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Are you a pickup swapper?


How often do you change pickups?  

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Any Hamer with a JB in the bridge I would probably switch

it right away.

Any old Hamer I would lay hands on that

for some reason has swapped pickups I would go a long way

to find original Dimarzio´s to put back in.

Other than that most Hamer's are fine

with the pickups they have.

I'll take those JBs, I love them. Why don't you like them they sound good to my ears in a special. Guess my ears are shot according to most people.

You should hear the tone I shoot for. I see the looks on guitar people's faces when they hear it. One guy even asked me if it was supposed to sound that way :D;)

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Always! Only guitar I havent switched pickups in is a G&L Comanche because well, the Z coils are what make it a Comanche!

Single coil guitars get Kinman Woodstocks, although the DiMarzio Area 58s have me interested. Steve Blucher is a nice guy, Kinman is sort of a dick, I'd rather give Steve my money so I'm going to check them out. My custom made guitar with a Suhr BPSSC has Suhr V60LPs which I absolutely hate, probably getting Lollar blackfaces sometime soon. Suhr makes great guitars but his pickups leave much to be desired. 2hb guitars get DiMarzio Bluesbuckers in the neck invariably, covered or uncovered as suits the look of the guitar, though I may try Fralin P92s for something a little different. Bridges get DiMarzio Virtual HoT PAFs or Lollar Imperials depending, and a couple have DiMarzio Tone Zones.

I've tried literally every Duncan, Dimarzio, Kinman model, and a splattering of smaller makers over the years trying to find 'my sound'. I'm pretty happy with what I'm getting out of the combinations above. Never happy with stock pups.

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I'll never swap pickups.In fact I've only ever done it twice.Once in a korean tokai lp cos I got a cheap gibbo humbucker, and once in my lp custom, I swapped the crappy HB's out for a set of P90's. but it took me 15 years to do it!!

I think that theres so much choice (too much!!) I'd rather keep them in than swap em, otherwise you'd never make your mind up.

I realise that most of the boutique makers can improve on the stock pickups, but I reckon if it ain't broke don't fix it.If you buy a decent guitar it'll have decent pickups in it already, and you can bet they've already gone through the process of testing which sounds best.Also if a guitar sound scrap I wouldn't buy it anyway.

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  • 8 years later...

Great, this came up again. I used to swap a lot until I found the right pups for any guitar in the stable. At last, I built a guitar around dedicated pickups, the Bo Diddley Charlie Christian.

All except for the Tally, to say the least.

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I tend to swap pickups a lot. The Monaco Elite received WCRs, and both Artists (Custom and Korina) received Wolfetones.

I won't touch the Melancon; the TV Jones do exactly what I want them to in that guitar. Also, the stock Duncans seem fine in the Phantom, so far.

I'm still considering a swap for the DDs in the Tally, though I've been talking about that awhile and I might just let it be.

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I did until I arrived at a select few that just do it for me.

Customs in the bridge, Hot Rails in the neck (on Calis) '59's on HB-equipped neck positions. For actives, it's back to emg 81/85's (or in the case of the Cali that has actives, 81/SA.)

There are a couple odd balls that are just that way because I like the variety:

My '76 Strat has an SD Distortion and two stock Fender SC's. My Green Meanie Diablo has active Blackouts that work real well with the practice amp I run it thru. My rare-ish Diablo w/ boomers has a red SD Distortion and '59. My Midnight Marauder setneck Cali has a JB and a Hot Rails and lastly, the Vector has an SD Custom and a Dimarzio PAF.

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Serious zombie thread!

I only have one electric guitar from when I started this thread, so clearly I swap guitars more often than I swap pickups. I dropped Bill Lawrence pickups in my Dean Tonic because the plastic stock ones imploded when I was adjusting them. Major improvement. My USA Eclipse has the DiMarzio minis it had when I bought it, and they sound great, although I also love the Duncan Antiquities in an Eclipse.

My other three electrics have stock pickups. I thought about changing out my MIM Strat pickups several times for no real reason, but I like 'em fine. The S22 pickups in my Carvin Fatboy 2 work really well with it - very versatile (I rarely like full sized humbuckers). And the stock Coaxe pickups were a major reason I bought my Vox SSC-55.

As an aside, more often than not, I am fine with stock pickups on an electric guitar. On acoustic, I have never found a pickup I like, except when I run it through a Fishman Aura system, but even then only when an well matched image is available.

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Swapper here. I changed my first pickup back in 1981 when I drpped a Lawrence L500 into my '76 Explorer.

I only swap if I am not happy with the tone. Once I find what my ears like they stay forever.i love BL, Vintage Vibe, and Rumpelstiltskin VERY much.

I only continue to swap pups in a guitar if I cannot get the sound my ears want. Ironically, my number one (Artist) went through a slew of bridge pups until I found a the one with magic. I do not intend on swapping out the Schlabotniks in my incoming Ultimate.....I expect perfection there!

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It all started for me in the late '70's after seeing so many pros putting DiMarzio's in their guitars. Although I was only playing Japanese LP copies at the time, I just had to try them, so got myself a set of DiMarzio PAF and Distortion pu's and put them in my Northern brand sunburst LP copy (the made for Canada mkt ones w/maple leaf fret markers). Think I also put Grovers on it too, IIRC. Wish I had that guitar back actually - was a pretty decent sounding/playing LP actually.

I don't always change pu's however - only if I feel the end result will justify the cost/bother of swapping out.

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My most "dramatic transformation" from a pickup swap of all time: I took an XT Quilt top model and put Duncan 59s in it. That was my first guitar that I bought when I started playing again about 4 years ago, and I still think it sounds great (many Hamer USA models followed). I'll never sell it.

Other than that, my favorite swap is likely the Wolfetone Dr Vintage in my Artist Custom. Love the tone on that one.

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yes, and have built my own wiring harnesses as well. but I'm not a serial swapper, I don't pay $300

for a pair of boutiques and won't pay $25 for a bumble bee cap. (fave is probably the SD alnico pro II

in reverse zebra, which can be had fairly reasonably)

and having working in the electronics industry for a bit, I kind of have a skeptical eye towards the

amount of new old stock stuff that seems to be never ending.

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I love tweaking my guitars until they feel uniquely mine. I love soldering. And there you go - no stock pickups.

Well, except Hamer basses. Every one I've had, had EMGs. And I really, really like the bass tone from EMGs.

The Cali doubleneck has been gutted so many times, most recently 2-3 years ago when it got a Sustainiac circuit, and them new-fangled Duncan pots that let you swap pickups with just a screwdriver.

Which is ironic, because after the toughest wiring job I've ever done, I don't quite feel like ever opening up those cavities. Ever.

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I'm old enough to remember when Dimarzio started selling replacement pickups in the 70's and in my yoof went through a phase of checking out what was available, (at that time I think I had an Ibanez L.P. Copy) PAF and Superdistortion models were about it at the time and the difference between them and stock P/U's was easily discernible.

Also had an old Strat (not sure how old it was but it was a 4 bolt neck) I swapped out the "nasty old" pick ups for a set of Dimarzio SDS1 (?). I recall taking the covers off the old PU's and looking at the coils which (to my eyes then) seemed to only have been partly wound and very sloppily at that and thinking should I throw them in the bin or not and gave them to a friend to play with. Where's the face palm emoticon.............

Next guitar was a 77 L.P. Deluxe Goldtop and Seymour Duncan came along so I had one of the first sets of his p/u's to arrive in the U.K. a PAF in the bridge (or was it called a pearly gates) and a JB (Jeff Beck model) in the neck that was a great combination the difference between the stock minibuckers was night and day but the differences between the Dimarzios and the S.D's were not so obvious to my ears and this is (more or less) where I stopped swapping (until recently).

It depends on the guitar too, one of the Standards is un-molested electronics wise and I'm happy with the way it sounds with the stock Dimarzios, I can't ever see that getting any surgery any time soon, same for the 78 Sunbursts.

2 of my V's have stock pickups, T tops in the 75 which sound just as they should and (allegedly) Tim Shaws in the 85 which sound un-believeably good.

However the daily driver Standard had a set of Super distortions in it when I got it so I don't mind fiddling with that (I swapped the bridge p/u straight out for a Lollar Imperial high wind as I'm not a fan of the Superdistortion) and I just popped a set of JB Gregwinds in there (thanks Currypowder) and replaced the volume pots with push push pots (thanks Murkat) so I can tap the coils, not had chance to crank it up yet but it sounds great through the practice amp at home in Humbucking or Single coil mode.

The Imperial will be going into the 79 Sunburst later today along with another Imperial as this also had a P/U swap by a previous owner and I'd rather they were in a guitar than just sitting in a drawer, it will also get a set of push/push pots to split the coils..

This is probably the first time I've had the inclination to do this in 20 Years and I think some of it is because I'm in a position where If I don't like the sound I can just grab a different one from the stash whereas when I was young I didn't have so many guitars and couldn't chop and change easily if I wanted to try and improve the "tone" so I had to hope that changing P/U's would be enough.

ETA: It wil be interesting to check out these guitars side by side now and have a chance to hear the differences between them in "real time".

I ticked the rarely box as I generally keep the stock pickups in my guitars now but I will buy pickups if I see something interesting at a good price with a mind to future fiddling.

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I've done it to a bunch of guitars, with varying degrees of success. Sometimes you luck on the perfect match, other times you should have left well enough alone. Its always a fun adventure though, I'm sure I'll do it again.

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I only swap if I am not happy with the tone. Once I find what my ears like they stay forever.

Same here. Back in the day when I was trying to do music for real and thus was beyond broke, upgrading pickups was an inexpensive way to make a cheap guitar sound great.

More recently, the Dragon IIs in my CE22 had to go, as did the "Atomic" pickups in a Fender Highway One Strat I used to have; both were vastly improved with Rios. Had I kept the SG I bought last year, the bridge pickup would have had to be replaced. But my most recent acquisitions were a pair of imports (Squier Trohman Tele, Reverend Jetstream HB) and I won't be making any changes to them as the stock pickups sound fine to my ears. I had thoughts of converting the Trohman into a poor man's Robin Texas Rawhide, but purchased new, that pickup complement would cost as much as I paid for the guitar (a little more, actually).

I've never had an issue with the stock Duncans in Hamers; I changed the JB in my Mirage II to a Custom Custom simply because the CC is my favorite bridge pickup.

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Not much. I've gotten a couple cheap guitars that were just too tinny and abrasive sounding and swapped for whatever was handy and decent. Good guitars usually come with good pickups and I kind of like that they have unique voices.

I will say that the Rios that came in the Koa Studio absolutely did not do it for my ears/amp and I put Seth Lovers in the next morning.

I keep going back to Dimarzo Super Distortion and PAF for humbuckers and whatever come stock in Daytonas for singles, but it's not a burning enough need for me to remove the stock 59/JB combo from my Duotone or Studio. As long as they basically sound "good" I learn to appreciate the unique feel and tone of each guitar :)

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I enjoy the process of finding budget guitars that have good bones then giving them a facelift in the electronics department. A standard upgrade on all changes below is new electronic hardware -- Pots, switches, jack, and wiring. Quality does make a difference... .

IMO, Strats were designed for pickup experimentation. I have a half dozen pickguards in the parts closet in various stages of disassembly. Tried Lace Hot Golds with and without the Clapton mid-boost and TBX set up. Briefly had a Fishman X-Bridge acoustic set up (sounded like crap to my ear - very short lived). Did Tex-Mex too (too brash). My current set up is 57/62's on a Maple fretboard MIM (love these!) and SCN's on a Maple fretboard American Standard. I like the SCNs okay, but am itching for something different, so the plan is to swap these with the CS 1969's before the end of the year.

I picked up a great playing Squier Tele last year cheap, and immediately swapped out the lousy standard issue electronics for SD Tele classics. Major difference.

Picked up a new Epi Les Paul Standard Pro II a couple years back. While the standard issue pickups were an improvement from their previously standard mud buckets of years past, I really like the transformation that happened with the oft-used Duncan JB/Jazz combination. This one got the addiitional benefit of the Jimmy Page wiring for coil split and phase reverse via pull-pots.

The most recent project was a Washburn J9 thin hollowbody with a 16 inch lower bout and Bigsby. A Gretsch County Gentleman knock off. I wanted to go with Filtertrons, but it would have cost more than I paid for the guitar. So, instead I went with GFS clones -- Liverpool in the neck and Memphis at the bridge. Though not as twangy as the real Filtertrons, I'm happy with the result. I also learned that rewiring the hardware in a hollowbody without an access door is a real PITA. Don't want to do that again any time soon.

Frankly, the only electrics in the herd that haven't been modified are my Newport with Seths (Why mess with perfection?) and a Taylor T5. The T5 did get new Gotoh 510z tuning machines (21:1 ratio -- Smooooth...). I did the same for my acoustics -- they make a big difference in tuning accuracy.

At the end of the day, all of these cheap guitars & changes cost less than a single new LP. Lots of "new" tone and keeps me out of trouble with the wife.

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Yes. Remember to include (appropriately guitar'ed) some sort of WCR and Dimarzio 25th anniversary (I think that that's close to the name, or maybe something something '59) in your rotation. Oh, and you cannot go wrong with that guy in Richmond Virginia either.

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I used to buy guitars just to try pickups out on... then I swapped them to get a poor sounding guitar to sound better... then I just stopped buying guitars that didn't sound great day one.

I get where you're coming from on this. That's my attitude on acoustic guitars, as that's where I spend 85% of my time performing live - on acoustic. My Newport falls into this category too.

I think I get as much enjoyment - if not more - out of the physical act of digging into an electric's guts, learning what makes it good/bad. Learning the different wiring options; why a 0.047uF cap is better than a 0.022uF cap; how noiseless single coils perform against standard models and what impact vertical position has on the tone; is there a real difference between solid core wire and stranded wire, etc. All that minutiae that most people really don't give a rat's ass about. I also love setting up the same instruments, getting intonation and action set as close to perfect as possible - Anything I can shove a screwdriver or allen wrench into. At the end of the day, if I screw it up completely I'd rather do it on a guitar that wouldn't break my heart if I have to gut it and start over or completely scrap altogether. It's a learning process, a stress release and a lot of fun.

The beauty of a manufactured guitar (a'la Fender) as compared to a crafted guitar (a'la Hamer) is the manufactured guitar is designed for ease of assembly. That means it's also designed for ease of dis-assembly. By effectively reverse engineering and experimenting, I feel like I'm gaining a better understanding of the instrument. my ultimate goal - once life settles down and the kids are gone - is to try my hand at building acoustic guitars. The plan is to start with a kit or two (Stew-Mac or Martin both make nice ones). That will probably scratch the building itch fine. If it doesn't, then there are seminars to attend and enough room in the basement to start a small workshop to try building from scratch. There are no delusions of becoming the next Bob Taylor - I just hate watching TV, so I need something else to fill time...

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I rarely switch pickups. The only guitar I've swapped out recently was my Hamer Diablo in Aztec gold, because one of the pickups literally died. So I went with two new ones, and have been VERY happy.

I do have another guitar that seems to be missing "something", and I keep wondering whether swapping out the stock Schaller pickups for something like Pearly Gates will get the sound I want.

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Caddie's comment on the "stupid P-90" post got me thinking. I hardly ever change pickups. I can usually tell the difference between different pickups models, but have a hard time deciding which I like better. But from reading some posts here it seems that lots of folks experiment with new pickups all the time. So I was just curious...

-Jonathan

Easy there. I do not want to be tossed into the same bucket as John Gruber. I did not ever label p-90s as "stupid".

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