How Do I Fatten an SG?

[jonnymangia]

Guys, I've been mulling over various replacement pup combos for my SG Standard for a weeks now. I thought about Phat Cats, '59's, Pearly's, et al, and I need to just buck up and get this done. In all your expert opinions, is there any pup combo that I could use that will get me some semblance of that fat, rich, warm Les Paul-like tone (w/o buying a Paul b/c I find them to be too uncomfortable).
I know there are tremendous differences btw the Paul and SG body's that really affect the tones, but I'm just wondering if I put in something like a Seth in the neck, and some other richer, fatter pup in the bridge, whether my SG will lose that thinness and fatten up. Thanks and I promise to post some clips and pics once I get this done.
BTW - tones I love - Rev. Gibbons, Freddy King, Duane Allman, Clapton/Beano, Kenny Burrell/Jazz, Leslie West.
Jonny

 

[jimmy]

Re: How Do I Fatten an SG?

You might want to try a Invader or a Dime in the bridge. Any of those would fatten that SG right up! As far as the neck, get something like an AP2 or 59.

 

[Boleslaw Gers 666]

Re: How Do I Fatten an SG?

Alnico II's sound like garbage in SG's, just to warn you. I would definitely not go that route. But Super Distortions are the only thing that've livened an SG for me. An SG is an SG, it's going to sound like an SG, a Les Paul is going to sound like a Les Paul. Maybe you should get a PRS CE 24 with a maple top or something for Paul tones.

 

[HarrisonDavid]

Re: How Do I Fatten an SG?

How about go with a PGNECK and PGBRIDGE! That should fatten it up. Or Invader bridge.

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: How Do I Fatten an SG?

Maybe you should get a PRS CE 24 with a maple top or something for Paul tones.

Actually, the CE 24 will be even further away from a LP than an SG.

For the tones you mentioned, I'd say a Pearly Gates for the neck, to get you close to the Beano/ZZ Top tones and a C5 in the bridge, to thicken up the treble position, but still keep something close to a PAF voicing.

 

[Johtosotku]

Re: How Do I Fatten an SG?

Alnico II's sound like garbage in SG's

I disagree here, the original 490R sounded quite nice a neck pickup to me. The bridge 498T sounded horrible, however, thin and shrill.

I changed them to DMZ Tone Zone and PAF Pro. They cured my problems really well, and seem to suit each other in this guitar. They are, however quite high output pickups and may not suit you so well, I don't know. However, it seems to be that to counteract the SG bridge pup attributes you need such that high output pickups typically have, not so much highs.

I have my pickups for styles from VH to Testament.

 

[Johtosotku]

Re: How Do I Fatten an SG?

Oh, and if you're wondering about high output, the Invader and the Dimebucker are both high output pickups as well, perhaps even more than TZ, I haven't tried them.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: How Do I Fatten an SG?

I'd use the set that works good in all Gibsons....C-5/59 or CC/Seth

The CC/Seth is warmer, but the C-5/59 is fat with a bit more bite.

 

[Mac-P]

Re: How Do I Fatten an SG?

Wow, another one of these threads. If you do a search there is a WEALTH of information on this site. Just do a search of recent posts on my name and you'll find quite a bit.


And yea,I agree: stock Gibson neck is fine, but you need a less shrill bridge. For my taste if we are talking Duncan, a JB is the way to go, for wideness (boosted mids). I love a JB with a Pearly Gates neck as well. The Gibson has more mids than the Pearly.

If you wanna go darker than a JB (more bass less treble), Rio Grande BBQ does it in spades without kicking it into metal gear like an Invader or Tone Zone.

And I'd stay away from a "light in the mids" pickup like a C5 or '59 bridge. They are real thin to my ears in an SG.

Much more of this in many other threads....

Sorry, it's real late, just got in, I'm tired as hell and couldn't resist the subject matter. :burnout:

 

[sgstrat]

Re: How Do I Fatten an SG?

Alnico II's sound like garbage in SG's, just to warn you.

Untrue, untrue, untrue!

Me and my Antiquity Humbucker loaded '66 SG Standard respectfully but emphatically disagree.

 

[chcjunior]

Re: How Do I Fatten an SG?

The '59 sounded pretty good in the neck of my SG, but I liked the APII even better (note: this is with regard to clean tones). With regard to the higher gain, I had a JB which I liked, but in retrospect I'd listen to GearJoneser and go with the either the CC or the C5.

 

[Davey]

Re: How Do I Fatten an SG?

what jonesy said

 

[Jeffrec]

Re: How Do I Fatten an SG?

BTW - tones I love - Rev. Gibbons, Freddy King, Duane Allman, Clapton/Beano, Kenny Burrell/Jazz, Leslie West.
Jonny

Seth Lovers will get you there. Got 'em in mine and love them to death (same taste in music) :smoker:

Jeff

 

[zak]

Re: How Do I Fatten an SG?

I agree with Mac-P on this. Quite simply, if you want to fatten an SG up and make it more LP-like, you need a pickup with more mids. In EQ terms, that is the greatest difference between the two guitars. So i would not consider a 59 or C5 in the bridge.

The problem with is that pickups with more mids tend to be higher output pickups (generally, the more windings a pickup has the more mids it has). Pickup like the Dimarzio Air Zone / Rio Grand BBQ will give you the fatter sound you want, but with more output than would be good for the music you like.
I would consider:
either a low output a2 pickup (these do have more mids than a5s at least) like the PG, or even better i would look at a slightly overwound PAF type pickup, like a Lindy Fralin humbucker wound to 10k. This will give you boosted mids, less treble, but not be too much output. SD make the similar blues Saraceno pickup with could also work well, but the problem is it comes with trembucker spacing and those different pole pieces.

 

[jonnymangia]

Re: How Do I Fatten an SG?

I guess the bottom line is that if you want a Les Paul sound, buy a $#$ Les Paul!! I guess I'll start saving now, and as for the SG I'm going to pop P90s buckers into her. I hear you get really fat, warm sounds out of the neck with the tone rolled off.

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: How Do I Fatten an SG?

Alnico II's sound like garbage in SG's, just to warn you. I would definitely not go that route. But Super Distortions are the only thing that've livened an SG for me. An SG is an SG, it's going to sound like an SG, a Les Paul is going to sound like a Les Paul. Maybe you should get a PRS CE 24 with a maple top or something for Paul tones.

I partially disagree. Nothing sounds like an LP but an LP, true enough -- except for Jimmy Page's Tele through the B-Bender on the first album.

But every piece of wood is different and I put some 59's in an SG for a guy and the thing sounded HUGE. Wide tone with great clarity. (And keep in mind this is from a guy who is not terribly fond of either SG's or 59's.)

It sounds as though our colleague has an SG that is made out of unusually bright sounding mahogany, in which case I say that Alnico 2 Pro's would probably be the solution -- especially if you put Alnico 5 magnets in them (thereby making them Alnico 5 Pros) or Seth Lovers or Antiquities.

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: How Do I Fatten an SG?

I guess the bottom line is that if you want a Les Paul sound, buy a $#$ Les Paul!! I guess I'll start saving now, and as for the SG I'm going to pop P90s buckers into her. I hear you get really fat, warm sounds out of the neck with the tone rolled off.

As a warning, keep in mind that though you can get pretty good woof out of P90's and their various mutations, they are STILL single-coil pickups and still will NOT give you as much beef as almost any humbucker, especially if this SG is made of unusually bright-sounding mahogany as I suspect.

 

[jonnymangia]

Re: How Do I Fatten an SG?

I wouldn't say it's unusually bright, it's just the typical shrill SG sound coming from the bridge. The funny thing is that I was initially thinking about putting Seth's in it, b/c I had heard that it's a real fat, creamy vintage sound. Maybe I'll revisit that. And on another note, I think it's so ironic that we're hear talking about beefing up an SG, when this is the guitar that spawned the most molten -lava heavy-ass riffs of all time courtesy of this lad named Iommi.

 

[Nite_Maresz_25]

Re: How Do I Fatten an SG?

agree with all who said c5/59, i do.

 

[MattPete]

Re: How Do I Fatten an SG?

I wouldn't say it's unusually bright, it's just the typical shrill SG sound coming from the bridge. The funny thing is that I was initially thinking about putting Seth's in it, b/c I had heard that it's a real fat, creamy vintage sound. Maybe I'll revisit that. And on another note, I think it's so ironic that we're hear talking about beefing up an SG, when this is the guitar that spawned the most molten -lava heavy-ass riffs of all time courtesy of this lad named Iommi.

If your SG already has a 490t in the bridge, don't bother with a Seth bridge. I tried it, and it sounded thinner than the stock 490t.