What's my best choice of humbuckers for my new SG Classic ?

C

CHESAPEAKE

New member
Hey guys, it's been a while. Anyway, I just picked up a brand new Gibson SG Classic with the P-90's. Since I always change strings on any guitar I buy new, I thought i'd do a little investigating, and I pulled the pickguard. To my suprise, and delight, this model, even though it's got P-90's, is routed for humbuckers ! WOW ! It sounds great as is, tremendous sustain with the full neck profile - chunk city C shape. But I wanted to try a set of 'buckers in there to see how the sound would differ. I guess I want a little more " ooomph" and clarity than the 90's deliver. Has anyone done this on this particular guitar ? I was thinking maybe CC bridge / Jazz neck combo. Any thoughts ? This particular guitar has great lows, mids, highs across the board, as I played the 2 that were in the store side by side with the same amp, settings etc. Even though the other one I picked up first was lighter, and had a little more character to the grain, after comparing the sound, the one I bought FAR out classed the other one. I guess it's like women, sometimes " Tiffany " is the one is who ya gravitate to first, but find out that " Jane " has more to offer. Oh, and I play anything from Judas Priest, to Kenny Burrell - I like to mix it up. Any thoughts gentlemen ?
 
Re: What's my best choice of humbuckers for my new SG Classic ?

(You will have to get another pickguard, too BTW.)

If thinking you will probably come back to the P-90s, but if you want to experiment with 'buckers for now, a Pearly Gates neck and a Seth Lover bridge seems to be a favorite set with SG players.
 
Re: What's my best choice of humbuckers for my new SG Classic ?

That sounds like an interesting combo - i'll have to look into the seths a little further. Thanks 3
 
Re: What's my best choice of humbuckers for my new SG Classic ?

DiMarzio Air Zone would propably work, too, bringing fatness but not looseness, while staying quite PAF-like. and a PAF or Duncan '59 neck.
 
Re: What's my best choice of humbuckers for my new SG Classic ?

SG's tend to have more midrange growl, so why not give a C5 a try in the bridge, paired with a 59 neck? That should cover pretty much all the bases, except for really insanely high gain stuff.
 
Re: What's my best choice of humbuckers for my new SG Classic ?

All the cool kids are putting humbuckers in the bridge and p90's in the neck possition these days. I was going to do it to my SG but it's not routed for a neck pickup...it's funny 'cuz i was totally gonna get an SG Classic for my hum/P90 project but passed in favor of a more affordable SG-X.

if i were you, i would drop a CustomCustom in the bridge and leave the neck P90. plenty of dirt and crunch from the bridge but still capable of good cleans, then the neck P90 if you've got to go cleaner. best of everything.

-X
 
Re: What's my best choice of humbuckers for my new SG Classic ?

I wouldn't go with the custom custom in the bridge based on my experience as it has no bass when the bridge pickup on an SG is positioned so closely to the bridge. However the PG neck and Seth bridge mentioned earlier is a solid suggestion. Despite what some may think based on the specs the Seth can sound really really heavy. My suggestion is Seth bridge, P-90 neck, and then I'll be completely jealous of your guitar.
 
Re: What's my best choice of humbuckers for my new SG Classic ?

the CC has always had enough bass for me...i have only used it in my twangy trebly strat and it sounds great, so i imagine it would be just awesome in my much bassier SG. Plus the wind is a little hotter than a typical PAF-style pup so you don't need to rely on pedal gain as much...you can set your amp to be clean with lower-output neck pickup and dirty with the bridge pickup.

Despite what people say about the specs, i can make strat single coils sound heavy with a high-gain mesa/boogie amp...vintage output pickups are great for amps that have a ton of gain on tap. Those of us that prefer vintage-style tube amps...we need a li'l more output in the pups.

different strokes, different folks...gotta look at all the different perspectives tho.

-X
 
Re: What's my best choice of humbuckers for my new SG Classic ?

...that said, what kinda rig ARE you using, chesapeake? that'll help us suggest better.
 
Re: What's my best choice of humbuckers for my new SG Classic ?

If I were you, I would not touch the neck p90, but experiment by changing the bridge to a Brobucker. Yeah, it's gonna cost more, but believe me it's worth it!

By the way, the middle position would be great! Moreover, if you decide to get a brobucker, you have to go through the custom shop anyways, and while doing that you can get it (the brobucker) to fit into the p90 cavity. ;) So you would not have to change the pickguard!

B
 
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