Pickups and tone

Im wondering. I really havent changed pickups in guitars a whole lot over the years of playing. Oh Ive had some installed and even did some myself even though my soldering prowess is less than stellar.

I know that guitars are the sum of their different parts and no single factor dictates the sound quality of a guitar but: To what degree does a pickup affect how fat a sound a guitar has? Can a bright thinner sounding guitar be fattened up substantially with a particular pickup?

Probably not, unless you're replaing a single coil with a humbucker. You'll get a little fatter tone switching from one humbucker to another (fr example), but a lot of the character of the guitar is the bodywood. You'll never really ger a strat to sound like a les pual, but you can get a double cutaway hamer to come damn close.

I guess it would be helpful if you described the guitar in question and the tone you're looking for.

Im wondering. I really havent changed pickups in guitars a whole lot over the years of playing. Oh Ive had some installed and even did some myself even though my soldering prowess is less than stellar. I know that guitars are the sum of their different parts and no single factor dictates the sound quality of a guitar but: To what degree does a pickup affect how fat a sound a guitar has? Can a bright thinner sounding guitar be fattened up substantially with a particular pickup?

Click to expand...

Yes. You need to look at the tone profile for the pickup in the guitar and then compare it to the tone profiles of other pickups.

Both Seymour Duncan and Dimarzio publish information showing the relative bass, mid, and treble response of their pickups. So if 'fat' means you want a more prominent midrange, you can select an appropriate pickup from these profiles.

The guitar in question is a brand new Les Paul 57 re-issue. Its a superbly made guitar but I cant say I like the treblyness of the Burstbucker pickups. They get a bit shrill when used with a heavily overdriven amp...Im referring to the bridge pickup. My Studio Custom just has a much bigger fatter tone but it has a JB in the bridge. Unplugged they seem to be very similar sounding but Im no expert. I only know what I like.

I have a Duncan Custom with nickle cover coming for the bridge and a Jazz for the neck. Im hoping to fatten things up and get a bit more grind from her.