Pickups. I've never felt 100% satisfied with any I've had in my guitars.

monquixote

pluckbuddy said:

I had a similar experience pickup swapping on telecasters. Despite trying many sets, I couldn't get a combination of three sounds on the selector switch that I liked. Using a vintage style set, the neck pickup was too weak and the bridge too bright on the plain strings. The b string was much louder than the top e. But when I replaced either pickup to address these issues then I lost that great middle position sound I had with the first set. 

In the end I just accepted that I couldn't make them sound as good other people do and moved onto something else which, for now, works better for me. I guess the telecaster is my favourite guitar that cannot get on with.

I think that's just how Telecasters are. Even on the best ones the pickups sound really different from each other which is one of its strengths.

I do wonder if they should have 2 tone controls like a Les Paul

JayGee

I’ve swapped pickups, but it’s always been because the original was broken (which is why my old CSL LP-a-like has Bill Lawrence rather than the original Super 70s) or to achieve a very specific effect (which is why one of my Telecasters has a single coil size humbucker in the bridge position) or to fix a specific perceived issue (which is why one of my other Telecasters has one of Ash at Oil City’s finest in the bridge position to give a better match in output to the Seymour Duncan ‘59 Humbucker it’s got in the neck position).

Lestratcaster

I’ve swapped stock pickups out in almost every single guitar got (and I’ve got 6 electrics). Only two of them are over £500 and just one remains untouched - my Les Paul Junior.

I’m quite fussy and like a particular sound so will spend hours researching artists and rigs to try to find out what they’d use live and on the recording.

For example growing up in the 90’s I learnt to play Green Day on a cheap Strat copy, Billie Joe had one too with a JB humbucker so I go one too. 

Mostly use BKP for humbuckers and Oil City for single coils.

I agree swapping them out on the cheaper guitars (plus hardware and pot upgrades) make a lot of difference. I put a set of BKP Juggernauts in a cheap Ltd EC-50 and it plays just as good as my Gibson Les Paul studio which was around £650 when I bought it 10 years ago.

Cols

With the exception of an extremely cheap Squier Tele, none of my electrics have their original pickups.  

My Epi Les Paul got Kent Armstrong humbuckers (mainly because I wanted to go crazy with switching options and needed 4 conductor wiring), the Red Special got Adeson Trisonics and the Washburn N4 got a Bill & Becky L500-XL.  My first guitar, a beyond-cheap Westone, got the old Epiphone hand-me-downs.

All the changes resulted in a noticeable improvement in tone.

slacker

 I have done it once because I liked the guitar but got fed up with the high gains.I wanted PAFs and the decision was driven by what the shop had in stock. They happen to be Lollar Imperials. They sound great and the time when they don't I play a different guitar.

Would Klopmans or Holmes or Throbaks sound better? Who cares?

A Strat bridge pickup is always tricky, get a tone control on it. A Tele always sounds wonky, just use the bridge pickup. 

ICBM

For me, most large guitar manufacturers fit astonishingly average pickups. I don’t know whether it’s to make their guitars appeal to a wider range of buyers or because I just don’t like the sort of middle-ground sounds that most of them seem to make, but I’ve changed the pickups in almost every guitar I’ve ever owned and always preferred the results.

It’s something I feel that specialist pickup manufacturers just do better - I don’t mean boutique, I like many Duncans and DiMarzios just as much as most of the small builder pickups I’ve tried.

Grumpyrocker

I've had this itch to change the pickups in my Les Paul for a while now. Only for aesthetic reasons, would prefer zebra rather than covered.

But I've held back. Because I've come to realise that I'm mostly not really gained anything by changing pickups on most of my guitars and I'm often still dissatisfied. 

I've decided - in terms of guitars and other things - that I am only going to buy things that I am satisfied with as they are. And if they need to be changed in some way then maybe I shouldn't be buying them. 

axisus

octatonic said:

This is what I refer to as 'majoring in minor things'.
Ignore it and go and work on your playing.

I agree with that up to a point, and it is generally the case as I can't afford to keep buying pickups, but unfortunately some of us are cursed with wanting things 'right'. To be honest it has become more of a thing for me since I started building my own guitars. I am incredibly happy with how they have all come out thus far in terms of the building, but they nag my mind when I can't seem to achieve the pickup sound I want. It's basically my favourite 2 guitars that are a thorn in my side - a strat and a tele.

UnclePsychosis

I've swapped pickups on my guitars but only to achieve something fundamentally different - i put gold foils in instead of humbuckers for example.

Tis a dangerous hole to fall down! 

ICBM

axisus said:

I am incredibly happy with how they have all come out thus far in terms of the building, but they nag my mind when I can't seem to achieve the pickup sound I want.

What exactly is wrong with the sound of the pickups you don’t like, and what are they?

Knowing that it might be possible to work out what direction you need to go in with more accuracy. Pickups aren’t rocket science or a black art... but they are both a science and an art! If that makes sense .

pintspiller

I haven't swapped out that many pickups. I've found that changing a string guage or brand can sometimes sound as different.

A pickup change is more beneficial on a cheaper guitar. Or change of style (I replaced the bridge pickup on my Peavey Rockingham to one I could coiltap - I got lucky and found a Duncan Designed on eBay taken from an Eggle Berlin).

smigeon

Just buy a new amp :-).

axisus

ICBM said:

axisus said:

I am incredibly happy with how they have all come out thus far in terms of the building, but they nag my mind when I can't seem to achieve the pickup sound I want.

What exactly is wrong with the sound of the pickups you don’t like, and what are they?

Knowing that it might be possible to work out what direction you need to go in with more accuracy. Pickups aren’t rocket science or a black art... but they are both a science and an art! If that makes sense .

It can be difficult sometimes to know what you want. In terms of the Tele I just want a bridge and middle sound that I enjoy as much as the current neck sound, I have no pre-conceived idea of what that is.  It seems a bit strange as many tele players seem to love the bridge pickup and not love the neck. I'm the other way around. I've ordered some Alegree pickups so I shall see how it fares with those.

The strat, I like to switch to the bridge pickup and have a bit more power/sustain for solos, but at the same time I like a stratty sounding position 2. I have an oil city pickup there at the moment with a coli split for position 2, but to be honest neither sound are quite to my liking. Probably my ideal pickup doesn't exist! I even tried a humbucker there, but to be honest I like the look of trad strat SCs for this aged guitar.

stickyfiddle

I’ve changed pickups in everything I own, expect the 2 custom builds which had scent stuff from day one. 

If I haven’t already played the pickups I’m thinking of in something else, I generally just message any of the favoured UK-based pickup winders, tell them what I want sound-wise and trust their expertise. That approach has generally served me very well. 

I went through a learning phase to get there - my strat has had more pickups than I’ve had hot dinners - but these days I’m pretty happy not to overthink it.

viz

Agree with the majority sentiment here too - the only pickup swap I’ve done is when I swapped the custom pickups on the lovely Jem I got from @Vibetronic back to the stock DiMarzio Evos so I could use it as a like-for-like spare against my other Jem.

I reckon there must be a stock guitar somewhere out there, that has the right combination of features for you, Axisus. That’s what you need to find!

axisus

viz said:

I reckon there must be a stock guitar somewhere out there, that has the right combination of features for you, Axisus. That’s what you need to find!

Actually no, as I only play my self-built guitars these days!

Philly_Q

Just do what I do and never plug in.

ICBM

axisus said:

It can be difficult sometimes to know what you want. In terms of the Tele I just want a bridge and middle sound that I enjoy as much as the current neck sound, I have no pre-conceived idea of what that is.  It seems a bit strange as many tele players seem to love the bridge pickup and not love the neck. I'm the other way around. I've ordered some Alegree pickups so I shall see how it fares with those.

The strat, I like to switch to the bridge pickup and have a bit more power/sustain for solos, but at the same time I like a stratty sounding position 2. I have an oil city pickup there at the moment with a coli split for position 2, but to be honest neither sound are quite to my liking. Probably my ideal pickup doesn't exist! I even tried a humbucker there, but to be honest I like the look of trad strat SCs for this aged guitar.

It sounds as if - like me - you just don't like traditional-sounding single-coil bridge pickups. Of all the classic guitars the Tele is the closest to what I like in that the neck pickup is clear and deep, and the bridge pickup hotter and more aggressive... but not enough, I still prefer something more powerful. But not too much, or the middle position (or the bridge/middle on a Strat) doesn't sound right, because those sounds rely on roughly equal outputs to get the harmonic cancellation.

To square that circle, what you probably actually need is a tapped bridge pickup, something like a Duncan Quarter-Pounder or an Oil City Wapping Wharf where the full output is more humbucker-like, but it's set to auto-tap in the middle/second position - you can do that with a standard switch on a Tele, or a Strat if there's only one tone control (or you rewire it with separate tone caps so you can use the other side of the switch).

guitarmangler

axisus said:

ICBM said:

axisus said:

I am incredibly happy with how they have all come out thus far in terms of the building, but they nag my mind when I can't seem to achieve the pickup sound I want.

What exactly is wrong with the sound of the pickups you don’t like, and what are they?

Knowing that it might be possible to work out what direction you need to go in with more accuracy. Pickups aren’t rocket science or a black art... but they are both a science and an art! If that makes sense .

It can be difficult sometimes to know what you want. In terms of the Tele I just want a bridge and middle sound that I enjoy as much as the current neck sound, I have no pre-conceived idea of what that is.  It seems a bit strange as many tele players seem to love the bridge pickup and not love the neck. I'm the other way around. I've ordered some Alegree pickups so I shall see how it fares with those.

The strat, I like to switch to the bridge pickup and have a bit more power/sustain for solos, but at the same time I like a stratty sounding position 2. I have an oil city pickup there at the moment with a coli split for position 2, but to be honest neither sound are quite to my liking. Probably my ideal pickup doesn't exist! I even tried a humbucker there, but to be honest I like the look of trad strat SCs for this aged guitar.

Isn’t this the problem with most guitars , though? You set up your amp/pedals to sound great with the neck, and then the bridge and middle only sound average. So you then set up the sound for the bridge , then the neck sounds not so good. 

With a Tele I used wire it up with no tone on the neck, and always had a little on with the bridge. It allowed me to have a brighter sound on the neck, and take off anyone’s head on the bridge . I do the same with a strat.

Nowadays I’m usually too lazy to use more than one pickup mid song I just set up for the bridge and go for it. But, if do I use more than one pickup, I use an Xotic rc boost (and now the helix snapshot) to remove some bass when I switch to the neck sounds, or add a comp for splits. 

Schnozz

I find Dimarzio a bit marmite whereas I like anything Seymour Duncan.