Got my SD 59 SH-1B installed yesterday!

[Wound_Up]

Finally got the 59 Model bridge pickup installed into my Goldtop, not a Gibson, yesterday. Initial impressions were that it sounded a whole lot like the stock, unknown alnico 5 pickup that I removed. I finally sat down and played for a bit last night and can say with conviction that the stock pickup isn't nearly as remarkable as this SD 59. Wow! I really, really like this.

I don't have a huge vocabulary of guitar-related descriptive words like most people. I don't refer to stuff as woody or round or whatever else because, to me, those words do little to describe actual sound. All I can say is the note definition and clarity is stellar. Pinch harmonics, for example, are so, so much easier with the SD pickup. I'm more than impressed. It made me realize just how much the stock pickup was missing.

It's very touch sensitive, from what I can tell. I've only been learning to play for just about a year so I'm not exactly spectacular at explaining what I hear, yet. Lol. Anyway. This thing is freaking GREAT! Thank you, Sweetone Music/EKlein Guitars in Carrollton, TX for a hell of a deal on this pickup. I'm more than satisfied. AND THANK YOU, Seymour Duncan for making such an incredible pickup!

[ArtieToo]

I don't have a huge vocabulary of guitar-related descriptive words like most people.

Me too. But when you can't decide what to get, the 59, and/or the set, is a great go-to pickup. Can't go wrong.

[eclecticsynergy]

Great choice.The 59B is an underappreciated gem. Just about a perfect pickup IMO.

Flashier, more specialized models get more attention here on the Forum; the SH-1B is such a known quantity that people kinda take it for granted.
But I can't think of another model that consistently matches up so well with any guitar and suits so many sounds & genres well.

An absolute classic that I've used and loved for more than forty years.

[WDeeGee]

Good for you but know that henceforth you're doomed to hate most pickups out there, since you won't be able to unhear the quality difference now that you've heard it, and enjoyed it.

[Demanic]

I love the 59b in a Les Paul style guitar. I bet that it would also sound good in a super strat.

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[Mincer]

I used a 59 in the bridge of a Godin semi hollow for as long as I had the guitar. It was wonderful, and perfectly matched to that guitar. It might not be a fancy pickup, or tied to a high dollar endorsee, but man, it sounds good.

[eclecticsynergy]

I love the 59b in a Les Paul style guitar. I bet that it would also sound good in a super strat.

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It's great. I had a 59B in one of my Floydcasters for decades, with an old T-top at the neck and a QP in the middle.

[Wound_Up]

Good for you but know that henceforth you're doomed to hate most pickups out there, since you won't be able to unhear the quality difference now that you've heard it, and enjoyed it.

I know what you mean. I bought my first guitar, a SSS Silvertone 'Strat' in December is 2019. By June 2020, I purchased an inexpensive Guitar Madness 59'er alnico 5 bridge HB to swap into it. To my newb ears, and because I had nothing else to compare it with, I thought it sounded pretty good.

Fast forward to December 2020 and I buy myself the Goldtop in my avatar. It came with ~8k alnico 5 humbuckers stock. Full thickness mahog body & set neck. 17.5mm maple cap, carve top, rosewood fretboard, etc...Being that it's got alnico 5's like the hb in my Silvertone, I compared them.

That is the point when I realized just how bad that Guitar Madness 59'er actually is. It had absolutely no note definition or clarity with any sort of distortion. They all run together and it sounds horrible. Compare that to the stock pickup in the Goldtop and it was night & day difference. I was quite surprised at how good the stock hb was compared to that GM 59'er.

A couple of weeks ago, I picked up some alnico 2 long mags from Philadelphia Luthier Tools and will likely swap the magnet in the GM 59'er just to see how it sounds. I originally bought them to replace the 5's in my stock pickups but then I decided I didn't want to pull the covers off and have to worry about silicone-ing them back on or whatever. So I think I'm just going to modify the pickup that doesn't have a cover. I have a couple of other hb's but they're all ceramic mag and the magnets are twice as thick as the alnico mags.

[eclecticsynergy]

If the GM 59er is still muddy with an A2 bar, you might think about trying it with an A3.
Low output, but A3 is a great clarifier.