging. This is strictly a studio weapon, and it's warm and different than what I'm used to. I've heard good things about the Wolfetone pickups. For those of you who commented that they like Seth Lovers', did you replace '59s? (IOW, how do they compare to '59s?)

Hard to describe, I just know what I like when I hear/feel it, which I realize is no help. Just looking for others who might have a similar tone quest and have replaced their '59s. I'm primarily a single coil player. I've had a few different S-D pickups in my PRSs (I own 2), and was never completely satisfied with any of them ('59s, Custom 5...). I got spoiled with the Tom Short pickups. My approach leans towards Keith Richards or Rich Robinson: Get a tube amp cooking, but without the pickups overpowering the preamp.

This topic has likely been covered to death, but I could not find a pertinent thread. I've got a new H535 with the stock S-D '59 pickups. I find them to be a bit underwhelming. I had the same pickups installed in my PRS McCarty for a time, with the same result. I replaced those pickups with Tom Short's Tombucker pickups. If you are unaware, Tom was a pickup winder in SoCal who no longer makes pickups, so I can't turn to him any more. 535 owners - what pickups have you installed in your guitars and what type of music do you play (and/or, how do you approach your tone)? I don't favor 'hot' pickups. I run my tube amps to a point of light overdrive, then maybe hit them with a Klon type pedal or a Tim to take them up a notch. I prefer a 'vintage' wind pickup, which I would guess describes the S-D 59's, but I find they lack character.