Rain
Regarding the set neck - my preference for those is totally subjective. It's a bit like the icing on the cake. 
 
Incidentally, while looking for a tele for my brother-in-law, I stumbled upon very inexpensive set-neck ones, loaded w/ DiMarzio Super Distortion and/or EMG's. Which only goes to show that set neck doesn't mean better or high end.
 
I'd be curious to try a thicker SG-type of guitar. The ESP Viper models seem a bit thicker than the traditional SG. And the twist on the shape makes them quite interesting to look at as well. Originally, I thought they actually redeemed the whole SG design.
 
The Viper 1000 Deluxe is quite a deal, at $799. A shame they messed with the knobs and switch placement.
 

 

 
 

 
Yep... I agree on the switch placement. Bad design. I'm thinking about how easy it would be to grab the volume control and accidentally hit the switch by mistake in a solo...... and totally lose the groove as a result. 
 
On the LP design. I have always liked the looks of the Gibson SG & LP design and some of the other Gibsons as well. (I was never a fan of the flying V designs) The thing that put me off on buying a LP was the weight of that sucker. However, the very first time someone stole my SG, and I was in a working band, so I needed a guitar quickly.... I headed to the local music store and found a Gibson guitar that was new at the time but for some reason never quite caught on with the masses. It was called simply "The Paul" .  Designed after the iconic LP, but lighter in weight and some hot rodded factory pickups.... The guys in the band actually liked how it sounded as opposed the the SG which had cleaner sounding pickups. Hotter pickups on the Paul gave it a fat slightly distorted tone and when you cranked it.... it sang.
 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Original-1979-Gibson-The-Paul-Electric-Guitar-Natural-w-Case-Nice-/371072779236?pt=Guitar&hash=item5665a943e4
 
I paid $550 for mine.... should have kept it but didn't. One of my musical regrets. I recall it having a wider and fatter neck than the SG.
 
I mentioned that after it was stolen and I got it back....it was dinged up and the finished was scratched quite badly. I sanded it down and painted it white. Here's what it looked like in white.

 
The white looked good but showed the sweat and dirt and ...well..... having the Paul as a backup, I sanded the white off and went back to a natural finish.  
 
Still have the SG, and still have the shotgun on the right. And yeah... in case you're wondering...they're both 100% legal.

Cool story, Herb! :) 
 
I like that they moved the switch out of the way on The Paul. The odd thing about that is that, as much as it constantly seems to be in the way when I'm playing a Les Paul, I do keep reaching for a switch in that spot when I'm playing the SG. Go figure...

The good news is - it seems that my SGJ is equipped quick connect pick ups, so that changing those would be pretty easy even for me. As long as I find QC replacements which I'd like that is.
 
The bad news is - it seems that my SGJ is equipped quick connect pick ups, so this pretty much restricts my list of choices to a few Gibson pick ups. And Gibson pick ups are pretty expensive - it's probably cost me around $300 to have a pair of 57's in there.

FWIW…..I would not underestimate  how much you can change the sound of a guitar by simply adjusting the pick ups 
between the height and pick up screws there is a lot of nice tones that can be dialed in ….
 
I always go there first before I even consider a pick up swap 
 
carry on , 
 
Kenny 

I think people are used to the '57PUs because, there was no other pickup except maybe the P90s single coils in the old R&R era. Any guitar that I know of with Gibson had '57PUs because for years I think that was it. So old videos (bad or good as they sound) or vinyl records in that era - 60's and '70's were '57PUs.
 
Yep that what I got in my LP Traditional last year also, which is changed again this year with the PU, and weight or not, a lot of people still bought them last year because it was not chambered in any way, and someone even bought that 11lb. monster last year.
They use to weigh even 14lbs. I think if doing some history reading on the weight they really were back then.
 
According to some that made the tone, but R&R music is not the only kind though, and no doubt a lot of people bought Fenders because - probably among other things, it weighed less.
 
To me the '57's are kind of just bland or perhaps flat sounding through all the frequencies of a guitar and then the strings come into play after that.
?????
 

Also they do not wire them the same as in the '50 and '60's and perhaps early middle '70's whatever. You find out you have to have both volume controls on and one can not be at zero to just use one PU, well it never use to be that way, they use to be separate and you could turn the volume all the way down on a PU and just use the volume for the PU with the appropriate one to use.
 
Nowadays, people even change the wiring in the guitars back to the way they use to be, whatever that takes, as I would have to do a search to find it (but I think I have seen it) and look at the wiring, along with capacitors that are correct for the sound a person wants.
 
Then for the most part there was only Fender amps, and then later Custom solid state amps - bad, bad, bad compared to tube Fender amps.

 
I know my guitars are like that (the new way) and some people do not like that at all.
 
What the heck is with this forum??
Here is the wiring diagram that I will have to look at, and should be easy enough to do on my LP.
http://www.premierguitar.com/articles/19387-the-fabulous-four-mods-for-your-strat-tele-les-paul-and-super-strat?page=3
 
Probably have to find a better page that is clearer to me in the diagram. (??)
 
 

I never worried much about pick ups - from the moment I finally put my hands on my first US strat, and loved the sound, I figured it was okay.
 
Moving back to Les Paul's (Epi) a few years ago meant going back to humbucker - after decades of single coils, it took a while (and a few other guitars) for me to learn to try and appreciate the differences, besides the thicker, louder sound. And the Les Paul particularities itself had to be factored in as well.
 
As far as I can tell, the pick ups on my SG are much quieter than those on my Epiphones, but they're also more detailed and thinner. So if I wanted to make them smoother/warmer, I guess I'd have to bring them down a bit - but since they're already on the quieter side, I'm not sure I want to go there.
 
As for my preferences - as I once mentioned, judging from my very limited experience, of all my guitars, I seem to like the sound of my LP Traditional which is loaded with Epiphone's copy of a '57 and a copy of a Burstbucker. It's hard for me to make abstraction of what's coming from the LP and what's strictly a matter of pick ups. But, if I could chose, the sound I'm after for the SG would be somewhere in between that of my LP Traditional and that of my SG for the definition.

One article mentioned that since 1960 Gibson has had the modern wiring, so that is that I guess. Have to look around some more, because a person may not have to believe everything you read.  Anyway I am wondering now, if that so-called '50's wiring would just make the guitar a more like jazzy guitar in tone in the end. Have to get a better idea and then I suppose imagine what it would do with the tone, after reading and re-reading and re-reading guitar porn.
 

kennywtelejazz
FWIW…..I would not underestimate  how much you can change the sound of a guitar by simply adjusting the pick ups 
between the height and pick up screws there is a lot of nice tones that can be dialed in ….

 
Excellent point.
 
I have played around with different pickup pole screw configs.... they do change the tone and levels and aggressiveness of the pickup.  I have mine mostly flush at this point in time.....IIRC moving them out and up toward the strings gives an extra level of bite to the sound. Also, the pickup's height is adjustable.....likewise, I have experimented with up, down and tilted to one side or the other.... I think they are now fairly close to the strings.

Guitarhacker
 
 
Excellent point.
 
I have played around with different pickup pole screw configs.... they do change the tone and levels and aggressiveness of the pickup.  I have mine mostly flush at this point in time.....IIRC moving them out and up toward the strings gives an extra level of bite to the sound. Also, the pickup's height is adjustable.....likewise, I have experimented with up, down and tilted to one side or the other.... I think they are now fairly close to the strings.

Unfortunately for me... 

 
These are regular, passive pick ups - not EMG's or such.
 
I may try and experiment with my Epi Les Paul standard though.