H-150 Pickups.....59's & 225 question and comments

[Andyv94]

Afternoon everybody,

I own 3 H-150's and I have changed the pick ups on two of my H-150's to the SD Pearly gates and the other one to Tom Brantley set of pick ups, I also bought the SD Shop High Voltage Humbucker Set. All 3 are great but I think I am biased towards the Pearly Gates one. I do want to leave one of my guitars intact with the original pick ups, and although at first I didn't really care for the 59's, they have grown a lot on me!! 

My question for the group is, has anybody mixed the 59's with the 225's in the same guitar? 

I really want to get a hold of a set of 225's and try them out in my guitar and maybe have one pick up be a 59 and the other the 225, any opinions? 

I love buying pick ups 😬

[TalismanRich]

Short of buying  a Custom Core model,  the only place you can get the 225s is via the second hand market.   There just happens to be a set here on the HOC. 

I'm not big into changing pickups, although I've changed them in my H140 and 535.   I have a pair of gold Seth Lovers on the shelf that I was going to put in my H157, but the legs are too long for the rout, and I'm not going to butcher the wood to install them.    The Schallers are short leg,  and the Seths are long leg.   I've got Seth Loves in my Millennium LE, so I can always play that one.

 

[Andyv94]

Thank you for the heads up, I actually have been talking to another member that is selling his to me, unfortunately I have been traveling a lot and won't make it home until early February, so I'll get them than. 

I read somewhere in this forum that some kept one of the 59's (can't remember if it was the head or the bridge pick up) and replaced the other one with "x" pick up, never thought about doing that but I. think I might give it a try and see how it sounds. 

[bolero]

You guys need to try the new '284 pickups. They're like '59's and '225's combined!

[TalismanRich]

I remember some years back when the 59/JB was supposed to be the hot combo.  The JB is a hot pickup so it can give some punch,  the 59 is more of your conventional PAF.   

Those things change every year.   It's like the latest viral cat video.

[nuke]

On 1/23/2025 at 6:00 AM, TalismanRich said:

I remember some years back when the 59/JB was supposed to be the hot combo.  The JB is a hot pickup so it can give some punch,  the 59 is more of your conventional PAF.   

Those things change every year.   It's like the latest viral cat video.

That (SD 59/JB pair) is exactly what is in my Fender Robben Ford model.

Curiously, the basis guitar that Robben was playing, the Fender Esprit, (have on of those too from 1984) had a very unique set of pickups that Schaller made specifically for the Fender "Master Series". While the pickups have a unique appearance and some very cool features, the LCR (inductance, capacitance, resistance) values are right in line with the '59/JB pairing. 

These were used on the three D'Aquisto designed Fender models made in Japan during the CBS-to-private ownership transition in the early/mid 1980s:  The Esprit, The Flame and the D'Aquisto jazz guitars. They're quite nice, largely unknown and pretty rare.  The Esprit was slightly changed and became the Robben Ford model. 

Pickups are one of those weird things. What was hailed a few years ago, is dogged on today on the internet. 

My H535 (2001) has the HRW pickups in it. I absolutely love them. They're similar electronically to the SD "Jazz" SH-2 set. 

When the HRW was a new girl in town, the online crowd praised them and now the internet talks them down. LOL.  

It is flavor of the month on the internet.