Changing The Pickups.

[AlpineX2]

I have a SG and was looking to get more of a fender sound, what pickups would I get and do you have to do soldering when changing the pickups.

[ButchCassidy]

Something single coil. GFS mean 90's, P-94's, etc..... And yes.

[Ron G]

P90-type pickups are definitely NOT going to give you a Fender-ish sound, as Fender single coil pickups are very different, as are the pot and cap values used with them.

[epiteleguy]

Get afender

[Ricochet]

Stick a Fender single-coil in there. It sorta works, different neck-scale and all. Close enough for me. YMMV

 

Fender MIM pickup in my PRS Tremonti SE.

[cuthbertg]

Fender sound from an SG?

 

you dirty little boy - wash your mouth out! :D

 

Seriously though, is there one particular sound you are after or do you just prefer the sound of single coils?

 

For instance, I learned all my fave Hendrix tracks on my Epi Sg and the only sound I had a bit of trouble with was the bridge/middle combo for clean tones.

 

I was still able to get convincing tones in the middle position + playing with the vol+tone and playing with my amp settings......

 

You could disable one of the coils in your Humbuckers.......

[Ricochet]

Fender sound from an SG?

 

you dirty little boy - wash your mouth out! :D

 

Hehehe...tell it to Gibson. They have at least 3 SGs that come fitted with Single-coils....

 

[tintin]

Seymour Duncan P-Rails, maybe?

[stan 58]

Jezz Ric ,your going to give me nightmares with that SG. Stan.

[joezakkwaldrianifan]

This is same thing I am looking for my SG too. Would like to get dire straits sound out from my SG.

 

But...I don't like noise so I still want humbucker. I was considering one Dimarzio PAF PU for bridge and leave original Epiphone for neck. Anybody have any experience with those Dimarzio PUs?

[cuthbertg]

 

Hehehe...tell it to Gibson. They have at least 3 SGs that come fitted with Single-coils....

 

 

 

Rats! That looks quite nice

 

Actually, I can now remember hacking up a cheap strat clone and putting the single coils in neck and middle positions on my old battle weary SG. I could'nt have liked it much - as they obviosly didn't last long due to the cheap pickups but I've still got a hole in the middle of my pickgaurd to prove it!!!

 

It's been staring at me from beneath it's duct tape grave for the last 15 years!!!

[msuspartansfan]

Go Mexican?

[AlpineX2]

Looking to get a nirvana sound feedback style.

[judybat]

I put DiMarzio Virtual PAFs in my Chinese LP, and think they're great. I put a Seymour Duncan SH1 in a different LP (Elitist), and I think I like it even better, but the Virtual PAFs sound awfully good.

 

 

I was considering one Dimarzio PAF PU for bridge and leave original Epiphone for neck. Anybody have any experience with those Dimarzio PUs?

[finnster]

You can make anything sound sorta like anything- but pickups alone aren't the whole story.

Neck construction and scale length differences also separate the SG from a Fender.

Swapping pups would be a start, but you'll need to look at signal processing beyond that I think.

OTOH, I'm hardly an expert. Good luck!

[TWANG]

You can keep humbucks in and get a single coil sound out of any with four conductor wiring.

You'd be switching one coil off on either or both pickups.

 

More than anything else the pickup type and scale length give you fender sounds.

 

With the SGs short scale it wont be as close as the fender longer scale, but you can get closer, and I think close enough without buying a whole new guitar.

 

If it were me, that's what I'd do.

 

Kent Armstrongs are what I sell, and what I use, and they have a few humbuck models with 4 cond. wiring that would fit the bill.

What you want to pay attention to is which humbuck, in single coil mode, gives you the better fender sound.

 

a pair of pups like that will give you

dual dual

dual single

single dual

single single

and from there you can even add series parallel switching option as well..

 

Short of buying a fender, that's about as close as you'll ever get, and I feel positive that the sounds you like will come out of it.

 

TWANG

[cudamax2343]

Try a Gibson Dirtyfinger Pickup with a 1meg pot with a Ceramic cap.

 

If you got the G-310, it's already got the alder body just like the Fender

 

I think that will give-ya what-cha need.

[theDeuce]

Jezz Ric ' date='your going to give me nightmares with that SG. Stan.[/quote']

 

 

lol, +1

[carverman]

P90-type pickups are definitely NOT going to give you a Fender-ish sound' date=' as Fender single coil pickups are very different, as are the pot and cap values used with them. [/quote']

 

And another thing, they have a different magnet core structure,

and I read in a Stew-Mac catalog that they are wound with

#43 awg enamel wire versus the #42 awg which is slightly larger in diameter.

 

For instance, a Wilkinson Tele bridge p_up wound with #43 has a dc resistance of

about 5.9K ohms and the neck is about 4.6K ohms. (A Gibson P-90 is around 8.4k ohms)

and a different coil inductance.

 

Using #43 awg in F*nder style SC, allows fewer windings for the same dc resistance,

as well as a different coil inductance,and of course, a different sound from any humbucker

wound with #42, that tries to emulate a single coil.

 

Like they say..there are many substitutes for Kr*ft Dinner, but only the original

has that unique taste.

[djroge1]

I like DiMarzio Pick-ups - been using one in my Les Paul for 28 or so years (the same dual sound humbucker), so it's lasted a long time.

 

If you go with DiMarzio they will send a diagram that shows how to wire it in order to turn one coil off. What you need to do is learn how to read a wiring schematic if you don't know how and also practice soldering.

[Steven Lister]

[edited] I'll offer a different approach if I may....

If real close is good enough then forget about pickup swaps -- and do this:

1. Split the coil on one or both of your 'buckers using inexpensive, drop in, push/pull pots. That gives you the single coil of a strat. If you like the results, stop there. If not, then;

2. Pick up a good used amp modeler like a POD. Now, you should be real close, closer than any pup swaps.

 

However, if close is only good enough in horseshoes, hand grenades and hurricanes -- then you'll need to duplicate Mark Knoeffler's gear exactly, learn to emulate his exact finger technique and play in the same studio the sound you want was recorded (better yet, just buy the cds) b/c everything else is going to be off by at least as much as that amp modeler and a good valve amp.

 

Hit every BLUE NOTE baaaby..., I'm going to play on:-"

[Chrismo]

Try GFS Dream 90's. I've been told they're more like a Fender singlecoil than a P90.

[Dave]

I think that the Fender sound is going to have to be obtained with the Fender scale length, caps, and pickups. You could route the SG and install 3 HBs and wire it for a 5 way switch, but you'd still need to find a way to switch caps when you switched to single coil mode. Otherwise, you'd have single coils with Gibson style caps. IMHO, a MIM Strat would be the thing to have.

 

There's "getting close" and there's "nailing the sound". I think close is going to be all you'd get from the SG.

[joezakkwaldrianifan]

I put DiMarzio Virtual PAFs in my Chinese LP' date=' and think they're great. I put a Seymour Duncan SH1 in a different LP (Elitist), and I think I like it even better, but the Virtual PAFs sound awfully good.

 

 

[/quote']

Ok. Thanks. I am going to buy Peavey Vypyr modelling amp and because I have to make an order anyway I think I am gonna buy this

 

DIMARZIO DP103 WH http://www.thomann.de/fi/dimarzio_dp103wh.htm

 

It might be that this question needs to be reworded a bit. At least in my part I am looking closest real humbucker to get Mark Knopfler sound out from my SG-400.

 

But before I make an order could you inform me if this PU will fit in my SG-400 ? I know I could look by myself but that would take an hour away from my life. If you already know the answer please tell me. Also some of the Dimarzio pickups info mention F-spaced. What is that ? Will pole pieces be in different place to strings then.

 

Thank you in advance for your comments.

[layboomo]

Ok. Thanks. I am going to buy Peavey Vypyr modelling amp and because I have to make an order anyway I think I am gonna buy this

 

DIMARZIO DP103 WH http://www.thomann.de/fi/dimarzio_dp103wh.htm

 

It might be that this question needs to be reworded a bit. At least in my part I am looking closest real humbucker to get Mark Knopfler sound out from my SG-400.

 

But before I make an order could you inform me if this PU will fit in my SG-400 ? I know I could look by myself but that would take an hour away from my life. If you already know the answer please tell me. Also some of the Dimarzio pickups info mention F-spaced. What is that ? Will pole pieces be in different place to strings then.

 

Thank you in advance for your comments.

 

Mark Knopfler's tone is a clean compressed strat all the way.........never happen with an SG type guitar and coil cutters! Get a mexican strat or a squier strat instead of spending money on pickups that won't get you there IMHO.