Witness one of the most fortuitous Pickup Swaps in History!

MetalManiac

Li'l Junior Member
I attained a '97 Gibson SG about this time last year- very light, about the same weight as a friends real 1961 SG. I'm not going to mention the maker of the pickups that it came with, but they were PAF's- Low wind neck and Normal wind bridge - TOTALLY WRONG FOR THIS GUITAR.
Now I also happened to pickup up a Warmoth semi hollow "VIP" with the same maker of pickups as the SG, also PAF's- High wind bridge and normal wind neck. TOTALLAY WRONG FOR THIS GUITAR.

then it hit me like a ton of bricks; swap the low wind PAF neck into the VIP neck and the normal wind PAF into the VIP bridge, and swap the High wind PAF bridge into the SG bridge and the normal wind into the SG neck.Brilliant if I do say so myself. Saved myself a ton of expense.

I did have to remove the gold cover off of one set of pickups and put them on the other set.

Result is the SG will have much needed girth ( had actually done a thread about how the SG didn't have enuf balls-it was Diego who suggested the pickups might be at fault, TY!) and the VIP has a sweet mellow neck tone like old '335's and a nice normal PAF bridge tone. If anything, I may switch later to a Duncan normal wind PAF in the SG bridge if I cannot get Angus tone with the Imperial High wind bridge through my Marshalls. I've heard one guy say Angus' live tone was high wind PAF and better tone than his early studio tone which was normal wind PAF; IDK...how could any tone be better than Angus' early studio tone?

IDK some of you guys arent to hot on Imerials( like TGWIF, and RayBarbee, both guys whose opinion i respect as great deal), but they sure ain't the worst at least.

VIP is done, but SG will finish I hope tomorrow. SG looks good with the Zebras too, as they are way more cream color than in the picture, matches the SG binding about exactly- I had done a thread about a black neck and cream bridge, but no worries about that now.;

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Re: Witness one of the most fortuitous Pickup Swaps in History!

Those look good. If they sound as good as you say, that was a killer thing to do. Congrats.
 
Re: Witness one of the most fortuitous Pickup Swaps in History!

Probably the most fortuitous in MetalManiac history. Mebbe not the most fortuitous in history at large. Consider the Duncan/Hendrix strat pickup swap, or the Duncan Esquire/Tele-routed-for-humbuckers-and-the-rest-is-history swap.
 
Re: Witness one of the most fortuitous Pickup Swaps in History!

Please pardon the compliment but that Vip of yours, Jer, looks splendid.
 
Re: Witness one of the most fortuitous Pickup Swaps in History!

Yeah, i am loving that VIP...let us know more about that guitar (and more pics).
 
Re: Witness one of the most fortuitous Pickup Swaps in History!

I feel happy. :)
Glad you worked it out, brother!
 
Re: Witness one of the most fortuitous Pickup Swaps in History!

Nice guitars...especially the black semi-hollow body guitar. I love black guitars! That's why I own quite a few of them myself including a black SG Special with an ebony fret board. Congrats on your guitar.:headbang:



;>)/
 
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