Will my SG sound like this with Riff Raff/Missisippi Queen?

[Yamhammer]

I use 11s on my guitars, and as a general rule I dig in quite hard to get the tones I want - nearer to the Rory/SRV approach than this clip was showing (live, I always used to break A, D and G strings, very rarely top Es).

I'm not sure I've seen this recommended much, but I personally would then consider the MQ in the bridge, because I think it kicks @rse there :lol: In many ways I find it more usable than a humbucker bridge. It gets close to a humbucker sound but without restricting you to the "it's a bridge humbucker - what else did you expect? :roll:" problem. (Remember I'm a Fender player at heart, and bridge humbuckers seem something of a "one-trick-pony" to me - a nice trick, but only one :D)

I agree that a P90 doesn't quite have that compressed "crunch" that a bridge humbucker gives - but that's what "digging in" is all about when you're playing the bottom ends of chords for tight rhythm on single coils, you have to do it that way on a strat, say, so I don't tend to notice the lack on an MQ bridge.

Jup.

[AndyR]

Glad I'm not alone on that Yamhammer :D

It did take me a while to get used to it though. At first I treated it like a humbucker, and sometimes it felt a little uncontrollable, a little too hairy. But I think that was because I was used to the added compression a humbucker gives you - and if you're "expecting" that compression but not getting it, the sound coming out the speakers is a little disorientating. But when I started accepting that it was actually a single coil, I started treating it more like I would a strat or tele bridge, and then everything fell into place.

I might be wrong, but the impression I get is that you need to pay more attention to your technique in the pick-attack area. In comparison, a humbucker takes whatever you give it and comes out with "the sound". The plus side for the extra work required on the MQ is that you seem to have a wider tonal palette. It's also helping on my strat/tele playing: it seems to have opened up my technique in ways I'd never have thought of - I'm suddenly making sounds I've wondered about for years but never figured out how to get them. Sooner or later I'll pick up the guitars with the Mules and Riff Raffs, and find out whether it's helping there as well!

[Yamhammer]

I might be wrong, but the impression I get is that you need to pay more attention to your technique in the pick-attack area. In comparison, a humbucker takes whatever you give it and comes out with "the sound". The plus side for the extra work required on the MQ is that you seem to have a wider tonal palette. It's also helping on my strat/tele playing: it seems to have opened up my technique in ways I'd never have thought of - I'm suddenly making sounds I've wondered about for years but never figured out how to get them. Sooner or later I'll pick up the guitars with the Mules and Riff Raffs, and find out whether it's helping there as well!

The MQ is very sensitive to pick

[Yamhammer]

I might be wrong, but the impression I get is that you need to pay more attention to your technique in the pick-attack area. In comparison, a humbucker takes whatever you give it and comes out with "the sound". The plus side for the extra work required on the MQ is that you seem to have a wider tonal palette. It's also helping on my strat/tele playing: it seems to have opened up my technique in ways I'd never have thought of - I'm suddenly making sounds I've wondered about for years but never figured out how to get them. Sooner or later I'll pick up the guitars with the Mules and Riff Raffs, and find out whether it's helping there as well!

The MQ is very sensitive to pick attack, the harder you dig it, the more it 'twangs' (depending on the amp settings/set-up it stays clean no matter how hard you dig the strings). That's the true beauty behind these MQ's. With distortion/overdrive you can still hear everything shine through with a thick 'n bluesy neck sound and a biting, more cutting bridge sound. They have that singing character!