Rio Grande pups

[grolschie]

Thanks again Iain. Im very glad I listened to what you had to say about these pups and went with them, as opposed to the more traditional option of an SD JB and Jazz set.

How do they compare to the JB/Jazz traditional combo? How much is a Karina these days?

I'm a bit of a Gary Moore fan .... again, and getting his tones are no problem with these pups.

I used to love Wild Frontier album back in the day. I played the track The Loner the other week and could not believe how much his tone sounded like a buzz-box. Egad!

[Grant]

Hi there, well I didn't do a direct comparison between a Les Paul with the Seymours in them, against a Les Paul with Rio's in, so I can't really comment.
However I did read a heap of reviews on the Seymours and the Rio's and decided to go with the Rio's. Both sets have a load of people that love what they have installed in their guitars, so its just a matter of preference. The seymour set has been a favourite for a load of players for many years, however if you read the reviews of the Rio's many players have gone from that JB/Jazz combo to the Rio's and been really pleased they had ... so if anyone chose the Rio's over the Seymours, they probably wouldn't be unhappy with the choice. Either way you get great pups probably ..... just that I wanted the best !!!!

As for Karina's ... they are $600 new. I think that is a bargain. I have owned a Gibson Les Paul tobacco sunburst about 30 years ago, and at the same time I owned an Aria Pro 2 Les Paul copy, which was also a tobacco sunburst. They were both excellent guitars, and to play, I had no preference with either. They were just about identical in every way. I don't think you can get Aria Les Pauls any more, but they were an excellent copy, like some of the older Tokai's.
With the Karina, I put it in the same class. They are not an exact copy of a Les Paul, but that doesn't matter to me. They are a quality guitar for the money. I would buy another one any day, and prefer them to most Epihones's I have tried.
Chuck some good pups in a Karina, and you have an excellent guitar for playability and tone, for just under a grand. That can't be bad !!
with the proviso .... that its only .... MHO

[TMG 03]

I find that funny that people would read other folks reviews of pickups, And use that to buy something.

No too people hear the same thing.

[Grant]

I find that funny that people would read other folks reviews of pickups, And use that to buy something.

No too people hear the same thing.

I agree that no two people would necessarily hear the same thing ( although how that can be proven, is another matter ?), but what you can get is an understanding or an idea about the character of tone or sound, based on an accumulation of opinion from reviews.

If you read enough reviews intelligently, from a variety of sources, and you can read between the lines as to the level of knowledge or experience that a reviewer brings, by the way they describe things, and the overall knowledge they have of insruments and sound, it can help inform you. IMHO.

I also try and listen to any sound bites, although some people would also say that is "rubbish" but no two people are the same .... so each to their own.

I personally like to research things I am into, in whatever way I can. Obviously you can't beat actually playing an instrument with the pickups you like, through your amp and your particular setup. But how often do you get the chance to do that when making a decision to buy pickups ?

I like to read about stuff about guitars and amps, etc ... anyway. I love the things I do like to listen to sound samples or short bits of music demonstrating the guitar, or whatever when I can as well.

I don't presume to be an expert in choosing anything, just enthusiastic about the things I do find, that I like !!!

[grolschie]

Cheers for that info Grant. I have an old Japanese Daion Les Paul. It plays great actually, but might throw some new pickups in it at some stage as they are a bit dull now.

[Grant]

Cheers for that info Grant. I have an old Japanese Daion Les Paul. It plays great actually, but might throw some new pickups in it at some stage as they are a bit dull now.

Oh ok. I haven't heard of that model. Being an older Japanese LP copy I imagine its really well made.
Im sure the Rio's would add to the sound of the guitar a huge amount. They are pretty good value for money in my books. Iain is your man to supply them.

http://www.guitarparts.co.nz/cart/index.cfm

As a cheaper alternative if you are interested, is my set of GFS pickups I bought in from the USA. They are pretty reasonable pickups with chrome covers. I think they are the FAT PAF set. I need to go back and check up on that. I am intending to put them on TradeMe sometime.
Just an option if you didn't want to spend as much as the Rio's but still get a pretty good tone. However, if the guitar is a "keeper", and you really want to get into using it, go for the Rio's. I don't think you would be disappointed at all.

[grolschie]

Out of interest, how much would you be asking for the pups?

[Grant]

Out of interest, how much would you be asking for the pups?

$110 for the pair. They are virtually brand new. I had them in my Karina for only a short time before I found out about Rio's .... and felt I just had to have some !!
They are Chrome covered Alnico PAF Custom Overwound GFS pickups. They are good quality pickups. My one and only minor complaint is they don't give you much wire to play with for wiring them up. They are just long enough and no more