[herb nice]

Kelvinator, on 25 March 2012 - 02:50 PM, said:

Do you have a link or contact info for the luthier who wound your pup for you?

Heya Kelvinator-

For sure.

David Schwabb is the guy. http://www.sgd-lutherie.com is his website. He's super knowledgeable, and does great work. If you search talkbass for info regularly like I do, you've probably seen him helping people out. He certainly helped me out via email, too.

The pickup I had done wasn't on his site at the time, so I had to get him to custom do it. I emailed with him, told him what I wanted, and away we went. The pickup I got is solid chrome, no visible poles, but otherwise a perfect match and dropped right in. It was probably 2 months from order to arrival, but it was worth it.

Looks like he's added that bridge pup to his regular inventory now, which is great: http://www.sgd-luthe...es/ND3-MHB.html , and you can listen to the different styles here: http://www.sgd-luthe...es/pickups.html - I went for the neo3, wide aperture, bridge winding, asked him for extra growly, please.

I regularly think about getting him to wind me up a proper sidewinder mudbucker, as he does make sidewinders, and I like the job he did on my bridge PU an awful lot. I also wonder about the artec (pole spacing?) or novak ($?) and finding an old 60s mudbucker (will it fit?) on ebay. And then I realize my tone is already getting very close to where I want it, and maybe I should save my money for important things, like strings. Or burritos.

Something seems to be up with talkbass right now, as this link is not working, hopefully temporary. Anyway, this is the thread that clued me in that he might be the guy to make me a bridge PU: http://www.talkbass....pup-mod-784351/

If you google around a bit, you can hear lots of demos of his work. I am a bit OCD, so I listened to lots before I made my decision. There was a great thread on talkbass where someone was A/Bing all kinds of pickups and had samples of everything. Villex and SGD really stood out to me. Unfortunately, I can't find it for you right now.

I'll fire you an email with a link from our latest show, it's just a zoom h2 out in the peanut gallery, but you can get an idea.

[Kelvinator]

herb nice, on 25 March 2012 - 04:06 PM, said:

And then I realize my tone is already getting very close to where I want it, and maybe I should save my money for important things, like strings. Or burritos.

I'd go for the burritos If you're pretty happy with the sound - why spend more money? I love the sound of the stock neck TB on my SG, in fact - I don't know how it could be better; it was the bridge pup that I hated (not a mini-HB fan). I put a full-size humbucker at the bridge and it sounds incredible. I know what getting rid of that mini can do for the SG and understand your loving the new custom pup

Have you figured out how many burritos you can buy for the price of a custom-wound pick-up?? Go get one & send gift certificates to the rest of us!

Thanks for the links.......

[herb nice]

Dave's pretty reasonable, around 13 ahagados. or 40 homemade pulled pork & refried beans. mmmm.

I agree with you. What kinda hum did you stick in there?

[Kelvinator]

herb nice, on 26 March 2012 - 10:53 AM, said:

Dave's pretty reasonable, around 13 ahagados. or 40 homemade pulled pork & refried beans. mmmm.

I agree with you. What kinda hum did you stick in there?

First a full-size Gibson TB+. now I have a Lace Alumitone in it. Very pleased with the sound

[Lungimsam]

Update:

The Curtis Novak pickup is definitely a better pickup than the SG Bass pickup, but still didn't clear up the sound. But he is letting me return it for a refund, which is really nice of him. The pickup is much more powerful than the stock SG Bass pickup, and very responsive, which the stock Gibson pup totally lacks, IMHO. So it would be a great upgrade to the stock pup if you are into the sound of the EB/SG bass.

So, I think the SG Bass is going on Clist in the near future. I have had it for a year now, and nothing seems to do the trick. Just too boomy and muddy for me. Sometimes hard to hear what note i am playing. Just not pleasant to hear.

I will stick to my Pbasses. But I will try other shortscales, before buying, in the quest for ease of playability.

[gsgbass]

Lungimsam, on 04 April 2012 - 09:12 PM, said:

Update:

The Curtis Novak pickup is definitely a better pickup than the SG Bass pickup, but still didn't clear up the sound. But he is letting me return it for a refund, which is really nice of him. The pickup is much more powerful than the stock SG Bass pickup, and very responsive, which the stock Gibson pup totally lacks, IMHO. So it would be a great upgrade to the stock pup if you are into the sound of the EB/SG bass.

So, I think the SG Bass is going on Clist in the near future. I have had it for a year now, and nothing seems to do the trick. Just too boomy and muddy for me. Sometimes hard to hear what note i am playing. Just not pleasant to hear.

I will stick to my Pbasses. But I will try other shortscales, before buying, in the quest for ease of playability.

No offense partner, but I think you're SG is a lemon.

[Lungimsam]

Could be. But I can't prove it. All the electronics have been swapped out, and it still sounds bad. I don't see how the wood alone could cause it sounding bad. So I can only assume that's how a shortscale mahogany sounds.

In a perfect world, a Gibson CS guy would swoop onto the forum and send me another in exchange. But it has been a year, and I don't think that it is a bad (lemon) bass. Just doesn't work for me for my tone needs.

[gsgbass]

What amp are you running it through?

[Kelvinator]

If you happen to be near a Guitar Center - stop in and play one of these: http://www.guitarcen...976-i1150632.gc I played one in Cleveland a couple of years ago, and I have to tell you it was hard leaving the store without it. It had active electronics, and you could get tons of different sounds out of it. Amazingly, It played better and sounded better than most of the higher-end basses I tried that day - and it is very inexpensive! I've had a couple of Ibanez basses and liked them very much.

[herb nice]

Hey Lungimsam- That's too bad. I know what you mean about not hearing what note you are playing. On my sg bass, the neck pickup just supplies fatness to the ***-end, and I have to rely on the bridge pickup for note definition. I think that's how it has to be due to where the pickups are located. My stock bridge pup was lifeless and sucky, though. Before I replaced it I could get away with sloppier playing as my tone was a wall of mud. I'd have to use overdrive or fuzz to bring out the notes.

I'm reviewing the recording of last night's jam, and my sg bass purrs these days- thanks to the combo of new punchy bridge pickup and old flats. it's closer to a p with the tone rolled back than a j, but still way off in it's own smooth warm garage rock tone corner. I don't need my sansamp any more.

If you come across an old Quest by Vantage (80s matsumoko) on your playabilty quest, that's about the easiest to play neck on the planet- mine's around 25 1/4" scale. I originally bought it for a band where we played tiny instruments and pretended that we were giants, but that didn't last long. Over the years I put a bart p in it, chromes on it, swapped the tone for a homebrew varitone, changed the tuners and moved the bridge out 1/4"... After all that work it became one of my nicest playing and sounding basses, and lives by my couch for practising new bits or quick inspiration. It does get used for recording demos fairly regular too. Anyway, that thing definitely sounds more pbassey than the sg and plays like butter.

[Grog]

Lungimsam, on 04 April 2012 - 09:12 PM, said:

Update:

The Curtis Novak pickup is definitely a better pickup than the SG Bass pickup, but still didn't clear up the sound. But he is letting me return it for a refund, which is really nice of him. The pickup is much more powerful than the stock SG Bass pickup, and very responsive, which the stock Gibson pup totally lacks, IMHO. So it would be a great upgrade to the stock pup if you are into the sound of the EB/SG bass.

So, I think the SG Bass is going on Clist in the near future. I have had it for a year now, and nothing seems to do the trick. Just too boomy and muddy for me. Sometimes hard to hear what note i am playing. Just not pleasant to hear.

I will stick to my Pbasses. But I will try other shortscales, before buying, in the quest for ease of playability.

I still think you need to try a Les Paul Triumph bass! It's short scale & you can get just about any tone you'd like out of it, It's my favorite Gibson bass and has been for years.

http://www.ebay.com/...=item27bc295ab2

This one is way spendy, but they show up on eBay quite often & are still under valued in most cases. Give one a test drive & you will see..........

[hsech]

If it ain't broke, why mess with it? My SG Reissue Bass sounds fine with the original neck pickup. If I need it brighter, I just tweak the EQ a bit on the amp. I also have a Precision Bass with a Fender 62 Vintage Pickup. If I need a totally different tone I use the PBass. I'm an old guy and somewhat of a purist. I think the thump the original Gibson pickup puts out adds to the Gibson mystique. I play in a jazz trio and a soft rock band and the SG and original pickup work fine for both.

[gsgbass]

My SG Std. sounds great. I have a good clear tone.

[Kelvinator]

gsgbass, on 22 May 2012 - 03:12 PM, said:

My SG Std. sounds great. I has a good clear tone.

Another +1 Must be "Support your local SG" week!

[gsgbass]

Kelvinator, on 23 May 2012 - 07:40 AM, said:

Another +1 Must be "Support your local SG" week!

Yeah SG Std.!

[tabdog]

gsgbass, on 23 May 2012 - 03:14 PM, said:

Yeah SG Std.!

Is that what they call "slap bass"?

Tabdog

[gsgbass]

It's an AX!

[Kelvinator]

gsgbass, on 04 June 2012 - 05:14 PM, said:

It's an AX!

I thought there was a Fender crawling on the floor!

[gsgbass]

Kelvinator, on 04 June 2012 - 07:19 PM, said:

I thought there was a Fender crawling on the floor!

Welllllll.......It was tooooooo big to step on!

[Lungimsam]

I give up...it is on Clist.