Pearly Gates "Plus" pup info?

LiveeviL2000

LiveeviL2000

Ambassador of Pentagonal Pentatonics
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Finally found the specs on my Showmaster.
I tried looking up the Bridge pickup. SD doesn't have anything on a Pearly Gates Plus pup.
Anyone know what the "Plus" version of pup would be, or how its different from standard Pearly Gates pups.
1640207617967.png

Features:

Basswood Body w/ Carved Quilt Maple Top
Maple Set-Neck Modern "C" shape w/ 15.75-inch radius and painted headstock
Rosewood Fingerboard
24 Jumbo Frets
Abalone Dot Position Inlays
Graphite Nut
Pickups 1 Seymour Duncan® SH-1N RP ‘59 Reverse Polarity Humbucking Pickup (Neck), 1 Seymour Duncan® SHPGP-1B Pearly Gates Plus Humbucking Pickup (Bridge)
Controls Master Volume, Master Tone
Pickup Switching 5-Position Blade, Special Switching:
Position 1. Full Bridge Humbucker (Coils in Series)
Position 2. Both Inside Single Coils (Coils in Series)
Position 3. Both Full Humbuckers
Position 4. Full Neck Humbucker (Coils in Parallel)
Position 5. Full Neck Humbucker (Coils in Series)
Bridge: 2-Point Synchronized Tremolo
Machine Heads Cast/Sealed Locking Tuning Machines
Knurled Smoked Chrome Control Knobs
Oversized Strap Buttons
Black Plastic Parts
Hardware Smoked Chrome
Scale Length 25.5" (648mm)
Width at Nut 1.625"
 
Here's what i know and what I pulled up:

The Pearly Gates Plus is exclusive to Fender and only showed up in a few guitars. It was a joint effort with Seymour Duncan



Both following are from Fender:
"The Fender Pearly Gates Plus is a specially designed humbucker pickup used on the American Fat Strat and Double Fat Stratocaster guitars. Made to accommodate the string spacing of American Series and vintage instruments, the sound is fat and full, with balanced output that works well with single-coil equipped instruments. 4-conductor wiring allows a variety of switching options to increase your tonal possibilities."


"What's the difference between your Pearly Gates pickup and the Pearly Gates Plus found on some Fender® guitars?
The Pearly Gates is rather different than the "Pearly Gates Plus" that is on various Fender instruments including the Lone Star StratT®, Fat Strat, Big Apple Strat and some Showmaster® guitars. The Pearly Gates Plus is only available on select Fender guitars or from Fender dealers. The main difference in these pickups is that a Pearly Gates has Alnico II magnets, while the Pearly Gates Plus has Alnico V magnets. Alnico V magnets tend to give a brighter, glassier tone, while Alnico II magnets tend to have a warmer, rounder, more mid-rangier tone. The closest pickup available in our regular line to a Pearly Gates Plus is a '59 Model with 4-conductor cable. The '59 is an Alnico V pickup with a wind very close to that of the Pearly Gates Plus. The '59 usually comes in single conductor cable, but it can be ordered with the 4-Conductor wiring option. "
 
DirtySteve said:
Do you not like it?
Click to expand...
No. Actually. I really like it.
The different tones I can get out of both pups is great.
I can roll the volume and tone on the bridge and get everything from warm to screaming hot.

I just never knew what pups I had in it and today I found out the bridge was different than what was on the SD site. I was just curious about what made it a “plus”
 
Robert Herndon said:
I called an acquaintance at SD. The PG+ has DC Resistance of 8.65k Alnico 5 Magnet, Resonant Peak is 6.62khz with 4-conductor wiring
Click to expand...
Why do I feel like you are part of some guitar mafia network.
Follow me on this for a second.
Picture a scene from the godfather.

{Cue GODFATHER background music}

ME: Excuse me Godfather, I hate to disturb you on the day of your daughters wedding, but I have an issue with my guitar.

@Robert Herndon (The Godfather) : It's not a problem, I have an acquaintance of mine who can make your issue disappear.
1640230781403.png
 
I have a Showmaster too, bubinga burl rather than maple flame. The PG+ is a great pickup.
Designed for 25½" scale guitars, where the regular PG is designed with 24¾" scale Gibsons in mind.
Definitely a bit glassier and less vintage sounding; slightly beefier lows than the original too I think.

My Showmaster is somewhat bright compared to my other HH guitars, even the superStrats.
One could even say it's a bit Fendery sounding... What are the chances? ;)
Have sometimes toyed with the idea of a mag swap but never did anything about it.
If this were my primary guitar I'd just dial the amp specifically for this one and wouldn't worry about it.

I have another PG+ in the loose pickup box. Duncan doesn't sell them new but you can often find them used on eBay.
People hear the name and expect it to sound like a Pearly Gates, which it doesn't.
I have more than once seen these listed for sale as a Pearly Gates bridge rather than a Plus.
I agree with the description; to my ear it's very much like a slightly overwound 59 bridge.

Your neck pickup (mine too) is a 4-wire 59N with magnet flipped to allow for alternative wiring and still give hum rejection.
Neck position on these sounds brighter than usual for a 59N too, since it's closer than usual to the bridge (because of 24 frets).
Makes for a nice lead voice in position 5.
Position 4 on these guitars is the neck pickup in parallel rather than series. It's a good sound too.
I hadn't used a 59N in parallel before this guitar, since as mentioned above, standard 59s don't allow that.

 
Last edited:
eclecticsynergy said:
I have a Showmaster too, bubinga burl rather than maple flame. The PG+ is a great pickup.
Designed for 25½" scale guitars, where the regular PG is designed with 24¾" scale Gibsons in mind.
Definitely a bit glassier and less vintage sounding; slightly beefier lows than the original too I think.

My Showmaster is somewhat bright compared to my other HH guitars, even the superStrats.
One could even say it's a bit Fendery sounding... What are the chances? ;)
Have sometimes toyed with the idea of a mag swap but never did anything about it.
If this were my primary guitar I'd just dial the amp specifically for this one and wouldn't worry about it.

I have another PG+ in the loose pickup box. Duncan doesn't sell them new but you can often find them used on eBay.
People hear the name and expect it to sound like a Pearly Gates, which it doesn't.
I have more than once seen these listed for sale as a Pearly Gates bridge rather than a Plus.
I agree with the description; to my ear it's very much like a slightly overwound 59 bridge.

Your neck pickup (mine too) is a 4-wire 59N with magnet flipped to allow for alternative wiring and still give hum rejection.
Neck position on these sounds brighter than usual for a 59N too, since it's closer than usual to the bridge (because of 24 frets).
Makes for a nice lead voice in position 5.
Position 4 on these guitars is the neck pickup in parallel rather than series. It's a good sound too.
I hadn't used a 59N in parallel before this guitar since, as mentioned above, standard 59s don't allow that.
Click to expand...
you might be the first person I met with one of these.
This is my first guitar. At the time I was just learning. I saw it on the wall and fell in love with it.
I agree with you. It’s a great sounding guitar. The amount of different tones I can coax out of it is astounding.
Have you ever played it unplugged. It still sounds great. The sound resonates in the body beautifully. Comfortable, really light weight.
This is, as SRV dubbed his, my“First Wife”, my “Number One”.
If you ever wondered what the specs for it are.
It’s all in the first post.
My is quilt maple top. All original.
7A73C69B-BF48-426D-91CA-1A4B3C710BF7.jpeg
 
LiveeviL2000 said:
Why do I feel like you are part of some guitar mafia network.
Follow me on this for a second.
Picture a scene from the godfather.

{Cue GODFATHER background music}

ME: Excuse me Godfather, I hate to disturb you on the day of your daughters wedding, but I have an issue with my guitar.

@Robert Herndon (The Godfather) : It's not a problem, I have an acquaintance of mine who can make your issue disappear.
View attachment 77477
Click to expand...

LOL!!!

Well, I'm a full-time musician and I work in the background of the Los Angeles area music scene, so my job affords me the opportunity to meet a lot of people.

Because there are so many things located down here, like Seymour Duncan, Schecter, Suhr, Ernie Ball, Mission Engineering/Stagecraft, Carvin (now Kiesel) Fender, and Solo Dallas before their recent move to Florida. I've sometimes just drove down to one of these places when I had a question, rather than call them.

Now, a few months back, I wanted a custom pickup made for me, so I called an acquaintance at Duncan. Although super cool, their custom shop just really didn't seem interested.

I mentioned this around the coffee pot at the studio one morning. Our producer said, "Call DiMarzio and ask for Larry. Tell him I said wassup."

Dimarzio has an obscure custom department that's kind of mysterious. Once you are identified as a card-carrying, registered BMI Artist and Musician's Union member, things start happening.

It's like when the guy would slide open the little panel in the door at a speakeasy and ask for the password.

d8709d2fc73774342b951bc11e5e14ca--prohibition--alcohol-prohibition.jpg

Dimarzio was awesome to work with. I sent them sound files of tones that I liked and we sent emails back and forth.

They created a custom humbucker for me, named after my inarticulate playing style: 'The Neanderthal.' It's a nickel-silver baseplate based, F-spaced, wood spacer, 16.5k AlNico9 44awg beast that rivals a EMG81TW in terms of output (around 370mv) and tone, without squeal or feedback at high volumes.

It's very closely related to the Andy Timmons AT-1 signature pickup, which is 16.5k Alnico 5, 320mv output.

I'm very blessed to have met some really cool and helpful people in this business....
 
LiveeviL2000 said:
you might be the first person I met with one of these.
This is my first guitar. At the time I was just learning. I saw it on the wall and fell in love with it.
I agree with you. It’s a great sounding guitar. The amount of different tones I can coax out of it is astounding.
Have you ever played it unplugged. It still sounds great. The sound resonates in the body beautifully. Comfortable, really light weight.
This is, as SRV dubbed his, my“First Wife”, my “Number One”.
If you ever wondered what the specs for it are.
It’s all in the first post.
My is quilt maple top. All original.
View attachment 77496
Click to expand...

That's a beauty!
 
LiveeviL2000 said:
you might be the first person I met with one of these.
This is my first guitar. At the time I was just learning. I saw it on the wall and fell in love with it.
I agree with you. It’s a great sounding guitar. The amount of different tones I can coax out of it is astounding.
Have you ever played it unplugged. It still sounds great. The sound resonates in the body beautifully. Comfortable, really light weight.
This is, as SRV dubbed his, my“First Wife”, my “Number One”.
If you ever wondered what the specs for it are.
It’s all in the first post.
My is quilt maple top. All original.
View attachment 77496
Click to expand...
Wow, our bodies are brothers from a different mother :dance:

136A55BF-121C-40F1-AAF3-C412C88E222F.jpeg
 
LiveeviL2000 said:
you might be the first person I met with one of these.
This is my first guitar. At the time I was just learning. I saw it on the wall and fell in love with it.
I agree with you. It’s a great sounding guitar. The amount of different tones I can coax out of it is astounding.
Have you ever played it unplugged. It still sounds great. The sound resonates in the body beautifully. Comfortable, really light weight.
This is, as SRV dubbed his, my“First Wife”, my “Number One”.
If you ever wondered what the specs for it are.
It’s all in the first post.
My is quilt maple top. All original.
Click to expand...
Showmasters are pretty cool. Many years ago when I was first looking for a Stratocaster, I almost bought one. Now and then, I wish I would have still gotten it.
 
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