Should the bridge output on an SG be noticeably lower than the neck?

andyman

I got a used SG through gumtree and it arrived today. The dude seems legit, but it sounds like the bridge pickup is clearly lacking in volume compared to the neck.
That's not normal, right? 

Collings

Well if the pickups are the same the neck pickup will be louder than the bridge which is why manufacturers will often fit a hotter pickup in the bridge to compensate.

Do you know what pickups are fitted?

Have you checked the pickup heights are adjusted correctly?

andyman

I confirmed they were standard 490R/498Ts and the bridge is up about as far as it'll go. The neck pickup's almost at the same level as the body but there's a noticeable jump in volume when I switch to it. The bridge pickup sounds kind of weak, like it's got no balls...

SteveRobinson

Sounds like the bridge pickup might be faulty. 

Collings

andyman said:

I confirmed they were standard 490R/498Ts and the bridge is up about as far as it'll go. The neck pickup's almost at the same level as the body but there's a noticeable jump in volume when I switch to it. The bridge pickup sounds kind of weak, like it's got no balls...

I would check the wiring and then the pickup.

Funkfingers

Older SGs often get lumbered with the 490R/490T pair. Compared to the 490R, the 490T has a wider polepiece spread and only fractionally more output. 

SteveRobinson said:

Sounds like the bridge pickup might be faulty. 

+1  If the overwound 498T is struggling to balance with the output of a 490R set low, something is wrong.

That could be from a partially de-Gaussed bar magnet. It could be a shorted coil. It could be that, in retrofitting metal covers, somebody has damaged the links between the start/finish wires from each coil and the overall output cable of the pickup.

If your SG has the PCB controls and block connector system, something could be amiss there. A shot of Servisol in the right places might solve the problem.

While you are in the control cavity, spraying things, try cleaning the sprung leaf contact surfaces on the pickup selector switch.

Winny_Pooh

 Multimeter will help tell if it's faulty. Perhaps they've been reversed.

SteveRobinson

I suspect a broken coil. Pickup sounding weedy (very trebly, nothing else) is the symptom.

ab2017

498t will be in the 13k region. 490r around 7-8k multi meter check first 

TTBZ

I've struggled no end with finding a decent bridge pickup for my SG. Didn't mind the 498t but it always felt a bit thin and weedy in this guitar - was fine in a les paul though! Surprisingly the Axesrus Purist I put in sounds way bigger despite being lower output.

ab2017

Duncan custom 5 or 59 sounded good to me in an sg

Philly_Q

Funkfingers said:

Older SGs often get lumbered with the 490R/490T pair. Compared to the 490R, the 490T has a wider polepiece spread and only fractionally more output. 

This is true.  If it's an SG Special as opposed to a Standard, it'll have 490T/490R pickups rather than 498T/490R.

(That's for 90s, 00s models, I haven't kept up with all the changes in recent years)

WezV

Have you done the obvious and played with pickup heights yet?   

SG’s often need the bridge pickup to look quite high to be a similar distance from the string

fastonebaz

could the previous owner have messed up the wiring and so the bridge pup is wired in single coil mode only causing it to sound weedy?  Does it hum alot compared to the neck pup?  if so that could be it.

andyman

Thanks for the advice, guys. I made sure it's a Standard with the usual pickups and it's a 2016 the guy's had from the shop in near mint condition, so this is all a bit odd. Maybe something got knocked loose in the post, but either way it's looking like I'm going to have to crack this fucker open, which is slightly daunting.
What contact cleaner's recommended:  Servisol?

Also, that's the second time someone's mentioned them being reversed. Howso? Dude said he never modifies his guitars.

Funkfingers

andyman said:

2016 Standard with the usual pickups. 

That should be the 498T, then. 

andyman said:
that's the second time someone's mentioned them being reversed.

Phase reversal would only have any noticeable effect when both pickups are selected together. 

If the bridge pickup is faulty, the middle position on the selector switch will sound almost exactly the same as the neck pickup by itself.

John_A

Tip. If you have a multimeter you can measure the DC resistance with the pickups in the guitar, just put a patch cable in the jack socket and measure tip to ring on that

ab2017

I always swap the magnet for an alnico 2 in a 498t makes the pickup much better imo. Gets rid of the gibson screech and smooths the pickup tone out.

Adjust pickup height and D.C check first. I'd put neck height just around level pickguard height at least 3mm from string and jack up that bridge pickup to around 2mm from string then adjust bass and treble heights.

I only adjust pole pieces to balance volume between the D and G and B strings as that is where the radius of fretboard comes into play in regards to volume. Pick hard and softly and listen to string response through a clean and dirty amp. Fret around 12 and 14 fret with neck pickup on and if any pitch wobble back off pickup slightly. These are all fine tuning tips!

ICBM

John_A said:

Tip. If you have a multimeter you can measure the DC resistance with the pickups in the guitar, just put a patch cable in the jack socket and measure tip to ring on that

... making sure the volume controls are up full and the selector switch is set to the pickup you want to check .

crunchman

John_A said:

Tip. If you have a multimeter you can measure the DC resistance with the pickups in the guitar, just put a patch cable in the jack socket and measure tip to ring on that

Strictly speaking, this will read slightly low as you will have the volume pot in parallel with it.  If the sums I just did are correct a 13 k pickup would read 12.7 k in parallel with a 500k pot.   For diagnostics you don't need to worry too much about accuracy.  As long as it's in the right ball park then you know the coils are ok.

p90fool

@ab2017 ; I recently put an A3 in a 498t, that transforms it too.