Hey gang, some might have seen my post about a 1994 61 reissue I purchased and how I wasn't happy with the stock classic 57's. Despite the USPS best effort to loose them, I finally got a set of Duncan Seth Lover's which I have some experience with in a 335 style guitar and really liked. I also almost bought a set of Porter PAF's because I felt the alnico 5 could really wake up the guitar which was sounding dark, dull, and muffled to my ear but ultimately went with the Lover's because the devil you know and all. Any way, so far VERY happy with them and the guitar and I are much friendlier since the swap. I threw together a little video to try and compare the two for anyone interested. I feel like the the clean tones really come through better in the recording more than dirtier ones, but I'm happier all across the board with the sound in person, and I'm not great at capturing guitar sounds. Enjoy
WOW, you didn't like the '57's ? You may be the 1st player I've ever heard that from. I find that the pole pieces can be key to getting the SG's I have sound their best. IDK if all SG's have slightly slanted Pick-Up's but both of mine do. One of them (2019 SG 'Original') had the problem you mentioned and adjusting the P-up height as well as the pole pieces straightened that right out ! So much so that my opinion of the guitar changed instantly..... itssa li'l CANNON ! For me, the SG Standard w/57's is the beast I love best !
Sounds great. I too am not a fan of the 57+. I just replaced it with a Duncan JB in the bridge of my Les Paul. Huge improvement.
Same here, in this video I find the SL to sound anemic and lack the string separation of the 57's. In a blind test, I would have without a doubt chosen the 57's. I suppose (hope) it's totally different live.
yeah I endlessly played with the neck pickup with the 57's in it and simply couldn't find any sound I wouldn't describe as dull to my ear. Mine also had a slight tilt to the pickups. I had a 2006 standard that I always used the stock pickups in and loved that guitar, but those were the 498's I think in those?
more and more often I think I'm moving this direction. I have a 1962 SG JR that I believe has an original pickup in it and I adore the sound of that thing. I was eyeballing a couple used Rivolta guitars with P90's that looked awesome for the price. The filtertron pickups have been a favorite lately for me as well, a couple years ago I built this offset tele style guitar for fun and used a TV jones in the neck and it sounds great and surprisingly this "cheap" project guitar has turned out to be my most used since.
I've moved away from traditional humbuckers completely. I use a stock P-90 at the neck position for cleans and a Fralin Hum Cancelling P-90 at the bridge for hi gain use.
