pickup help on a gibson

[pm12]

i have a gibson hawk guitar from a few years back that i need help on. its a bare bones guitar but its nice for what i do which is mostly rock. i planned on keeping it stock but the sound isnt close to the les paul custom flametop i had gotten rid of before our child was born. my wife bought it to cheer me up a bit but its just not as high output as my other guitars 87 strat(hot rails b&n 5 way switch) or 98 flying v(stock neck& jb bridge) . its similar to a les paul or sg with a mahogany body and no maple cap with just volume tone and 3 way switch. for distortion i tend to go fairly bass heavy big muff and boss hm-2 but i like clarity. i generally use tube amps like a crate vintage 60 or a fender bassman ten and sometimes a solid state crate combo and use lots of effects from time to time. also since the switch is down at the bottom like an sg is it feasable to rewire it with it at the top like a paul and have individual volume and tones?? any good advice will be considered

[Robert S.]

Re: pickup help on a gibson

A Custom and a 59n will sound very nice in that guitar. The Custom has a solid bottom end, nice full mids and a cutting top end for lead work. The 59n has great clarity and is nice for both clean work and distorted lead work.

The C-5/Pearly Gates neck combo will also be killer in that guitar. The C-5 is less mid prominent than the Custom and the mids aren't as prominent but the output is still close. The PGn has more prominent mids than the 59n and sounds a bit warmer with a less prominent bottom and top.

If you really want that guitar to crank it out, the JB or the Duncan Distortion will also work. I had a Duncan Distortion set in a LP for quite awhile and it was brutal.