Here's what they have to say about the pickups on the Gibson website:
Are these different than the ones you guys are accustomed to? It's a brand new guitar so these are the factory pickups.
But the question remains. What are you used to?
I don't see how they're different from the old mini-buckers. They're made the same way. Surely Gibson would brag if they're overwound, but overwinding isn't mentioned in any literature I've seen for the mini-buckers.
I think you may be confusing the natural bright attack and tight midrange of a mini-bucker with "hot".
The mini-buckers in my SG are most definitely not hot.
I don't see how they're different from the old mini-buckers.
If you were to put them side by side, a big difference would be heard. Even if you took different guitars out of the mix by trying old and new minis in the same guitar, it would still be different.
All of those old pickups were different because of the human element. My point was the construction due to size limitations is the same with new and old minibuckers, so their general characteristics should be about the same. Unless they're overwound, they can't be too hot because they pick up vibrations from a narrower range and Alnico II mags aren't known for being hot and edgy. They're gonna be more focused and brighter than typical humbuckers, but not as focused and bright as a single coil.
Thanks guys. I've been busy with family stuff and haven't been able to play or get in the studio for a few days. I'm going to post some tone samples. The LP needs a good setup (by a Pro for the first time at least). I bought the warranty from Sam Ash and it includes unlimited set ups for 2 years. I'm going to drop if off this weekend hopefully.
This might be a stupid question, but the stop tail bridge piece is really high off the body on this LP. I know it's adjustable for a reason, but I've seen pics of other LPs with the bridge piece being set low to the body. I know that's going to be relative to how the guitar needs to be set up, but are they usually set higher or lower? Does that affect anything with the tone or playability?
Bridge height is how the string height is adjusted, mainly a preference thing relative to the player. If the bridge height is adjusted, pickup height may also need to be adjusted as well as the intonation (saddles). When you get it set up they should take care of all of that if you give them an idea of your ideal string height.
You're getting into myth, legend, and snake-oil territory on LP setups. Some people swear by keeping the tailpiece low, some say it doesn't matter, some say top wrapping the strings means everything.
In my opinion, none of that shit matters. It is important to set the tailpiece height low enough to get sufficient break angle across the saddles but don't set it so low that the strings rub the back of the bridge. The rest is a bunch of hoopla over nothing.
Some people set the tailpiece all the way down "for sustain", but this results in the strings rubbing the bridge. So they then top-wrap the strings to lift them back up and get a more "slinky" feel, but again, this is just personal preference and myth and legend.
Thanks Greg, this helps a lot. I've been seeing a lot of love for the top-wrapping method, but I don't think I wanna do that personally.
Obviously top-wrapping is a necessity with compensated bridge/tailpieces. You don't have that. You have a separate bridge and tailpiece. With those, top wrapping is unnecessary and does nothing but maybe give you a slinkier feel. I've tried it myself and felt no change, heard no change, and I think it looks stupid, so I went back to normal. Generally, Les Pauls sustain because they're a gigantic heavy block of wood that resists resonance and keeps vibration energy in the string. Weird tailpiece tricks don't do anything to help that. Maybe if your Les Paul is one of the generously chambered models, some of these tricks might help it out. You really just have to try them and decide for yourself.
How can I tell if the pickups in the LP are microphonic? If I tap on them lightly with the pick the sound comes through the amp loud and now when I plug the guitar into my interface and try to record DI into the 1800 with an amp sim I get this terrible sound coming from the sim. It sounds awful. I'm going to take the guitar back to the store tomorrow and see if I can sort it out, but I wanted to try and understand what might be happening before doing that so they don't try to rip me off.