Gibson SG faded- pickup suggestions.

[John_H]

It sounded just as bad as my Pignose too. Frank didn't much care what he played through. I read one interview where he mentioned playing through one side of a solid state home stereo amp. Once he got a tone he could live with out of it by using a compressor and a dirt box he just never bothered to change until after it broke.

I could have been that he was screwing with the interviewer too. FZ was pretty gear savvy, and an absolute pro. The last couple of times I saw him, He was playing through Carvin's.

[John_H]

Smells like Victory.

[John_H]

[Archie Speed]

There are other brands too, but Seymour Duncan use to have a "if you don't like it you can return it" policy. I don't know if they still do.

SD has a 21 day return policy on their pickups for those unhappy with their purchase.

[olddawg]

ah more insults/ join the heard olddawg. you seem so desperate to impress for your 'likes'/ lol shit, makes me laugh (sgm? whose point? no idea wtf yr on about or any interest. & anyone whose seen let alone quotes forest fucking gump is pretty fkn sad).

big teee clicks his little 'like' button again(giggles). goodness sake grow up (& that goes to a good few of you too).

Actually... I tried (and many others) to help you with your problem in both this thread and your previous thread by outlining the proper way to troubleshoot your problem and gave suggestions on what the solution might be. What might surprise you is that most of us here have done this a lot and are normally successful. But whatever man. Keep pissing in the wind. It will only hit you in the face.

[Chuck H]

Looks like the Rick Derringer model is a Dimarzio product. Staying with SD for their return/exchange policy it looks like the '59 for a humbucker OR!.. They also make a humbucker size package P90 called a Phat Cat. No personal reports on either. The '59 has a pretty good rep.

[Archie Speed]

Easier to post a link to a PG review of drop-in P90's for humbucker routs:

Premier Guitar Humbucker sized P90 Reviews

I can speak to the GFS P90's as being a tremendous value (see:cheap) & good, honest P90 tone. Also played the SD Phat Cats. Like them better just because they are a bit brighter. Both are very good products. Of course, if you don't really want to go to P90's this is a moot point.

Auditioning pups is a trip down the rabbit hole. SD's return policy might help. I'd still exhaust all of the above suggestions & try a few more before I sprung for a new pup. That's just me. I'm a junkyard 'troll'. Most all of the amps & guitars I have are salvage operations. Including an EPI G400 SG, that had a broken neck that now has GFS Mean 90's in it. Sounds good to me. But not through every amp. That's why I asked what you were plugging this into. I've got Strats & Gibbys that are quite particular. And I've got Marshall & Fender amps that are quite forgiving.

[Leo_Gnardo]

FZ was pretty gear savvy, and an absolute pro. The last couple of times I saw him, He was playing through Carvin's.

Carvin ad campaigns in the 80's often featured FZ's recording truck loaded with Carvin mixers. Now I can't be SURE but I'll bet you half a wazoo Carvin gave him whatever he wanted. As noted, FZ wasn't about snooty-tooty brand name, could have equipped his truck with Neve, he could afford it. "Whatever does the job, cheapest." Free is hard to beat. And the recordings don't sound awful.

What was that quote from the astronaut who was asked what's he thinking awaiting takeoff, "That rocket under me is built by the lowest bidders."

[elipsey]

eschertron- Ive just rewired to "50's wiring" a definite slight improvement: more in terms of taking off a layer of mud rather than brightening, and a slight (i think) less vol output too/ fine with me. I went with 0.015 O.Drop for the neck. Still overall muffled dark sound to the bridge/ mud still there.. maybe a 0.01 there then/ see. That was worth a few hrs of www trawling & applying it.

Maybe now, with the vols replaced too I may just be ok, not needing to shell out £120 etc. Good stuff, thx alot. SC

does your guitar have a printed circuit board?

my sg special did, so i de-soldered the parts and replaced the board with wire. i've tried different tone caps and 50's wiring, and it mattered way less than the volume pot values.

[elipsey]

here's a couple pics of mine

after removing the circuit board. there was plenty of room for cts pots. i just had to be careful to route the shielded pickup wire away the switch.




if you want to know what the 490r/490t sound like in an sg special with 500k pots, i guess i could post a recording. let me know if you're interested.

[Steve A.]

For starters I would have swapped the 300k volume pots with the 500k tone pots and maybe replace the .022uF neck tone control cap with a .015uF (the Eric Clapton "Woman Tone" cap) if that pickup had gotten too muddy with the switch.
I usually upgrade the pickups in all of the guitars that I buy but the 490R and 490T aren't bad. Some Gibsons use a 498T at the bridge which I believe is essentially the same as the 490 but with an Alnico 5 magnet instead of Alnico. If the pickup has a metal cover it is probably best to bring it to a guitar tech or luthier to change the magnet. However if the coils are open it is fairly easy to swap the magnet but you need to be sure that you don't flip the new magnet which will cause the two pickups to be out of phase.

Steve Ahola

EDIT: I hadn't noticed that there was a second page on this thread on which Archie Speed brought up the magnet swap. My bad!

[Steve A.]

Auditioning pups is a trip down the rabbit hole. SD's return policy might help. I'd still exhaust all of the above suggestions & try a few more before I sprung for a new pup.

I'll usually try swapping out the magnet before replacing a pickup. In most cases I replace an Alnico 5 with Alnico 2 for a less aggressive vintage tone. (If the DC resistance is much more than maybe 10K even a "magnectomy" will not give you a clearer vintage tone.) YMMV

Steve Ahola

P.S. Any suggestions for a good tool to separate a metal cover from the baseplate once you have melted the solder? I usually jam whatever small flathead screwdriver I happen to find into the opening but there has *got* to be a better tool for that. Something very strong with a gradual taper.
I guess I might try grinding down one of the free Harbor Freight screwdrivers. Speaking of which their 6 piece set has a stubby flathead driver which is good for adjusting wraparound bridges... if you wrap the tip with something like electrical tape. That doesn't last long and I might try a very hard epoxy on the tip. (The Craftsman stubby driver is 10x better if you have one. They are pretty expensive unless you get one in a set on sale.)

[big_teee]

To remove covers, the easiest is to use a safety razor blade.
Check out the vid.

[Archie Speed]

I've had very good results using a box cutter type utility knife to cut thru the solder & then spend the requisite eternity coaxing the cover off the baseplate. Use/make whatever works that's thin & strong enough to get a bit of leverage w/o distorting the cover (or probing into the coil). Good video. I'd lose a finger using a single edge blade.

[big_teee]

I've had very good results using a box cutter type utility knife to cut thru the solder & then spend the requisite eternity coaxing the cover off the baseplate. Use/make whatever works that's thin & strong enough to get a bit of leverage w/o distorting the cover (or probing into the coil). Good video. I'd lose a finger using a single edge blade.

It's easy, If you have a good hot iron.
You want to melt the solder and use the blade all in one swoop.
I do it similar, but at the end I use a couple of small screw drivers to help get it off.
I bend the cover sides in some a bit before I put it back on, I want it real tight, with no gaps.
T