Have you delved into pickup swaps?

[Budda]

A $350 pick up is cheap if it is right for you and you end up keeping the guitar. If as the OP you are starting with a guitar of the caliber of an R0 .
I don't advocate that you should fit a TB 101 in a Epiphone , the platform matters enormously but the R7~R0 deserve a top pickup to fully realise the potential .

Yep. And I may have mentioned it but there isn’t an album tone or x/y descriptor I have in mind which probably complicates it.

The R9 with stock CS burstbuckers sounds pretty good. It sounds like a les paul, especially recorded. I did have the tonepros avr2 installed and dont know which burstbucker clips have it vs dont.

During play, my R8 sounded sweeter (harmonics? high end? No idea) however listening to the recordings the R9 has the brighter tone. The R8 has also been sold so I can only go with the recordings I made.

The vineham royals do reduce the lows and change the high end a bit with reduced output. The neck pickup sounds clearer and I really like this for clean tones. The bridge pickup feels a little more brittle on the recording and I prefer the BB here.

My understanding of the mike turk set is they are wound a little hotter (9k ish?) but retain that A3 clarity a bit more. I am hoping they are the total package like the few custombuckers i have tried.

I think the reduced lows of the vinehams will fit the R0 well as I want it to be more the doom/fuzz guitar along with my 96 standard. Just not sure if i want covered or double cream…

Which leaves me a set of cs burstbuckers doing nothing lol.

 

[Vhalen50]

Ive always found pickups sometimes to be like IPA beer. Some people buy them just for the descriptions and realize, its still beer. While i do argue there are very noticeable differences in types of pickups, and magnets...i dont like spending 400-500 bucks on a set of pickups just because they were wired by the grand daughter of the lady who worked in the blueberry field next door to the original pickup winder.

regardless, Seymour Duncan Saturday Night Special my favorite humbucker.

 

[marsonic]

Ive always found pickups sometimes to be like IPA beer. Some people buy them just for the descriptions and realize, its still beer. While i do argue there are very noticeable differences in types of pickups, and magnets...i dont like spending 400-500 bucks on a set of pickups just because they were wired by the grand daughter of the lady who worked in the blueberry field next door to the original pickup winder.

regardless, Seymour Duncan Saturday Night Special my favorite humbucker.

That's actually kind of why I picked what I did....the mojo matters to me, but only to a point.

"The Seth Lover vintage output humbucker pickups are carefully hand built in Santa Barbara to Seth Lover’s original exacting specs. Our butyrate bobbin molds are created by the same factory that built the original P.A.F. mold for Gibson.... We wind every Seth Lover humbucker on Seymour’s original Leesona winding machine from the early Gibson factory in Kalamazoo, MI."

That's plenty enough mojo for me, and they sound great.

I have no doubt that other high-end PAF replicas are also great and have their own mojo. But, those also came in about 3 days off some small shop on reverb and cost about the same as any other USA-made non-boutique pickup. They seemed a perfect match for what I wanted...and other than also adding a taper resistor for the bridge tone control, I haven't wanted for anything since I got them.

 

[Piing]

Ive always found pickups sometimes to be like IPA beer. Some people buy them just for the descriptions and realize, its still beer. While i do argue there are very noticeable differences in types of pickups, and magnets...i dont like spending 400-500 bucks on a set of pickups just because they were wired by the grand daughter of the lady who worked in the blueberry field next door to the original pickup winder.

regardless, Seymour Duncan Saturday Night Special my favorite humbucker.

I have one "boutique" pickup: the Harmonic Design Z90 neck ($165). It is the best pickup I've ever played. Better than any P90 made by the popular brands. I ordered another one for the bridge position on April but I am still waiting for it because they have a 5-6 months backlog since covid.

 

[fuzzy.pinetree]

I hated the stock pickups and wiring in my Les Paul when I got it, it had coil taps and a db boost. I first tried out the Slash set but quickly decided they weren't for me and I swapped them for a set of Seth Lovers and 50's wiring with treble bleeds, and I've been happy with it for quite a while, though I am looking at swapping the Lovers for a set of Bareknuckle Silo's as those seem to fit the type of music I play a little better.

My partscaster started as a Fender Jim Root Tele with EMG's but I completely stripped that guitar down to bare wood and got all new parts (everything except for the body and strap buttons). I think I originally had put in a set of humbuckers that came stock in an SG I had, but swapped those for a set of Gibson p94's (humbucker sized P90's). Now I'm probably gonna either put the Seth Lover's in there when I get new pups for the Lester, or I've considered making another new pickguard and putting a Bareknuckle Warpig in the bridge and a Lil 59 in the neck.

 

[madmarcus1960]

I have a Tele project that started as a black Squire John 5, double HB with a ridiculous steel mirror pickguard. Now it has Fralin Big Singles, and off white pearloid guard, and Hipshot staggered locking tuners. Much more versatile guitar.

 

[Piing]

Then there are the guitars that sound amazing with their stock pickups, and then even sound better with aftermarkets…..you just never know.

I thought that my recently purchased J.Custom RG8570CST-NT was already perfect with the Tone Zone / Air Norton combination, but I have swapped them for good.

The Satchur8 bridge has a special character on the mid frequencies, and less harsh highs. It is more sweet for high gain leads. It makes the Tone Zone look just like a "correct" pickup, while the Satchur8 has its own personality.

I also thought the Air Norton neck was great, but I found myself adding surgical EQ to make it less dull on the bass frequencies and pump the mid-highs when switching from bridge to neck. So I decided to swap it for a Gravity Storm neck, and it has been a revelation. This change has been more dramatic than the bridge pickup. The GS neck is not dull at all, it cuts nicely through the mix. I can switch between bridge and neck pups without needing any adjustments on the Axe-FX. And the most surprising thing is that the harmonics come easily out of nowhere, something I was not expecting on the neck position. I am really enjoying it.

Now it is an absolutely perfect guitar.

Well... not yet. I am going to replace the tone pot with a push/pull, and rewire the VLX-91 super-switch to have more split and parallel combinations

 

[Johan Allard]

Definitely also been down the rabbit hole of changing pickups many, many times. PRSs are my favourite guitars and the only pickups I really like from them that I've tried are the 85/15's and the 408's. The 408's had a non-standard design so there's no option there if you want something different. Except for my PRS with 85/15s and 408's everything else has non-standard pickups. I've tried Suhr Aldrich/Thornbucker, Throbak, DiMarzio, Seymour Duncan, Fralin and probably a few others and I always come back to Bareknuckle. They just sounds right to me. Currently have The Mule in a couple of guitars, love Rebel Yell's in Les Paul style guitars and a Crawler in a HSS Strat. I've also tried VHII, Abraxas, Emeralds, Riff Raff and Mississippi Queen as far as humbuckers and they where all cool and had their thing going on. Haven't tried Black Dogs and now I kind of feel like I need to

I did try a set of BKP's in my Custom 22 Piezo with the 85/15's and didn't like them at all in there so went back to stock and been happy ever since.

 

[J.C]

Great thread! My experience has shown that pickup swaps can be amazing in certain guitars. Some 80's shred guitars really came into their own with a swap. However, I have had awful luck with livening up otherwise muddy guitars. I've given up trying to 'remove the blanket' of my heavier neck-thru guitar.

 

[Piing]

Great thread! My experience has shown that pickup swaps can be amazing in certain guitars. Some 80's shred guitars really came into their own with a swap. However, I have had awful luck with livening up otherwise muddy guitars. I've given up trying to 'remove the blanket' of my heavier neck-thru guitar.

Perhaps that is just a muddy guitar, so it cannot be corrected swapping pickups. The most dull guitar I ever had was a Suhr Modern pro that was totally lifeless. Some pieces of wood have negative mojo.

 

[Andy Eagle]

Bridges can effect things very much, design and materials .

 

[Budda]

Bridges can effect things very much, design and materials .

Those with muddy guitars should look into this if they have time, money and inclination.

 

[skolacki]

I’ve changed a bunch of pickups over the years but no bridges or studs. What materials are the best?

 

[Andy Eagle]

I’ve changed a bunch of pickups over the years but no bridges or studs. What materials are the best?

depends on the design and what the problem is.

 

[skolacki]

depends on the design and what the problem is.

No problem specifically. Just wondering what upgrading a tune o matic bridge might do to the sound of my guitars. One is a Hamer Jr made in Indonesia. I know that one may not be quality hardware. Then I have a Korean PRS with the wrap around aluminum bridge. I have read that brass studs are preferred. Both of these guitars sound good as is. I have an older MIK Ibanez that I’ve tried 4 sets of pickups in. Right now it has Duncan 59’s which are the best yet on this guitar but still not happy with it. It has a cheap tune o matic and the crappy tuners it came with. I’m not likely to throw more money at that one but would a better bridge possibly improve it?

 

[State of Epicicity]

No problem specifically. Just wondering what upgrading a tune o matic bridge might do to the sound of my guitars. One is a Hamer Jr made in Indonesia. I know that one may not be quality hardware. Then I have a Korean PRS with the wrap around aluminum bridge. I have read that brass studs are preferred. Both of these guitars sound good as is. I have an older MIK Ibanez that I’ve tried 4 sets of pickups in. Right now it has Duncan 59’s which are the best yet on this guitar but still not happy with it. It has a cheap tune o matic and the crappy tuners it came with. I’m not likely to throw more money at that one but would a better bridge possibly improve it?

I installed a Hipshot Tone-a-matic on a Gibson Shred V, and it was revelatory for me. The sustain was incredible, and the tone became just strong, meaty, and powerful. I was replacing a Kahler though, so I went from no tone to all the tone in the world haha. But if you do shop for a new bridge, do consider the Hipshot.

 

[Vhalen50]

I did just put a Lil 59 into my silver sky. I just dont like the strat bridge pickups for any style of music that I want to play. I think this one sounded probably the best ive ever played, but just doesnt work for me.

 

[skolacki]

I did just put a Lil 59 into my silver sky. I just dont like the strat bridge pickups for any style of music that I want to play. I think this one sounded probably the best ive ever played, but just doesnt work for me.
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I tried one of those too. Didn’t work for me either. Traded for a P-rail. Used 2 Fender S1 switches to select modes on the P-rail. Not a Silver Sky but a Strat.

 

[Greg Ferguson]

Did trying more than one pickup in a guitar (height and pole piece adjustments not withstanding) work enough to be worthwhile for you?

I know we have lots of different players on this forum; some have one guitar some have 100. Some folks swap pickups hunting for “it” and some people just change strings.

How has the pickup rabbit hole worked for you?

I used to swap my Les Paul and Strat pickups searching, then thought back to two guitars I had a long time ago, and their sounds. One was an ES-345 with genuine PAFs in it, the other was a ’61 Strat, and decided to go back to their sounds.

I have an ‘08 PRS DGT that sounds like it has real PAFs in it. I stuck Raw Vintage RV-50 pickups in my Strats, one a Fender American Deluxe with a rosewood fingerboard and the other is a parts-caster with a roasted maple neck and fingerboard and stainless steel frets, both will Callaham stamped steel saddles, so they sound old. The second one is very sensitive and responsive.

I have several other PRS with varying types of stock pickups in them and haven’t had any interest in changing them.

I think my chasing of pickups was actually chasing an overall tone. When I got my first ToneKing amp I was happy with the overall sound and now I rarely look at any gear more than a few minutes, then say “nah!” and look at something else.

And I occasionally adjust my presets to see whether I can get something more from them.

 

[JasonE]

Did trying more than one pickup in a guitar (height and pole piece adjustments not withstanding) work enough to be worthwhile for you?

I know we have lots of different players on this forum; some have one guitar some have 100. Some folks swap pickups hunting for “it” and some people just change strings.

How has the pickup rabbit hole worked for you?

I have not read through this whole thread but figured I would add my experiences with this. I have changed a lot of pickups. The higher end guitar I have purchased, the less I have changed them. In my younger years I was a big EMG fan. I automatically put them in everything. I am a much different thinker now. I only change the pickups if there is something I just don't like about the ones in it and can't resolve the issue with adjustments. I then dig into what types of things about the pickup construction would change the tone in the direction that I want it to go. I can say that by doing this, every pickup swap I have done has had the desired effect for me.

I have consulted Lindy Fralin on a couple of swaps and he hit them all out of the park. I have also contacted Seymour Duncan when looking for pickups and they have also been very helpful. I would start with a resource like this if I were not sure what to look at to get the desired outcome that I wanted.