Is this pickup combo good?

[Chickenwings]

Re: Is this pickup combo good?

to the op: welcome aboard!

Im sure your axe sounds great. Dont worry too much about pickups until you have an amp - maybe a nice low wattage toob amp will do the job like a blues junior or something along those lines. Anyway, after you play plugged in for a while you might not even need new pickups.
If you do, then maybe either get a pair of 59's, or just one neck 59 to go with your cc in the bridge. You can tailor the sound of the cc by putting in an alnico 5 magnet (turning it into a custom 5) to blend nicely with the 59 neck, or you can put an alnico 2 magnet in the 59 neck to blend with the CC bridge.

[Iam74Gibson]

Re: Is this pickup combo good?

Wolf, no worries and no hard feelings... the thing about forums and emails and such, is that they often don't convey intent. I agree I need to get my playing going, and going soon.

I can also get my setup where I like while learning to play, doesn't have to be 2 separate things....

Here is the purpose of this whole thread... SD Silverbirds were a short production pickup... there is hardly any information to be found about them... So, I don't know if I have a Gem or a Dud... and I don't know if they match up well with what I have.... If I take the Les Paul around to try out different AMPs to buy, how will I know if it is the AMP I may not like, or the Pickup? I don't have the experience to know. So I am asking opinions from experienced folk who may be more familiar. I am concerned about the Silverbird "because" it was such short production... maybe cause they weren't that good...

Someone asked what kind of music I would like to play.... well If I had to choose... Joe Bonnamasso, Gary Moore (his bluesy stuff mostly) and at the risk of sounding like a lot of other people...SRV.... I am not delusional enough to think I will ever be able to play like them... but that is the kind I would "like" to play.

Again Wolf, it's all good :-) But since someone asked, here is a picture of the Les Paul

[Chickenwings]

Re: Is this pickup combo good?

nice looking axe.
Don't worry too much about pickups when you start amp shopping. The amp is the biggest determinant of tone, not the pups. You can plug any humbucker equipped guitar into an amp and get a pretty good idea of what it is capable of.

[0v3nm4n]

Re: Is this pickup combo good?

http://www.trademe.co.nz/music-instruments/instruments/guitar-bass/electric-guitars/auction-227397420.htm

Might I suggest a black-star amp? It's got an ISO on it and an attenuation knob

http://www.harmonycentral.com/t5/Electric-Guitars/Seymour-Duncan-SH-9-Silverbird-bridge/td-p/23370983

[Aceman]

Re: Is this pickup combo good?

Hey - even I usually give a set of pups in any guitar a couple of weeks - couple of months to get acustomed to my ears before making pickup decisions. And !am74 - NEVER forget this:

If it sounds good to you, it is good. Remember - everyone here has different ears and tastes. Some are better at being objective, some are going to put forth their opinions as if they are facts supported by all, or that are right for your specific guitar. At the end of the day, your ears need to decide. Just make sure your ears aren't blaming problems in your hands on your gear.

As for the Amp, 40 watts is a lot of noise. I have a Fender 15 watt Pro Junior and it is too loud often. I use a ROland Cube 30 a lot, because I can go from a Fender Blackface clean blues tone, to a Dirty Fender Bassman for Classic Rock, to a MArshall Or Mesa for Metal with Delay really quick. Sounds good, easy to control at any volume, quick to set.

I've never heard of the Silverbird. I'd like to know more about it.

And the guitar is AWESOME!!!!!! Speaking as an owner of a 73 Les Paul....

[Iam74Gibson]

Re: Is this pickup combo good?

Thanks Everyone for the good advice.... I am thinking the (without going to listen yet) amp at the top of my list will be the Blackstar ID30. Or maybe even the ID15 ministack...Is seems like they would be about the right size and Wattage... I know and understand that it is Non-Valve, and some of you have very strong views of that, but it has a lot of other features that I think will help me learn. Like MP3 looping , And a GUI interface on my PC for manipulating and saving sounds (Patches), and a community forum for exchanging information and sharing patches... The Amp supposedly "Emulate" a variety of tube amps... not sure how well, but to my untrained ear, and with Blackstars reputation, I may just think it is wonderful!!

There is a shop here in Houston.... Ron Pace Guitars... that is supposed to be one of the best around... I will take the guitar it to him for setup... he may be able to give further advice.

Thanks again! and Cheers.

[Strat111]

Re: Is this pickup combo good?

A great pup match w/cc in the bridge is the APS-In (alnico Pro II neck). This will give you the Slash GNR neck pup sound from Appetite for Destruction, when run through a cranked Marshall. It is a nice clean and bluesy neck pup. All the classic rock, blues, and anything you can imagine can be done with this combination. SRV will be hard to get, as he used Texas special single coils, but I guess, with some effects, you may even be able to emulate his sound. I hope this helps. Also, you may want to look at the Laney 15 watt amps, as well as the Fender Blues Jr. These are relatively inexpensive tube amps, and they sound great for practice.

[Chickenwings]

Re: Is this pickup combo good?

it has a lot of other features that I think will help me learn. Like MP3 looping , And a GUI interface on my PC for manipulating and saving sounds (Patches), and a community forum for exchanging information and sharing patches... The Amp supposedly "Emulate" a variety of tube amps...
.

blah blah. Dont be fooled by the latest digital faddery or marketing ploy.

Just get a simple amp (it doesnt matter if its tube, solid state or digital - just try to keep it simple) and practice playing your scales and chords and stuff. No software, forums, loops, tone manipulation or anything can take the place of that. In fact, most of it just gets in the way of what is really important.
People have been trying to reinvent the wheel with technology for as long as guitars have existed.

Learn your instrument by playing it. Get some lessons if you can afford them from a qualified and experienced teacher to fast track your learning because they can help point you in the right direction.

old skool is still the best way to learn. Get a book (and a teacher if you can afford it). Practice the basics. In fact - you really don't even need an amp for that! Anything more complicated than a metronome at your level of development is a waste of time and effort because you will spend your valuable practice time endlessy tweaking instead of playing.

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Is this pickup combo good?

Hello and welcome!

If you like the CC in the bridge put an Alnico II Pro in the neck and call it a day!

[JOLLY]

Re: Is this pickup combo good?

For what it's worth, the closest thing to that Silverbird is a Jazz Model.

[OttoMatick]

Re: Is this pickup combo good?

my suggestion is to take that guitar with you amp shopping where there are other les pauls hanging on the wall to try out. that way you can try both guitars through the same amp with the different pickups in a les paul with no worry or bother.

if that guitar were mine i would restore it to original pickup hardware with the exception of getting 4 wire pickups so you can slap in a jimmy page wiring schematic. I like the bustbucker pros, 57 classics and classic pluses and the 490's. If it has to be SD pickups then a JAZ in the neck with the pearly gates in the bridge.

[speed2dirt]

Re: Is this pickup combo good?

For the style you're looking to play, I'd recommend the Bogner Alchemist 1x12 combo amp. It has built-in effects which are run parallel so you retain the full tube sound. It is a blues/rock amp that can touch metal, especially with a OD pedal. Check out the Guitar World video on YouTube. It's not available new anymore as Bogner discontinued this import line in favor of retaining it's all-american custom shop.

Once you have the amp and have played that guitar through it for awhile, come back and let us know tonally what's missing (ie too thin and brittle, too thick and round, lot of highs and lows but no mids, etc). From there, we can help you figure what might fit your tone. Who knows, that setup might be your golden ticket and you may not need to ever upgrade.

[Ashurbanipal]

Re: Is this pickup combo good?

Cool looking LP.

Here's some info on the Silverbird: a short production run humbucker with A2 blade mags (so, not like a normal humbucker with ferrous poles and mag underneath), bigger than normal bobbins, so, a regular pu ring would need to be cut to size (I think they came with a special ring new). Because of its size, there wasn't need for a trem spaced version.

Original description: 'has a clear bell-like tone with lots of definition. Designed for players after more of a single coil sound, each note is clear and elimitnates the muddy low end heard on some humbuckers'. So I guess it's meant to sound nice split. I've read some things about it and even the humbucker sound it supposed to be quite articulate. Jolly is right: the Silverbird has been described as similar sounding to a Jazz.

Don't know about the resistance though, you'd have to measure it. I've seen a few guitars with it in the bridge position. If it sounds good to you, then it sounds good and that's all there is to it. Because your guitar has quite a bit of maple, the A2 pups should sound good in it. There should be a label underneath pup with 9N or 9B with another letter for the initial of the winder. N and B are neck and bridge respectively, but I don't know if you could get respective neck and bridge models – the former would be a bit underwound.

There are other rail A2 pups that Duncan makes, like the Nokie Edwards and El Diablo, so I wonder how the Silverbird compares to them. The bridge models of both are about 20k, while the Nokie Edwards neck model is 10k. As a reference, PAF vintage type humbuckers are 7-8k resistance, but as everyone will tell you here, resistance doesn't necessarily equal output.

How the Silverbirds look:

[CountFeedback]

Re: Is this pickup combo good?

[ATTACH=CONFIG]39126[/ATTACH]

that guitar is pretty F'n cool

I am in the camp of: don't waste time with software or amps with lots of do-dads. get something like a Fender Blues Jr, or an old or RI princeton or Deluxe, and a Tube Screamer or RAT.

the pick-ups in it are probably fine…
at some point you might want to go more traditional in the neck maybe AlnicoII Pro or Seth would be the way to go.

[LesStrat]

Re: Is this pickup combo good?

I am in the camp of leaving the pickups alone until you've played them awhile.

I like the CC as is. Pickup modification is a silly recommendation to give a beginner.

As someone who has a dozen years playing through modelers, if that is what you think you'd like to do, GO FOR IT. t00b snobs will never understand, and their bias prevents it. I have a custom built amp that I like, but it's too loud for most of my applications. Therefore I play through my POD >95% of the time. BOTH applications have their merits. Choose the one that suits you.

Frankly, IMHO, solo bedroom players are better off with a small modeling amp or a device like the Line 6 POD. This is especially true if you truly do not plan to play out or with others.

See Aceman's reference to his Roland Cube amp for home play.