new epi SG...and a few questions !

[stef]

Hi everyone..
been playing the guitar for a good 15 years now, on and off, and picked it up more seriously just recently. I just bought myself an SG, which i always loved just to give myself some encoragements !
i was particularly looking for a set neck one, the real deal !
I grabbed this one on ebay, for 91euros.. (120 dollars?). set neck, mahogany, gotoh keys...it only needed a few covers (truss rod, base of neck and electrics) and the electrics needed rewiring. (these are the pictures from the seller)
i think it is a 400. however, the pickups dont look right.. unless the cover is removeable ?
the knobs dont look original either..

anyway.
I received it yesterday and promptly proceeded with the wiring (standard Gibson)
I plugged it in, I found it lacks gain..my strat has far, far more gain and they are single coils...to give you an idea..i have to volume on 2-3 on the strat, and it needs to be on 7-8 for the SG to give out as much punch...
so something tells me its not right !
i checked the wiring, and thats fine, so maybe one of the potentiometers? they are 500kohms.
the pickups ? (but both.. that's weird...i didnt mention the gain is vpoor on both pickups)
upon inspection, the pickup are oem epiphone. the togle switch is also marked epiphone.

apart from all this, it's in good overall shape. the neck has a definite bow (which i suppose is normal to some extend..but it looks a bit more than it should.. i might correct that) and i also have a little fret buzz at the high end of the neck. it could do with a trip to a specialist ! i'll get some new string on tuesday, and start from there.

so would anyone have an idea of what's going on with the electronics ?
thank you and Happy easter !

 

[smk506]

How far are your pickups from the strings?

 

[blueman335]

The stock PU's have chrome covers. These could be replacements, or could be stock and have had the covers taken off. Do you have a multi-meter to check out the PU's?

 

[Stretchy]

What bug me a lot is the pickgard... look how much space there is between the pups and the pickguard... Not professional

Looks like a SG Special and someone add a pickguard and had a hard time putting it there! If it is a special the pickups are not Alnico V, dunno what they are... even epiphone web site says "open coils humbuckers".

 

[stef]

ok, been a while, but i corrected the wiring. it's now all good. loads of crunch.

 

[Everdying]

for the lack of pickup covers...it all depends what yr it was produced.

G-400s up to around the late 90s did not have pickup covers.

 

[stef]

yep, i am pretty sure it's a G400.
the gap between neck and body is normally filled with a small cover (i manufactured a replacement !)
the wiring probleme was in fact a mistake from me. i messed up a ground connection somehow !
i read about 16k resistance per pup.
so that all nice and good.
only thing is the action now. it's a little high.
i dressed the fret at the body end of the neck to reduce buzzing, but the neck is still bowed around the 3-5th, regardless of how hard i tighten the truss rod...

 

[TNT]

You're going the wrong way! Loosen the truss rod to take back bow out!

http://everythingsg.com/setup.htm

BTW~91 euros = $140.44USD :cry:

Still a good deal.

 

[stef]

[quote author=TNT link=topic=16587.msg213454#msg213454 date=1213345131]
You're going the wrong way! Loosen the truss rod to take back bow out!

http://everythingsg.com/setup.htm

BTW~91 euros = $140.44USD :cry:

Still a good deal.
[/quote]
i dont think so.
i need to tighten the rod to reduce the action, right ?
at the moment, the distance fret->string is too high. the neck is bowed, i can see it with the naked eye !