One guitar....How many pups have you been through?

[Tone_Terrific]

I'm in the process of swapping pups in and out, going through the spare parts drawer, and it's getting tedious. I'm only at 4 or 5 (6?) see..I'm losing it. I haven't even gotten into coil splits and parallel yet.

What's your record for trying a different pup in one pickup position in one guitar?

[Flyin' Brian]

My 1980 something Strat Plus for sure. Stock Lace Sensors to start; put a DiMarzio FAst Track 1 in the neck to make the neck only warmer; changed it to a Big Apple configuration with Duncan 59 and Pearly Gates; left the Pearly Gates in the bridge and put the fast track back in the bridge and the Lace back in the middle; switched to a set of Kinman Woodstocks; currently have a set of Lollar Blondes in it, but I still have ALL of the others to fool with.

The Duncans are the only humbuckers I own. Both of my Heritages have Fralin P-92s, and I'm thinking of putting a P-92 in the neck of my Tele.

[chucke99]

For my Ibanez AS103NT, which had replaced pups on it when I got it (that is, I never got to try it with its original Super 58 Customs) I went through the following pups before finding the right ones:

1. GFS Retrotrons (Frankly I never gave these a chance, I should have left them in longer)

2. Greco "Super 70" equivalents (1976 pups from a Greco LP)

3. Ibanez Super 80 (Flying Finger) pickups - These squeeled on me at high volume

4. Another set of Super 80s, which didn't squeel, and which are on the guitar now (and to stay)

[Totally Bored]

6 Strats.

12 Pickguards loaded with a assortment of Dimarzio VV 58,61,67, Heavy Blues 2. Solo Pro ,Virtual Solo, HS3, HS2, YJM , SD Hot Rails,SD Antiquitys, Fender CS Texas Specials, Fender CS 57/62's and Stock Fender 78,80,89,94,06 Pickups. May have forgot a few ?

I change pups like some people change strings. It's a disease.



Blows my Mind.

[baimun]

Well my Black Limba guitar originally came with EMG 81's, then it had a Duncan JB/59 combo... then a JB/Custom Custom, then a Custom Shop in the bridge and 59 in the neck.... and I fit it with PRS McCarty's but never wired it (because I didn't like the way it looked)...

... and now it has P-Rails....



.. and different knobs.. and different saddles... different switching...and...

...I feel for ya, my brother.

[Tone_Terrific]

Originally Posted by baimun

That looks rather nice.
Where are all the little switch thingies? Do you have the special rings with the switches?... Don't see anything in the pic.

[Pietro]

On the opposite side of this equation... I currently own...

Anderson Hollow Cobra
PRS Standard 24
US Masters Legend (old style)
Godin Flat Five X

I have never... yes... never... changed out a single one of those pickups... ever... not even in the relatively "cheap" US Masters, which came with Bill Lawrence pickups which I was promised were awful and I think they're marvelous (hum-canceling stacks).

Haven't changed a pickup out in a guitar since about the early 1990s. I have, however, added a piezo bridge and stereo wiring to all except the Godin which already had it.

I might, however, put a set of those cool P-Rails in my Godin. It's be nice to have a P90 sound once in a while. I've never had a P90 guitar, and don't think I want one that just does that... But they seem a bit pricey.

[Dave L]

I was helping a friend to find the right pickup for his old Peavey Vandenberg, and we must have gone through 15 bridge humbuckers... Duncans, DiMarzios, Lawrence, GFS, Gibson, lots of stuff... before we in desperation put a Ibanez V8 in there and found it beat all the others in that particular guitar. I suppose there´s a place for everything!

[Jahn]

I usually swap just once - the noiseless pickups that have the best chance at doing right by the guitar. Hmm, actually twice I've put in pickups for swapping out buckers tho, the stock were '57 Classics. Not bad pickups, but the alternatives suited the guitars better. Oh hold on, I swapped out Mira buckers from a PRS Santana Korina - those pickups just didn't cut it.

[Help!I'maRock!]

guitar came stock with V7-S1-V8 pickups in 1993. about 6 years ago, i changed them to a "real" Bill Lawrence set of L500C-L280SM-L500L. then a couple of years ago, i changed to DiMarzio Virtual PAFs with an Area 58 in the middle. now it has no middle pickup and i swapped the bridge VPAF for an Air Norton.

[phoenix 7]

My '04 R8:

Burstbuckers > Voodoos > Lollar Imperials. Very happy with the Imperials.

[WoodyTone com]

Gibson Les Paul Classic:

> stock ceramics (ok, Super Distortion-like)
> Pearly Gates (too much high-mids)
> WCR Darkburst (too quick an attack)
> EVH Frankenstein humbucker (maybe a little too much gain, otherwise killer)

[johnmfer]

Oooh.

Redwood tele partscaster:
1) G&L ASAT Classic pickups
2) Fender Nocaster
3) (did some routing) Fralin P-92s 9K/10K
4) Fralin Twangmasters 8K/9.2K
5) Bill Lawrence L-450s 2.4N/3.6B
6) Duncan C5 bridge/GFS Bigmouth neck
...and I'm switching back to #5 when I have time, only with 250K pots to tame the brightness a bit. but there's no rush because it sits in the closet.

PRS McCarty with rosewood neck
1) Stock
2) Lollar low wind imperials
3) Fralin Twangmasters 8K/9.2K
4) Fralin P-92s 9K/10K
5) Stock bridge/8.5K Fralin P-92 neck
6) PRS DGTs
7) Fralin 9.5K humbucker bridge/8.5K P-92 neck
...and after all that I think I'm going back to either #1 or #5 and leaving it.

Squier '51
1) Stock
2) GFS Bigmouth bridge/Lil Killer neck
3) GFS Vintage Split Bridge/Lil Killer neck
4) (did some routing) Fralin 8.5K/9.5K humbuckers
5) Fralin 9K/10K P-92s
6) back to #4
7) DiMarzio Steve's special bridge/Fralin 8.5K humbucker neck
8) no pickups currently, probably going to part it out

MIJ Jazzmaster
1) Stock
2) Dimarzio Super Distortion brg/stock neck
3) DiMarzio Air Zone brg/Stock neck
4) stock
5) Fender AVRI Jazzmaster
6) Stock
7) (new pickguard) Gibson Mini humbuckers
8) Duncan A2Pro brg/Gibson mini hb neck
9) Squier '51 bridge humbucker/Gibson mini hb neck
...gave up and sold the guitar

Funny. Here are my main 3 squeezes.

Warmoth Jazzmaster
1) Fender AVRI Jazzmaster pickups (from 2002-2009)
2) Fralin hum canceling P-90s for Jazzmaster with 42 gauge wire
Sounds amazing. the Fender pickups always sounded great but the hum annoyed me. The Fralins sound just like the Fender JM pickups, only a bit beefier and with no hum.

PRS Custom 22:
1) Stock
2) PRS DGTs
...I pulled the DGTs to sell them, and when I get time, it'll be back to stock and staying that way.

Epiphone Sheraton 2:
1) Stock
2) Fralin 9K/10K P-92s
This guitar sounded good stock, but I bought it from a friend as a home for the P-92s, and to convert it to nickel hardware. You may have noticed these P-92s all over. They now live here permanently. This is like chocolate and peanut butter, like bacon and runny egg yolks, like slow roasted pork and red chile sauce - the best combo I've ever put together. This is also interesting because they're the only pickups I've ever bought that I didn't feel like the guitar was right for the pickups, in all the guitars I put them in, until I put them in the Sheraton. It's been 10 months and I'm still blown away by its tone every time I play it.

The moral of the story is, you can do endless pickup swaps, and I continue to do so, but if the tone isn't there man, oftentimes there's no correcting it.

[baimun]

Originally Posted by Tone_Terrific

That looks rather nice.
Where are all the little switch thingies? Do you have the special rings with the switches?... Don't see anything in the pic.

I had a thread here, but the MODs moved it to the Technical forum because it had a wiring schematic in it.

Details of the Install:
http://www.thegearpage.net/board/sho...d.php?t=635799

The stealth of the install was the main point.... it LOOKS like the same controls I had before, but now it's a Normal 3 way Pickup selector, Master Volume, and a 5 way Rotary MODE switch that changes all the Hum, Series, Parallel, P90, and Rail tones.

[bluegrif]

I designed and built a guitar in the 90s and that guitar was the only one that's had more than 2 sets of pickups on it. Doesn't look like a Strat but has that pickup arrangement. I started with Fender Texas Specials and found them too ragged. I put in a set of Fralin vintage style (with the bridge baseplate) and liked them but found them bright on that particular guitar (they're now on a Partscaster and don't sound overly bright at all). I finally settled on a Fralin Steel Pole (SP43s) set and they're perfect for the guitar.

In general, I don't do a lot of swapping. I found out years ago you can't really fix or change the intrinsic sound of the guitar with pickups. You just season it differently. So a pickup swap is generally just to tame or add brightness, depending on what's needed.