Yard sale guitar: recommend p/u

Now, I know this isn't as exciting as Larry getting a new Larivee and a new Taylor, but it is what it is: I found a guitar at a yard sale. Due to my frequent online excursions, I know this is an Epiphone Les Paul Special, I picked it up for $80, it's about $170 new. It's a very low end guitar, but I've always wanted to get a cheapie and rebuild it. The instrument is eminently playable, with dual coil humbuckers, which I imagine are the cheapest generic brand possible.
I've been playing single coils for decades, but I'd like a meatier, more gutsy sound. What pickups might you people recommend for that purpose? I know Jessie and Frank and some others are more well versed in swapping out hardware, so let's hear it, y'all. Whaddya think?
Mark

Thanks for the link, Frank. This might be just what I'm looking for.

ORIGINAL: mcourter

Now, I know this isn't as exciting as Larry getting a new Larivee and a new Taylor, but it is what it is: I found a guitar at a yard sale. Due to my frequent online excursions, I know this is an Epiphone Les Paul Special, I picked it up for $80, it's about $170 new. It's a very low end guitar, but I've always wanted to get a cheapie and rebuild it. The instrument is eminently playable, with dual coil humbuckers, which I imagine are the cheapest generic brand possible.
I've been playing single coils for decades, but I'd like a meatier, more gutsy sound. What pickups might you people recommend for that purpose? I know Jessie and Frank and some others are more well versed in swapping out hardware, so let's hear it, y'all. Whaddya think?
Mark

The standard update is to throw a Seymour Duncan Jeff Beck humbucker in the bridge position, and then throw a '59 reissue in the neck position. I did this to a Hondo a friend gave me, and that thing is a freaking MONSTER! Everyone who plays it is blown away by the tone.

Fricking plywood guitar... sounds HUGE.

Corey

ORIGINAL: mcourter

Larry n Corey: the guy I got it from suggested Di marzios, and a hotshot metalhead pal of my son recommended Seymour Duncans. But that's exactly why I wanted to try this: like Larry said, I can't go wrong, and if I do, so what? Try something else. What fun!
M

Yes, pickups can always be resold on e-bay or just keep them for another project. If you try more then one write down what you liked and didn't like about each one so you remember.

It's hard to point to one pickup or pair of pickups and arbitrarily say, "That's the right choice for this guitar." I've done a fair amount of pickup swapping, and not every combination is instant magic, nor is any one pickup always the best. When people recommend a pickup, guitar, etc., it usually doesn't mean that they've tried everything else and found them all to be inferior. Rather, it most likely means they've had a positive experience with it in one or two different situations. If a friend recommends pickup A and says that it "kills" everything else out there, it doesn't mean you're going to get unsatisfactory results with pickup B -- just that you're going to get different results. For the most part, pickups truly are different flavors of electric guitar tone, and there are a lot of ways to do it right. There's very little to be quantified in terms of better or worse, except in the important areas of matching the guitar and getting you closer to or further from the sound you're looking for.

That said, here are some meaty, gutsy-sounding pickups and the guitars in which I've liked them:

DiMarzio Breed (neck and bridge): Ibanez RG550 maple neck, Ibanez JEM7DBK. Everything from Van Halen to Slayer.
EMG 85 (bridge): Ibanez RG270DX (Gluing the neck on this guitar made it sound meatier.)
EMG 81 (neck and bridge): Kramer "Music-Yo" Baretta neck-through. It's all in how you play it. The 81 is the better neck pickup in set-neck or through-neck guitars.
Gibson Burstbucker (Type 2 neck, Type 3 bridge): Epiphone Les Paul Custom Flametop. Complex, quacky, and biting, it's the real-deal old-school Les Paul sound.
Gibson 496R Hot Ceramic (neck): Gibson Flying V Faded
Gibson 500T Super Ceramic (bridge): Gibson Flying V Faded . Think early Metallica.
Seymour Duncan Jeff Beck "JB" (bridge): Ibanez RG761 hard-tail 7-string, Jackson SL-3 Soloist w/ Original Floyd Rose, Jackson SL2HT hard-tail
Seymour Duncan '59 (neck): Jackson SL2HT hard-tail. Thick, smooth, and creamy.
Seymour Duncan Jazz (neck): Ibanez RG761 hard-tail 7-string. Beautiful, articulate, yet full-sounding, with an open top end.

I've also enjoyed the DiMarzio Evolutions and the Seymour Duncan Full Shred (neck) and Duncan Custom (bridge) ceramic pickups, but I wouldn't call their sound "meaty" in the locking/floating trem guitars where I've used them. Compared with these, JB's have more of a sledgehammer bass, a sweet, slightly dark top end, and even, fluid mids.

Hope this helps,

Jessie

Jessie, that reply is exactly the reason I asked you specifically. Concise with detailed information. Just what I was lookiing for. Thanks.
M