Adventures in pickup swapping + Poll

[wankdeplank]

What best describes your pickup modding tendencies?

[papaschtroumpf]

I've never swapped my pickups, but if anyone wants to donate me a set...

[WRGKMC]

For me it depends on the instrument. I've done enough swaps where I know what I want and try to target the signature tones I like best. I have an entire cabinet full of spares which I can pull out many of the pups I've collected over the years too so its not like I have to go out and buy them, but I do troll Ebay quite a bit and I'll pick up pickups when I see good deals.

 

I suppose I should also sell off allot of junk I'll never use but I still do occasional repairs for working musicians and if its something they prefer like Hot wound pickups I have loads of them I have no use for and can sell them dirt cheap just to get rid of them.

[Grant Harding]

I only swap them if the guitar is one of my main players and I'm not getting the sounds I think the guitar is capable of. I've never been disappointed by a swap, but also never even considered the pups on my Anderson for swap because they're great.

 

I'm guilty of going straight to Kinman these days, since I know they'll be great. I went through a period of swapping out pups for modest priced ones but didn't get where I wanted to be.

[DeepEnd]

Never swapped pickups so I voted "Stock" but I wouldn't rule it out. When I ordered my new DragonFire Strat pickguard I very nearly ordered a "loaded" one. Before that, I saw a set of Lace pickups on CraigsList that would have fit my bass but I passed.

[Chordite]

I voted stockers but I have a spare set of strat sc's and have messed with straight/ reverse polarity pups in search of quack.

My best quacker is the fat strat, I can't make sense of that but the ears don't lie

[wankdeplank]

I fall under the "Open to everything" category with a bias towards certain cheapies being extremely comparable. And I'm not afraid to change out a quality pickup on a nice guitar to get the sound I want. Replaced the bridge JB on my Hamer Mirage II with a Dimarzio Breed, which I ended up putting into the bridge of a Gibson Studio Lite (replacing the stock ceramic with which I had a feedback issue.

 

But the most enlightening pickup swapping I ever did came recently with the renovation of four Strats, an 89 MIA Fender, a 93 MIM Fender (Squier Series), a 98 MIM Fender (Squier Series) and an 83 MIJ Aria Pro II RS Bobcat. The MIMs and MIJ came equipped with ceramic pickups that weren't terrible by any means but I generally require an alnico in the neck at least to get that creamy bell tone. (Pete Biltoft (boutique builder claims that you can't get the bell tones with a ceramic).

 

Starting with the 93 (Alder bodied), I ordered an alnico V scatter wound neck pickup from Pete Biltoft and installed it next to the stockers which were very aggressive rockers. Love the Biltoft but eventually swapped the middle with a Lace Gold and the bridge with a Lace Burgundy. First exposure to Lace (forumite's suggestion) and I'm still a little mixed. They seem to be great for soloing but they do knock a little off the bass response which I don't care for. Still they are quiet and provide good notch position tones (quack).

 

With the 98 I decided to give the GFS pickups I'd heard about a try. This guitar is a poplar bodied SSH, and the humbucker is decent so I went with two of the cheapie "boutique" $17.95 apiece variety as I always go for that 60's vintage sound. Although these pickups seemed a bit cheaper to work with than the Biltoft and the Laces - had to bore out the plastic screw holes a bit, once installed these pickups were absolutely dynamite for the money. They are also Alnico Vs from what I gather and sound pretty comparable to the real boutique Biltoft pickup in the other MIM. The only caveat I would throw in these is that you should be sure to cut to length and possibly insulate as much as possible because I was getting a little pickguard static (had it with original pickups as well) until I went back in and wrapped the wires and shielded the cavities.

 

Not sure what was in the 89 American (Alder bodied) stock but when I bought it, I was told it had a custom shop in the neck and two Dimarzio noiseless pickups. Not happy with the Dimarzios the way they were installed (too grainy, middy and low output) so I ordered a 60's Repro set from GFS. This is a set of similar output vintage sounding pickups to the "boutiques" I'd put in the 98 but with better construction (cloth insulated wires, better housing and screw holes). When I got the guitar open I noticed that the neck pickup which I liked was actually a ceramic with some writing on the bottom magnet (doubt very much it's custom shop). In any event, the addition of the GFS Repros was a qualified success. The middle position was very good, spanky with great clarity and good bass response though a little on the bright side. But the bridge was just waaay too bright for my ears. Considered connecting the bridge to the bottom tone pot but decided against it. What I did instead was to reconnect the Dimarzio HS-3 but only in split mode as opposed to stacked. I got this from an Eric Johnson video where he said he used an HS-2 in the bridge in split mode to get that vintage sound. Well I couldn't be happier with the results. The HS-3 in split mode retains the quiet aspect but boosts the output, sounds 100% better to me in true single coil mode, great highs and lows and definitely not too bright. An added bonus was that for some reason this pairing also made the middle pickup sound less bright and more vowel sounding (definitely a good thing).

 

For the MIJ Aria (Ash body) I replaced the neck pickup with the neck from the GFS Repro set. This one modification eliminated the static issue the guitar had originally had even after shielding the pickguard). The stock pickups in this thing had a real cool hi-fi sound so I decided to keep the middle which was my favorite. But the stock bridge really didn't sound good with gain so I replaced that one with the aggressive bridge pickup I'd pulled out of the 93 MIM. Not sure if the notch positions on this guitar are completely noiseless or out of phase but they sound decent. Overall this guitar sounds fabulous with this weird combination. This was a cheap mod job but one guitar I don't plan on changing a thing cause it works so well.

[wankdeplank]

Wow, this place is really starting to ROCK!!! Surprised to find seven responses before I could even finish my follow up post. Fabulous responses, no right or wrong answers here only personal preference. What I found is that particularly in a Strat, the magnetic fields of certain pickups seem to work well together. I think there may be something to the belief by some that making the middle R/W R/P changes the sound of the individual pickups in the guitar to some extent. Whether it's for better or for worse I guess is for you to decide, but I did notice some instances where changing one pickup would sweeten the sound of another. Really glad I discovered the trick to making the Dimarzio HS a true single coil. Now I have to find a spot for the other one somewhere.

 

The Strats I modded are front row from left:

 

[Emory]

The one replacement I am very pleased with is putting a set of StewMac golden age hbs into an Ibanez AF95 hollowbody I got years ago. Love everything about that except stock pickups, which were just adequate. Wired new ones for series and parallel switching (try for a little chime). What a difference that made! Not as cheap as GFS, about $100 with shipping, but made that guitar into top flight ranking.

I may try to migrate Fishman under Fender style saddle acoustic to my Fender Modern Player Thinline deluxe (or whatever name they stuck on it). That could be fun.... but I am lazy... so who knows....

[wankdeplank]

^More ambitious than I am with the switching options Emory. I try to keep everything as simple as possible to avoid electronic snafus. Wiring the bridge to tone is about as ambitious as I've ever got. I'd have no idea how to do that Fishman mod either but definitely sounds worthwhile.

 

PS Holy Benjamins Batman, just did a google search on those Kinmans (more than Fralin or Lollar). Ouch I could buy a nice MIM for that. Course who am I to talk - got over $200 in pickups in an MIM Fender Squier Series. Sounds great, plays great, may be my favorite Strat.

[BeanoBoy]

I voted only top of the line etc. I have bought budget ( wondering "AM I missing something?") pups and they were OK but I've always been much happier with my WCRs and Wolfetones. Never cared for DiMarzios or Duncans much either.

[billybilly]

For me, the most important thing in choosing a pickup is understanding and working with the guitars inherent tone. For example, the same pickup can sound entirely different in another guitar, perhaps bad, perhaps good.

[wankdeplank]

^Oh so very true. Split up the set of 60's repros I bought from GFS and they were very bright and spanky in my 89 American Fender (Alder body) but mellow and glassy in my 84 Aria RS Bobcat (Ash).

[Tall]

I used to never consider pick up changes but am now open to it. I usually try out the stockers and see if I want to make a change. I bought 3 Samick Les Paul clones on one day for $500 (store was going out of business) and just slapped 3 different sets of SD's in them that day. It really made a big difference in the sound of the cheap guitars. In my Tele I changed the neck pickup to a Mini rail with a splitter mini toggle and that was nice since if I was getting any "Fender" single coil hum I could just switch to the hum to quiet down between songs, plus it was nice sounding.

[speakerjones]

I voted for "open to everything". I do kind of avoid low-end pickups, though, mostly because of mixed reviews. I've had really good luck with certain manufacturers (Duncan, WCR, and Novack, especially), so I tend to go straight there. If a good deal comes along on something that seems like it might work well, I'm often willing to take a chance on it. Some guitars though, I don't even mess with. My AVRI strat went through several pickup changes before I finally landed back at the stock pickups, whatever they are.

[WRGKMC]

Swapping pickups is no guarantee it will sound better. Different maybe, and often times worse once the novelty wears off. I tried at least a half dozen different pickups in my Epiphone DOT. The stock pups weren't as good as Gibson PAF's but they still weren't bad. I used the guitar stock for a number of years.

 

I think I tried several types of Dimarzio, EMG's, GFS which are all Artec pickups, Gretch pickups and a couple of others. I finally got some mini to full sized ring adaptors and stuck some Gibson Mini humbuckers in there and it gave me exactly what I was looking for. A little less bottom, and smooth drive slope as I cranked it up. Guess I was looking for the tones I had with my old 60's Riviera and it does come fairly close.

 

I so have a couple of oddball combinations that give the builds a unique tone. I just stay away from pickups that start gaining up as soon as you turn the volume knob up. I like clean tone up to about 8 and then a little drive from there up to 10. This way I can back the knob down a tad and get cleaner chords happening of go from rhythm to putting lead up front a few db's when you crank it to 10 and have it cut through a mix.

[Grant Harding]

 

PS Holy Benjamins Batman, just did a google search on those Kinmans (more than Fralin or Lollar). Ouch I could buy a nice MIM for that. Course who am I to talk - got over $200 in pickups in an MIM Fender Squier Series. Sounds great, plays great, may be my favorite Strat.

It only stings for a while. I haven't thought about the price or had Strat pickup GAS for years now.

[MorganB]

This just came in today, Pickups were out within 10 minutes. ;-) .... have to get some soon!

 

[AJ6stringsting]

I love any pickup that has great tone. Dimarzio, Carvin, Bill Lawrence (70's- early 80's are the best), Seymour Duncan, GFS ( Artec), Bare Knuckle, Fralin, Dragon Fire ( Artec), WCR, Tone Riders, Hammer Rails, Rio Grande, Schaller, EMG .... doesn't matter, as long as they sound great. I have a big box ( at least 25 + pickups) full of various pickups of the aforementioned tone machines, waiting to be put in some lucky guitar some day.

[AJ6stringsting]

Never heard of the Wolftones ...Um, maybe I'll check them out one day !!!!

[wankdeplank]

^Man I'd have a ball with that collection of choice pickups! Oh and dig that Explorer, Morgan, good luck on the pickup search.

 

Nice to hear what some of you weekend warriors have to say on the subject. It's obvious that a lot of you guys know more about what works and what doesn't than I do. Nice to hear that you aren't afraid to mix it up WRGKMC.

 

It only stings for a while. I haven't thought about the price or had Strat pickup GAS for years now.

 

Cool Koiwoi, truth is, I'd love to try some of those famous boutique Strat pickups I hear so much about but that's a lot of dosh for a guy that does the occasional Blues Jam and open mic. The only boutique builder I've ever used is Pete Biltoft (Vintage Vibe). Six or seven years ago I'd never installed pickups before but had a Strat that was badly in need of some mojo and that guy spent about 1/2 hour on the phone with me explaining what I needed to do. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that his pickups are fabulous too.

[Virgman]

I've never changed pickups. Replaced a couple dead pickups.

 

[gardo]

I do whatever it takes to get I want

[HoobaStunk]

I love any pickup that has great tone. Dimarzio, Carvin, Bill Lawrence (70's- early 80's are the best), Seymour Duncan, GFS ( Artec), Bare Knuckle, Fralin, Dragon Fire ( Artec), WCR, Tone Riders, Hammer Rails, Rio Grande, Schaller, EMG .... doesn't matter, as long as they sound great. I have a big box ( at least 25 + pickups) full of various pickups of the aforementioned tone machines, waiting to be put in some lucky guitar some day.

 

 

I have an affinity for some of the earlier Bill Lawrences (not the fake Bill Lawrences), DeArmond, Lollar, Rio Grande, TV Jones, and Kinman pickups.

[wankdeplank]

Cool to see a couple folks fessed up to being OCD regarding their pickup swaps. Lately I think I may be going that way. Just so many great choices out there and don't want to miss out on anything.

 

Surprised that nobody checked the "budgets only" box as this site used to be full of folks shilling for Rose and a few others. Gotta say I've been damn impressed with the GFS Strat pickups I've ordered and that's a completely unsolicited endorsement. Artec huh? Who else do they make pickups for?