The pickup options are endless. If you want to go with the classic Gibson sound, I would go with a Gibson 490 at the neck and a Gibson 498 at the bridge but that is just what I like. I replaced the tuners on my SG and Les Paul with Grovers. It is a shame that Gibson makes such fine guitars but shitty tuners.

waste of money, i would just get the gibson. you can grab an sg for anywhere from 500 to 800$. a decent set of pickups will run ya from $150 to $200. tuners another 30$. and the different woods DO make a difference in tones. better hardware on a gibson as well. i just don't think saving a few bucks is as satisfying as owning the real thing considering that the difference in $$ is this miniscule. i mean if you are willing to dump $200 extra dollars into a guitar,why not just buy the guitar you want in the first place.

of course there are other options. i got a nearly brand new schecter oo6 from a pawn shop on evilbay for 112$. put a kickass JB seymour duncan in it(55$) and now it is a monster guitar for 160$.

so i would continue looking at your options for a new guitar. just seems to me that buying cheap and spending a bunch on upgrades is unecessary when you can more than likely just buy what you want in the same price range to begin with.......

by the by a set of seymour duncan JB's runs from $135 to 150......

just checked on ebay and there are a bunch of nice, real gibson SG's in the $500 to $700 and a few even cheaper. so you are looking at an epi sg for $280 to $300(with the shipping) + $200 in upgrades =$500....so why not just spend the extra $100 and get a real gibson......??

my epi came with grover tuners already on it

i dunno, the epi les paul standard plus top really didnt seem like a bad guitar at all. im probably gonna nab it has im not gonna have the cash for a les paul in the near future...
saving for college sucks ass.

The Gibson SG's on ebay are low end Gibbys, not the Standards. The Epi G-400 plays very close to how a Gibson Standard SG plays. It is still cheaper to put a few hundred dollars into than buy a good Gibby. The G-400's I'm looking at have a Mohogany body and a neck, same as the Gibby SG Standard. A few upgrades, and they are basiclly the same guitar, and if not, well they are pretty close, and for a lot cheaper. When you buy a Gibby you do pay a lot more for the name. But I'm not saying they are bad guitars, and are nice guitars. But I know and high end Epi can beat out a lower end Gibson. I personally wouldn't buy a Gibson that is "under" the standard SG/ standard Les Paul.

There is my two cents.

Just my opinion take it for what it is worth but I have real issues with someone buying a new guitar with the exact purpose of changing everything but the body. Pickups WILL make the guitar sound different (as will nut material, weight of the tailpiece, etc). You can change everything you want but at the end of the day you still have a $400 guitar that may or may not be what you thought it would be.

Just go play a BUNCH of guitars though YOUR equipment and buy the one that makes you go "ohhhh". Then you're not changing anything and the possibility for disappointment just disappears.

Oh, I am still going to go try out guitars. I'm usually not happy till I play every single one in the store.

And I may not even go though with this. It's one of many options I am considering right now. But it will be a while before I do actually buy a new guitar. I just like going though my options. It would be a lot easier to decide on a new guitar if there was a guitar shop closer than an hour away. There are three local shops in a city one hour away, and a guitar center two hours away. So I don't get to try out guitars very often.. ;(

And I need to get a job again....