Project: 1986 Gibson SG HB to P90 Conversion

[Speed King]

So more updates:

The pickup cavities are shielded.

Here we see the shield that goes under the pickguard in place.

Here's the finished product. I didn't want to go with a plain old black pickguard so I livened things up a little by painting the underside of the pickguard with a metallic black. It's actually pretty subtle until the light hits it directly, then all the flake in the paint lights up.

 

[Speed King]

Here's a few more shots of the guitar outside.

 

[Speed King]

BTW, this guitar now sounds absolutely amazing! It's everything I wanted, but never got with humbuckers. It's fat, but with an element of Telecaster twang. The neck pickup is fat and sweet with a very nice bite. In fact I can sum up the overall tone with two words, "Fat Bite". It's as if a Les Paul and a Telecaster had an illegitimate love child and the baby grew up to be this SG.


As far as the shiedling goes, the RF sizzle and static is completely gone. The 60hz hum is still there. I knew the shielding wouldn't do a whole lot to remove it, but the input gate on my Line 6 Helix removes it almost completely so I'm happy to have an almost noise free (True P90) guitar.

 

[Speed King]

I'll have pic of the control cavity wiring sometime today.

 

[Speed King]

Ok I fibbed, pics of the control cavity are a day late.

Don't worry that there's not enough slack in the pickup wire, the slack is all in the pickup cavities so the pickups can be removed easily for inspection.

 

[Speed King]

So my 86 SG is no longer a P90 guitar, it's now a Firebird SG. I converted her over to Firebird pickups, more specifically, Mojotone Johnny Winter signature pickups. They're designed as an improved version of the pickups that we're in Johnny's number one Firebird, the green 1963 Firebird V. I'll post some pics later on when I get time. As for the Wolfetone P90s, they found a forever home in a new guitar, a 2021 Epiphone Wilshire, I'll take pics of her when I can as well. This probably seems like a strange move considering all the work it took to get the P90s into this guitar, but I've always wanted to own a firebird again, I had a 1964 Firebird 1 when I was in my mid 20's, it got stolen out of my appartment when I was at work (I worked nights then). Since a good vintage Firebird costs around 8 to 12K, and reissues are around $1800 to $2500. I figured the only way I would get a guitar that sounds like Firebird is convert SG. And because I still wanted a P90 guitar, I bought a cheep P90 guitar and rewired it with the Wolfetone P90s.