Pickup Upgrade for 1974 Gib. SG III

[BleedBlsSdmf]

Hey, i was wondering what pickups i could toss in my 1974 sg iii without any heavy modifications. It has 2 single coil pickups that are the physical size of humbuckers, but i do not know much about pickup replacements and i wanted to know if anyone knew the restrictions on the pickups i could get that wouldn't decrease the value if i decided to keep the org. pickups in a box under my bed incase someone wanted to use them instead for its vintage value. THX

[saltrock]

HI! JUST TO EXPRESS MY OPINION I WOULD SUGGEST A SET OF EMG PICK-UPS. PREFERRABLY MODEL #81. USE THIS ONE PICK-UP FOR THE BRIDGE AND THE NECK POSITION. THESE PARTICULAR PICK-UPS SOUND AWESOME AND ARE EASY INSTALL. THIS TYPE PICK-UP CAN BE USED FOR ANY TYPE OF MUSICAL INTERESTS. NOW, THESE ARE HUMBUCKING TYPE AND ARE ACTIVE, WHICH MEANS THEY USE A 9-VOLT BATTERY TO WORK. HOPE THIS MAYBE GIVES YOU A IDEA TO LOOK AT!

[pstring]

Hey there Bleed, you'll need to look for a P-90 replacement, one of the guy's on this site (Benoit) awhile back had problems with a SG of his that someone had put a full size humbucker in, the problem was that the body cavity wasn't deep enough, so a full size humbucker is probably out of the question, Dimarzio has a new P-90 Super Distortion , Seymour Duncan has a P-90 Stack, both are P-90 replacement humbuckers, you may want to check out Rio Grande, I think they might have some type of P-90 size humbucker, if you are trying to keep everything as original and unscarred as possible this is probably your best bet............................

[PonyOne]

Inasmuch as he doesn't want to do any heavy modifications to his vintage guitar, I would vote down EMG's... first off I don't think they have a P90/Minihum sized pickup, secondly, the sound doesn't remotely resemble the tone an SG is supposed to give, and thirdly, modifying the guitar to fit a battery is a pretty heavy mod... especially on a guitar that's that old, it's just not the best idea.

The cavities aren't actually the size of humbuckers, they're slightly smaller. As pstring noted, these pickups are called P90's. They're an old, early-50's pickup design that tried to get rid of hum and increase output by putting more winds of wire in the pickup than a standard single coil. Because of this they have a fatter, chunkier sound that's best suited to blues, rockabilly, classic rock and blues-rock rather than prog-metal. The cavities will also fit mini-humbuckers: they work just like a normal hum, but are smaller (neat, huh?). They tend to have a really nasty snarl to them when cranked with high gain that's great for all types of rock and beg to be shredded but still come off nice and warm when played clean.

If you wnat to keep it original you could buy Gibson replacements. They cost more than Duncan or DiMarzio offerings and are about the same as Rio Grande or TV Jones, but they go over better with purists.

There's been a plethora of discussion on different pickups, and it's probably best to use the forum search to get the most answers to your question. I think at one point I posted something like 6 pages on the merits of different types of pickups.

If I was in your situation, I'd do one of two things....

1) get some really nice Duncan Antiquity P90's, these will probably nail the vintage tone that suits the guitar down pat. They are wallet-busters, meaning that you could buy a reasonably nice guitar for the same cost as a pair (about $150 a pickup)

2) get some DiMarzio Hot Minihumbuckers (I think that's what they're called), which will keep most of the warmth but will give your SG the attitude it needs.

Rio Grandes are really killer pickups... they're made in the Texas badlands and they sound the part. They're best suited to blues, country, and clasic-styled rock, but they can also be used for metal because they have great punch and harmonics. They're kind of pricey though, usually in the $80-$150 range.

Whatever you do don't fall into the temptation of boring the thing out a little to accomodate a full-sized humbucker... there are so many P90/minihum offerings out there that it's just not worth molesting the instrument over. Oh, some links...

http://www.riograndepickups.com
http://www.seymourduncan.com
http://www.dimarzio.com
http://www.gibson.com

[BleedBlsSdmf]

Guys, thanks alot. I had an idea that active pickups wern't the way to go, and personally i don't want to mess with them. Thanks anyways. I will have to check that out. I am still kinda new to the realm of guitars, and even newer to guitar pickups, thanks. Now I know what to look for.

[Edited by BleedBLSSDMF on 09-15-2003 at 05:08 PM]