Removed my SG's neck pickup

ivan H

ivan H

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With all my other guitars, all pickups get use. My SG however, its "bridge only" at all times. With the recent "Junior" threads & the general consensus that single pickup guitars sound better than their two pickup counterparts I thought I'd see if "no neck pickup" made a discernable difference. I mean, Malcolm Young thought it did & he had a very good ear for tone. I didn't want to leave a gaping, empty humbucker route in the guitar so scored a cheap & nasty humbucker of a buddy. Removed the windings & magnet, fitted a small, correctly sized wooden spacer in place of the magnet & soldered a cover on. I then wax potted it to prevent any vibration issues.WP_20180610_002.jpg
No cable to worry aboutWP_20180610_001.jpg
Fitted to the pickup ring.
It was getting late at night by the time I was ready to fit it to the guitar so I knew I wouldn't be able to give it a good, thorough (loud) test (don't want the neighbours throwing house bricks on the roof). I did want a before & after comparison so used the guitar into a Vox Amplug (classic rock) into my recently built champ with the volume low. Changing the neck pickup was easy, desolder cable from the volume pot, loosen strings, out with the 57 classic, in with the dummy pickup & retune. I played the same things for the before & after test. So could I hear a discernable difference? Well yes, even at that low volume. Even my buddy (who also plays guitar) agreed that it had better clarity & definition, more,,, presence maybe. So I'm off to try it at volume through my 4 hole 50 watter to see how it sounds. I'm thinking that any differences will be more noticeable. Cheers
 
I think the reason why Juniors sound different is not just the absence of the magnet at the neck affecting the strings. It is the extra wood and rigidity of the area around the neck tenon, which you don't gain by removing the pickup. Here is the neck joint on my Junior.

rZrT9J6.jpg


Here's another photo of the same area, this time on my SG Special. This is pretty much what all recent SGs with a neck pickup look like.

iEZ2CFB.jpg
 
Dave Sloven said:
I think the reason why Juniors sound different is not just the absence of the magnet at the neck affecting the strings. It is the extra wood and rigidity of the area around the neck tenon, which you don't gain by removing the pickup. Here is the neck joint on my Junior.

rZrT9J6.jpg


Here's another photo of the same area, this time on my SG Special. This is pretty much what all recent SGs with a neck pickup look like.

iEZ2CFB.jpg
Click to expand...
You make a very good point Dave. The extra wood & rigidity no doubt account for a very large percentage of the tonal differences. Removing the magnetic influence of the neck pickup does seem to have opened up the tone though, seems a little more complex, a little better attack & definition. Not a huge difference, but discernable. Mine, a '13 tribute model
WP_20180523_001.jpg doesn't have the large route shown in your lower pic. There is a small drilling through the neck pickup route, on to the bridge pickup route & then the control cavity.
Chilli & Mr Grumpy, thanks for the kind words. I like that about the 4 hole 4 Watters Chilli. Should your fine example ever need disposal I'd happily pay the freight here to make sure its done properly.
Mr Grumpy, sounds like you fitted right in while here in Oz.
I'm very much in agreement on the humbucker in the neck of a TeleWP_20180530_001.jpg although when transplanting a non Fender item in there care must be taken to avoid phase issues. This has a Gibson BB1 in the neck which has the screw poles southWP_20180612_001.jpg (screw pole can be seen under the hinge of the compass). The bridge pickup poles are "south up" & its wound "top right, top going" (anti clockwise). This has both pickups in phase. The bridge pickup is A3 which has a characteristically rich tone. Cheers
 
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