Replacing pickups on guitar

Reznik

Hey, so my guitar is all taken apart because I'm painting it, and I figured this would be a good opportunity to upgrade what I can before I put it all back together.

It's an Epiphone SG Special from 2004-ish, so not exactly a fancy guitar. I have a little bit of money to burn on this, though I know that since it's a pretty cheap guitar there's really only so much new pickups will do for the sound. However, I'd still like to improve it in any way possible. I don't really know much about pickups, other than the difference between single coil and humbuckers, the latter of which are the ones in my guitar.

Suggestions?

Dehumanized

I've done this on a couple of my guitars -- it's a fun little project that can get some new and different sounds out of your old gear.

This guide from a site I used to frequent should cover the basics on how to replace them:
http://www.jag-stang.com/faq/general/how-do-i-wire-guitar-pickups/

And here is a wiring diagram that should match your guitar:
http://static.zoovy.com/img/guitarelectronics/-/wdu_hh3t22_02

jwideman

The pickups are the best thing in an Epiphone already.

Typhoid Manny

Reznik wrote:

Hey, so my guitar is all taken apart because I'm painting it, and I figured this would be a good opportunity to upgrade what I can before I put it all back together.

It's an Epiphone SG Special from 2004-ish, so not exactly a fancy guitar. I have a little bit of money to burn on this, though I know that since it's a pretty cheap guitar there's really only so much new pickups will do for the sound. However, I'd still like to improve it in any way possible. I don't really know much about pickups, other than the difference between single coil and humbuckers, the latter of which are the ones in my guitar.

Suggestions?

see if you can find a humbucker-sized P90 to put in the neck slot. a P90's a single-coil but it's a little more than twice the width of a normal single-coil. you get a nice mellow sound out of them and a little less hum.