05 Historic 62 Reissue sounds lifeless???

[markophonic]

I just picked up a 2005 Gibson Historic/custom shop 62 Reissue SG. I think these were sold at GC only for a year or two. Beautiful guitar but it just sounds lifeless...I've been playing it for the last couple of days through a 5F2A fender clone and I thought maybe it was the amp (though my 3 other sg's sounded fine through it).

Today I had a chance to run through several of my other amps (70 silverface deluxe reverb, Peavey classic 50 2x12, Fender Tweed deluxe) and it sounds lifeless through these as well. Plugged in 3 other SG's I have (86 thats similar to the 62 reissue, an Epi with a maestro and an Epi faded and they sound great, full with great tone etc.

Something sounds wrong here... No fat tone whatsoever...even the epi's are blowing it out of the water tonewise?

Pulled the back cover off and the wiring appears to be all original solder joints, brown caps with the stripes on them? etc. I haven't pulled a pickup out yet but I'm assuming that they are classic 57's (only because I have read thats what was put in this guitar)

Any Ideas what the problem may be...perhaps something is wired wrong?

I've adjusted the pickups up and down etc. It just sounds really WEAK? about half the output of the other SG's and Les Pauls I have.

[Boleskinehouse]

Not sure what the problem could be. My '05 is freakin powerful!






The '57 Classics sound great!

[markophonic]

Yea...looks just like mine Love It!

But mine sounds like crap...I've owned alot of SG's over the last 30 years and never had anything like this?

I guess I'm gonna have to check the wiring out and make sure everything is wired correctly...Maybe a pup wire is reversed or something?

I'll try to get a pic up of the electronics and maybe someone can tell me if things look right... does anybody have a schematic or wiring diagram that can show me what goes where?

[Boleskinehouse]

Not the greatest pics, but here's the control cavity on mine.

[filiphslim]

Tried a fresh set of strings yet?

[markophonic]

Boleskinehouse - Thanks for the pic. I'll compare to mine

filiphslim - That did cross my mind. Put new strings on when I got it a few days ago. Same strings as on thirtysomething other guitars I have.

Thanks guys!

[Zero]

Originally Posted by markophonic

I just picked up a 2005 Gibson Historic/custom shop 62 Reissue SG. I think these were sold at GC only for a year or two. Beautiful guitar but it just sounds lifeless...I've been playing it for the last couple of days through a 5F2A fender clone and I thought maybe it was the amp (though my 3 other sg's sounded fine through it).

Today I had a chance to run through several of my other amps (70 silverface deluxe reverb, Peavey classic 50 2x12, Fender Tweed deluxe) and it sounds lifeless through these as well. Plugged in 3 other SG's I have (86 thats similar to the 62 reissue, an Epi with a maestro and an Epi faded and they sound great, full with great tone etc.

Something sounds wrong here... No fat tone whatsoever...even the epi's are blowing it out of the water tonewise?

Pulled the back cover off and the wiring appears to be all original solder joints, brown caps with the stripes on them? etc. I haven't pulled a pickup out yet but I'm assuming that they are classic 57's (only because I have read thats what was put in this guitar)

Any Ideas what the problem may be...perhaps something is wired wrong?

I've adjusted the pickups up and down etc. It just sounds really WEAK? about half the output of the other SG's and Les Pauls I have.

I thought the Historic models used BB 1&2 pick-up's ?

[Boleskinehouse]

Originally Posted by Zero

I thought the Historic models used BB 1&2 pick-up's ?

The GC exclusive models came with '57 Classics and Grovers.

[teejayh]

I had a '62 SG RI. Nice looking guitar but was not a great one. My SG Classic was a much better sounding and playing guitar.

[R9.]

markophonic, maybe you just got a bad one...it happens. Did you try it before you bought it?
I tried one out a while back and it wasn't the greatest.
I got mine a few days ago and it's anything but lifeless. Killer tone! BB 1 & 2.

[markophonic]

Well an update...after playing with this thing for a few more days I decieded to finally set it up to my liking. When I got it the action was incredibly low, lower than I've ever played...some people like the really low action but I decieded to raise the strings a little and get the neck set up to my liking.

I get it set up to my liking and plug in to get the pup heights set etc. and low and behold if it doesn't sound better now!

I think the low action was just killing the string vibration or something because it really opened up

I was going to stick in a pair of BB 1 & 2's that were pulled from an R9...now I'll have to wait and see. I think I will still change the pots and caps etc.

[Huey]

Originally Posted by Boleskinehouse

The GC exclusive models came with '57 Classics and Grovers.

boles bought from guitar denter????

[Boleskinehouse]

Originally Posted by Huey

boles bought from guitar denter????

Only because it was super cheap at the time.

[Owl]

I think the '57 Classics and Grovers are pretty sweet features. I've thought about doing both to my Standard, but I can never make up my mind. I've really been liking the 490R/498T set lately, so I'm putting any changes on hold.

[Leendrix]

If I were you, I would take it to guitar center, and try it through some diffrent amps. If it still sounds bad... return your SG

[Plankspanker]

I'd put a decent set of caps in it. Those phoney BBs choke the sound. I've got a 2000 Historic SG with '57 Classics and the ceramic disks, which I swapped out for some Gudeman NOS t's better sounding than most of my other Gibsons. The polepieces are all adjusted height-wise on it, along with the overall PU height.... makes a difference.