I appear to have neglected the power of Youtube after having seen fantastic results from my Chameleon's recent feature in Dave Barlow's channel.
Now time to dive in head first - I want to start with a very general pickup Q&A to address a lot of the uncertainty, myths, confusion and give some advice about how to go about choosing if you need to replace your pickups, and how to choose what will be suitable.
People who have little to no experience, or perhaps none at all - What confuses you about pickups? What would you like to know? What would help you make an informed decision on a pickup purchase?
And if anyone who is experienced in pickups would tell me what they wished they had known to save them headache or money at the start, that'd also be great.
Alegree pickups & guitar supplies - www.alegree.co.uk
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The only time I’ve changed pups was on a hardtail Ltd, which required F spaced so the poles lined up with the strings.
I didnt know until I had installed a standard spaced humbucker...
All I know is that I have a 500 bridge pick up (lil59) and a 250 neck pick up in a Tele (stock), one is quiet and one roars!
So now Im thinking of fitting a neck humbucker and change the pots to 500, why? I've no idea!!!
I've been playing for over 50 years, and I've never changed a pickup in any guitar I've ever owned. What is it that makes someone think "I like this guitar, but it needs different pickups"? What do you hear that I don't?
I'd be interested in any explanations
I once won a guitar in a competition. I loved the way it played and the neck pickup. The bridge pickup was nice for classic rock but I wanted a more aggressive pickup for heavier stuff so I swapped it.
I also had a Telecaster that played really well but again had a slightly bland and inarticulate bridge pickup. A swap to a thicker, more aggressive pickup sorted it for me.
b) I want it to look like a 70's monster Keef Tele !!
however a lot of companies make great sounding ones including the makers on here.
This artical with info from SD also shows you the timeline of changes in the Gibson pickups so can potentially get something that is as good as a paf but not such a crazy price tag. Defo worth a wee read to understand some of the ins and outs of paf pickups without some of the BS https://guitarconnoisseurmagazine.com/paf-archaeology-digging-up-the-history-of-classic-humbucker-tone/
There are a few “quests” that have driven the market.
It starts with the quest for more gain, hotter Pickups driving amps harder. Thos one is less relevant these days but really kicked off the market. there was also a quest for less noise and a quest for vintage replicas to fit to those newer guitars. All significant contributors to the field.
there were a few quests for more hi-fi sounds, or more adjustability, or more switching options.
everything you hear through the amp is generated by the pickup and the strings. I believe wood has an affect, but I only by explaining how it affects the way the pickup senses the string. Those 2 factors are easy to change and have an undeniably significant impact
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Thanks for the suggestions so far people, the list is growing nicely. I'm aiming for 15+ minutes.
On a studio guitar it doesn't matter, but live I want a clear, detailed neck pickup tone with good low-string definition, then to be able to flick to the bridge pickup without taking people's heads off with top end.
So the "Why?"in my case is because I've yet to come across a standard guitar which works as well as Broadcaster bridge/Strat neck or P90 bridge/Goldfoil neck does for me.
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It's all very well telling me it's over-wound (under-wound? Wombling free?) or 12k or 20k or whatever, but what does that mean to the clean tone (bright, muddy, fat, shrill, creamy) and to how it will break up with different levels of drive and gain.
I appreciate a lot of the overall sound is down to the interplay of the whole system (strings, wood, pickups, amp, speaker, player) but there's a ball park.
( And @snags massive gets an excellent lol for wombling... )
So same guitar, settings etc, and cut to and from different pickups (so some cunning editing involved).
That and what it all means
Personslky id love to see what goes into making them though etc
But show me how easy it can be to replace, as it appears it might be, and I’m likely to start spending £££s on new pickups