Hello everyone.
I am new to all of this pickup swapping business, but I've just ordered the Cold Sweat neck pickup and the A5 version of the Nailbomb bridge pickup via the BKP website. My guitar is a Gibson SG standard with the heritage cherry finish, a 2011 build with a rosewood fretboard. It plays really nice but I bought it over the internet without playing one through an amp (I had played one unplugged in a guitar shop - I was too shy to ask to play it through an amp) and while I loved the action and feel of it as much as the ones I saw in the shop the sound of the 490R/498T combination is something I really hate. I really can't get a sound I like out of the neck pickup and there is a very limited range on the tone and volume controls where the bridge pickup sounds good at all. This is with gain/distortion. Clean the bridge sounds pretty good and the neck is okay. As I mainly like playing '80s thrash metal and punk styles the clash between the sound of these pickups and the sounds I am looking for is pretty clear. Thanks to all of you here who have commented on these pickups and on the SG in particular, it was very helpful. I also asked on the BKP facebook page (after reading every comment I could find online and every youtube video I could find) and settled on the CS/A-NB combo following advice given there in response to my question.
I did not order any pots or capacitors as I haven't pulled the SG apart yet and had a look (I suspect they could do with upgrading though). I ordered the pickups with 4 connectors to allow for push-pull pots to be used (I'm thinking I'll use them in the tone position, as it is more out of the way of my hand and less likely to be knocked, is that wise?) and I'm wondering what people recommend for such pots and what kind of wiring options - phase reversal, coil split, or series/parallel - would be most useful?
I'm thinking phase reversal on the Cold Sweat and coil split on the Nailbomb but I'd like to read some opinions from people who have done it themselves already.
To give some idea of the kind of music I like to play here's a list of bands whose songs I tend to jam on the guitar at present:
Sodom (hence the user name!), Celtic Frost, Poison Idea, Thin Lizzy (Cold Sweat!), Black Sabbath, Motorhead, Discharge, Venom, Destruction, Accept, KISS, Ratos de Porão, Terrorizer, Ramones ...
I'm wondering if the standard set up would suit most of the time and maybe use the coil split for some of the punkier stuff like the Ramones or '60s type stuff that I haven't mentioned (Who)?
Anyway thanks again for all the info and I'll let you know how it turns out. I don't expect it to be too spectacular a change in terms of looks as I specified chrome covers to match the originals.
