Has anybody else gotten over pickup swapping?

[Bob Savage]

33rpm or 78?

Would depend on whether the pup is for blues or shred.

 

[EWSEthan]

Pretty much. I basically just put Suhrs in everything and then forget about it.

 

[Chubtone]

I think there is a BUNCH of nonsense and TONS of hype involved in this boutique pickup market.

I agree with this 100%. There are a few new designs here and there, but overall only so many ways you can make a pickup really....and everyone just wants to sound like EVH anyway.

I swapped around my first Anderson till I got it where I wanted it....still messing with the tele, but that's a whole different world.....all my other guitars either get a JB or Custom in the bridge and 59 or Jazz in the neck.

I agree with George's post completely. Another thing I love is that all these guys now have signature pickups that you just have to have

I can spend $180 on a Warren DeMartini model or I can spend $70 on a Duncan JB which is what gave Warren his signature sound.

I can spend $180 on a BKP Rebel Yell Steve Stevens model or I can spend $70 on a Duncan JB which is what gave Steve Stevens his signature sound.

I can buy a Suhr Aldrich pickup or buy a Duncan Holdsworth which Doug still uses in many of his guitars.

I can buy a Cold Sweat or Miracle Man pickup, or I can just buy the Gibson Dirty Finger or EMG81 that the guys who wrote those songs used when they recorded them.

I can understand guys winding pickups to replicate vintage PAF's because those are now thousands of dollars each if you can find them. But these sig pickups or sound alike pickups when what those guys actually used are still available and for less, well......

 

[NinjaRaf]

I thought I was done when I got some painkillers, but then I tried MCP hellbabies...now I KNOW that Im done. Unfortunately, I only have 1 extra, so I can only buy 1 more guitar

 

[squealie]

I think there is a BUNCH of nonsense and TONS of hype involved in this boutique pickup market.

I'm down with this.

In a decent guitar, a Custom and a 59 are my cuppa tea.

Other than that, you can try to 'fix' a bright guitar with a TZ, or 'fix' a muddy guitar with a EMG/Lawrence...but all those sound squirrely in the 'decent' guitar. I generally Like JBs too, but in the wrong guitar, it's a trainwreck.

OH, and there are a few 'sig' pickups that are just bizarre....Screamin' Demon....

 

[Chubtone]

I think there is a BUNCH of nonsense and TONS of hype involved in this boutique pickup market.

I'm down with this.

In a decent guitar, a Custom and a 59 are my cuppa tea.

Other than that, you can try to 'fix' a bright guitar with a TZ, or 'fix' a muddy guitar with a EMG/Lawrence...but all those sound squirrely in the 'decent' guitar. I generally Like JBs too, but in the wrong guitar, it's a trainwreck.

OH, and there are a few 'sig' pickups that are just bizarre....Screamin' Demon....

True. Screamin' Demon for $89 or Duncan Distortion like George actually uses for $70. And then there's the new Lynch sig humbucker the Super V from Duncan again for $180.

 

[headlessdeadguy]

I think there is a BUNCH of nonsense and TONS of hype involved in this boutique pickup market.

I'm down with this.

Yeah me too man. A friend and I both ordered MCP's 2 weeks apart from one another(I ordered last), I got mine already and he still doesn't have his. Well his pup not showing up pissed him off and got us on the same discussion.
We pretty much decided that it's just a phase that will pass. I played for years with 81s and 500ts and was perfectly happy. Now I have MCPs in 4 guitars and although I love the Solution in my XPL, I think a 500t would have made me just as happy if not happier for half the price (or less).

 

[Greazygeo]

I agree with George's post completely. Another thing I love is that all these guys now have signature pickups that you just have to have

I can spend $180 on a Warren DeMartini model or I can spend $70 on a Duncan JB which is what gave Warren his signature sound.

I can spend $180 on a BKP Rebel Yell Steve Stevens model or I can spend $70 on a Duncan JB which is what gave Steve Stevens his signature sound.

I can buy a Suhr Aldrich pickup or buy a Duncan Holdsworth which Doug still uses in many of his guitars.

I can buy a Cold Sweat or Miracle Man pickup, or I can just buy the Gibson Dirty Finger or EMG81 that the guys who wrote those songs used when they recorded them.

I can understand guys winding pickups to replicate vintage PAF's because those are now thousands of dollars each if you can find them. But these sig pickups or sound alike pickups when what those guys actually used are still available and for less, well......

I can understand somone trying to replicate vintage paf's / pickups. Like you said only so many left, let alone one's that still sound good. And who has the money to try a bunch of those to try?!

Maybe it's just because I have such little experience with them, but it seems more difficult to find good sounding single coils.

 

[TeleBlaster]

I dunno Curt.
Maybe the old ones are better than current production?
I've burned through a few SD and DiMarzios the last few years.
Finally took my tech's advice and bought a Nailbomb.
I heard a huge difference, still happy after about a year and a half.
Slowly putting this HB in all my guitars and haven't been disappointed yet.
I tried the Cold Sweat neck at Tim's suggestion but I do not like it much.
I've been liking the Mississippi Queen in the neck (P-90 on a humbucker frame)
but that's gotta be a real individual thing.

If you know of a cheaper cost pup that sounds like a Nailbomb I'd be all over it!

 

[Bob Savage]

In a decent guitar, a Custom and a 59 are my cuppa tea.

I love that combo too. A Jazz instead of the 59 is also cool.

 

[Bob Savage]

Maybe the old ones are better than current production?

The older stuff ALWAYS sounds better than the newer stuff, unless of course you have newer stuff and are selling it in which case the newer sounds better.

 

[Greazygeo]

The older stuff ALWAYS sounds better than the newer stuff, unless of course you have newer stuff and are selling it in which case the newer sounds better.

With newer stuff you can always wait until the company changes hands.....once it's a "pre-something" the tones are significantly better.

 

[squealie]

In a decent guitar, a Custom and a 59 are my cuppa tea.

I love that combo too. A Jazz instead of the 59 is also cool.

I dig a Jazz in the neck also. The other 'go to' neck pickup IMO.

 

[dass101]

I haven't heard any Duncan pickup that's as hot without being muddy, that cuts without being thin, that crushes on high gain yet still sounds sweet on clean, as the Suhr Aldrich. OTOH, after playing them for a couple of years, I decided that with the new amp (Einstein) I would like to try something a bit lighter, without going into PAF territory, which is not my thing at all. So I heard the Rebel Yell set, and decided it's a nice change. Still hot, but a lot more usable for crunch and clean. Again, no mud even if it's hot, no overwound sound, just tons of harmonics. Hard to say if I could get that from SD, but I still think that none of their "hot" humbuckers is as refined as these.

 

[Chubtone]

I haven't heard any Duncan pickup that's as hot without being muddy, that cuts without being thin, that crushes on high gain yet still sounds sweet on clean, as the Suhr Aldrich.

I hear you, but what is the explanation for Doug Aldrich not using his own signature Suhr Aldrich pickup in his humbucker equipped strats and using a Seymour Duncan instead? That's pretty weird on the surface, isn't it?

 

[dass101]

I definitely see your point here, but let me tell you, when I bought the pickups I think I dind't even know exacly who DA was ) I heard them in a friend's guitar and was floored... Kinda same story with the Rebell Yell, I don't dig Steve's tone or playing at all, but the pickups sounded just great...

There was a pickup shootout made by James Lugo, the differences between all the pickups were VERY subtle, and it mostly came down to their output. Anyway, what the hell, if we think that it sounds better and that it makes us sound or play better...

 

[Mudder]

I love tinkering, and I especially love when an idea I have works out. For example, in my Robin Ranger there was a Rio Grande in the neck spot, just too dark when compared to the other singles. I thought, you know...a TV Jones would sound good there, and it sure does.

For rock guitars I'm set on which pickups I like, and I always go to them. I just put a set of BG Pickups Dark Buckers in my Carvin and they're killer, just like the other BG stuff I've used.

 

[dstroud]

I don't switch pickups any more, I just throw a Duncan Distortion into every guitar and be done.

 

[troublehead]

I'm over it as well. Burned through some BG, WCR, Bare Knuckle, Anderson, and Motor City pups in my Les Paul. Found a few really good ones (WCR Godwood and BKP Emerald), a few duds (Motor City Afwayu and BKP Holy Diver), and a bunch of "middle of the road" ones.

But none of them do I like better than a good ole' Dimarzio Super Distortion. Its worked for decades so why change anything. It just took me awhile to figure that out.

 

[jet66]

But none of them do I like better than a good ole' Dimarzio Super Distortion. Its worked for decades so why change anything. It just took me awhile to figure that out.

I've been going back and forth between the Duncan JB and the Dimarzio ToneZone and Super Distortion in this Charvel SoCal, I finally settled on the Super Distortion. It's 'just right.' The JB had a shrill tone on top of everything that bugged me, and the TZ was maybe a bit too much on the mids/bottom end.

In fact after reading this thread today, I moved all 3 through the guitar after work, happily leaving the Super Distortion in place at the end. I didn't buy any of them new (well, the Super. Dist., but it was on sale for $59 at the local GC,) all picked up used for $30-$40 at some time in the past. The prices on a lot of these new/custom pickups are what have kept me from biting. I really want to try out some of the BKP and Motor City units, but not for that kind of coin.