Chasing Thom Yorke's 64 SG tone

[TheWayfarer]

Title says it all...after a neck tone that matches the video at 25:44. I believe the 64 should have Pat # pickups in it, which would be alnico V and Poly wire, right? Which initially led me to the Bare Knuckle Riff Raffs...but I'm hesitant as most guys only rave about them for Angus tone (I'm not after Angus tone), and also mention they are sort of hard and edgy. I'm still very new to SG's and couldn't tell you if mine is a bright or dark one. It's a 2013 Standard. They 57's aren't bad, but are sort of flat sounding too. I crave detail 3D swirl and complexity!

I'm after more a really pleasing clean tone and then dirty roots rock/blues tone. Heavily leaning towards Bare Knuckle Mondays or Mules. I run through a Fuzz Face (rolled off volume for just breakup) > Klon clone >Tubescreamer > Blackfaced '72 Vibrolux with Jensen style speakers.

 

[Huckleberry]

I have an SG with Mules and you won't get that tone with them. They very much want to play Allman Brothers, Cream, and junk like that. What you want, I think anyway, is a pair of Manlius's T-top pickups which is what you want to get a 64 tone anyway. They're alnico 5 short magnet and sound great. Super detailed clarity with fuzz, overdrive or clean. I love both sets but I wouldn't recommend the mules for what you want.

 

[DCCable]

First of all like chasing the sound of a lot of big name acts there's a lot that goes into the sound other than just the guitar or the pickups. What I'm hearing there is that the tone control on the guitar or the amp or both is rolled way back. It would be helpful to know what the full signal chain is in order to fully understand what's going on.

But to answer your question on "detailed 3D swirl" stay away from potted pickups. Unpotted pickups have far less of the flat 2D sound than the majority of pickups, which are potted. As a matter of fact the more microphonic a pickup is the more interesting its sound, generally speaking. If you must play at volume levels that invite squeal there are other ways of suppressing that sort of stuff other than potting.

I have wound quite a few pickups and have repaired quite a few pickups with open coils, so I know of what I speak ( I don't even pot my Strat pickups.)

 

[Satellitedog]

In the song you pointed out Wayfarer, House of Cards, all three guitars are playing, and I'm not sure Thom's SG is giving off the grunting overdriven low notes. Could that be Ed playing? Jonny plays the e-bowed, pitch-shifted ambient part, and Thom's playing the simple chord sequence with a clean tone. Also, am I hearing a broken speaker, or is that an overdriven preamp?
I was also looking for a good example of Thom's SG, but he plays it clean, with the tone rolled off to some extent (probably to leave sonic space for his voice and Jonny's tele)

 

[Rob1299]

I have a SG-scale Schecter and I want to upgrade the pickups. If I want the SG sound from In Rainbows, which combo would be better?

Seymour Duncan SH-2 Jazz (neck) and SH-4 JB (bridge)
490R (neck) 490T (bridge)

Background: I'm a rock singer-songwriter, and it almost all chords and two-note strums (not necessarily 1-5) when distorted - think "optimistic." I don't usually hit single notes. But I do play clean and distorted. I'm a big fan of the Sonic Youth sound as well, but I already have an American Performer Jazzmaster.