Nightbird replacement pickups

My 1986 GG Nightbird has Kent Armstrong pickups and to me these sound very sterile. I was thinking of replacing them with Seymor Duncans as on the Bluesbird. Can anyone suggest an optimum combination of pickups that will be an easy replacement?

Thanks

Steve

Certainly like the EMGs on my Nightbird.

Stevo said:

My 1986 GG Nightbird has Kent Armstrong pickups and to me these sound very sterile. I was thinking of replacing them with Seymor Duncans as on the Bluesbird. Can anyone suggest an optimum combination of pickups that will be an easy replacement?

Thanks

Steve

Click to expand...

Hello Steve,

Hope this message finds you well. I have a Nightbird that I bought with a Seymour Duncan SH-2 in the neck and a SH-4 in the bridge position. It's a classic combination but I guess other combinations could work as well.

If you can find other pickups for your Nightbird and since you don't like the sound of the Kent Armstrongs, would you consider selling the Kent Armstrong pickups to me?
I have another Nightbird that I would like to bring back in it's original condition.

Just let me know if we can work something out.

Sincerely,

Hans Moust
http://www.guitarsgalore.nl

Hi Steve -- Here are some Duncan pickup combinations that I've found to work well with Nightbirds and other spruce top/mahog body guitars:

Seth Lover in both positions
Phat Cats in both positions
Seth Lover bridge/Phat Cat neck
I also have a Nightbird that has a SH-2 and SH-4 combo, but I'm not a big fan of the SH-4. It is a higher output humbucker and as such is a little compressed and is very mid-forward without much low/high extension. Like most higher output buckers, you don't get as much in the way of dynamics either.

Now is a really good time for pickup selection as there are a lot of good choices. I tend to like lower-outpt humbuckers. Some others to consider are TV Jones, Lollar Imperials, and a guy in the woods of California whose name I'm forgetting right now.

Thanks for the suggestions, I think I might give the SH-2 and SH-4 combo a try. I really like the growl of the SD bridge p/u on my Bluesbird. The Kents are much lower output and just don't drive my tube amps the way I like. Sorry but I'm going to hang on to the Kents just in case I want to sell the guitar in original spec.

Steve

I also have the sh -2 and 4 combo .. but added a push pull tone switch
to give you more variety..single coil sounds This is not on a guild..but it
works well if you have the room

just my .02 I'm far from a P/U expert just something you may want to think about

Hi, I purchased a 86 night bird with EMG's, I've now fitted Seymours SH2 and Sh4, it's fantastic now.
I'm really a fan of EMG's but Seymours are a better pickup for a nightbird, the first few Nightbirds made did have Seymours but along came Krammer and signed a deal with Seymour Duncan so Guild could no longer get hold of the pickups, thats why Guild went for EMG's and also Kent's.

Good luck