Can't seem to find a bridge pickup I love in my SG

[dogman]

I have a Bareknuckle Aftermath in my SG Custom tuned to drop B / C# standard. I really like it, seems pretty balanced and doesn’t get too dark. Upgrading the pots and wiring helped a bit, I bought a pre-built harness with 550k pots and that helped give me a little more brightness as well.

Ditto. The Aftermath is a great pickup for drop tuning and doesnt lose its clarity

 

[ChurchHill]

Thanks, MetalHeadMike!! Glad to hear it's still thick. I thought it might get a little thin being so mid-focused, but I should've known better. BKP makes some amazing pups. Hope you enjoy that 20th Shiva as much as your Splawn.

 

[ChurchHill]

Gibson Dirty Fingers, the old one, NOT the new one, but have someone pot it.

+1

I have a friend who used to have an 80s Scorpions Explorer with the old Dirty Fingers. That was one of the greatest sounding pups I've ever heard. Wish I could find some that aren't insanely priced or beat to death, but DAMN...

 

[lowmantotempole]

What amp(s) are you using. A lot of people forget the relationship between pickups and amps.

 

[MetalHeadMike]

Thanks, MetalHeadMike!! Glad to hear it's still thick. I thought it might get a little thin being so mid-focused, but I should've known better. BKP makes some amazing pups. Hope you enjoy that 20th Shiva as much as your Splawn.

 

[Mr. Willy]

I don’t think it’s the rig, although it is on the darker, low-mid side. His LP with 500T sounds killer through it. I think it may be the pots in the SG. I believe it’s a late 70’s SG, and I don’t know if he’s changed the pots yet. I think they’re still stock. If they are, new 500k pots, or even 1 meg pots might make a big difference.

 

[ChurchHill]

Good point. Pots can make all the difference. Good tone caps can, too, although I don't really buy into the super high-end ones. Just a decent polyester Orange Drop or Mallory 150 can work wonders with clarity, even when the tone's full up. I've been using RS Guitarworks caps and pots, but they aren't the only ones who sell better pots than come stock in most guitars, old or new.

 

[barnesjd]

Yeah the rig absolutely slays with my T500-loaded LP like Mr Willy pointed out. Last night between songs during band practice, I tweaked the screws a bit. That definitely brightens the pickup, but didn’t make it sound great. I think the eq is just not mid-heavy enough in that SG to my ears.

 

[barnesjd]

Oh and the pots and caps are not stock. Has orange caps of some sort, and the pots have “500” stamped on the side. Pretty sure we’re good there.

 

[xzyryabx]

...or get rid of the sg

 

[fretout]

For my Mahogany Slabs, I've been a big fan of the Dirty Fingers or 57 Classics. Once I realized I didn't need super high output pickups anymore, I just let the amp do all the "heavy lifting" gain-wise. Dirty Fingers could still be considered a high output pickup, but I'm liking the tones I've found with passives, after using actives for 10+ years.

 

[barnesjd]

...or get rid of the sg

Man, the first guitar I ever played that blew my mind was an SG. I guess I'll always be biased towards them.

 

[barnesjd]

Due to a Painkiller getting posted last night on classifieds, it will be the first of the above recommendations I'll try.

 

[barnesjd]

Ok so the Painkiller absolutely slays. Thanks for the recommendations! Perhaps the lesson learned is: don’t buy a ceramic pickup if the winder is well-regarded mostly for alnicos... Both the BG Hellabucker and the Wolfetone Blisterbucker are too bassy and lack mids.

 

[endofall]

I went through the same problem with my 2011 SG standard. I tried a 500t, dirty fingers, Afways, BKP Mule, BKP Stockholm, Dimarizo 36th anniversary, Seymour Duncan JB, 498t, and the one that has beat out the rest and remained has been a Seymour Duncan Custom with a magnet swap for a Alnico 8. It seems to be the perfect pickup for that guitar. It thick but not woolly, has plenty of note separation, and its aggressive and still cleans up great. Since dropping it in I haven't really thought about pulling it out. So far has sounded great with every amp that I've tried it out with.

This is a little bit of click bait but I used my SG with that pickup and my kemper to track this. Profiles on the kemper used was a Mesa Recto Revision F and Top Jimi JJ Friedman. Im tuned to drop B. Its slow, sludgy, dark and inspired by Crowbar so if you don't dig stuff in that vein I wouldn't bother with it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8SMcNiVUQM&t=36s

well I tried to embed the youtube video but apparently I cannot figure it out.

 

[ZEEGLER]

Duncan Custom.

 

[shredi knight]

This is a little bit of click bait but I used my SG with that pickup and my kemper to track this. Profiles on the kemper used was a Mesa Recto Revision F and Top Jimi JJ Friedman. Im tuned to drop B. Its slow, sludgy, dark and inspired by Crowbar so if you don't dig stuff in that vein I wouldn't bother with it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8SMcNiVUQM&t=36s

well I tried to embed the youtube video but apparently I cannot figure it out.

 

[LPMojoGL]

I tried a lot of bridge pups in my Silverburst SG. The Burstbucker 3 sounded weak, thin and small compared to my Les Paul Classic. (Funny, the bb3 is in that LP now and kicks ass.)
Motor City Detroiter gave the SG balls, with a tight low end attack, while remaining open sounding and responsive to volume changes and pick attack. It sounds so good, I’ll never try another bridge pup in that guitar. Don’t forget to get some good pots n caps in there.
The Godwood set in my Explorer is really nice, too. A bit more bassy, but that’s probably the guitar, and stock pots. Wayyyyyyyyyy better than the Gibson 500t that came in it.

 

[SFW]

I'm gonna throw in another vote for the SH-5 Duncan Custom. It's like a more refined Gibson 500T.