Stock p'ups vs after market
Why would one rip out their stock pups and go for some duncans or di'mar's or what ever? What do they offer from stock?
To use an old muscle car analogy... I know what I get when throw on a turbo charged holly 4 barrel on my car.
But sadly I don't under stand the after market pup stuff..... :oops:
To use an old muscle car analogy... I know what I get when throw on a turbo charged holly 4 barrel on my car.
But sadly I don't under stand the after market pup stuff..... :oops:
Comments
But keep in mind that not all pickup changes are going to be \"upgrades\" or even sound better. Some woods will sound better with particular types of pickups - such as my Ibanez - it's made of mahogany with a rosewood fretboard (both darker toned wood) so adding the JB (a brighter sounding humbucker) made it sound \"better\".
The Seymour Duncan website has a guide for deciding on which (of their) pups work best for the guitar you have
http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/tone-wizard/
Guess the tittle should have been Are Gibson and Fenders best pup's sub par to after market pup's.
Just thinking of swapping out some pups on an axe but not sure if I want to go gibson brand or something else..
Depends on the pickups. Burstbuckers are great little pickups, as are several Strat pickups. The Burstbuckers are comparable to PAFs, although there IS a difference. Pickups are all subjective to the player's ear. In my strat, I have a hot rail in the bridge, but others swear by the lace sensors. The only real answer (unfortunately) is to try them out for yourself. Everybody's ear and preferences are different.
JV
Ain't that the truth LoL.
If I get this project off the drawing board, looking at a humbucking axe to retrofit. But I like and hear some good things about them Fender Texas specials So I might do a squire or what not too. For some sc vibes. Thanks guys for your input on them hot rails.
I own a fender squier strat with a \"duncan designed\" humbucker in bridge position..My problem is (at it seems) i cant play anything heavier thaN -lets say- punk rock or grunge or black sabbath stuff..Should i invest in a new humbucker? I have in mind the Duncan JB and the Dmarzio Superdistortion DP-100
Will i b able-after changing the stock p'up- to play some heavier tones, such as some metal stuff? Or it ain't worth in my crappy-basswood-guitar?
Should i invest in new pickup's, do u suggest changing them alone or let a technician do the dirty job? Is it difficul?
I have that JB in my Schecter Blackjack, and I agree, it is nice.
Unfortunately, its not easy to try these p'ups over here..Actually, its extremely hard to test ANYTHING guitar-wise, but thats a long, sad story which i may tell another time.
So, to conclude, ill go a bit blind with the pups..And the question is:
Change p'ups now, or save up some money and buy a decent guitar in 1-2 years? If i choose the 1st option, will i see a decent improvement in my sound that can justify the money for the new p'ups?
Guitar body tone wood matters more in Acoustic guitars. In solid body guitars, your pickups will make more difference.
The kind of pickup can influence how much change the wood will have in your overall sound.
Basswood is an excellent electric solid body choice.
Actually, most of your sound will come from the neck and fretboard, and how well the frets are set, as well as your overall set up, like pickup adjustment, and intonation.
I think you will be pleased with a pickup upgrade, and you may be more happy with your present guitar, and decide to keep it. At least if you go to sell it in a couple years, put the stock pickups back in, and keep your upgrades.
There are a few things to think about with pickups. Yes, changing the stock pickups to something with a famous brand (Seymour's, Dimarzio's etc) can be highly beneficicial if the standard pickups are crap - and I've experienced a lot of high dollar guitars with woeful pickups. But if the standard ones are good - why change them? Thats up to the player I guess. Resistance in pickups is hugely important because this indicate the power. Neck pickups are generally lower in resistance - this is because there is more string movement/vibration at this position in the string length when you pick, therefore the magnets in the pickup don't have to be as powerful to pickup this movement. As opposed to bridge pickups - they are positioned closer to the bridge (end of string), so there is less string movement meaning the pickup magnets have to be stronger. This is why there are neck and bridge pickups I spose :roll:
Stronger pickups will give you more distortion, sustain etc but generally don't improve tone quite as much as one would hope maybe. But a lot of that comes down to how the pickup has been wired, the exact frequencies and harmonics its been wired to express. Its a complicated thing and really needs a lot of experimentation to get right for your guitar. The thing to remember though is that if you play your guitar with heaps of distortion and effects, this kinda overides any harmonic changes different pickups can provide as you can't really tell the difference to a degree- so it can get kinda pointless.
Anyhow, hope this info is helpful in your pickup quest. If you're not happy with what you have now, pickup changes can be a good thing up to a point - after that you need to go a new guitar. Go the G.A.S baby!!
BettyBoo, im not under the illusion that i can do magic with my tone only by changing the p'up, but at least i'll get (theoretically) a better-quality distortion..So i think im going for an upgrade, and , as Manitou said, the upgrades can be transfered on my new guitar later on
A new question emerged these days: Considering my H-S-S config., can i combine a heavy-distortion humbucker (such as the JB or the SuperDistortion) with vintage singles (Texas Special, Custom Shop 69 etc..) in the neck and middle positions? Or that would be an overkill?
I'd run this with a 250k ohm pot.
Anyway, you can get a schematic and verify the values with Seymour Duncan before you buy. Tell them what you have, and what you want.
http://www.seymourduncan.com/forum/index.php
Above is a link to Seymour Duncan forums. Type in H-S-S in the search and check out the threads.
Lots of great advice there on HSS configurations.
By the way, have you adjusted the pickups properly, to be sure that is not the problem? I had a Jackson DK2 (HSS) with Duncan Designed pups and with everything set up well, they worked fine. Just asking.
[Duncan Designed HB-102B humbucker with a pair of Duncan Designed SC-101 single coil]
Yep you can combine a higher output humbucker to other singles - but I would be making sure the humbucker could be split. The JB is an awsome pickup and has four conductor cables so it can be split into single coil with a push/pull (tone) pot. This is the way I would be going in your situation probably. You'd have a great single sound from the JB that would match the your other singles, especially the Texas Specials, plus the added power of the humbucker when you want it.
I have 3 guitars with JB's that split in the bridge and I love 'em! Pretty hard to beat them IMHO.
I've actually ordered a Dimarzio LiquiFire 6 for the neck of one of my ESP Horizon's so I'll be interested to see how it matches up with the JB in the bridge. Its great fun playing around with pickups!