Your journey to find the right pickup THREAD - Tell us!

[markcasq]

One exciting thing about guitar GAS is finding the right pickup (for YOU).  Tell us your story in this thread.  This is the thread to share tips and advice on the subject of pickup replacement and learn from others' experiences.  (Mods, if there's something like this already, please kindly lock and point us to the right thread)

Please note that guitar pickup is a very subjective topic, so whatever is right for someone may be wrong for someone else.

I had an idea to post this when I recently ended (or temporarily ended ) my 7-string pickup-quest.  I just couldn't find the right pickup for my Ibanez RG.  I started with Blaze 7 bridge, but I found it lacks output and thump (that's just me.  It's a great pickup, but it just doesn't bond with me ).  Then I switched to Evo7 bridge, but I found it too bright.  I also replaced the neck pickup with Air Norton7, and found it to be too dark and muddy, then I replaced it with Seymour Jazz7, and it finally satisfied me.  Then, later on, I thought the Evo7 bridge does not match the Jazz7 neck so I tried D-Sonic 7.  I liked it for a while, it is tight and very articulate (but a bit bright like the Evo7).  But later, I thought I wanted to match my SD Jazz with another SD, so I replaced the D-sonic7 with the Duncan Custom7.  Finally I was satisfied.  Both pickups bonded with my taste.  However, after I while, I discovered that at loud volume, the two SDs are too shrill with my amp and my setup... too shrill that it hurts people's ears.  So recently, I found a way to tame it by inserting a 250k resistor before the volume pot, and it solved the problem.  Now I am happy... so far.  Though I thought had I done that earlier, maybe I would have stopped at the Evo7.  This is my most cumbersome search for pickups.  It was easier for me to find the right pickup for my 6-string guitars.  Thanks to Philmusic classifieds, I might not be able to afford all those replacement pickups without classifieds (I needed to sell!).

My learning from above is that a simple circuit mod (adding resistor load, changing pots) might help. (also, practicing more will help me play better and not spend too much time replacing pickups )  Anyway, here's a very nice excel tool that I found that simulates the frequency response of the guitar based on the volume/tone pots/capacitors/resistor load values used. www.harryj.net/voltone.xls (you need to enable macro).

How about you?  What's your story?  It might help another forumite (or forumer? )

[bryanarzaga]

pickups, what a journey especially for humbuckers...used to be just using dimarzios and seymour duncans..sure there was lace and emgs' i was ok with those..i wanted a versatile passive pickup..good cleans and handles dirts nicely with note clarity of course with an amp that it can mold with..
gfs came around kinda dig their stuff, they were decent but it didnt really fascinate me..
guitarheads came along..they only had 4 models(active pups, hex hums and hex singles ,7 string hex and bass pups) back then small operation 25$ sets.. tried and even with my marshall avt150 i was smiling at how good these affordable stuff was sounding with the amp. they definitely had what i was looking for at that time,

I like to explorer stuff and noticed this other company dragonfire had some actives and passive hex style pickups as well..these were the only models available at that time( 2006 i think) same price as guitarheads hexbuckers..i tried them on the same guitar..it had more output/compression..it was clean thats for sure, forgot about them after a year or two..

so i tried some Belcat and Eden paf style pickups..best bang for the buck for that classic sound. especially eden i think these are now under the name tonerider..great note separation with these..yup cant find them no more(these were really affordable back then)..

i experience the cheapo artecs at first 2008, wasnt happy with the output on these at all..until some new artec pickups were swarming ebay, the versatility was there but still timid  compared to what i expected them to be..i tried the Giovanni stuff and that show how different the economy version was to these..again they were phased out..

i then met a liyue of xinqi pickups when i was looking for eden pickups in taobao..he said he worked for a pickup company (xinqi pickups)..and that they make after market pickups for brands in the usa, so we talk shop about pickups, and i asked him if he could arrange a few things..i did learn a bit from him because before..way back i thought it was the 'ohms'/dc resistance was enough to tell what the output was..well i got to learn , i think i paid around 80$ for a lot of pickups..each with a specific wire...2 sets of hex, 2 sets of zebras, 2 sets of sss, 2 sets of t's and 1 experimental stacked humbucker set. each one had good tones, alnico mags, down to the baseplate..these had quality. i probably gave his info to a bunch of people even private pm's in youtube..then as i tried to connect to him, he said he was too busy now for a small order..oh well

since there was no way for me to get those pickups again, ebay-ing led me to bedez, a store in canada that has alot of pickups from korea/china..it kept me happy for a bit, but their pickups didnt really cut through, they sounded good but not much mids to work with.

i tried guitars that had bk's and it was ok but not to my taste at all, i did alot of pickup installation (yes there are guitarist out there who dont want to do this, i get paid after all)..so i go to try some boutique stuff that i still wouldnt buy for myself..it was either it didnt work for my ears or it was a one trick pony pickup..

2 yrs ago ken aguilar sent a newsletter with the new chrome screamers and they have been changing their pickup 'formula', for an inexpensive pickup, it has balance between the neck and bridge and the clarity and versatility of it, its been two years now..i think i found my pickup

[siore]

I tend to keep to stock pickups if they sound ok right off the bat.

[Al_Librero]

Time-wise, it took a number of years, but my path was pretty simple. Two Dimarzios (an Evo and an Air Zone) were my first foray into aftermarket pickups. Cheap decent pickups started coming out in droves around 2004-2005, and I tried a set of Mighty Mite Alnicos on a Fernandes Revival Strat. Pretty good. Then I got an MIJ Fender Strat loaded with EMG-SA's. I thought they were good in their own right, but after forgetting to pull the plug off the jack a number of times, I decided that batteries under a Strat pickguard weren't my thing.

Just before I got my Fender, I started using Bill Lawrence/Wilde pickups and haven't really looked back since. I got a pair of L-500's for my custom guitar. Then replaced my Fender's EMG's with L-280's. The sound between the two sets were surprisingly close, with the L-280's having the "advantage" of being passive. My latest guitar (custom Strat) has two pickguard assemblies, both with combinations of L-45's and L-90's -- best guitar sound I've ever had.

The Les Paul I've been casually selling also had a pair of L-90's on it at some point. It sounded awesome, but it was starting to get mental. I tried a pair of Entwistle HV58's on it. I don't like it as much, but it was still way better than the stock pickups.

Bill Lawrence follows his own muse when it comes to the voicing of his pickups, which don't really fit in these "vintage" or "modern" labels the way I hear them. That's a good thing for me. It helps me to sound a little bit different.

[firemodel55]

As of today these are the only two paths that I can recommend to you:

Path 1: Have all the money in the world and buy all the pickups you can and try them out on each guitar -- no other way about including stupid artist endorsements

or ... if you want to save money on the long term and save yourself the agony trial and error and of local wound pickups from Mang Max, Elegee, etc. or whomever try Path 2

Path 2: Talk on the phone and order from Jim Rolph

[markcasq]

nice guys.. may stages pala yan, nasa dimarzio/SD stage pa lang ako, 

[lolwat]

My 2 "standard" RGs (an RG350 and a 2550E) are both equipped with DiMarzio Breed Bridge/Air Norton pickups, and this is the story on how I decided on them. 

I basically just wanted a little more of the same response I got from the stock DiMarzio/Ibz pickups on my Prestige RG, but a bit warmer.

I stumbled upon the DiMarzio Breed Bridge and Air Norton when I checked the site's Pickup Picker. At first I was unsure as to whether I was really going to get these because I was a n00b when it came to modifications back then.  Upon checking out the reviews from some acquaintances over at jemsite.com, I decided to take the plunge and got the two.

At first I didn't really know what to expect. I have had this presumption that the pickups simply project more or less of what the guitar already has sonically, and will not really add anything out-of-this-world to the basic sound you get.  All I really wanted is a basic sound that can be stretched in various directions, as I mainly run through a multieffects unit which provides a more-or-less satisfactory sound for what I do. A neutral fundamental sound is ideal for such applications.

I found the Breed Bridge pretty much suitable for what I imagine would be a well-balanced sound. It's got the lowest output of the "hot" DiMarzios, at 356mv(?) which means I *MIGHT* still be able to get better dynamics. I liked the Air Norton for the simple reason that John Petrucci used to have it installed in his guitars, and it happened to show up in the results. I "bit the bullet," so to speak, and got a set of the two pickups after a few months of thinking, and had a fellow forumite kebs install them for me, as he's such an uber cool dude 

At the time I had Evos (DiMarzio DP158/DP159) on my Indonesian RG for kicks, and so I felt it was a great way to compare the two pickup sets. I vastly enjoyed the sustain and cut the Evos provided me in the Indo RG when on dirtier settings, but I didn't really like the compression happening when I was on clean. Backing off the pickups from the strings only served to dull the sound of the guitar in a bad way, yet keeping them close to the strings overemphasized some midrange frequencies that I found I couldn't jive with in the particular guitar.

The Breed/Air Norton combination was basically a refined version of the Evos in my experience. Whereas the Evo bridge would compress the chords when clean, the Breed is a little more open with a more natural compression. While the Evo neck had a rude and punchy quality, the Air Norton is more polite yet still muscular in terms of note attack.

They are not without their shortcomings, however. The Breed is a dark-sounding pickup, and if not for its extended midrange it would have sounded too dark for anything, and split coil operation is little more than a lower volume version of full humbucking mode. The Air Norton needs a little more mids to make it cut through when playing lead, but I believe it makes up for it with its stronger lower mid response which adds to its aggressive voice. As the body wood is basswood, I didn't expect too much "sparkle" or "jangle" in the sound which many prefer, and I'm perfectly fine with it. 

With the Evos I got my guitar to sound more authoritative, assertive and clear in terms of sound. With the Breed/Air Norton I got a more polite but still strong voice for my guitar. I liked it so much I switched out the Evos on the Indo RG in order to make room for another Breed/Air Norton set

[markcasq]

@lolwat - nice.  When I tried the Breed in my RG, I also liked it a lot, and agree with you about it being refined.  I also came from Evos, though if I had two RGs, I'd put an Evo in the other so I have more variety.

Here's how I'd compare my experience with pickups I've tried:
* Evo - loud and raunchy with a lot of harmonic content, great for aggressive solos.  Neck Evo is also loud, but more tight
* D-sonic - Similar to Evo, but more tight (comparing d-sonic 7 to Evo7)
* PAF Joe - Comparable to Duncan '59s, but has more output.  It has that brightness and punch, works well with my aged RG
* Air Norton - Dark and warm.  I'd say it is far from the Evos and the PAFs. 
* Blaze bridge - tight sounding, output is not as high as Evo, but good for rhythm.  It lacks punch for my taste
* Tone Zone - Warm, the sound is a bit far from the Evos and D-sonics.
* SD JB bridge - bright and has a lot of bite.  It is high output enough, but not as high output as the evo
* SD Duncan Custom - A bit similar to Tone zone (if I recall it right), but it is a bit brighter
* SD Jazz - bright and punchy, this is my favorite pickup, next to the '59
* SD '59 - bright and punchy with a bit more mid vs. the Jazz.
* SD Alnico II Pro - a bit darker than '59, bordering Air Norton territory
Sana ma try ko in the future yung Duncan Distortion or the Dimarzio Super Distortion, medyo legends kasi yang mga yan.

* Gibson 490R - I would equate this to the Air Norton, but with lesser output.  Very warm (bordering muffled).  I had to replace this with a '59 since I'm not into dark-sounding pickups
* Gibson 498T - High output humbucker with a lot of harmonics... I'd say as strong as an Evo (but not same tone), and it is not as refined as a Breed.  But I like it, so I kept it in my Standard and do not plan to replace it.

Ibanez Inf1/2 - nice sounding pickups, I recall they sound tight, good for cleans, but lacks "punch", and not as high output as the Dimarzios
Ibanez V7/V8 - actually they are okay, a good amount of mids, but they lack some character, I don't know how to describe.  Basta parang nakukulangan ako... although baka psychological lang, kasi parang automatic Dimarzio replacement agad pag bumili ng Ibanez, hehe.