software

[COLOR=White]I feel fortunate to have two very nice exceelent conditon Gibsons. A 1950 ES150 and a 1956 ES225TDC . The tone from these have created a benchmark for my ears on the tone. Original soapbars rule in my book.
So my question. I recently purchase a nice Washburn quot;WES MONTGOMERYquot; J6N maple body . Will changing to PHAT CATS do that much for creating a similiar Gibson vintage tone ? Do capacitors or pots need to be changed?

I know the maple will have it's effect.....brighter,,,,right?[/COLOR]

Yes the Phat Cats will get you there and the pots/caps should not need changed out.

Phat Cats will do the trick. They sound killer in my Sheraton. BTW, ost older Gibson E style archtops had maple ply back, sides, and tops, so your sound will be pretty much in line with what Gibson would have done.

neither one is better than the other.

the Seth Lover is a vintage-correct alnico 2 PAF...the Phat Cat is an alnico 2 P90 that's the size of a humbucker.

If you want it to sound like a guitar with PAFs, don't put P90's in it, dig?

The J6 Washburns (I had one some time back) are decent guitars for the $$$ and I think a Seth/Antiquity/'59 would the closest to a late 50's HB tonality ala L5...although your woods are different in the J6; a little darker tone. It's not going to sound like a 50's Gibson with P90's, that you can be assured. You can drop dogears/Phat Cats in it, but it will still sound like a Washburn with new P90s...that's what it is.

Save your scratch and buy a mid 50's ES350...that'll do it.