Pickups for Matsumoku-made hollowbody: Epiphone, Aria, Univox, Westone etc

[Whiskeyrebel]

Has anybody found current replacement pickups that fit these? Any success stories on an upgrade? Mine is an Epi 5102TE, which was also sold under the model number EA250. From what I gather it was also sold as Aria 5102 and is very similar to the Univox Coily model, and rebadged as Lyle, Conrad, and a whole bunch of other names. In any case, the pickups are an unusual length and width, certainly not a match for the PAF-copy standard and don't really look like a match for P90 or minihim proportions either.

I'm often on the fence whether to swap out the original pickups on this. It's not as though the originals sound bad, and for a fully hollow guitar with a floating bridge, they let me run a shocking amount of distortion and volume without causing runaway feedback. But their construction makes me think at some point it will be necessary. I guess if I knew what the actual options were to fit on this odd duck I'd know whether to simply go for it now.

The rewire won't be the nightmare you might expect. On a previous mod I cut an access hatch in the back to install a Baggs CTRLX preamp for a piezo bridge.

[Stringz]

I have a Matsumoku made 335 copy and I haven't really thought about changing anything on it yet. I wasn't even aware the pickups might be a non-standard size. How far off are they from the size of a Gibson pickup?

[Whiskeyrebel]

I'd have to take it home from the drummer's to measure, or else bring my calipers over there. But my recollection is that they are longer and narrower than a PAF style, yet wider than a P90, which sort of rules out those two options unless I find a way to get cute with the mounting rings or covers. I suppose the real factor is the size and shape of the holes in the top.

Maybe it would have to be more of a surface mount style pickup to cover over the openings.

FWIW mine is not a real 335 copy. It's a rebadged Aria model with a bolt-on multipiece maple neck and no central "log" in the body. Is yours like that too?

I guess the reason I'm thinking I need to be prepared for a swap is that the pickups in mine seem to be held together with the plastic pickup covers and time is not kind to some types of plastic. The polepiece in one of the coils is a flat steel plate with slots between the strings, and it doesn't seem to be held in very well.