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eoinzy

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munckee

I bought seymour duncan vintage blues humbuckers which cost more than the harley benton 335 I put them in.

andyp

I did the same. I put Seymour Duncan Vintage Hots in an HB kit build I did. Transformed the sound, but I did wrestle with the logic of the whole thing... both before and after doing it.

DannyP

munckee said:

I bought seymour duncan vintage blues humbuckers which cost more than the harley benton 335 I put them in.

...and now it sounds better than a...

No, I can't do it.

Musicwolf

Spending a bit of money on pickups for a cheap guitar isn't really an issue.  Upgrading the pickups is probably the single biggest improvement that you can make so, provided that you are happy with the way the guitar plays, it makes sense.  Keep hold of the old pickups because you can always reverse the mod and retain the better pickups if you decide to sell the guitar in the future.

The only pickup upgrade that I've done was on my US Standard Strat.  I wasn't unhappy with the stock, I just fancied a humbucker for the bridge (the bodies are already routed for HSS).  I ordered a VHII from Bareknuckles and got hold of a scratch plate.  Before the order from BK was shipped I, for some reason (probably not wanting to be bothered with the wiring), upped the order to a pre-wired scratch plate with the VHII plus a pair of Irish Tour single coils.  I can't remember the cost but it must have been around £400 on a guitar that I paid £800 for.

The other week I changed back to the original SSS (and easy mod since the originals were still mounted to their own scratch plate).  I've since reverted to the BK HSS (because I prefer that configuration) but there really wasn't that much difference between the stock and BK single coils.

Epsilon

Bareknuckles in a Highway One Telecaster. Wish I hadn't sold that guitar.

ICBM

It wouldn’t bother me at all. I’ve got a set of DiMarzios that cost over £200 in my Aria Strat-type guitar, which is probably only worth about that.

As Musicwolf said, it doesn’t really matter how much the new ones cost, since you can always take them out again - either keep the originals or buy any set of cheap ones.

skullfunkerry

Oil City Djenerator in my cheapo Jackson. It's my #1 guitar now

Grampa

JBE Gatton T-Style for my Partscaster - Second hand from a bloke in Poland for £170

munckee

DannyP said:

munckee said:

I bought seymour duncan vintage blues humbuckers which cost more than the harley benton 335 I put them in.

...and now it sounds better than a...

No, I can't do it.

It does though : )

Stevepage

Set of bareknuckle Holy Divers for an Ibanez RG1550fm.

Back then they cost around £200 and the guitar cost £585 new. 

hotpickups

I'm going to buck a trend or anger a few pickup cork sniffers on here now but here goes - it's the kind of mood I'm in LOL. I think most pickup info one finds online I feel is mostly bollocks. I don't want to pick out specific brands as that'll be no point (you'll know them) but I feel it's not rocket science and some of these pickup winders are preying on our desires for the perfect sound / pickups. It doesn't exist imo as it's all personal isn't it i.e. what I like is going to be different from what you like? 

I do believe however, that there are badly made pickups that are very cheap that may develop problems down the line but will sound ok from the moment of installation (you pay for what you get). A well/consistently made brand of pickup I would go for but I'd refuse to pay the price what some of these winders want to charge after adding their proposed snake oil etc - albeit some of their packaging is beautiful or is that part of the wind up process (did you see what I did there )

So a mid priced pick up from some kind of reputable company is all one needs imo. I've got Oil City pickups in my guitar which I feel are very well priced and quality made with customer service to match, oh yeah and they sound great If one wants cosmetic additions like aged nickel covers etc then of course and understandably that will have to be added to the cost.

I just want to add that I have bought these expensive pickups from some of the well known winders and they have been great but I've just come to the conclusion that it doesn't actually mean that paying more is going to get you more in a sense? Perceived value has a lot to do with it but that can go across much of the guitar related stuff we all buy. The older I get I suppose I've learnt less is more but I still suffer from the dreaded GAS on occasions still, I'm just another victim LOL

Stevepage

@hotpickups ; I agree. Ive bought a couple of Irongear pickups and have been very happy with them. I wouldn't be any happier if I'd spent £300 on bareknuckles. But then if people get a kick out of buying something a bit special then fair enough.

Lestratcaster

I've got a set of Oil City single coils in the neck and middle positions plus a Seymour Duncan JB in the bridge of my 1997 Squier Strat. The guitar probably cost around £150 back in the day but as I have kept it so long and wouldn't ever sell it I wasn't bothered about how much money replacement pickups would cost. The Oil City single coils are fantastic and weren't as much as the branded companies. If the pickups work for the particular guitar's wood and set up then they work. 

Sometimes though you will get higher priced pickups that you can put in a guitar and they just don't work. For example I have a set of BKP pickups in my Telecaster but I'm swapping them out for something else.

zepp76

I bought a pair of Monty’s mini Humbuckers for £250 to fit in a £400 70’s tribute Les Paul. I have yet to fit them!

eoinzy

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Lestratcaster

eoinzy said:

Lestratcaster said:

I've got a set of Oil City single coils in the neck and middle positions plus a Seymour Duncan JB in the bridge of my 1997 Squier Strat. The guitar probably cost around £150 back in the day but as I have kept it so long and wouldn't ever sell it I wasn't bothered about how much money replacement pickups would cost. The Oil City single coils are fantastic and weren't as much as the branded companies. If the pickups work for the particular guitar's wood and set up then they work. 

Sometimes though you will get higher priced pickups that you can put in a guitar and they just don't work. For example I have a set of BKP pickups in my Telecaster but I'm swapping them out for something else.

That's a good point on guitar wood and set up. Do you know if any of those Oil City pickups are well suited to Basswood and Maple neck/fretboard?

My Strat is basswood but not maple fretboard so I can’t accurately say but I do know I like how these single coils (Stonetones) are sounding! 

Funkfingers

eoinzy said:

Do you know if any of those Oil City pickups are well suited to Basswood and Maple neck/fretboard?

Route 66, Stonetone, Diamond Geezer.

Back on topic.

There is a Discussion lurking in Making & Modding in which I installed almost three hundred quid’s worth of Seymour Duncan active pickups and EMG active EQ into a sixty quid charity shop find JHS/Vintage bubinga bass. (Took ‘em back out again soon after.)

pintspiller

III wentrwent opposite way. I replaced the bridge pickup on my 74 SG Special with a Seymourised mini. Ended up keeping the £10 P90 cheapie from eBay.

nick79

I put a some fender nocaster pickups (£120) in a Squire Affinity Tele that cost me £120. I questioned the logic but once in I didn’t regret it at all. 

markv

I put some Iron Gear pickups (cost, including pots etc, about £80) in an old, early 90s MIK Squier Strat that I got for free. So, mathematically speaking, the pickups cost an infinite number of times more than the guitar.

Do I win something? ;-)