Pickups for my Gibson SG

[Thorgrim]

Hey y'all, longtime lurker here. After a couple of months of doing research I finally decided what pickup brand I wanted for my Gibson SG (take a wild guess which brand I'm talking about), yet I'm still kinda doubting which pickup I should choose. I've read that vintage hot pickups usually don't work that well with SGs, so it's either vintage or contemporary. The tone I'm looking for in terms of rhythm is basically something that can handle classic metal and heavier stuff with distortion, but cleans up properly when the volume knob is rolled back. Lead wise I'm looking for a pickup that has nice, smooth highs (ala Al Di Meola's tone on Elegant Gypsy). A nice addition would be a good split sound!

I'm currently thinking of getting a pair of AV Warpigs, since I've heard that they're great, high output allrounders, and have a tele-ish vibe when split in an SG.

[Jofipe]

Alnico Nailbombs... smooth highend, allrounder, great for metal in general, cleans up nicely.

[Madsakre]

Riff Raff - Black Dog - Holy Diver

[ericsabbath]

Gibson SG + Holy Diver = fail  :(

[Madsakre]

Gibson SG + Holy Diver = fail  :(

Seriously? :( Well that really depends :P i know a dude which has a swamp ash SG with a maple board :D Best tele ever!

[Miracle Man]

Gibson SG Supreme (maple top, ebony board) + Holydiver bridge = Total win  8)

[BigB]

Gibson SG + Holy Diver = fail  :(

Seriously? :( Well that really depends :P i know a dude which has a swamp ash SG with a maple board :D Best tele ever!

A swamp ash / maple board SG is not a SG - it's a SG-shaped Tele ;)

Gibson SG Supreme (maple top, ebony board) + Holydiver bridge = Total win  8)

And then it's a SG-shaped Les Paul ;)


@Thorgrim: assuming you use the bridge for rythm and the neck or neck+bridge for leads, I think the ABomb bridge might suits you (don't know if it splits well, but given the output level it should be ok). Can't tell about the ABomb neck - I have a Mule neck instead, which I really love too (best 'bucker clean tones I've ever heared and great vintagey OD tones too).

[Miracle Man]

And then it's a SG-shaped Les Paul ;)

Point taken  :lol:  But then you'd think AIV Mules would work great like in an LP... nope, way to bright in this guitar.

[Telerocker]

I would consider RiffRaffs too. They can handle massive gain, have punch and chime.

[Thorgrim]

Wow, that's a lot of different opinions, haha. Did some more research this time round, and I wonder if anyone here has any experience with these two sets in an SG:

AV Warpig in bridge, MQ in neck
Calibrated Cold Sweat set

[Madsakre]

Try and mail tim and ask his opinion on the matter :)

sales@bareknucklepickups.co.uk

[Shag101]

I've had a warpig AV and MQ neck in my SG for several years.
The MQ neck is beautiful sounding in the guitar.
The Warpig was great if you were playing full volume and really driving the amp.  To me, the pig sounded its best when downtuned.  My standard tuning is Eb, so i guess I was not getting the full effect of the pig.

What i did was setup the SG with a set of MQ's and moved to pig to a basswood charvel.

If I were you, I would check out some sound clips of the riff raffs.  I hear they have great cleans and can get heavy as well.  Good Luck...