Dear Gibson lovers,
Thanks for the quality content I have been reading here through the months!
I tried to get some knowledge out of the web and apply it to my Gibson Nighthawk Special 1996 (2 pickups). I always found the neck humbucker to be super muddy and absent of middle definition (The neck as well but I use it for distortion so I don't mind that much)...
So I tried to upgrade the saddles to Gotoh Brass, as I read some members had night and day results when replacing the stock pot metal ones.
To my disappointment I found marginal, if not unnoticeable improvement. The strings length and distance to the frets had been carefully measured before the upgrade, running through the same amp and setting, pickup height included. I could only spot out which saddle is which in the A / B test because of the mistakes in one of the recordings 😆.
My personal experience is that the saddle upgrade is a placebo effect. But I might by deaf altogether...
I love the unplugged sound of this guitar and I can't understand why it gets so blurry when electrified.
Here is my question :
I am considering pulling my wallet to replace the neck Gibson pickup by a Lollar. Do you think it is worth it, or do you think I might face the same kind of disappointment? Can I pickup really change the sound of a guitar? (if you don't upgrade from a low end chinese pickups I mean...)