I don't understand my Gibson SG

[alex1fly]

Yeah. That’s because of where the neck joins the body. Has little to do with the tenon. Notice which fret is where the neck meets the body compared with your Strat. 14 gauge strings? No wonder your hands hurt. Back down to 11’s at least and work from there.

That's a good plan. These TIs were expensive though! I guess I'll play around with down tuning for a while. I put it in D standard last night and had a good time playing around with a lighter touch.

 

[Erlend_G]

Hey man-

What I can reccommend- is a good wooden (or bone?) pick! And be very careful about pick attack

My Epi Wildkat is really dynamic (I guess because of its hollow body)- but a good pick, and being careful about the attack- also makes it very dynamic. Not as sensitive as a Strat, but still .

I reccommend "Timber Tones" picks- but you can find even better picks on Wish!

-Erl \m/

 

[alex1fly]

I've eyeballed those wooden picks before! It's amazing what difference pick material and thickness can make in your sound.

Last night I lowered the pickups and raised the polepieces - better pick response. Also tuned down to C# standard - sounds mean as hell. Wild times.

 

[Erlend_G]

I discovered my Epi Wildkat (strung with 011's) tend to end up in Eb, no matter what I do hehe. It sounds great.

But maybe a set of "Gilmour 10,5-50's" would do the trick, if I need to tune up in standard E!

anyways, wooden picks are the thing for me. rock on \m/

 

[FuseG4]

Whew my epi SG is a different animal after being a fender kinda guy for many years

It's like there's an overdrive pedal always on
Unless I roll back the volume, but then the tone warms up more, so it's a weird feeling having to adjust pick attack and picking location for more treble than I used to with a tele

​​​​​​I'm using 9s in E std to get the most zing and I am learning to modulate finger pressure
Slowly sounding better with it, I think it's just a matter of practice. I hope

 

[alex1fly]

Whew my epi SG is a different animal after being a fender kinda guy for many years

It's like there's an overdrive pedal always on
Unless I roll back the volume, but then the tone warms up more, so it's a weird feeling having to adjust pick attack and picking location for more treble than I used to with a tele

​​​​​​I'm using 9s in E std to get the most zing and I am learning to modulate finger pressure
Slowly sounding better with it, I think it's just a matter of practice. I hope

Treble bleed could fix the warming issue with the volume down. Mine is on a PCB so I'm kind of terrified to try to do anything to it. But the high end doesn't diminish when I turn the volume down. I'm finding that volume at 50%, or even 25% is a good place to start for a closer approximation to the Fender feel. Easier to get a sweet clean sound, and the dirty tones still sound good. 100% volume just adds this compression to it all that's cool for some things, but I don't want it on all the time.

Also lowering the pup and raising the polepieces took away some of the wooliness. I'm not afraid to crank humbucker polepieces 1/4" or more above the pickup. Sure nudges things more towards the brighter end of things. I'll be getting to know this axe for a while before making any long term conclusions, but that's been my adjusting journey so far.

 

[AlexR]

If you're used to/set up for a Fender singlecoil, then you will have to recalibrate your whole rig to deal with humbuckers. The typical Gibson setup is to make your neck pickup sound the way you want it to.....then go to the bridge and dial the tone control down from there.

 

[Erlend_G]

the SG is maybe my favourite Gibson/Epi guitar- except the Explorer- for rock and heavy music .

Of "course" it responds differnetly than a strat. But, it's a good thing if you ask me. You just gotta get used to it.

Something I never liked- was thin guitars, with thin necks. They always felt "toyish" to me, and sounded thin aswell .... the first time I played a Epi korina Explorer, i was in LOVE- and wish I had the money to buy it. That big body, and relatively thick neck... gave the thickest tone I've ever heard .

I guess the main reason of having differnet guitars- is that- they are different .

Maybe some different pickups, will allieviate some of the "Issues" you got with your SG? I mean, some very dynamic, bright and open humbuckers... even try P90'¨s (my fav) or single coils, in a humbucker route size

rock on \m/

-Erl

 

[UnderTheFlame83]

Whew my epi SG is a different animal after being a fender kinda guy for many years

It's like there's an overdrive pedal always on
Unless I roll back the volume, but then the tone warms up more, so it's a weird feeling having to adjust pick attack and picking location for more treble than I used to with a tele

​​​​​​I'm using 9s in E std to get the most zing and I am learning to modulate finger pressure
Slowly sounding better with it, I think it's just a matter of practice. I hope

Yep, the SG is a totally different animal. When I began playing them it took me a while to adjust to where my hand rest on the bridge for palm mutes. Playing strat style guitars for so long where the bridge is further back. Took some time to get used to that. SGs are great and one of favorites. Excellent for all styles. Just have to approach it differently and pick them in different spots.