Epiphone Joe Bonamassa Black Beauty pickup details

[Antigua]

I ordered a Epiphone Joe Bonamassa Black Beauty, it took about a month to get it. I've wanted a Black Beauty for the last twenty years, but Epiphone quality wasn't so great in the 90's, and the Gibson versions are exceedingly expensive, so I never ended up buying one, until now.

The guitat itself is really great. I wasn't sure if I would like the new headstock, or the fake yellow aged plastic, but in person they look great. It also has interesting tuners, somewhat unique to Les Pauls. Joe B says in the promo that the guitar is "light", but it actually feels quite heavy to me, and I'm sure the three pickups have something to do with that.

The pickups are Pro-Buckers, the "3" in the bridge and "2's" in the neck and middle. The part numbers all have a "-C" at the end, instead of "-4", which might mean "custom" somehow. I ordered a "free-way" switch, and I plan to rewire it in such a way that I get get six pickup combos instead of the stock three combinations, so while I have the pickups disconnected, I've recorded various electrical values:


Epiphone Joe Bonamassa Black Beauty Pro-Buckers

Bridge PB3GHBB-C
- DC Resistance: 8.657K ohms
- Q @1kHz: 2.21
- L: 5.891H
- C: 127pF
- Gauss: 250G (over the center screws)

Middle PB2GHBM-C
- DC Resistance: 8.020K ohms
- Q @1kHz: 2.16
- L: 5.208H
- C: 124pF
- Gauss: 250G (over the center screws)

Neck PB2GHBN-C
- DC Resistance: 8.036K ohms
- Q @1kHz: 2.18
- L: 5.215H
- C: 143pF
- Gauss: 250G (over the center screws)

The covers are definately nickel silver, not brass. Pro-Bucker's are spec'd as having AlNiCo 2 magnets. Even though this guitar is meant to replicate a real 1958 Les Paul which would have had three non-position specific pickups, with this guitar they did the typical "hot bridge" thing, and even though the neck and middle have different part codes, they appears to be identical. A lot of "vintage" neck pickups often have an inductance in the low to mid 4 henry range, and bridge pickups in the 5 to mid 5 henry range, so for this neck and middle to be right at 5 henries, and the bridge to be just shy of 6 henries, makes these sort of "vintage hot".

They sound real nice, but to be honest, I didn't really care for the stock bridge + middle sound, it's sort of like the notch position of a Strat, but without the quack, and not as bell-like as the neck and brige together. I've played other HHH Les Pauls though, and I really like the sound of the middle pickup by itself. I was surprised to find out that the three pickup Rickenbacker 325, despite all of it's knobs, also didn't let the player select more than three pickup combinations, which is very surprising, considering the potential for a variety of tones.

Special selector switch for 3 pickup Les Pauls:

 

[bluesfordan]

I want to wire mine like the real '59 I played a couple years ago. Granted it won't have three double white PAFs but I can still get the same wiring. I believe it had the standard B B+N N arrangement of the selector switch and the middle pickup was always on. it had its own volume control so you could blend it in with any position of the selector switch, including the B+N 'middle' position.

I might even give a nod to Jimmy Page and have push pull knobs on all the volume controls so each pickup can be split

 

[stilwel]

Looks lovely. What is the neck shape like on this?

I have an Epi JB ES-355 model that I adore...but I had to make a few changes to get it there.
Mine also came with the Epi pro-buckers, which in that guitar were on the dark side to my ears.
I replaced them with Gibson '57 Classics and now it's just perfect.

 

[Antigua]

Looks lovely. What is the neck shape like on this?

I have an Epi JB ES-355 model that I adore...but I had to make a few changes to get it there.
Mine also came with the Epi pro-buckers, which in that guitar were on the dark side to my ears.
I replaced them with Gibson '57 Classics and now it's just perfect.

I might agree with the pickups once I swap out amps, but currently I'm playing through a Super Reverb with the bright switch flipped up, so for me there's no such thing as a dark pickup at the moment.

The neck is fat at round. I've been wondering how it compared to my Tuxedo LP, so I took out a caliper and compared the thickness at the 12th fret, and the Joe Bo Black Beauty are both exactly 26mm thick. I measured a few others for comparison, 2012 Sheraton and a 2018 LP Jr. measures 25mm, 2019 Epi Casino and a Lee Malia Artisan LP measure 23mm, and a Florentine LP measures 22.5mm. I think most Epi LP's, which are not vintage reissue style, probably measure around 23mm.

I also have a tool that I received as a Christmas present a couple years ago, which I just used for the first time to profile these necks. You can see that the Joe Bo BB has a C profile, where as the Casino is more like a D.

Both 26mm at the 12th, they feel very much alike. Not pictured here, but I also have a gold on black Sheraton that would fit in this picture.

Casino, 23mm

 

[Old Woody]

I ordered a Epiphone Joe Bonamassa Black Beauty, it took about a month to get it. I've wanted a Black Beauty for the last twenty years, but Epiphone quality wasn't so great in the 90's, and the Gibson versions are exceedingly expensive, so I never ended up buying one, until now.

The guitat itself is really great. I wasn't sure if I would like the new headstock, or the fake yellow aged plastic, but in person they look great. It also has interesting tuners, somewhat unique to Les Pauls. Joe B says in the promo that the guitar is "light", but it actually feels quite heavy to me, and I'm sure the three pickups have something to do with that.

The pickups are Pro-Buckers, the "3" in the bridge and "2's" in the neck and middle. The part numbers all have a "-C" at the end, instead of "-4", which might mean "custom" somehow. I ordered a "free-way" switch, and I plan to rewire it in such a way that I get get six pickup combos instead of the stock three combinations, so while I have the pickups disconnected, I've recorded various electrical values:


Epiphone Joe Bonamassa Black Beauty Pro-Buckers

Bridge PB3GHBB-C
- DC Resistance: 8.657K ohms
- Q @1kHz: 2.21
- L: 5.891H
- C: 127pF
- Gauss: 250G (over the center screws)

Middle PB2GHBM-C
- DC Resistance: 8.020K ohms
- Q @1kHz: 2.16
- L: 5.208H
- C: 124pF
- Gauss: 250G (over the center screws)

Neck PB2GHBN-C
- DC Resistance: 8.036K ohms
- Q @1kHz: 2.18
- L: 5.215H
- C: 143pF
- Gauss: 250G (over the center screws)

The covers are definately nickel silver, not brass. Pro-Bucker's are spec'd as having AlNiCo 2 magnets. Even though this guitar is meant to replicate a real 1958 Les Paul which would have had three non-position specific pickups, with this guitar they did the typical "hot bridge" thing, and even though the neck and middle have different part codes, they appears to be identical. A lot of "vintage" neck pickups often have an inductance in the low to mid 4 henry range, and bridge pickups in the 5 to mid 5 henry range, so for this neck and middle to be right at 5 henries, and the bridge to be just shy of 6 henries, makes these sort of "vintage hot".

They sound real nice, but to be honest, I didn't really care for the stock bridge + middle sound, it's sort of like the notch position of a Strat, but without the quack, and not as bell-like as the neck and brige together. I've played other HHH Les Pauls though, and I really like the sound of the middle pickup by itself. I was surprised to find out that the three pickup Rickenbacker 325, despite all of it's knobs, also didn't let the player select more than three pickup combinations, which is very surprising, considering the potential for a variety of tones.

Special selector switch for 3 pickup Les Pauls:

I would not call a 620 ohm difference hot by any means take the SD 59 neck pup at 7.43k with a SD JB (Jeff Beck) bridge at 16.4k which is a common combination on lots of guitars now you could say that the Jeff Beck pup is on the hot side. The Joe Bonamassa Custom is a nice guitar and I've had it in my cart for a while but with Epi putting out so many great guitars my cart is getting full.

 

[Antigua]

I would not call a 620 ohm difference hot by any means take the SD 59 neck pup at 7.43k with a SD JB (Jeff Beck) bridge at 16.4k which is a common combination on lots of guitars now you could say that the Jeff Beck pup is on the hot side. The Joe Bonamassa Custom is a nice guitar and I've had it in my cart for a while but with Epi putting out so many great guitars my cart is getting full.

Referring to the DC resistance is misleading, because the various wire gauges throw the numbers off. but if you compare the inductance, they're somewhat different. The SD '59 neck is around 4 henries, and these neck and middle pickups are 5 henries, the same as a lot of "bridge" pickups on the market. The actual voltage output is barely any different at all, the main difference is just that it shaves treble off the top by lowering the resonant peak. That causes the clean tone to suffer a bit, but the overdriven sound is smoother when there's less treble from the source. A JB or a Super Distortion have a mucher higher inductance, around 8 henries, they legitimately put out more voltage and drive the amp harder, but their clean tone borders on unusable, it's rather shrill.

 

[Antigua]

I was going to send a link to this guitar to a friend, incase he wanted to buy one before they sold out, but it looks to me like they're all gone already. I see only one site claiming to have one in stock, but I'd wager that sole listing is an accident.

Are the Joe Bonamassa Black Beauty's really gone from the market that fast? I see someone is hocking a used one on reverb for $950 already.

I gotta say, this feels like a golden age of sorts. I don't ever remember the electric guitar market ripping quite like this. There's a lot of really nice models coming out at all price points.

 

[Danny D]

Hi, I'm new to the forum. I bought one of these from MF. The financing was great and it arrived in two days. It is on the heavier side and the neck is chunkier than I thought but I like it... a lot. I won't change a thing about about. There's no doubt that improvements could be made but for me, the effort would result in negligible actual improvement in the music I make.

 

[Antigua]

Mods complete, a six way free-way switch which allows for three more pickup combinations than the guitar would provide stock. And a Bigsby with a Vibramate adapter so as to not put holes in the guitar. With all the extra hardware, the final weight is quite heavy, 10 lbs. 1 oz., it's the first guitar I thought might give me a shoulder ache. I thought it would be another twenty years or so before I could complain about such things. I also worry that my wall hanger might not be able to support it too long, I'm not sure if I went into a stud, or used dry wall anchors.

The six wax free-way was tricky to install, because I had to run a total of eight conductor wires from the selector switch to the control cavity. I used the wiring diagram for 2 vol 2 tone, and the nice thing about that is that, while I had to do a lot of soldering on the free-way side, most of the wiring is "as is" in the control cavity.

The Vibramate adapter for the Bigsby just barely worked. The holes don't quite line up, so I had to connect everything in a very slack manner, and then tighten it all down at the very end. The bottom of the Bigsby sticks out away from the butt of the guitar by about 5mm, and I had to flip the adapter upside down to get it that close, otherwise it would have been 10mm removed at the bottom end. Apparently the hardware on this Les Paul is non-standard to some extent, but I don't know if that's an Epiphone thing, a Black Beauty thing, or what.

Also, this is kind of subjective, but I get the feeling that three pickups worth of magnetic pull dampens the string vibration. I wouldn't say this guitar is a sustain monster, despite the weight, but the number of tones it can produce with the six way free-way is awesome, and the free-way is the best selector control I've ever used, without a doubt, even better than a Strat 5-way, due to the placement and the one extra tone.

 

[stilwel]

Yessssss....That's the look right there.

(you may already know this) I believe Vibramate makes an adapter specifically for imported Epiphone guitars which are built to metric specs.

I don't care what anyone says, on the Epi LP's specifically, I think this new larger headstock looks great and is an improvement.

However...I still prefer the long narrow headstock on the semi-hollow guitars.

 

[Antigua]

Yessssss....That's the look right there.

(you may already know this) I believe Vibramate makes an adapter specifically for imported Epiphone guitars which are built to metric specs.

I don't care what anyone says, on the Epi LP's specifically, I think this new larger headstock looks great and is an improvement.

However...I still prefer the long narrow headstock on the semi-hollow guitars.

The Vibramate included metric and US mounting lugs, so that was fine. The adapter assumes that the stop bar would be 5 to 10mm further in the direction of the neck than what they are on this guitar, so as a result, the Bigsby ends up sticking out by that much at the bottom, but it's waaaay better than putting holes in it. The other mounting holes were all off by about one or two millimeters, but I was able to force it all together. The guitar is so heavy that I could see wanting to remove the Bigsby some day.

I don't love the headstock in pictures, it looks sort of like a Chinese counterfeit headstock, but in person, it doesn't cross my mind. I like that it's a bit more substantial than the old Epi headstock. I love the large Casino / Riviera headstocks also, but they might not look right on a Les Paul.

 

[Raiyn]

Mods complete, a six way free-way switch which allows for three more pickup combinations than the guitar would provide stock.

Just the sort of thing I'd have done.

 

[timsmcm]

I can't really add much to your thread other than I just received my jbbb and I am pleased and saddened at the same time. Mine is one of the signature models ( I did not want one but the only one I could find ). The inlay job is horrible, the frets were not leveled or crowned, or fret ends finished. I think they got to a certain spot and just stopped or forgot to finish. But on the good side there are no finish flaws on the guitar anywhere. I have been looking for a custom shop black beauty for a while and have not seen the one that tickled my feathers. I am in love with the looks and feel ( not quite 8.5 lbs good for a custom ). This particular guitar is a powerhouse. The fundamental tone unpluged is the best of any les paul i have picked up. I own 6 Gibson les paul ri guitars and none have what this guitar has. I will fix the other stuff that needs fixing. I have always been a gibson snob I guess but no more. Love my epiphone black beauty.

 

[Danny D]

I can't really add much to your thread other than I just received my jbbb and I am pleased and saddened at the same time. Mine is one of the signature models ( I did not want one but the only one I could find ). The inlay job is horrible, the frets were not leveled or crowned, or fret ends finished. I think they got to a certain spot and just stopped or forgot to finish. But on the good side there are no finish flaws on the guitar anywhere. I have been looking for a custom shop black beauty for a while and have not seen the one that tickled my feathers. I am in love with the looks and feel ( not quite 8.5 lbs good for a custom ). This particular guitar is a powerhouse. The fundamental tone unpluged is the best of any les paul i have picked up. I own 6 Gibson les paul ri guitars and none have what this guitar has. I will fix the other stuff that needs fixing. I have always been a gibson snob I guess but no more. Love my epiphone black beauty.

I love mine as well but the fret ends are a little rough. That's something I can learn to fix I suppose. At 9 lbs. 1 oz, it's still comfortable to hold for hours but is the heaviest guitar I've owned in 35 years.

 

[Antigua]

I've put in an order of two of these sets in gold https://www.byoguitar.com/Guitars/Blizzard-of-59-Vintage-Humbucker-Set__BYO-BLIZZARD-SET.aspx , they will replace the ProBuckers 2 and 3. Joe B said it plainly, the pickups in the BB are hotter, and my own inductance check confirms that all three pickups are essentially bridge pickups, as we think of them these days, having inductance values above 5 henries each. I'm just not getting enough high end clarity from the neck and middle pickup. I've been selecting pickup combos like neck+middle in order to squeeze out a more bell-like tone, instead of a warm jazz tone, but it makes me just want to swap out for an LP with a modern-PAF neck pickup. If you're like Joe B and you're mostly playing guitar solos the whole time, then then hot pickups are fine.

Two sets of the Blizzards doesn't even break $200.. hell of a deal. Add that to the cost of the Bigsby and the free way, the total cost of the guitar is running up to about $1,300, still a lot better than a comparable Gibson I saw listed for over $4,000.