Hello folks, brand new member here. (another question : how do I change my avatar?)
So I play hard rock with a slight bent on metal (think Smashing Pumpkins meets Chevelle) and I've got a 2021 Epiphone SG Custom Ebony that sounds fantastic on both pickups but is really a dog of a guitar. I bought it for the tone and the slim neck but it frets out in various spots. And then I have a 2009 Epiphone Les Paul 100 that was basically created with me in mind, we sleep together in the same bed and all that. A superior playing instrument, how rare that is for a 100 I'm not sure.
I've replaced the tuners with Grover Deluxe and the nut with a Graph Tech and now it's time for the pickup swap. The pickups in the LP 100 I believe are ceramic, and it has some good bite but is missing some of the harmonic content of the SG's pickups. This obviously doesn't have a maple cap so we aren't talking about a traditional Les Paul sound here to begin with. From what I can gather it's mahogany. It's not a slab body, it's got a slight belly (like me).
When I play both of them unplugged, the SG has a naturally tight and compressed "kissing" sound, it's very tight, which lends itself to amazing tight crunch on gain channels. This might be why it sounds so good. The LP100 is a bit "looser" sounding unplugged, but still has some appreciable bite especially in the 3 lightest strings. The Sweetwater website says that the SG has Alnico Custom Pros, whatever those are. So I guess I'm looking for a bridge pickup that lends itself to being tight as can be, compressed in a crunchy way, and probably some good bite. The neck pickup I'd like it to be tubular sounding like a gain-y strat neck pickup with liquid sounding leads and clear clean tones.
So far I've had my eye on the Dimarzio Evolution, Dimarzio Crunch Lab, or the Seymour Duncan Invader for the bridge; and the Dimarzio Air Norton, EJ Custom, or Liquifier for the neck.
(Also I'll answer this before it's asked : why don't I swap the SG pickups into the LP100? it's because I plan on selling the SG soon.)
Thanks for your responses!
So I play hard rock with a slight bent on metal (think Smashing Pumpkins meets Chevelle) and I've got a 2021 Epiphone SG Custom Ebony that sounds fantastic on both pickups but is really a dog of a guitar. I bought it for the tone and the slim neck but it frets out in various spots. And then I have a 2009 Epiphone Les Paul 100 that was basically created with me in mind, we sleep together in the same bed and all that. A superior playing instrument, how rare that is for a 100 I'm not sure.
I've replaced the tuners with Grover Deluxe and the nut with a Graph Tech and now it's time for the pickup swap. The pickups in the LP 100 I believe are ceramic, and it has some good bite but is missing some of the harmonic content of the SG's pickups. This obviously doesn't have a maple cap so we aren't talking about a traditional Les Paul sound here to begin with. From what I can gather it's mahogany. It's not a slab body, it's got a slight belly (like me).
When I play both of them unplugged, the SG has a naturally tight and compressed "kissing" sound, it's very tight, which lends itself to amazing tight crunch on gain channels. This might be why it sounds so good. The LP100 is a bit "looser" sounding unplugged, but still has some appreciable bite especially in the 3 lightest strings. The Sweetwater website says that the SG has Alnico Custom Pros, whatever those are. So I guess I'm looking for a bridge pickup that lends itself to being tight as can be, compressed in a crunchy way, and probably some good bite. The neck pickup I'd like it to be tubular sounding like a gain-y strat neck pickup with liquid sounding leads and clear clean tones.
So far I've had my eye on the Dimarzio Evolution, Dimarzio Crunch Lab, or the Seymour Duncan Invader for the bridge; and the Dimarzio Air Norton, EJ Custom, or Liquifier for the neck.
(Also I'll answer this before it's asked : why don't I swap the SG pickups into the LP100? it's because I plan on selling the SG soon.)
Thanks for your responses!