Share your stories: Good pickups added to inexpensive guitars...

[Kiwi]

Tri Sonic and Slipbeer want to start some new threads with general gear appeal, so ...

Tell us about your experiences with putting good pickups into inexpensive guitars. Did you create a bigger bang for the buck? Was it worth it?

The acid test: Still got that guitar?

My history:

1) Bought a Gibson ES-333, the made in Memphis ones, a couple years ago because the price was right, the playability was good and the look was smoove. The tone? Well, a little raspy, but that was surely because of the cheap hi-output pickups, right? So I got a pair of Classic 57s (used $100/pair) and dropped them in.

The result was not ES335 on a budget. The raspy sound was still there. I still heard it when a REALLY good player picked it up and went to town on it. Nasty edge to the tone, to my ears anyway. Sold it for what I had in it (the appeal of the Classic 57s greased the sale, I'm sure) and the new owner wrote me that he was very happy with it.

2) Bought an Ibanez Artcore AFS75T, a Chinese-made true hollowbody with a Bigsby. Sounded, looked, and played nice already, but as it happened, I had a pair of PRS Hollowbody II (Archtop) pickups available to install. Again, bought them used $100/pair from a guy here at TGP.

The result is a winner - crystalline, shimmering warmth and clarity. It'll feed back eventually, but quite workable. A buddy installed the pups and played it for a couple days. Said it smoked his gigworthy Epiphones, for about half the bones.

3) Bought a Jay Turser copy of the ES-336 as a gig axe, $200 used. Stock it sounded surprisingly good and played really well, and most importantly on stage it looked good. :) The pickups were sort of weak but for clean rhythm guitar that wasn't all bad.

Could I leave well enough alone? Ahhh, you know the answer.

Scouted around here and got a pair of gold Classic 57s (you know, $100/pair used) and had them put in. I also had the frets leveled and polished (dem grooves, from da cowboy chords). The improvement in playability and sound was not all that dramatic, but noticeable to me anyway for having played the "old" version a lot. It's a great sit-around-the-studio guitar and I'll take it out anywhere.

I've got several really good guitars, and these low-budget guys are not going to put them out of work. Then again, they're clocking in at about a third to a fourth of the Big Boyz' cost.

My experience: For guitarists on a budget - yeah, there may be one or two here :) - the new crop of low-end guitars from China are amazingly good values. Add good pickups, and go spend the rest of your money on a really good amp.

Kiwi

[rpavich]

Funny you should bring it up...I have an Ibanez artcore 335 that I bought off the 'bay used and put in PUPs from a Les paul that I had; a JB and a '59; good combo...this guitar sounds great! Very lively....

I now have a beater Squire MIK anniversary model that I got for 130 dollars with some just marginal duncan PUPS in it and I'm thinking about dropping a set of Fralin Vintage Hots into it...I love them and I'm guessing this axe will sound great with them....


bob

[cvansickle]

Two years ago, I bought a Squier Bullet Special for $99. I replaced its stock pickup with a Duncan Distortion, which really woke up the sound of this cheapie. I still use it as my "basement beater" - it's the guitar I keep handy when inspiration strikes while I'm outside doing yardwork! Seriously, it's good for testing stuff, like when tools and parts are all over the place and I don't want one of my good guitars getting in the way.

[AJ Love]

I had a Fender MIM P bass once that was really just so-so... put a pickup in it from the Fender Custom Shop and did some very extensive set-up work on it and it became a really great sounding and playing instrument

A/B'ed it with a buddies real '64 P bass and while it didn't quite stack up tonewise it was suprisingly close

[trisonic]

Hey, good thread, Kiwi!
The only thing I can add right now is to do with the "accursed" Fender "Texas Specials". I was given a "SRV" by, at that time, my fiance. It was one of the first batch and apart from the P'ups was/is a lovely Strat (mine has a nicely figured body (which "experts" have actually deemd to be Ash and not the advertized Alder) and fingerboard. I lived with the Texas Specials for ten years by cranking them down very low - at which point they sounded reasonable!
Then I met and heard Tomo - he had basically the same guitar but had fitted Fralin Vintage Hots - the guitar sounded great! So, got off my big fat arse and got Jimmy Somma to fit the same and change the dreaded scratchplate (no offence to SRV but it's ugly) rewire the thing to cut the tone control from the middle and move it to the bridge with a push/pull pot to bring in the neck P'up at any position of the blade (I got this wiring idea from Bill Chapin).
Result: A decent guitar now is great.

Best, Pete.

[guitarmook]

1. The goldtop flying telecaster...

Was an Alvarez 'tele' w/ contours and a middle pickup... both the neck and middle pickups were chrome covered 'tele-style' neck pickups... they were okay, but weren't 'WOW'

I put 3 rio grandes innit (and a new neck) and it's been at or near the top of the heap since... played out with it and nothing else for a year or so...


2. Epiphone Korina Vee... put seth lovers innit... helped quite a bit - not as much as the Alvarez, but didn't have as far to go...


3. Odd Ibanez LP Custom fretless wonder thang... ebay find, didn't have any pickups - and I found a pair of antiquities... while it doesn't fit my style terribly well, that is a great classic-rock power chords guitar...

[aeolian]

I've got an American Standard Tele that I put a Callaham bridge and Fender Texas Special into. Works great. Always loved the neck pup but the bridge could hurt people. Not now.

My primary axe in my cover gig is a $330 MIM Strat that I put Kinman pickups in. Cost almost as much as the guitar. :) Actually, with the frets, Callaham trem block, shield plate and pickups, I've got more into it that it costs. But the net result is better than any number of $1-2K Strats I've played, and cheaper too. And I've got it exactly how I want it.

Only issue, is that it's not easily replaced. 12 years ago my house got cleaned out and the insurance company would only replace the original thing, not all the customizations or work I put into them. I told myself that I'd never do that again, anything I got would be off the shelf, and replaceable off the shelf. Well, I guess time heals all wounds, and I'm back to customizing things and saving money.

[ratkent]

I took the stock Gibson pickups from my LP Custom and put them in a red sparkle top Epiphone LP Standard. I use the Epiphone for low tuning (C or D) and it sounds great. I have no idea what kind of wood it is made out of but it's a pretty heavy chunk and the guitar was always kind of dull (even with EMGs) but the Gibson pickups really brought it to life.

[BadJaxx]

Tradition MTQ (LP DC)...
thick mahogany body and quilt maple cap...
actually a pretty nice guitar which i got used and already customized....Earvana nut, tonepros type bridge mod, push-pull coil split pot, neck sanded to satin finish, and JB/Jazz pups....
you'd think the JB was designed for this guitar cuz it just sounds great...benefits from all that mahogany...

i just traded it and another guitar for a great Strat....but i WILL miss it....not having it will force me to play my LP Custom and other twin bucker axes more....especially the LP....which is a good thing and one of the reasons i let it go...
new owner loves it...

[lookslikemeband]

I pumped up a PRS SE with a Gibson 500T in the bridge. Holy smokes Batman!!

:dude

[tedjac]

I've got a ten year old Washburn HB-30 (335 knock off) that I recently put Seymour Duncan '59s in. The PUs cost more that the giutar is worth (probably). What a change! The guitar always played pretty well and now it just sounds incredible! I guess the PUs that were in it were just crap. I was thinking about springing for a new Heritage 535, but now I feel very happy with this budget-friendly semi-HB.

I just picked up a slightly used Epiphone 1956 Goldtop Reissue model with P-90s. It has a great action and the fit and finish are really nice for a sub-$500 guitar. I'm thinking about putting some Jason Lollar P-90s in this one... what d'yall think??

[Donn Rowe]

I have a nice Sonic Blue 96' MIJ Fender Strat that I put some Suhr's and CTS pots in..Now its a very nice guitar I could play without want for a "better" guit.:AOK

[LaXu]

1) Put Mastertone pickups into a Fenix LP Custom copy. One of my favorite guitars now..not that the originals were that bad, just that I had already ordered the Mastertones when I was waiting for the guitar.

2) Changed the pickups on my 1989 Ibanez RG550. Put a Seymour Duncan '59 Model (SH-1) into the neck position and the bridge got a SD Original Parallel Axis Trembucker (PATB-1). Kept the stock singlecoil because I couldn't afford a third pickup. This has propably been the best pickup replacement I've ever done, it really made the guitar sound so much better. IMO nearly all Ibanez pickups are some of the worst on the market. They're either thin and shrill or muddy and indistinct. They really need to fire whoever comes up with their pickup designs..even those DiMarzio/IBZ and Duncan/IBZ pickups suck compared to the real things.

Still have those two guitars, even though the Ibanez has seen little action because I no longer like superstrats that much. Other than those two, I've stuck with stock pickups (Duncans on some). If it sounds good, why change it?

[DonW]

Bought a Yamaha Pafica a couple weeks back. Sounds killer with a Duncan SH6. I switched it out for a WCR Fillmore. Not right for the guitar at all. I'm trying a Gibson Dirty Fingers circa 1980. The output is 16k like the SH6. If that doesn't cut it back to the SH6. I generally prefer lower output p/u's but for the Pacifica the higher ones just kill. I might go with an RS wiring kit too. Haven't decided though.

[jonleecourage]

I put WCRs into an inexpensive guitar, and while it helped a lot, turning a boring, lifeless guitar into a very decent sounding axe, giggable but not noteworthy, it didn't do it enough for me to keep it. I think the wood just wasn't there.

[HHB]

while I think the guitar can hold it's own, my '81 Ibanez AS50 w/ Voodoo 59's is one of the best tones I've ever used, truly outstanding!

http://home.mchsi.com/~hardheartedbill/wsb/media/686402/site1033.jpg

[Pearly Gator]

Schaller Golden Age alnico humbuckers into an Ibanez Artcore AS73. (A 335 clone.) It transformed that guitar into one FINE axe! Of a dozen guitars, it is only bettered by my Gibson Les Paul Classic.

PG

[Brick]

Yep. I'm a big fan of this practice.

I got an Epi ES295 (http://pic20.picturetrail.com:80/VOL93/2038767/5555000/86505856.jpg) for cheap b/c it was a floor model with a teeny tiny mark on the back. Put some Lollar P90s in it and have a killer rock-a-billy box...still have it, played it this morning.

The other example is my ESP PC2 (http://pic20.picturetrail.com:80/VOL93/2038767/5555000/123199531.jpg) with High Order pickups. My el cheapo rock guitar.

[TheArchitect]

Highway 1 Strat I loaded with Duncan Antiquity singles. One of the nastiest (in a good way) strats I have ever heard.

[VaughnC]

I've done a lot of experimenting with Strats over the years and have come to the conclusion that if the wood is bad, pickups won't fix the tone. And, while pickups will affect (filter) the tone to a degree, the wood has an inherent basic voice that can't be changed with pickups. I equate this to a singer singing through different microphones. The singer will sound a bit different through each one but that same basic sound is still there. However, having said that, when the right neck meets the right body, meets the right pickups, meets the right player, magic can happen. So, IMO, pickups are only part of the tone equation....and I think there's a bit of luck involved with everything coming together just right in a particular guitar. Persoanlly, I've never had a dog Strat become a gem just by swapping pickups....but I suppose it could happen with just the right combination.

[BigDoug1053]

I replaced the stock humbuckers in a MIJ 84 Charvel 3A with Duncans. A JB Junior neck and Hot Rails bridge with a Vintage Rail in the middle. I also added series-single-parallel switches for the bumbuckers and replaced the pickguard. All done while my wrists were recovering from an repetitive strain injury in 95. The guitar simply cooks now - is MUCH more versatile - and I still have it. I strung it as a baritone for awhile, now it has .012-.056 tuned in DADGAD. Behold:

http://www.dougcraftfineart.com/GuitarCharvel3Abody002web.jpg

[jhczar]

Dimarzio's in an old Ibanez Challenger. It smoked. They're now in my $30 '87 Squier Strat. A bit overpowering for my aging taste, but it's one loud guitar for my kid to use.

[KBN]

I have an Epi Dot Deluxe that I put a set of Dimarzio Eric Johnsons in and a MIM Tele in which I have a Dimarzio Virtual T neck and a Virtual T Hot bridge. Both changes made a big difference. That being said, I bought the guitars because they had nice necks, sounded nice unplugged, and felt really good in the hands.

[daddyo]

I put StewMac Golden Age pups and new pots into may Artcore AS 73. Very nice upgrade. I really fought the temptation to by some Alnico Pro IIs or Seth Lovers as I can't deal with putting $200+ worth of pups into a under $400 axe. I also added a licensed Bigsby trem so this axe is my FrankenGib.

[mtlin]

I put a Fralin P90 in the bridge position and a Lollar in the neck position of a Dillion goldtop LP copy. Didn't improve the tone. A little different but I wouldn't say clearler better. The guitar sounded good to begin with (I just wanted to know if it could sound even better) and plays well. I still have it.

I put Fralin Vintage Hots into a $275 Fatdawg Subway strat. HUGE improvement in tone. It now sounds absolutely killer. I plays well too. Very resonant. I still have it.

[Crazyquilt]

I went through a bunch of pickups in my Aerodyne Tele, and wound up with a Lollar P-90 in the neck & a Fralin SP43 in the bridge. I hadn't played it for a while, and actually pulled it our yesterday, trying to decide if I wanted to sell it.

Damn if it didn't sound like one bad mofo, but still able to clean up & play nice with the big boys.

http://www.crazyquiltarts.com/images/remote/yojimbo1.jpg

(Not a great pic -- doesn't do it justice.)

For the record, it's a CIJ Fender with a basswood body. It came with the requisite crap pots & dysfunctional switch, all for less than $500 (new.) The stock pickups -- an Original Vintage bridge & Black Dove neck -- were uninspiring and poorly matched. The bridge sounded too thin, the neck too muddy. It was a hard balance to make; te only thing I don't like about it is that the screw-head polepieces of the SP43 stick up farther than I'd like, and the strings occasionally pop against them while I'm palm-muting.

[Reeek]

I installed a pair of High Order 7.8/8.5 A3 potted nickel covered in my Agile AL-3000 Prestige Goldtop and all the local pros I jam with here in Reno all pick that guitar up the most when at my house.

It is absolutley fantastic sounding (and playing)

[straightblues]

I have swapped plenty of pickups. In fact, I don't have a guitar that has it's stock pikcups in it except for my cheapest guitar, a Squier 51. That guitar sound great the way it is. My other guitar are mainly US Hamers and I put custom pickups in them all. I think great pickups can make a good guitar great and an ok guitar good. Once I decide to keep a guitar, the pickup search is on. I try as many as I need to until I get everything possible out of the guitar.

However, like someone said, some guitars will just never sound right because of bad wood. By bad wood I don't mean cheap or ugly wood, just wood that doesn't sound good. I have a Japanese tele that I have had since the 70's and it just has bad wood. I have had at least 10 different sets of tele pickups in it and still non of the pickups have really meshed well with it. I still have the guitar and play it all the time because it plays really good. I just wish it sounded better so I finally broke down and bought a new body for it a couple weeks back. We will see how it works out next week when the new body comes back from the painter.

[Brett Valentine]

Replaced the stock p/u's in my used Brian Moore i21 (Asian import) which I purchased for$340.00. Duncan Alnico2 Pro in the neck and a Pearly Gates bridge. Completely customized the electronics, and now what was my least expensive guitar has now become my main guitar. It went from okay tone to pretty amazing.

Brett

[alderbody]

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/alderbody/Epi.jpg

That's my (Korean) Epi Dot in which i put a set of WCR Crossroads, an RS guitarworks kit, new switch and Switchcraft jack, a lightweight T/P, a Gotoh bridge, a Bone nut, Grover Rotomatics and Snake Oil Brand strings.

I also reinforced the neck joint (under the neck PU) where there was a huge gap which i filled with a piece of hard maple.

The result?...

Awesome tone. 1000% better than when i bought it.

Really happy with that instrument. :roll


Actually, the ONLY thing i would change is the Gotoh bridge. Never really liked it. (any recommendations? traditional solutions only)

[Matt Gordon]

In 1995, I found a used Yamaha Pacifica 112 in Dallas at a store closing, maybe going out of business. This guitar was a HSS, no finish, rosewood board, basic cheapo. Paid the $70, and have been playing it ever since. Now it's loaded with a Suhr DSV+, and Dimarzio 2.0's. I'm convinced that until I explore these cheap guitars, and their possibilities, my money would be wasted on a really valuable botique. Also have a Yamaha Pacifica 921 upper end Yamaha, and recently had it refretted and plekked by the folks at Gary Brawer's in San Fran. They do great work BTW. Killer instrument, even though I hate the stainless fretwire (my fault for not knowing) the guitar is a keeper, and I have it loaded with Suhr SSV/SSV+, and a Dimarzio HS-2 that Gary rewired for me, which was very nice because he didn't charge me any extra for the rewiring. Having someone like Gary personally touch your instrument is a humbling experience. My next guitar will be a Yamaha Pacifica PAC112J in black, then maybe, if everything goes well, a Suhr Pro series in black/rosewood.

[nsriley]

I've replaced the pickups/electronics in many inexpensive guitars over my years of playing/tinkering. But the one that stands out the most is one I currently own. Some friends of mine bought and sent me a stock SX Les Paul copy from Rondo for my 30th birthday. This was after I sold off all my Historic and Standard Les Paul's due to financial problems. When I got it, it was actually a very lively and loud guitar unplugged. The pickups were so so, and the mini pots were less than desireable. So I pulled all the pots, switch and jack, along with the pickups. Then I installed an RS full Historic Les Paul electronics kits and a set of zebra Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates covered with RS aged nickle covers. While I was at it I had a light weight RS tail piece and a TonePros bridge not being used, so I installed those as well. With all this the guitar is just smokin in the tone department!! With a proper setup and all these mods I did on it, it's actually become my #1 go to guitar. More importantly the guitar will never leave my side, because it was a gift from three very cool friends! Here's a body shot.

http://riley-music.com/Pics/GuitarGear/SX2.jpg

-Peace
-Nate

[sosomething]

I stuck a DiMarzio Tone Zone in a Korean Ibanez RG I had a few years ago and the guitar sounded great. I couldn't tell you what kind of wood the body was (probably agathis or some other balsa derivetive) but the thing rocked hard. Unfortunately the crap hardware and excessive weight of the guitar forced me to sell it.

[r9player]

El Cheapo Eleca MadeInChina Strat made sure it played easy and stayed in tune, dropped in a Langcaster harness and WOW super clean and hot strat tones. Went from a weak sounding guitar to being able to keep up with boutique.

[clothwiring]

Years ago I had a Squire Stratocaster that I ripped the guts out and put in a Seymour Duncan JB pickup, the guitar was one of the best sounding guitars I've ever owned.

I have a parts '65 Relic that had no-name pickups in it, I recently put Suhr V60LPs in there and it opened the guitar up.

Not cheap, but I think the pickups in a stock LP Classic aren't the best, I put VooDoo Humbucker '59s in there and it opened that guitar up alot. I'm not a Les Paul guy, but that thing is a great guitar, have many people after it as well because they say it's a good Les Paul.

[jdier]

I have the maple neck versions of the SX strat and SX tele that Rondo sells. I was really impressed with the wood and neck fit on these and spent some time on the pick ups and now they are two of my favorite guitars.

On the Strat, the stock pickups sucked. I pulled them and put in SD SSL-1's and the thing sounds great now.

On the Tele I put in a STL1 and a STR1. It sounded pretty good, but then I put in three brass saddles and that really jumped the sound to the next level.

I have some really nice american strats and G&L ASAT Classic, but these two can really hold their own now that they are fixed up.

[dallas]

Out of 4 of my electrics. I only have one axe with 2 of three original pickips. I have one axe that pickups and electronics made a 100% improvement. My 2000 Eppie Les Paul Extreme. Ugly as heck but I am affraid to repaint it because I fear that it would ruin the tone. I bought it from GC on clearance for $299. in 2000. I figured what the heck for a set neck guitar? It played awesome but the p/u's sucked! I decided to replace everything. Switchcraft toggle etc. I put a 57 Gibson reissue in the neck and a Dimarzio Super Distortion in the bridge. The guitar became my number one from 2000 to 2003 when I went back to my Strat as number one. People would come up to me and say WTF is that? Every time I bring my LP to play my bassist gets a hard-on. To this day, I still haven't played one that sounds as good as mine.


http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h185/tmt59/MyLp.jpg

[MartinPiana]

MIM, fabulous neck and frets. Put in Bill Lawrences (really wanted Joe Bardens -- weren't available then, now are back ... at $170 each!) and a four-way switch. Huge difference. Very good guitar now, and quiet. Fourth position is really a winner -- more sparkle than the usual three (and a bit more volume). ... This won't compete with the magic of a first-rate pre CBS, but certainly is a pleasure to play.

[whitehall]

My experience has been mostly not worth it. I put many a set of BB's- that I like in my Gibsons-- into MIJ LP's -Orville/Greco/Burny- and it didn't make a startling difference. When I sold them I never really got back the pup cost. Worst case : a pair of BB's in an MIK Tokai. You just can't polish a turd.

[jhc]

3) Bought a Jay Turser copy of the ES-336 as a gig axe, $200 used. Stock it sounded surprisingly good and played really well, and most importantly on stage it looked good. :) The pickups were sort of weak but for clean rhythm guitar that wasn't all bad.



I did the same thing with a Turser tele copy. It had the features I wanted (natural finish, neck humbucker) that I couldn't get in a MIM Tele or ASAT Tribute. I replaced the pickups with a SD Seth Lover (neck) and Lead for Broadcaster (bridge). I'd say it's about 90% where I want it to be. The hardware is still pretty cheap, and I imagnie I'll get a set of locking tuners. The bridge I'm holding out on picking up a Bigsby, but it does fine for now.

And I play it as much as my Gibson LP Standard which cost ~7 times as much 10 years ago.

[coreybox]

I've got a ten year old Washburn HB-30 (335 knock off) that I recently put Seymour Duncan '59s in. The PUs cost more that the giutar is worth (probably). What a change! The guitar always played pretty well and now it just sounds incredible!

I picked up a used epiphone 335 dot studio ($200) that plays and sounds great. I didnt plan on buying it when i did, but once i played it i couldnt pass it up. I put some WCR pickups in it ($260) and it hangs with anything that i've even played. Almost makes me said when i like my $460 total guitar as much as my $2000 one(s).

[JingleJungle]

The first thing I tell anybody who asks me if it's worth to install handmade pups in an import / cheapo / cookie-cutter guit is "yes".
A good set of [your fav handwound here] will sound miles better than the so-and-so "designed" pups.
I can't even keep count of all the guitars that were *improved* by a very good set of pups, so for me it's a no brainer.
When you want to trade in your cheapo just plunk back the originals and keep the booteeks - which you can always sell at a later stage.

Except for my own Hubers, and the "collectable" pieces, all the others have been tinkered around with :)


JJ

[GuitarG]

I put a Lollar P90 in the bridge position of my Eastwood Sidejack ($300). It made a noticeable improvement in a guitar that actually didn't sound too bad stock.