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

DrJazzTap

Its something I've never really got into. I know i spent a small a fortune on a pedal board in the past. 
If I had a guitar that I liked the feel of, but not really the sound...then maybe. I just know it would be too much of a rabbit hole for me personally.

slacker

Seziertisch said:

ICBM said:

octatonic said:

Certainly.

But when some players swap the pickups in every single guitar they own, multiple times then it is probably not the instrument that is the issue.

I would agree with that, but I think that’s just a symptom of people changing stuff all the time in search of something that isn’t there...

That’s quite different from saying you shouldn’t buy a guitar you love the feel and look of just because you don’t like the stock pickups.

I’ve encountered guitarists looking for something which isn’t missing from the instrument but from their playing but who haven’t realised it, leading to an endless cycle of trading and “upgrading”. 

Guys grumbling in the studio about there being something missing from the guitar sound and then pass the guitar to someone else and it sounds great. 

And however bad guitarists are, the recording forums are worse, awash with nonsense - “this or that piece of gear is sh1t, couldn’t make a record with it”. Then you go listen to the posters work and discover that they don’t have a clue what they are talking about, or encounter the maligned piece of gear in the flesh and discover that it is perfectly capable of capturing/producing good sounds.

I found a tape I recorded years ago as a song idea. The guitar sound is extraordinary. I couldn't tell you what the pickups are. Or the guitar amp or overdrive for that matter. I can't remember thinking it was a great sound at the time. Sometimes we are too close to it.

mattdavis

I’d live to stick some double white PAFs in my les Paul trad for pure aesthetics - but if also love a neck pickup that was slightly less boomy. However I’m terrified that changing them out will cause some irreparable fracture to the guitar’s mojo. 
Going to give it a whirl at some point and trust that science is real and if I connect things up they were stock, it should sound as it did :-)

Grumpyrocker

mattdavis said:

I’d live to stick some double white PAFs in my les Paul trad for pure aesthetics - but if also love a neck pickup that was slightly less boomy. However I’m terrified that changing them out will cause some irreparable fracture to the guitar’s mojo. 
Going to give it a whirl at some point and trust that science is real and if I connect things up they were stock, it should sound as it did :-)

Same. I want to put some zebras in my Les Paul, just for the look. But I don't feel like tinkering.

The other issue is that while I've done plenty of soldering in the past my eyes are not what they once were and that kind of work is too fiddly for me now. 

TTBZ

I think you can get stick on bobbin-toppers if you just want to change the look of it. Not sure if they look a bit naff up close though. 

TTBZ

slacker said:

I found a tape I recorded years ago as a song idea. The guitar sound is extraordinary. I couldn't tell you what the pickups are. Or the guitar amp or overdrive for that matter. I can't remember thinking it was a great sound at the time. Sometimes we are too close to it.

I do this a lot, whenever I listen to old recordings with my old rig I love the tone. That setup stayed pretty consistent for the best part of 10 years, it's only been quite recently (last few years) I've started messing about and never being fully satisfied! Wish I never sold all my old gear.

Philly_Q

Grumpyrocker said:
The other issue is that while I've done plenty of soldering in the past my eyes are not what they once were and that kind of work is too fiddly for me now. 

Likewise.  I have varifocals but things like drawing or soldering seem to be at just the right distance to be impossible to focus on...

If I ever have the time to start fiddling around with guitar modifications again I'll have to get some kind of magnifying goggles, like a jeweller.  Or a forger.

octatonic

Philly_Q said:

Grumpyrocker said:
The other issue is that while I've done plenty of soldering in the past my eyes are not what they once were and that kind of work is too fiddly for me now. 

Likewise.  I have varifocals but things like drawing or soldering seem to be at just the right distance to be impossible to focus on...

If I ever have the time to start fiddling around with guitar modifications again I'll have to get some kind of magnifying goggles, like a jeweller.  Or a forger.

I have regular reading glasses for audio editing and soldering, varifocals for the rest of the time.
I do also have some Stewmac magnifying glasses for surface mount stuff but I don't do a lot of that these days.

slacker

TTBZ said:

slacker said:

I found a tape I recorded years ago as a song idea. The guitar sound is extraordinary. I couldn't tell you what the pickups are. Or the guitar amp or overdrive for that matter. I can't remember thinking it was a great sound at the time. Sometimes we are too close to it.

I do this a lot, whenever I listen to old recordings with my old rig I love the tone. That setup stayed pretty consistent for the best part of 10 years, it's only been quite recently (last few years) I've started messing about and never being fully satisfied! Wish I never sold all my old gear.

Its how I justify the word more instead of different when it comes to guitar gear.

Philly_Q

octatonic said:

Philly_Q said:

Grumpyrocker said:
The other issue is that while I've done plenty of soldering in the past my eyes are not what they once were and that kind of work is too fiddly for me now. 

Likewise.  I have varifocals but things like drawing or soldering seem to be at just the right distance to be impossible to focus on...

If I ever have the time to start fiddling around with guitar modifications again I'll have to get some kind of magnifying goggles, like a jeweller.  Or a forger.

I have regular reading glasses for audio editing and soldering, varifocals for the rest of the time.
I do also have some Stewmac magnifying glasses for surface mount stuff but I don't do a lot of that these days.

I hadn't really thought of just getting reading glasses!  It's worth investigating (and not too expensive).

Grumpyrocker

I suffer from something called Keratoconus - reading glasses don't work. Thanks to scaring on my corneas no glasses help.

Grumpyrocker

TTBZ said:

I think you can get stick on bobbin-toppers if you just want to change the look of it. Not sure if they look a bit naff up close though. 

I've been tempted by those before. Wouldn't help with my Les Paul though as the pickups are covered. 

Revolting1

This one?

Voxman

With one exception all of my guitars have stock pups. The exception is my 1989 Epi Sheraton II. The original pups went microphonic so I replaced them with SD 59s, otherwise I'd have left them. I could have just had them repotted but new pups just seemed a good idea at the time...sound great though. 

greejn

I like Charlie Christian pickups on anything, worth a try...

Bork

Pickups are a mine field.  There are so many options and each purchase is a leap of faith because there's no substitute for a pair of ears. 

I save myself aggravation and money by going custom with Aaron Armstrong.  The prices are not that much more than off the shelf products.  I last commissioned a set of PAF's for one of my Yammie MSG's and he delivered in spades.  I don't get the same bragging rights with Armstrong as I might with a boutique brand but those PAF's unlocked all sorts of new sounds and mellowed the guitar right out.  It can do jazz all the way through to hard rock.   They're wonderful and I didn't have to buy and try umpteen sets to get what I was looking for.

axisus

Bork said:

Pickups are a mine field.  There are so many options and each purchase is a leap of faith because there's no substitute for a pair of ears. 

I save myself aggravation and money by going custom with Aaron Armstrong.  The prices are not that much more than off the shelf products.  I last commissioned a set of PAF's for one of my Yammie MSG's and he delivered in spades.  I don't get the same bragging rights with Armstrong as I might with a boutique brand but those PAF's unlocked all sorts of new sounds and mellowed the guitar right out.  It can do jazz all the way through to hard rock.   They're wonderful and I didn't have to buy and try umpteen sets to get what I was looking for.

Thanks for chipping in Aaron

Stevepage

I used to change pickups in any new guitar I had and would usually buy Bareknuckles. Nowadays I just use the stocks pickups and only change them if they really are bad. I found changing picks make a bigger difference a lot of the time.

Voxman

Stevepage said:

I used to change pickups in any new guitar I had and would usually buy Bareknuckles. Nowadays I just use the stocks pickups and only change them if they really are bad. I found changing picks make a bigger difference a lot of the time.

Interesting.  So for example, if you wanted a slightly brighter more articulate tone from humbuckers, which type of pick would you use, and vice a versa?

SlopeSoarer

This article popped up on my phone the other day.

DIY WORKSHOP: EASY AND AFFORDABLE HUMBUCKER AND P-90 PICKUP MODS

Do any of you have positive experiences of what is suggested!?