Here Today... Gone To Hell!

I just bought an Epiphone G-400 Custom and I'm probably going to change the nut, tuners and humbuckers.  I've been playing for a few years, but my main axe is a Fender Mustang, so I haven't tried many humbucking guitars, other than my friend's Gibson V (which has stock Gibson pickups).  

I've got a pretty good idea about what kind of tuners I want to use, but it's hard to try out humbuckers.  I wanted to see what types you guys use, or have played, and what your favorites are.  

The G-400 has three humbuckers, each with an individual volume, so I'll be able to use each seperately or blend any combination of the three.  I'm thining about Seymour Duncans, with a distortion in the bridge, and maybe a Pearly Gates in the Neck, but I'm not too sure what to do in the middle.  Any reccomendations are appreciated.

Seymiour Duncan 56? or JB

hmmm favourite,

dimazzio PAF classic in the neck

and a gibson p94T in the bridge.

The p94t was really interesting, because it isn't a normal sized humbucker, and took a lot of effort to get set up properly. But it was well worth it. I think these humbuckers are used on gibson firebirds with the 3 humbucker setup to fit them all on, but they are damn awesome is all i gotta say.

The Duncan JB is the best selling pup in the world as far as I know.

I don't know what will happen if you put three standard pickups right next to each other because the magnetics might all interfere with each other and screw up the sound.  I personally wouldn't bother with a middle pickup, because
a. three SD's will cost you at least $250 and,
b. I've never come across any guitarist who has a use for a middle humbucker..
c. it might ruin all three pickups.

JB in the bridge Alnico Pro/'59 in the neck seems to be the most common pairings.

the pickups are going to cost you a pooload if your getting 3 new ones. $300 with installation cause personally I have no idea how to wire 3 humbuckers. you won't ruin them, they'll just run out of phase if incorrect which you can get cool brian may things going but I like the basic rock guitar setup.  

I personally love duncan humbuckers with alnico II magnets....pearly gates, alnico II or seth lover.  You can also get an alnico II magnet and put it in a PAF pickup if you know how...you get almost instant van halen.

Depending on the amount of distortion you want and how much feel you want in the guitar you could go for a lower output pickup for less distortion and more feel (7-11k) or anything higher you can't hear the subtle nuances of your playing.  

I also suggest you poast what kind of sound you want.

But then again when your playing with a drummer and if you have an amp that is high gain it doesn't matter that much

Thanks for the advice guys!

I personally know nothing about wiring pickups, but I'm confident that the guy who sets up my guitars will be able to do it.  I'm also going to see what advice he has, once I get home (I'm at college right now, so I'll be waiting until summer to get anything done).  He's very good (used to tour with Motley Crue, currently runs his own guitar tech business, used to work for the local Gibson dealer).

I'm figuring it will cost me around $300 to set up, all told.  Almost as much as I paid for the guitar, but I figure it's a good investment considering this will be my main guitar for quite a while.

I play mostly rhythm, some original stuff, mostly covers ... everything from GNR to Ozzy to Slayer to Nirvana (although my Mustang mostly takes care of the Nirvana sounds), and everything inbetween.  I'd kind of like this guitar to be an awesome rhythm guitar, but also be able to play some leads, too.

Sorry...I have to ask...have you ever heard a Seth Lover or a Pearly Gates?  Both actually are made with Alnico II magnets.

Also, EVH used an original PAF in his first guitar, which he got overwound by Seymour Duncan, then after a breif spell with a SD 59 in his second (red, black and white) guitar, he started getting them all custom wound.  So I'm not sure you'll actually get "instant van halen" by replacing the magnet in a PAF (why would you do that anyway?).  And that's even if you did have and amp with mutliple pre-amps or cascading gain stages...

Bridge--->Seymour Duncan - Pearly Gates
Neck----->Seymour Duncan - '59

Di Marzio Paf Pro Neck position
Dimarzio The Breed -Bridge

the paf pro would be a very good choice for the SG cuz it has a very warm sound

Duncan ALNICO II Pros

Duncan Seth Lover

Voodoo '60 PAFs

Timbucker PAFs

Real PAFs $$$$

i switch on my les pauls... between

alnico 2 pro SD NECK N`BRIDGE
498R HUMBUCKER GIBSON NECK
500T HUMBUCKER GIBSON BRIDGE
59` SD BRIDGE
57`HUMBUCKER GIBSON NECK N`BRIDGE