Hello,
I’v been reading a lot on these forums and would like some advice. I want to change my pickups on 2 of my guitars, a Epiphone Wilshire (Phant-O-Matic really), and a Yamaha SG2000 ’78.
My experience with SD pickups so far has been great. I’v tried a lot of different companies, but my favorite pickups I ever had are the Antiquities in my Gibson LP trad., Antiquities Surfer 2 in my Fender Am vRI, and Seth Lovers I used to have in a Sheraton II (which I no longer have).
For my Wilshire I replaced pretty much everything, new Gotoh tuners, gotoh bridge and tailpiece, frets levelled, all electronics have been replaced. Its a wonderful guitar now. I have BKP Abraxas in it now, cause I thought it was a bright guitar, but now the sound is way to smooth/midrangy/uncomplex and even too hot. I am thinking about either the Seth Lovers for this guitar, or the Pearly Gates. The neck pickup is positioned a little closer to the bridge than on a LP (it’s in the same position as a SG). The bridge pickup is on the same position as a LP (so not the same as a SG!). The description and ZZ top tone sounds great, but I’m afraid of the possibility that it might be too bright! I am playing over a JCM2000 DSL50 with Greenback speakers, and I have the treble at 0! (which isn’t uncommon for this amp). The Wilshire has 1 volume and 1 tone pot for both pickups. I don’t mind fiddling with the guitar knobs, but it would be cumbersome to have to lower/raise the tone everytime I switch pickups.
For my SG2000, I’m looking at the Antiquities (because I love the sound I’m getting from my LP with them). But the SG2000 is a neck through design (middle part is maple, sided by mahogony), it’s a thin slice of maple compared to all the mahogany, but it’s there. And also it has an Ebony fretboard. It doesn’t seem like an overly bright guitar, but I guess it’s brighter than a normal LP. I use this guitar through the same amp/speaker combination.
The music I play range’s from clean (very little, only a couple songs these days) to mostly classic rock (zz top, led zeppelin, the black crowes) to some harder rock tones (guns ’n roses, blink 182, AC/DC). From my experience so far I like AlNiCo 2’s, don’t like AlNiCo 5’s too much (but don’t hate em, just a preference thing, I want more mids), and am very disappointed in AlNiCo 4’s. I have not had much trouble with unpotted pickups.
Your help/advice is very much appreciated. I live in the Netherlands, and we unfortunately do not have the easy returns policy. So every try costs a considerable amount of money.
Kind regards,
Victor
(sorry for the huge post!)
I’v been reading a lot on these forums and would like some advice. I want to change my pickups on 2 of my guitars, a Epiphone Wilshire (Phant-O-Matic really), and a Yamaha SG2000 ’78.
My experience with SD pickups so far has been great. I’v tried a lot of different companies, but my favorite pickups I ever had are the Antiquities in my Gibson LP trad., Antiquities Surfer 2 in my Fender Am vRI, and Seth Lovers I used to have in a Sheraton II (which I no longer have).
For my Wilshire I replaced pretty much everything, new Gotoh tuners, gotoh bridge and tailpiece, frets levelled, all electronics have been replaced. Its a wonderful guitar now. I have BKP Abraxas in it now, cause I thought it was a bright guitar, but now the sound is way to smooth/midrangy/uncomplex and even too hot. I am thinking about either the Seth Lovers for this guitar, or the Pearly Gates. The neck pickup is positioned a little closer to the bridge than on a LP (it’s in the same position as a SG). The bridge pickup is on the same position as a LP (so not the same as a SG!). The description and ZZ top tone sounds great, but I’m afraid of the possibility that it might be too bright! I am playing over a JCM2000 DSL50 with Greenback speakers, and I have the treble at 0! (which isn’t uncommon for this amp). The Wilshire has 1 volume and 1 tone pot for both pickups. I don’t mind fiddling with the guitar knobs, but it would be cumbersome to have to lower/raise the tone everytime I switch pickups.
For my SG2000, I’m looking at the Antiquities (because I love the sound I’m getting from my LP with them). But the SG2000 is a neck through design (middle part is maple, sided by mahogony), it’s a thin slice of maple compared to all the mahogany, but it’s there. And also it has an Ebony fretboard. It doesn’t seem like an overly bright guitar, but I guess it’s brighter than a normal LP. I use this guitar through the same amp/speaker combination.
The music I play range’s from clean (very little, only a couple songs these days) to mostly classic rock (zz top, led zeppelin, the black crowes) to some harder rock tones (guns ’n roses, blink 182, AC/DC). From my experience so far I like AlNiCo 2’s, don’t like AlNiCo 5’s too much (but don’t hate em, just a preference thing, I want more mids), and am very disappointed in AlNiCo 4’s. I have not had much trouble with unpotted pickups.
Your help/advice is very much appreciated. I live in the Netherlands, and we unfortunately do not have the easy returns policy. So every try costs a considerable amount of money.
Kind regards,
Victor
(sorry for the huge post!)
!
