Replacing pickups.

[rippa32]

I was thinking of buying an Epiphone SG (the G400). But after trying one out at a shop I discovered it sounded terrible, I am assuming this is because of the pickups. So now ive decided to get one second hand and put the saved money into better pickups. I was wanting to change the pickups myself. Can anyone tell me how to do this or direct me to a good website? I tried google but couldnt find a website that explained it well enough.

[Son of Magni]

If it sounds terrible, why do you want to buy one?

[the101er]

^^+1 Just buy a decent guitar, surely that makes more sense

[Captain Fantastic]

Yeah, but if you like the looks of the sg, but havent got the money to splash out on the real deal, then one of the best things to do is buy an epi and replace the pickups, and get a fair playing + sounding guitar.


Eventually i would replace the machine heads and bridge to make it sound and play even better.


http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e121/THE_BULK/CaptainFantastic.jpg

[the101er]

Why not buy a better quality copy of the SG then?

There's more to the sound than just pickups. Woods, electronics, construction etc. affect the sound too

[Captain Fantastic]

Any suggestions of better quality sgs? Because i cant think of any, but then again im completly shatterd

But...Epi's are actually really good, and with mods can become sweet as.


http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e121/THE_BULK/CaptainFantastic.jpg

[the101er]

I've read reviews of (I believe) the G400 and apparently they're sub par.

Tokai make decent quality SG copies IMO, and the ESP Viper is a fantastic guitar, although it isn't really an classic SG

[Captain Fantastic]

True, some of the G400's are not built to the highest quality, as they come straight from the factory and barely set-up. However this is easily fixed by a good setup, and if that fails, replacing the bridge and tuners, like i stated ealier, would make the guitar much much better.


Tokai's are very good, but theyre like £300, so you are bound to get more quality compared to the £150-£200 Epiphone G400.


Anyway, im sure whatever decision he makes, it will be the best one.


http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e121/THE_BULK/CaptainFantastic.jpg

[rippa32]

I want them because of the look and the feel, to me they just are more comfortable to play than other guitars. And isnt it true its easy to bend strings on an SG than most other guitars?(well thats what I heard but I havnt too much experiance(sp) with other guitars). Also ive noticed no-one actually answered my question.

[the101er]

Sorry dude, in answer to your question, go have a look in the useful websites thread which one of the users complied, there are various guides to changing pickups in there

[rippa32]

Thanks, sorry If what I said was read to be a bit agressive, I didn't mean it that way.

[mfranks1306]

I just bought an Epiphone goth SG and did not care for the pickups (heavy sounding but kind of muddy) so I replaced them with a cheap set of covered no names from e-bay. Changeing the pickups isn't all that hard if you leave the other wiring alone. You need some soldering skills and a good place to work and of course some patience. A good place to get wiring info is guitarelectronics.com, gibson also has a section on changeing pickups. Also other parts of the guitar make a differance in its sound (wood, bridge type etc...) but the pickups (and amp) are the biggest factors so make sure you know what your getting with new pickups. My sound changed drasticly no more super distortion but very nice clean or slightly crunchy great for clasic rock or blusey rock. Im new to this sight and hope this helps out.

[manson667]

try www.yahoo.ca

[seibel88]

Wiring is fairly simple. All you need is a soldering iron. A wiring diagram should come with the new pickups, and they are pretty self-explanatory for the most part.

The diagram looks something like this:
http://www.specialtyguitars.com/kits/lp_diagram.pdf