Unless you're playing at a professional level, the crappy sound coming out of your rig is probably you.
I strongly recommend adjusting what you've got ad nauseum before swapping out a working set of pickups. Don't forget to tweak the amp!
As a measure of last resort, replace the pots with high-end specimens that have an appropriate amount of resistance. Much cheaper than replacing the pickups themselves.
The best sounding guitar I have ever owned uses a set of cast-off Fender pickups. Nothing about them is boutique or special. They're just set up properly, and the signal goes through quality pots.
I replaced the pickups in my R9. I've got a set of Rewind Crème Brûlées in it now. I just didn't like the Burstbuckers. I waited several years to make the change. So, it was well thought out.
I've never had an inkling to change pickups in a Fender. Just doesn't seem necessary.
"Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience"- Mark Twain
"NEVER GO FULL SPIDER MONKEY" - The Analects of EDRO
Some folks change guitar giblets like I change socks. In a lot of cases, they already have pickups and such picked out BEFORE they even buy the freaking guitar.
Lefty, you don't know just how correct you are. If I change from one of my <insert any type guitar I own> with a different <like type guitar>, NEWSFLASH, it ain't gonna have the same tone. It ain't rocket science. One Strat will have general Strat type tone but it ain't gonna be the same tone...
If I go from Lester type to Strat type to Tele type to my Godin hybrid type, I already know I'm gonna have to change knobs on my amp if I want optimum tone for THAT PARTICULAR GUITAR. You're just plain gonna have to learn what the knobs do.
It just bees that way. I am dumbfounded at times reading statements by supposedly intelligent humanoids over there about guitars and such...
Some evidently have no earthly idea about any freaking screw in any close proximity of a pickup as to purpose...
I'll just say "know your instrument system before changing stuff"...
Hell, you can change from one Deluxe Rev to another Deluxe Rev and it can sound different... Two different runs of the same speaker can sound a bit different.
Knobs. They do stuff, interestingly enough... Amazing....
BUT NOT AS MUCH AS FINGERS! Does it really make a damn what guitar and amp Robben Ford plays through to recognize him? Jack Pearson? Eric Johnson? Larry Carlton?
Spot on, Lefty!
Rule out the obvious before spending tons of geet for unobtainatonez... It 'could' be components but do the free and easy stuff first...
Ok, I'll shut my opinionated self up now... I can't help it.
Flame away if one disagrees... Won't bother me... Just seen too much futile idiocy over my years... Pulling out old Gibson pups for nuclear crap... I should have bought every stinking pup that I pulled for someone way back in the 70's forward... I'd have a pile of geet for new toys....
edro...
Why is there no tofu flavored anything
I remember when guitars were for guitarin'
Speaking logic to a Lemming is like explaining physics to a goldfish
Who would have ever dreamed so little could be said so often by so few
Like I said, I would not have made the swap but I really didn't like the Burstbuckers. And the guitar had linear taper pots, and fake Bumble Bees. I changed those out.
I think when folks start chasing sound by swapping out pickups all the time, well that's crazy. I'll leave the Rewinds in forever. I got them for $120.00, now they're going for $300.00. I do think paying $550.00 for something like Throwbak pickups is nuts.
I generally have a good laugh when someone starts chasing some famous players sound. Notice, I call it sound, instead of tone. It's how someone sounds, not their tone.
I had a friend who was a "tone" chaser. Although he wasn't chasing someone's tone he was trying to get his own, except he didn't know what it was. He went through dozens of Amps - Fender DeVilles, Line 6 DuoTones, Finally landed on a Marshall DSL100. He couldn't find anywhere to play the damn thing where it would sound good. Then he started buying enumerators. That didn't help. He started saying they ruined the "tone." Then all the pedals. Then guitars.
I jammed with him with my Jimmie Vaughan Strat, and a Vox Ad120VT. "How did you do that?" It was straight in using the AC30 model, and a little reverb. BTW, the Jimmie Vaughan Strat is a secret best buy type of guitar. I wish I still had that thing.
"Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience"- Mark Twain
"NEVER GO FULL SPIDER MONKEY" - The Analects of EDRO
Wasn't taking you task, Toad. Sometimes, a pickup swap IS called for. But, it is a rather extreme measure, and should be preceded by months of exploring other options. As you did.
The breezy nonchalance with which some folks insist on a pickup swap as the first move, baffles me. Many of the same folks who insist that the wood is what makes an electric guitar sound good or bad.
After my ban is up, I'm going to raid my gallery and copy some pics of the strange experiments I did with stock pickups to get them sounding the way I liked.
I know you guys weren't going after me. I took a year of careful consideration.
I find the whole chasing tone thing almost hilarious. That's why we got a wave of guys who sounded like SRV. All that meant was they all sounded the same.
"Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience"- Mark Twain
"NEVER GO FULL SPIDER MONKEY" - The Analects of EDRO
i have thought about changing the pickup in my HK. firstly, the harware on these guitars is said to be pretty uhm, substandard, though i'm not sure that's the pickup as it sounds good.....
but the reason i want to change it is because of hte look of the pick up i'd love to change it to. those see through pickups on my goddess... they are simply 490 and 498's but rather than being uncovered and open, they are uncovered and encased in plastic. just a quick wipe with a cloth cleans them. they look really cool with all that copper.
however, it would most likely require enlarging the pick up slot in the guitar and i'm not really down with that so it's only a little fantasy
It just bees that way. I am dumbfounded at times reading statements by supposedly intelligent humanoids over there about guitars and such...
It's functional stupidity. Do folks actually think that some of that minutiae really matters? Jimmy Page played a Les Paul because it sounded good, not because he cared about the density of the mahogany.
"Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience"- Mark Twain
"NEVER GO FULL SPIDER MONKEY" - The Analects of EDRO
It's been a long time since I changed pickups in a stock production guitar. If it sounded good in the store I tried it in THAT'S likely why I bought that guitar!
The other variable is the room you play it in, with whatever amp.
I have had guitars I thought sounded nice in my living room by myself, that didn't work with a band in a medium size club!
But over the years I've learned to listen for a couple of elements (usually the midrange) that seem to work for me in different settings.
Besides, at this late stage I always sound like me no matter what rig I play through.
Nowadays if I wonder about a new whiz-bang pickup somebody is saying is the bomb, I may build a guitar out of parts to try it out.
Generally speaking I'm more concerned about the hum, since we play in joints that mostly have neon Beer signs!
If I have two very similar guitars, I swap out pups on one. Cheap Strats mainly. They're the perfect test beds for different ideas and combinations.
Tinkering for its own sake is a different matter, in my view.
That's how cool stuff gets 'discovered'... Somebody thought "I wonder what will happen if"......
That's Friggsley. He'll either come up with something cool as hell.... or upper Kaintuckistan may be off limits for an eon or two...unless you want a Native Man Tan in less than a millisecond...
Friggsley is our resident mad scientist...
Why is there no tofu flavored anything
I remember when guitars were for guitarin'
Speaking logic to a Lemming is like explaining physics to a goldfish
Who would have ever dreamed so little could be said so often by so few
Tinkering for its own sake is a different matter, in my view.
That's how cool stuff gets 'discovered'... Somebody thought "I wonder what will happen if"......
That's Friggsley. He'll either come up with something cool as hell.... or upper Kaintuckistan may be off limits for an eon or two...unless you want a Native Man Tan in less than a millisecond...
Friggsley is our resident mad scientist...
I usually imagine him as Colonel Kurtz, but now that you mention it...Frankenfrigg has a nice ring to it.
That's how cool stuff gets 'discovered'... Somebody thought "I wonder what will happen if"......
That's Friggsley. He'll either come up with something cool as hell.... or upper Kaintuckistan may be off limits for an eon or two...unless you want a Native Man Tan in less than a millisecond...
Friggsley is our resident mad scientist...
I usually imagine him as Colonel Kurtz, but now that you mention it...Frankenfrigg has a nice ring to it.
Come with uncle and hear all proper! Hear angel trumpets and devil trombones. You are invited.
If I have two very similar guitars, I swap out pups on one. Cheap Strats mainly. They're the perfect test beds for different ideas and combinations.
Tinkering for its own sake is a different matter, in my view.
What kind of mook needs two identical guitars?
fer instance. Bought this at a yardsale for ten bucks. No electronics. So I had a '75 t-top with an embossed cover setting aroubd ( intended to be a middle pup on my '71 Custom) and a mystery Gibby that reads right for a 490t. However...was pretty beat up...no wax potting. Had the right resistance..treble spaced..maple spacers. Gibson stamped on the baseplate. But I'm wondering if it's not an early '57 Classic or something. It's currently my go-to guitar in spite of the fact I have other 'better' guitars. Just a fluke.
Way more stable than a vintage Strat setup. Roller saddles make a big difference. This one, the one on the Roland G707, and the Bigsby/WildKat are the only ones. I use. Although occasionally a MIM strat my son gave me. Not as good. Really not crazy about. Bigsbys neither. But for subtle stuff they're ok.
Come with uncle and hear all proper! Hear angel trumpets and devil trombones. You are invited.
Way more stable than a vintage Strat setup. Roller saddles make a big difference. This one, the one on the Roland G707, and the Bigsby/WildKat are the only ones. I use. Although occasionally a MIM strat my son gave me. Not as good. Really not crazy about. Bigsbys neither. But for subtle stuff they're ok.
All due respect, if you lack the skill to work a synchronized tremolo without sending the guitar out of tune, that's on YOU.
There are some things that just make a whammy 'more' stable. Two point for one thing. Roller saddles for another. I'm not trying to 'dictate' what people should use. Just stating my personal preference.
Yes I know with proper setup, nut lube, etc. a trad vibrato is very usable. I use them myself. But for me they're not 'optimal'. Hence the reason that many prefer them blocked even.
And yes I'm a woodshedder. So I acknowledge my opinions are far from useful information. I'm just having a conversation about whammys.
i've had floyd roses and i have a kahler on my fat strat. nothing beats that kind of trem system for dive bombs and total abuse, and yet still stays in tune lol