Moving pickups around

[Jim85IROC]

I bought my first US Hamer around 2018, a used Special.  It had Lollar p90s in it when I bought it, and for years I felt like it was my best sounding guitar.  I didn't play it much because I'm more of a big neck guy.  But man it sounded so good.

A couple years ago I picked up a 99 Artist to swap the Lollars into.  With the stock Duncans I found the Artist to be very bass shy with an "in your face" top end that I really didn't like.  I swapped the lollars in, and although it tamed the "in your face" agressive top end, it remained very bass shy.  It sounded good, but very different.   On the other hand, the Special sounded very good with the Duncans swapped into it.  But, ultimately this arrangement wasn't meant to be, so the Lollars went back into the Special, the Duncans back into the Artist, and the Artist found a new home.

Last year I picked up a 19 Les Paul Special to be my next victim.  I've bonded hard with this guitar.   I love the 50s neck.  Problem is, I also love the pickups.  The bridge barks, and the neck has full mids and just sounds great.  Lollars stayed in the Special.

So... I basically stopped looking for a new host for the Lollars, then a month or 2 ago I did my daily reverb search, and there was a 4 minute old listing for a p90 goldtop studio at a great price.  I scooped it up.  When I got it, I discovered that it sounded great even with the hot ceramic duncans, just like I remembered the Special sounding in the short time I had the Artist's pickups in it.  So today I got the lollars into the goldtop and the Duncans into the Special.  Like I'd hoped, the Lollars sound the same in the goldtop as in the Special.  This is where they'll stay.  The funny thing is... I still think I like sound of the Gibson more.  I'm not sure what that means for the future of the goldtop, but honestly I'm not in a hurry to figure that out.  I think I'll just enjoy it for now.

 

 

Edited May 19, 2025 by Jim85IROC

[Travis]

All killer looking guitars. Loving that LP Special, tho. Been looking at those lately…

[Jim85IROC]

8 minutes ago, Travis said:

All killer looking guitars. Loving that LP Special, tho. Been looking at those lately…

Yeah, as much as I love my Hamers, it's hard to beat the feel of a Les Paul.

Edited May 19, 2025 by Jim85IROC

[hamerican gigolo]

That GT Hamer looks fantastic! 

[Brooks]

I had a nice LP special that I put Lollars in, I'd still have it except the neck was a tad too thick for me.

[JGravelin]

Some say wood doesn't matter: it's all in the electronics. Your post is 1000% on the money: all guitars, even made on the same day with wood sourced from the same place, same and same and same again .. resonate differently and how this translates to pickups is meaningful. And then, pickups that suck in one specific piece of wood joinery might sound stellar in another!

There is a reason why Hamer went with those hot ceramic mag pickups: in a handful of guits they tested them in, the general consensus was "Yup!". But then too, personal tastes are so subjective.

No right or wrong with any of this stuff. Really, to my mind: no ones pickups are bad because so many variables and ideas of personal preference. All that really matters at the end of the day is that you feel inspired to rock forth with it and play your guitar!

Do that.

[Jim85IROC]

On 5/19/2025 at 2:49 PM, JGravelin said:

Some say wood doesn't matter: it's all in the electronics. Your post is 1000% on the money: all guitars, even made on the same day with wood sourced from the same place, same and same and same again .. resonate differently and how this translates to pickups is meaningful. And then, pickups that suck in one specific piece of wood joinery might sound stellar in another!

There is a reason why Hamer went with those hot ceramic mag pickups: in a handful of guits they tested them in, the general consensus was "Yup!". But then too, personal tastes are so subjective.

No right or wrong with any of this stuff. Really, to my mind: no ones pickups are bad because so many variables and ideas of personal preference. All that really matters at the end of the day is that you feel inspired to rock forth with it and play your guitar!

Do that.

I'm strongly in the "wood doesn't matter" camp,  but I also feel that construction DOES matter.  A strat with humbuckers doesn't sound like a Les Paul, but 2 Les Paul type guitars with the same setup and equal pickup heights will usually sound the same.  The issue with the Artist was the chambered/hollow construction.   That's what changed the tonal quality of that guitar the most.

 

A while back my favorite sounding guitar was my Vintage V100PGM with Wilkinson WVC pickups.  Amazing sounding guitar, but I couldn't bond with the thin neck.  I bought an Epiphone Lazarus to replace it, but I hated the Burstbuckers so I bought another set of the Wilkinsons.  Swapped them in and it didn't sound the same, then I realized I set the pickup heights relative to the pickup rings, which were different heights on the 2 guitars.  I reset the pickup heights relative to string height like I should have done in the first place and they ended up sounding identical.

 

With vastly different woods of very different densities I've noticed differences in tone, and there are outliers in all cases, but generally I feel that within 90% of the bell curve, wood doesn't make a big enough difference to be audible.

Edited May 20, 2025 by Jim85IROC