SG Standard setup guide

[ics1974]

Is there a setup guide for the guitar? I searched the site but can't find anything with Gibsons official specs.

Anyone have one?

[Kurt]

Try this http://www.everythingsg.com/setup.htm

 

Greetings

Kurt

[ics1974]

Try this http://www.everythingsg.com/setup.htm

 

Greetings

Kurt

 

Thanks Kurt. Everything looks to be there but pickup height. Do you know what the recommended specs are?

[Swmcv2007]

I suggest you try out a few different pickup heights. I really can't stand the pickup that comes in the bridge (498T I think) so I lowered that a lot, and I raised the neck so that the neck was almost louder than the bridge. I always have my local guitar shop do it though. I'm a musician not a technician.

[hbomb76]

Do you know what the recommended specs are?

 

Most pickup gurus say start around 1/8" and experiment from there to find your ideal height. I think that works well. Give it a shot.

 

H-Bomb

[Kurt]

I agree with Swmcv2007. Try and find out what suites you best. The strings shouldn´t touch the pickups when playing. Anything else is a matter of taste.

 

Kurt

[Dynadude]

The sustain will suffer if HB pickups are higher than 1/8 inch, due to the strong magnetic forces. You can go slightly higher with smaller single coils, like Fenders, since they have about half the pull.

 

You will also start to get some unwanted tones from pickups that are too high. It's generally better to be slightly on the low side, and experiment with different amounts of tilt.

[ics1974]

 

Most pickup gurus say start around 1/8" and experiment from there to find your ideal height. I think that works well. Give it a shot.

 

H-Bomb

 

1/8" with last fret fretted or not?

and is that at the shortest distance between the string and the pickup?

Should the bridge pickup be 1/8" as well?

[80LPC]

As humbuckers have a weak magnetic field, this allows them to be placed close to the strings. If you google 'Seymour Duncan Seth Lover interview', Duncan asks about pickup height. Seth Lover replies that the pickup should be close in order that the strings will be magnetized by the pickup's magnet. He mentions that during humbucker development, the players had the pickups fairly close. It's possible to have the polepieces 1/16 " away from the fretted string without problems - although this distance might need adjusting for different gauge strings.

With 9 - 42 gauge strings on my 3 HB equipped guitars the pole-pieces clear the string by just under 1/16 " with no wolf tones.

 

With a traditional Fender single coil, the pole-pieces are the actual magnets, and exert a much stronger pull on the strings. Check a Strat with these pickups and you will see that they are much further away from the strings. Fender began to offer the Lace pickups which had the advantage of lower magnetic pull.

[jimmiJAMM]

I always have my local guitar shop do it though.

 

My local guitar shop charges $75.00 + strings. What's a more "reasonable" price for this service?

[hellion102792]

With a traditional Fender single coil' date=' the pole-pieces are the actual magnets, and exert a much stronger pull on the strings. Check a Strat with these pickups and you will see that they are much further away from the strings. Fender began to offer the Lace pickups which had the advantage of lower magnetic pull.[/quote']

 

Ah, you beat me to it. This is what the tech at my local shop told me when he put in my P-90. He was saying how people want Strat single coils to be as loud as the humbuckers, so they raise them up high and then come in asking why they can't get good intonation. He told me something like "the Strat pup magnets are at the top, while the magnet in the P-90 is underneath the polepieces which reduces that problem."

[80LPC]

Regarding the P90, Seth Lover made an interesting comment that when finalising the humbucker design, they managed to get it to be as loud as the P90 !