SG sound?

[Saul Goodman]

I got an Historic Gibson '61 SG/LCP before spring. It has the Gibson '57 pickups. Three of them. I don't care for the neck pickup sound. Or maybe I'm just used to what other guitars sound like in the neck position. There is no chime in the SG even with the volume and tone all the way up. I've raised and lowered the pickup. I haven't changed anything in the control cavity (yet) because it's all original. So my question is, is there something about the SG that makes it more mid-rangey? Less chimey? I don't dislike the sound. And it's good that I have at least one double hum guitar that sounds differently from the pack in the unplayed pile. So is this what a SG does? Kind of like the Tele does what it does? This is my first experience with a SG. 

[Kerry Marchman]

Have you played with the individual pole pieces, Saul? Raising and lowering the whole pickup can help, but pole piece adjustment can make a big difference.

Try lowering the pickup and raising the pole pieces, then tilt the treble side up a bit.

BTW, what strings and amp are you playing it through?

[Saul Goodman]

7 hours ago, Kerry Marchman said:

Have you played with the individual pole pieces, Saul? Raising and lowering the whole pickup can help, but pole piece adjustment can make a big difference.

Try lowering the pickup and raising the pole pieces, then tilt the treble side up a bit.

BTW, what strings and amp are you playing it through?

Thanks, yes, I've raised and lowered the pickup, pole pieces. I haven't changed the strings since I bought it but I have a set of D'Addario XL slated for later today. Amps are, Cali Tweed, Tone King Imperial Tri-Tube, and handwired '64 Deluxe Reverb clone. There isn't enough wood in the SG to mount the pickup right against the bottom of the fretboard like in my LP and 335 so I'm wondering if that can contribute to the midrange I'm hearing. There is a lot of conversation out there, some saying tonewoods don't mean anything, but, the guitar is much thinner and no maple on it. It has a distinctive sound but what I'm not hearing is the clarity or "bell" tones I hear in the others with similar pickups. More experimenting to come but the string change is first and rain is in the mix today so is a good day to do that.

[velorush]

3 hours ago, Saul Goodman said:

There is a lot of conversation out there, some saying tonewoods don't mean anything

For an experiment, in 1986 I pulled the tarback bridge humbucker from my '72 (ish) SG and put it into my (first guitar) plywood Sears guitar (not even a Silvertone). Did it sound like the SG? Same electronics, after all. No! It sounded like a crappy plywood guitar. Anecdotal, to be sure, and as far as science is concerned, controlled only for electronics, but it was enough for me to conclude the wood does matter. 

I'm no expert (at all!), but the resonant frequency of the pickup and the resonant frequency of that particular slice of 'hog might not be geting along. The resonant frequency of the pickup can be altered to some extent (and cheaply) with different volume pot values, but the most radical change would be through moving to a different pickup. 

I have a '91 Gibson (a semi-hollow) that came stock with the 490T/R combination and that guitar sounded really bad, especially in the bridge. I held that the 490T/R was a terrible set of pickups (in spite of general interweb opinion to the contrary) and that was that. I replaced them with Lollar Imperials and the guitar is fabulous. Right now I have our Minister of Music's 2005 Les Paul Studio sitting next to me for some much needed TLC. The 490R (and I think 498T) pickups sound really good in that guitar, so I now conclude those pickups are fine. It wasn't the pickup, it was the combination of pickup and guitar. Right pickup/right guitar. 

[/random musings about things I am only guessing at]

[Dave Scepter]

Humbucker sound Chimy? 😂... switch it to a single coil... i.e. low wind P90

P-90 Low Wind Neck Pickup | Lollar Pickups https://share.google/EPA8QzFkxPFR53DCt

Edited July 18 by Dave Scepter

[Hackubus]

Try a Duncan Jazz.  That one has surprised me.  Or have Josh G rewind the original pickup for you.  He turned a wooly booly sounding neck T Top into a springy snappy clear pickup for me.  

[velorush]

It's funny, that same 72-ish SG (that I completely destroyed through "modifications") had for a time an interesting neck position pickup. 

I had, at the same time ('86 or so) an original '56 Danelectro Silvertone U1 (that I sold here around 2008 to @GusS, but I digress). If you've been into one of the originals, the pickup and mount look like this:

The bracket just screws to the bottom of the lipstick tube. If you take the pickup off the mount the pickup is the exact length of the ears of a humbucker route. So I removed the bracket, placed the pickup in the route and screwed the empty humbucker ring into place. This held the pickup snuggly in the route and viola! A single coil in the neck position. It actually sounded very good (IIRC - it has been forty years...). The only reason I took it out was to put the Danelectro back together. 

Not suggesting you do anything of the sort. I bring this up only to point out, there are lots of options other than another humbucker, especially if you're looking for chime. Don't forget about the DiMarzio EJ Custom that is, according to Mr. "I can tell the difference between an Energizer and a Duracell in my fuzz pedal," is "almost as clear sounding as a Strat pickup." 

[Dutchman]

17 minutes ago, Hackubus said:

Or have Josh G rewind the original pickup for you.

I am not a fan of the 57's. I have a set in a CS ES339. Same kinda deal, muddy, no expresivness. Just gets muddled together and lost.

Tell Josh what your looking for and he'll deliver. Has several times for me. I don't know how much time he has for winding between running the Bar/dancehall and being on the road gigging. But give him a shout. 

[cynic]

I purchased a custom shop SG from @santellavision a bunch of years ago.  It has the Alnico 3 Custom Buckers in it and has THE sound.  Playing it immediately turns me into a five foot tall schoolboy.

[Kerry Marchman]

On 7/18/2026 at 7:00 AM, Saul Goodman said:

Thanks, yes, I've raised and lowered the pickup, pole pieces. I haven't changed the strings since I bought it but I have a set of D'Addario XL slated for later today. Amps are, Cali Tweed, Tone King Imperial Tri-Tube, and handwired '64 Deluxe Reverb clone. There isn't enough wood in the SG to mount the pickup right against the bottom of the fretboard like in my LP and 335 so I'm wondering if that can contribute to the midrange I'm hearing. There is a lot of conversation out there, some saying tonewoods don't mean anything, but, the guitar is much thinner and no maple on it. It has a distinctive sound but what I'm not hearing is the clarity or "bell" tones I hear in the others with similar pickups. More experimenting to come but the string change is first and rain is in the mix today so is a good day to do that.

Well, you certainly have great amps. The Deluxe reverb clone should sound great with it as far as clarity, unless you really have it cranked. I had a '62 reissuethat i put 57's in, and it sounded great. I also had a 2010 Standard with a set of Duncan 59's that sounded really good. Now I'm using my P90 SG's all the time and playing my Hamer 25th anniversary for my mahogany humbucker sounds. I also switched to 9's after years of playing 10's because my 66 year old hands are tired. That actually had a pleasing effect on my clean tone. I have a '68 Drip Edge Deluxe Reverb, and a killer 70's Princeton. The both sounded great with all my SG's. 

Good luck on the quest!

Edited Monday at 03:58 AM by Kerry Marchman
spelling

[cmatthes]

The CustomBuckers are tough to beat if you can snag 'em.   I way prefer those over the 57s.

[Hbom]

On 7/18/2026 at 7:33 AM, Dutchman said:

Tell Josh what your looking for and he'll deliver. Has several times for me. I don't know how much time he has for winding between running the Bar/dancehall and being on the road gigging. But give him a shout. 

There's another guy hangs around here that makes those things. Does a pretty good job I've been told. You might give him a call.

Humbuckers – Carondelet Guitar and Bass Pickups

 

[geoff_hartwell]

Not a fan of those 57 classics. Their natural frequency response jack the high mids and makes nearly all pedals and amps sound bad to me.

Start with a Duncan 59 neck as a standard starting place, they’re cheap, consistent and easy to find. I like em used with nickel covers.

The SG that I gig with came with 57 classics, sounded bad, I replaced with a set of SD 59s, now sounds good.

Good luck 👍

[Saul Goodman]

I have a few pickups I'm going to try in the neck position. On top of the list is an OX-4. It's sitting on the bench right now. I bought this guitar because of Glen Buxton and it does great Buxton sound in the bridge. I'm not going to touch that pickup. I'm also not a fan of potted pickups and didn't know the '57s were potted. Makes no sense since they are supposed to be PAF style pickups. I watched several videos yesterday comparing SGs to LPs and they all said the SG is much more mid forward, hence Angus Young. One of my all-time albums of my youth was, "On Your Feet Or On Your Knees," BOC, which was all SGs back then as far as I can remember. Great tones in a band setting. Just not quite what I do when I jam alone. I can see how it would be great in the mix but that's not my thing right now. Thanks for your suggestions. If the OX doesn't chime it up, nothin' will. 

[Saul Goodman]

Well, here's my update. The OX-4 chimed it up but it sounds like it may be too hi-fi for this guitar. Not sure just yet. I may add a few pedals in front for more adjusting. After @geoff_hartwell's suggestion of using a '59n I remembered having one from a Studio I never put back in. There's still a hole in the neck position of that guitar ala Phil X. So I thought I'd place that one in the middle position as that tone is pretty much unusable, for me anyway. The middle position on the 3 way selector switch connects the middle pickup and the bridge pickup making a weird tone. In the original '61 those pickups were out of phase according to Uncle Larry. I didn't notice this when I was in the control cavity on this reissue but I wasn't exactly looking for it as it was a bit of a struggle getting the new pickup wire through the tiny holes leading to the cavity. 

I mentioned the OX-4 chimed the tone up but there is still a mid forward tone to it more so than when it was in a LP, so confirming what those in the videos were saying about comparing LP to SG. So I may end up putting the '59 in the neck and the OX-4 in the middle. I'm also looking at the little wafer caps on the pots. They are .022 but little tiny things. I'm going to reharnes my 335 so will look at those caps as a possible upgrade in the SG. 

[velorush]

A (as opposed to the) cool way to wire those is traditional SG wiring for two pickups but with a Master Tone (ala Hamer) and the fourth control as a blender for the middle pickup. 

[Saul Goodman]

8 minutes ago, velorush said:

A (as opposed to the) cool way to wire those is traditional SG wiring for two pickups but with a Master Tone (ala Hamer) and the fourth control as a blender for the middle pickup. 

Yeah, I've looked into that. I have the schematic of Peter Frampton's pickup configuration. I may try it especially if the pickup swap improves things. Or, I may just wire it up like a two pickup guitar and disconnect the middle. 

[mrjamiam]

13 minutes ago, Saul Goodman said:

Yeah, I've looked into that. I have the schematic of Peter Frampton's pickup configuration. I may try it especially if the pickup swap improves things. Or, I may just wire it up like a two pickup guitar and disconnect the middle. 

Or put a smoke generator in there instead?

[Saul Goodman]

54 minutes ago, mrjamiam said:

Or put a smoke generator in there instead?

Maybe if I were gigging. That would be cool. But now days you have to have permits and the EPA gets involved. 

[Dutchman]

I checked the pups in my son's SG which I really like the sound of and they are custom buckers. It's a long Tenon model but I don't know what year it is. The pups are original to the guitar. I keep trying to trade it away from him, but he knows he's got a great player!!