Cdwillis
New member
Re: New pickups for my Gibson faded SG
I considered that, which was why 59s were on my initial list, plus their reputation for taking magnet swaps well.
Before I got my pickups in I attempted to swap in the new pots. Something went very wrong though because I was only getting any sound from the neck position in the three way switch, and it was accompanied with awful buzzing. Tapping the top of either pickup made noise and the middle and bridge pickup switch positions were dead. I went over it a couple times and couldn't figure it out. My best guess is I soldered through the braided ground wire and touched some of the hot wires. I'm not well versed on wiring.
Anyway, I got the PGs in today. I disassembled the entire wiring harness that was left in the guitar and resoldered everything with 50s wiring. I ditched the braided wire that Gibson put in from the switch to the output jack and used some vintage cloth wire. All the electronics worked perfectly when I was done with no hiccups. I put the higher value pots in the neck vol/tone.
I just eyeballed the height so I still need to tweak pickup heights and the pole pieces. The neck is warm and fat. It was a really nice singing quality to it. The bridge sounds awesome. Thick with tons of harmonics when I'm digging in. Not really what I expected after reading so many people say the PG bridge is thin/bright.
I considered that, which was why 59s were on my initial list, plus their reputation for taking magnet swaps well.
Before I got my pickups in I attempted to swap in the new pots. Something went very wrong though because I was only getting any sound from the neck position in the three way switch, and it was accompanied with awful buzzing. Tapping the top of either pickup made noise and the middle and bridge pickup switch positions were dead. I went over it a couple times and couldn't figure it out. My best guess is I soldered through the braided ground wire and touched some of the hot wires. I'm not well versed on wiring.
Anyway, I got the PGs in today. I disassembled the entire wiring harness that was left in the guitar and resoldered everything with 50s wiring. I ditched the braided wire that Gibson put in from the switch to the output jack and used some vintage cloth wire. All the electronics worked perfectly when I was done with no hiccups. I put the higher value pots in the neck vol/tone.
I just eyeballed the height so I still need to tweak pickup heights and the pole pieces. The neck is warm and fat. It was a really nice singing quality to it. The bridge sounds awesome. Thick with tons of harmonics when I'm digging in. Not really what I expected after reading so many people say the PG bridge is thin/bright.
