Guitar pickup insanity

[EL 34]

Covers, cover materials, baseplate materials, polished mags, roughcast mags, etc.

 

[Sg-ocaster]

I used to change pickups when I was younger not to crazy extents but I think half the time it was more a security blanket thing. I felt better knowing I had Duncans in I really half the time didnt give the stock pups a chance. Right now I have this MIM standard strat from 2014...I didnt even plug it in to try it(price was good with a GnG case) brought it home with all intents to rip it apart for CS69 pups(liked um in another strat I had)....after playing this thing I actually liked the stock "bar glued to the bottom" pups. I dont remember those type pups ever sounding good but these do.
Same with my one SG I heard horrid online descriptions of 490T pickups.........turns out I like them and more so than a 498T go figure. As for burstbuckers they sound great in my freinds Paul and I had plans on replacing the 490T with one.......but now after adjustment I cant say the burstbucker would be "better" just differant....maybe more open less bitey mids....but then again it may sound like shit in an SG compaired to the Paul I played them in.
And I know on my P90 axe one full turn in height and micro tweaks to the slugs made it from meh.......maybe Ill sell it.......meh.....maybe Ill swap the PUP to a guitar I cant put down.

 

[Derrick111]

I always liked vintage tones and aggressive versions of vintage tones. So my baseline was original pickups in 60s/70s guitars. My player/show guitar is a Les Paul made around 1980. The original Tom Shaw was hosed so I got another about the same year. I noted that everything I tried in the music store sounded better there than when I took it home and played it on my Les Paul. Finally, I took the guitar in to compare it to the Les Paul I always used in the store as it was the closest to my guitar (so I thought). The comparison proved it sounded better to me than my Les Paul. It was a 1960 Classic and I remember taking home flyers for them because there was a cool Hendrix Flying V poster on the other side. Anyhow, that flyer stated what pickups were used and it said a 500T in the bridge. I got a few of them for my guitars and never looked back. They still sound good o me like a vintage pickup, but more lively and aggressive with the volume up. All I need are good pickups... not to chase better tones all my life. 25 years later and people still ask me what pickup I'm using in that guitar. I later found out that Jimmy Page also uses the 500T!

 

[Gaz Baker]

Everyone talks about sound and tone, but what about the feel?
Didn't mean shit to me, until I bought a used Schecter with BareKnuckle pups in it.
That thing has some weird sort of magical combination that has totally changed my perspective!
So now, out of 5 electric guitars, 4 have BK pups.

Now, I can accept that some are going to say, "oh, well that's your preference", but through the course of several mates trying them, the response always seems the same.
Words like "clarity, articulate, feel, responsive" to name a few.

Now I'm not saying other pups suck, not at all, but I'd have to say that most pups I've tried don't come close in the clarity of nuances that BK seem to accentuate.

Also worth a mention, is matching impedance pots, and tone capacitors etc.... which are quite often overlooked when "throwing in" a new set of pups.
The capacitors alone can have a massive effect on tone/s.

 

[John Stedman]

All but two of my guitars have the stock pickups. My 1976 Strat had a set of DiMarzio Virtual Vintage Blues DP402 in it when I bought it and I put DiMarzio HS-3's in my 1986 Paisley Strat. As long as they don't sound too bassy or too trebly when set to factory spec pickup height I'm happy. The one exception is my Epiphone '58 Korina V, the stock pickups are pretty flabby sounding, planning on installing some PAF type, probably Gibson. I had a Charvel Super Strat years ago with ceramic magnet pickups which I hated, so I was leery of the 500T / 496R combo on my '67 Flying V, but those pickups sound great in that guitar.

 

[L.A. Nights]

Gibson® should recall all their dull and dark mudmakers; the 490s and 498s, and give all those guitars manufactured prior to circa 2002 a (free) upgrade (according to their customers choice) to the calibrated Burstbucker 1 (neck), Burstbucker 2 (neck, bridge), and Burstbucker 3 (bridge) pickups ― all loaded with AlNiCo II magnets. And totally unpotted of course.

 

[Sg-ocaster]

Gibson® should recall all their dull and dark mudmakers; the 490s and 498s, and give all those guitars manufactured prior to circa 2002 a (free) upgrade (according to their customers choice) to the calibrated Burstbucker 1 (neck), Burstbucker 2 (neck, bridge), and Burstbucker 3 (bridge) pickups ― all loaded with AlNiCo II magnets. And totally unpotted of course.

Yes potting is a part of things also.
I had a strat 15years ago with a 70s Super Dist in it it screamed and sang and also squeeled like a little girl next to the lizard cage at a pet store. If the amp was at any type of volume.
Had newer potted Super D pups and they are middy and clunky....the potting sucks the tone out or damps it out anyway.

 

[Derrick111]

Yes potting is a part of things also.
I had a strat 15years ago with a 70s Super Dist in it it screamed and sang and also squeeled like a little girl next to the lizard cage at a pet store. If the amp was at any type of volume.
Had newer potted Super D pups and they are middy and clunky....the potting sucks the tone out or damps it out anyway.

Aren't vintage Fender pickups potted in wax? They're pretty well known for tone and dimension...

 

[axe4me]

A new favorite:

 

[Sg-ocaster]

Aren't vintage Fender pickups potted in wax? They're pretty well known for tone and dimension...

Not saying potted pickups sound bad. Just in the case of the Dimarzio Super it changed the tone dramatically. Probably shoulda been clearer on that after I reread my post.
Im just saying the potting formula can effect the tone of two otherwise Identical pups.

 

[Derrick111]

Honestly, it's a point I'd like to know more about since it's conflicting to hear some have had less than ideal results with potted pickups, yet Fender did this as part of their production process on the vintage guitars we all know and love. I only have one guitar that really howls and needs to be potted so someday, I'll find out...

 

[paul-e-mann]

Honestly, it's a point I'd like to know more about since it's conflicting to hear some have had less than ideal results with potted pickups, yet Fender did this as part of their production process on the vintage guitars we all know and love. I only have one guitar that really howls and needs to be potted so someday, I'll find out...

I just saw online from a guy that builds custom pickups instead of wax potting, put a piece of masking tape over the center of the two humbucker coils and a few small dabs of silicone on the tape, carefully clamp the pickup cover to squish it back on and a couple dabs of solder to permanently attach it. This will prevent any squeal from the pickup. Im gonna try this, he shows how here:

 

[Derrick111]

Way cool idea! I did some wax between the PU cover and the top of the humbucker on a early SG once and it seemed to work. So maybe that would work on this guitar I have? I just don't know yet if it's the cover of the PU that's squealing... That's the factor.

 

[paul-e-mann]

Way cool idea! I did some wax between the PU cover and the top of the humbucker on a early SG once and it seemed to work. So maybe that would work on this guitar I have? I just don't know yet if it's the cover of the PU that's squealing... That's the factor.

Its air gaps under the cover. Ive wax potted pickups before and this tape and silicone looks so much easier and no controversy about affecting tone.

 

[Sapient]

At first I didn't like the ones in my EVH. I went through about 6 new pickups having to completely dismantle each one to removed the coil so I could re-screw them on the EVH pickup base. (The EVH pickup slot in the body will not accept a normal rectangle pickup configuration.)

So long story short, I have all these mutilated pickups now since I went back to the stock EVH - which the second time I really dug, for some reason.

I can't even map them now to know what is what to pass on.

 

[Sg-ocaster]

I can't even map them now to know what is what to pass on.

Thats what I did with 12ax7s(thats my disease)I had a shit ton, atleast 1 or 2 of almost all the vintage ones cept mazda and genalex. I ripped them in and out a million times kept the ones I liked sold the rest. Now I find myself rebuying types I sold to try again(usually only to find why I sold um in the firstplace).

 

[mickeydg5]

Yeah man, but you're Ace Frehley.....

You said it first.

I was going to say a rich experienced guitarist form the glittered stage can afford to just buy another guitar.

 

[mickeydg5]

I come to like Black Backs.

They're Great! For me anyway.

 

[ibmorjamn]

That's a ballsy statement, you must be a hell of a guitar player. Genghis totally slew with his axe!

Slayer

 

[El Gringo]

I can make my Les Paul's with there ThroBak's sing . Now if I could get that to work on my Strats . Case in point exhibit A my Mark Kay Strat . Formerly loaded with her Custom Shop Cruz pickups , which were weak for my tastes . I recently switched to some Lace Sensors (red bridge , silver middle , and blue neck ) and these still sound like puke. First I tried them with my normal settings which did not work . Next I lowered the bass and the middle and then raised the treble and still sounded like puke . I swear my 2555X's only like Les Paul's . Terrible problem which I thought I solved by getting the Lace Sensors to use on this Strat . The funny part of the story is that My Tele's work really great . Go figure ?