Strange combo - Seymour Duncan JB neck and Pearly Gates bridge?

[Dismalhead]

Hey people,

I'm looking at picking up an old Gibson Sonex that already has an SH-4 JB neck pickup and an SH-PG1 Pearly Gates bridge pickup. Doesn't that seem backwards? I would think a PG would be in the neck and the JB in the bridge.

Does anyone think this would be a good combination? I've got a Pearly Gates Plus in the bridge of my Lone Star Strat and like it a lot, but I have no experience with the JB.

It looks like the JB has about double the DCR as the Pearly Gates - 16.6 vs 8.1. Is it a complete mismatch?

Thanks!

 

[LowCaster]

Isn’t there a different neck version of the JB with less output?

Anyway It’s like a tele with a humbucker in the neck position, it’s just a way to get a really fat tone from the neck and contrast with the bridge, instead of perfectly matching the two pickups.

 

[hamerfan]

Jep, the JB is meant for the Bridge position only, but the PG Bridge could make a fuller sounding neck position too. Swap em, if you dont like the present configuration and see. But you should have a look at the pots, too. All of them should be 500k. But the JB could also have a lower value if its too brite for you taste.

 

[blowtorch]

I fell in love with the pearly gates sounds i'd heard in online clips.
in person I find it to be very bright (for a HB) and a little thin, in the sense of there being just about nothing there for low end

 

[hamerfan]

I fell in love with the pearly gates sounds i'd heard in online clips.
in person I find it to be very bright (for a HB) and a little thin, in the sense of there being just about nothing there for low end

Sound like a great candidate for the neck position.

 

[LowCaster]

Yes as hamerfan said, try it, and when you replace the strings you can swap the two pickups, they are pickguard mounted, so no sodering to do.

 

[Dismalhead]

Yes as hamerfan said, try it, and when you replace the strings you can swap the two pickups, they are pickguard mounted, so no sodering to do.

Yep, I think that's the plan. Check it out first and see if I like it, and then either swap them or pull the JB and put something like a SD '59 in the neck. I've got plenty of other projects that could use a JB bridge.

 

[JKjr]

I've read about people liking the JB in the neck adjusted waaay low. If I remember correctly they would turn the pole screws out and lower the pickup height down below the ring. Supposed to get that breathy woodwind sound like a good P90 will. Will it work? One way to find out and you won't have to change strings. I'd be interested in the results.

 

[Dismalhead]

I've read about people liking the JB in the neck adjusted waaay low. If I remember correctly they would turn the pole screws out and lower the pickup height down below the ring. Supposed to get that breathy woodwind sound like a good P90 will. Will it work? One way to find out and you won't have to change strings. I'd be interested in the results.

Yeah, I love messing with pickup heights trying to find those sweet spots. I'll definitely try that first if I get it. I made an offer on the guitar, now I'm waiting to see if he accepts.

 

[DisharmonicDark99]

I've messed with having a JB in the neck position before.....with the pickup set really low I got some cool results from it, but ultimately it wasn't something I kept using for long. In the bridge position, the JB is one of my favorite pickups of all time though. I think throwing a '59 in the neck would pair up great with that Pearly Gates. Good luck on the offer!

 

[Soapbarstrat]

I used a guitar for a while that had a normal PAF at the bridge and a JB at the neck. I had a ceramic magnet in the JB and a push-pull Schecter pot to split the coils, which made it a 8k single coil. I liked it a lot. I also liked it almost just as much in regular humbucking mode, but I can’t remember how I had the height set. I only took that JB out, because I needed it for the bridge position in another guitar that didn’t have any pickups at all.

 

[Dismalhead]

Guy told me he'd accept my offer so long as I paid for the shipping, which put the cost right back up to his original asking price with free shipping. I chose not to get the guitar.

 

[Ascension]

Might have been a blessing you didn't buy it. The Sonex is not wood it's a plastic body and they are painfully bright plus heavy as a BRICK!!

The Sonex guitars were a range of Gibson electric guitars launched in 1980. They were made from a synthetic material called Resonwood, and manufactured with Multi-phonic body construction.

 

[teleplayr]

Might have been a blessing you didn't buy it. The Sonex is not wood it's a plastic body and they are painfully bright plus heavy as a BRICK!!

The Sonex guitars were a range of Gibson electric guitars launched in 1980. They were made from a synthetic material called Resonwood, and manufactured with Multi-phonic body construction.

Those guitar were a "Flop" when brought out. Get something better!