Stock G&L Legacy pickups

[chee16]

I have a Early 90s G&L Legacy that I have had for about 12 years, before that it was owned by my uncle, so I know that when I got it, it was stock for sure. About 8 years ago I had too much money and not enough experience and decided that the stock pickups can't be any good since they are stock, so I bought a set of Fender Texas Specials and had them put it. Now that I have my amp mostly sorted and sounding good I am wondering about using the stock puckups again so that i can get a real idea of how they sound. From the little research I have done they get good reviews and are apparently Seymour Duncan stock. My manual just says vintage single coils.

Here is my problem, so far I haven't been able to find any markings on them to know which pickup is which. From what I remember the middle is supposed to be reverse wound for low noise, but that could be wrong.

Any help identifying the pickups for position would be greatly appreciated.

 

[chee16]

I'm thinking that maybe wire length could give me some indication..... Other then that I can't find any markings on these.

 

[rmlevasseur]

Hola! I too have a Legacy from early 90s with stock pickups. Here is my impression. I can get a clean funk out of this guitar that none of my other guitar can provide. With the tone pots it gives me a lot of versatility, and hence i have kept the stock pickups. With dirt, they sound very good...but not quite that real traditional strat tone.

In the end, I've decided to keep it stock. It has a beautiful tone that is unique but not exactly strat. As a result, I've just decided to not treat it like a strat, and when the right strat comes along i will just buy that one and keep both.

 

[chee16]

Hola! I too have a Legacy from early 90s with stock pickups. Here is my impression. I can get a clean funk out of this guitar that none of my other guitar can provide. With the tone pots it gives me a lot of versatility, and hence i have kept the stock pickups. With dirt, they sound very good...but not quite that real traditional strat tone.

In the end, I've decided to keep it stock. It has a beautiful tone that is unique but not exactly strat. As a result, I've just decided to not treat it like a strat, and when the right strat comes along i will just buy that one and keep both.

Awesome! I am definitely in the boat of what sounds good to me is all I care about. That's not to say I don't read opinions and base decisions on them, just to say that I don't play like everyone else, nor do I want to sound exactly like them, so why not try as much as possible.

I posted on the G&L forums to see if they can help me figure out which pickup is which. I might just wire them up the best I can figure and see what's up.

 

[rmlevasseur]

G&L does something different with the wiring on that third pot. Its not a tone control like on a strat. I really like it.

 

[chee16]

If I remember right strats were wired so that the front tone knob was for the neck, the back was the mid, and there was no tone control for the bridge pickup.

On G&Ls the front is treble and the back is bass, for all three pickups. I like it better, but to be honest I don't have a ton of time on a strat, just on my Legacy.

 

[chee16]

So, let me add to the story now.

I got looking at the "Texas Special" pickups that my local shop put in for me today, I pulled the neck pickup to try the stock one. The strange thing is that the neck pickup doesn't look like the other two, which have Texas Special emblems on them, fibre baseplates, different pole heights and standard black and white thick insulated wires. The neck pickup has a green and red wire, plastic baseplate with 016730 stamped on it, a raised D pole and measures 7.4k.

After some searching around I have come up with some startling news. This pickup is not only NOT a Texas Special, it is not even a neck pickup. It is the stock mid pickup from a Super Strat.

I don't even know what to think right now. I have known and went to this shop for 20 years. I don't even know how to bring it up, it was put in quite a while ago, I don't remember who else was working there at the time, I just know the owner really well and the guys who work there now. I am pissed that I paid $247 for Custom Shop pickups and only got 2, but who can I blame? How could I prove it?

Chalk this one up to another reason to do all my own work on EVERYTHING I own.....

 

[DirtySteve]

Man I've been watching this thread and I hope you get it squared away! I have no idea, I'm a HB guy, but I'm dying to know what you figure out.

 

[chee16]

I found this quote
"Super Strat wire colors:
Neck - green/white
Middle - green/red
Bridge - green/yellow

Flat poles.Raised "D" on all pickups, raised "A" on middle (but lower than "D"). Slight stagger otherwisw. Screws in bottom of neck and middle. No resistance readings yet.""

from here FDP - Forum

The only thing it doesn't have are the screws on the bottom.

I am still not sure if I am even gonna mention it to the shop owner. It's jsut been too long I think.

 

[chee16]

So, I went in to talk to the owner of my local shop today. Great talk, he basically said that it's long ego enough that he doesn't remember, but within the last 15 years it would definitely have been him that put them in. So he said that either I am remembering wrong or he messed up, either way doesn't matter as the pickup is no where near what was supposed to be in it. So he said that he would give me $35 for the pickup that was wrong, and sell me anything I want for his cost so, because he has no way of knowing what I paid for the pickups (I don't have a receipt). So he won't make anything, but I can get a good deal on a new pickup. He has a set of Texas Specials in so I can get a neck pickup if I want, but he also had some Dimarzio Area 58s in which I thought I would try from his description. So in the end the new Area 58 will cost me $40. He doesn't lose out but I get a deal.

I am very satisfied since he could have just said it was too long ago and done nothing, but to be honest I didn't think he would do that, since we have known each other for almost 20 years.

I'm putting the pickup in right now.....

 

[chee16]

Alrighty, got the second Area 58 in mid, they sound great. Made out nicely on the deal, essentially I traded the superstrat neck, and the TS mid + bridge for about $100 off, then he gave me one pickup for his cost. Considering the TS pickups were almost 10 years old I think that is good, based off ebay prices.

Now I need a bridge pickup, so I am open to suggestions. I am thinking an Area 61 or injector or heavy blues 2.