Pickup advice

TinPan

New member
Best choice for 2 new pup's to go on a Gibby SG special, neck to deliver beautiful deepest bell tones, bridge to deliver awesome highs, both to deliver great sustain when cranked. Any advice appreciated.. By the way good ol' TinPan has moved to Fl and will be opening shop soon
 
Best choice for 2 new pup's to go on a Gibby SG special, neck to deliver beautiful deepest bell tones, bridge to deliver awesome highs, both to deliver great sustain when cranked. Any advice appreciated.. By the way good ol' TinPan has moved to Fl and will be opening shop soon

Where in Florida Tin Pan, and what Shop? I live right on the bay in Tampa.

That said - advice:

#1 If this is new, live with the pickups for a while. You might like them. If it is used, live with the pickups for a while. You might like them.

#2 Don't ask for "bell tones" or "awesome" highs, or great sustain when "cranked"
- There are a lot of bells, no one knows which you like
- Everyone thinks awesome is what they like
- Everything will sustain when "cranked" through whatever 11 is on the amp
- What pickups are in it that you don't like?

#3 And tell us what the rig is. Cranked on a Fender Pro Jr. is different than cranked on Eleven Rack through a 1960 4x12 with 200 watts behind it. My Mesa Stiletto "cranked" can make a cheap Korean pickup on a 2x4 sound "awesome"

Or, just get whatever random pickup someone thinks is "awesome" cranked. You probably won't like it - but the person who recommended it did!


And here is an example of accurate but crappy advice. Get a hum bucker From Hell by DiMarzio for the neck and a Full Shred for the bridge. Stratty bell tones for sure and awesome highs! I'd never do that though....crappy combo.
 
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To me, bell like tone for the neck would be the Jazz neck.

For the bridge, maybe the Custom, it gets a lot of love, I prefer it over the Custom 5 but not everyone is a fan of a ceramic mag.

As Ace said everyone is going to have their preference and opinion about the above suggestions. Take those as advice, do some listening on Youtube, again, use as guidance, not what a pickup will sound like exactly in your guitar.
 
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SG Special is P90's no? So replacements need to be that size profile. FWIW my SG Special with P90's does all the sounds described in the OP. My advice would be different amp.
 
Where in Florida Tin Pan, and what Shop? I live right on the bay in Tampa.

That said - advice:

#1 If this is new, live with the pickups for a while. You might like them. If it is used, live with the pickups for a while. You might like them.

#2 Don't ask for "bell tones" or "awesome" highs, or great sustain when "cranked"
- There are a lot of bells, no one knows which you like
- Everyone thinks awesome is what they like
- Everything will sustain when "cranked" through whatever 11 is on the amp
- What pickups are in it that you don't like?

#3 And tell us what the rig is. Cranked on a Fender Pro Jr. is different than cranked on Eleven Rack through a 1960 4x12 with 200 watts behind it. My Mesa Stiletto "cranked" can make a cheap Korean pickup on a 2x4 sound "awesome"

Or, just get whatever random pickup someone thinks is "awesome" cranked. You probably won't like it - but the person who recommended it did!


And here is an example of accurate but crappy advice. Get a hum bucker From Hell by DiMarzio for the neck and a Full Shred for the bridge. Stratty bell tones for sure and awesome highs! I'd never do that though....crappy combo.

Thanks for the advice, owner did not say what amp he is using I can find out, Im on the east coats Rockledge
 
Does this Special have P90s or humbuckers?. Where in FL are you headed?

Hummers, looks like they have been switcher out before, Dimarzios in there now, owner hates them, sloppy work in the pot's cave, I already cleaned it all up no buzzing or hums just less quality (my opinion) sound, the owner is also having me replace the pots & caps, pots are a bit "scratchy" (cleaning did not help much).
Im in Rockledge
 
OH...this is not YOUR guitar!

So recs will be blind anyway? Well then...

Meh, throw a JB/Jazz set in there and call it a day.
 
I'd either go with the Mayhem set or Distortion n in the neck, Alt 8 in the bridge.

Sent from my SM-A115A using Tapatalk
 
Yes, JB/Jazz will cover all the concerns the owner has.

The owner went for the JB/Jazz combo, however now he wants to also put in p/p pots for split coil or phase, Im thinking these pup's are going to sound awesome (as per everyone's advice) in this guitar, how do I talk him out of it??? Not to mention there is not much room in the cavity for them and I would have to have a custom cavity cover made as those pots are too tall for the old cover to go back on... geeezzz!! why cant people leave well enough alone??? A lot of work for it just to come back.. Pup's are on the way I have faith they are going to sound awesome...
 
I would explain that there isn't enough body depth for p/p pots (I actually don't know, I've never tried), and the only other conventional option is adding switches. Which means drilling. However, there are Triple Shot pickup rings...
 
I would explain that there isn't enough body depth for p/p pots (I actually don't know, I've never tried), and the only other conventional option is adding switches. Which means drilling. However, there are Triple Shot pickup rings...

You can get push-pulls that fit in an SG. Just get the short-shaft push pulls (which are actually more common.) I had the full 6-switch Jimmy Page wiring in my SG for over a year. All four pots were push-pulls and I added 2 switches under the pickguard.

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Hey man-it’s his guitar. If that’s what he wants, give it to him. I think the Jazz will work fine but I’m not a huge fan of the JB. If he comes back wanting tighter lows, try to sell him on a ceramic or A8 mag swap.
 
Yes, JB/Jazz will cover all the concerns the owner has.

Up Date: being there is no room in the cavity he has agreed to do the mini toggle switch's mounted on his batwing pick guard, he also is considering slide switches however I would have to order a special batwing guard with special holes, more time & money. So I will need a wiring diagram for split coil for mini toggle (this will be my first attempt at this), If it's possible I would also like a diagram for phase switching Just for my archive of schematics.
 
have you looked at the duncan diagrams? there is a lot there and phase and coil split are very common
 
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