Pickups

[starman]

So I have an Epiphone Les Paul standard, and need to replace the pickups on it. The only thing is, I know absolutely nothing about pickups. I was wondering if you could give me some suggestions on where I could read up on pickups, and figuring out what would be best for me, and also give me a couple suggestions on your favorite, and what might be my best bet. Thanks a lot.

[brad1]

I'm curious. If you know absolutely nothing about pickups, than why do you feel the "need" to change them?

[epilover9568]

Your best bets are gibson or Seymour Duncan pickups. Their web sites and www.harmonycentral.com (reviews) are your best places to read up on pickups.

 

My favorites are the Gibson 57 Classic-neck / 57 Classic Plus-bridge combination.

 

A lot of people like the Gibson burstbucker pro pickups also....

[epilover9568]

I'm curious. If you know absolutley nothing about pickups' date=' than why do you feel the "need" to change them?[/quote']

 

I don't know for sure... But probably because they are epiphone humbuckers... That alone is a great reason to change them...

[brad1]

 

I don't know for sure... But probably because they are epiphone humbuckers... That alone is a great reason to change them...

I don't think that is a great reason. I really like the HBs on my 97 Korean LP.

[starman]

I'm curious. If you know absolutely nothing about pickups' date=' than why do you feel the "need" to change them?[/quote']

 

Good question, lol. First of all, they are a little rusted, secondly, they are epiphone pickups like someone mentioned, and finally, a friend of mine who knows a lot about guitars recommended that I replace them. So I know I need two humbuckers, but how do I narrow it down to which one I should chose? I am looking at the Gibson and Seymour pickups on musician's friend, is that usually a good place to look? Thanks for the quick responses.

[brad1]

 

Good question' date=' lol. First of all, they are a little rusted, secondly, they are epiphone pickups like someone mentioned, and finally, a friend of mine who knows a lot about guitars recommended that I replace them. So I know I need two humbuckers, but how do I narrow it down to which one I should chose? I am looking at the Gibson and Seymour pickups on musician's friend, is that usually a good place to look? Thanks for the quick responses.[/quote']

Good answer.

There are so many good pickups out there. Guitar Fetish and Guitar Parts Resource are also good places to find pups. But I'm not a good person to answer the question because I have never purchased any before.

[lostindesert]

I agree with Brad, why change them if you know yeehaw about them.

Ask a friend who can play guitar realy well to play it on a good amp.

Listen to it and then make up your mind.

I like the pickups in my Epi B.B.King Lucille.

Gibson, Seymour Duncan, DiMarzio, GFS make fine Pickups.

 

Peter

[epilover9568]

 

Good question' date=' lol. First of all, they are a little rusted, secondly, they are epiphone pickups like someone mentioned, and finally, a friend of mine who knows a lot about guitars recommended that I replace them. So I know I need two humbuckers, but how do I narrow it down to which one I should chose? I am looking at the Gibson and Seymour pickups on musician's friend, is that usually a good place to look? Thanks for the quick responses.[/quote']

 

Musicians Friend is good... If you want to save a lot of money buy used pickups on ebay... I have done so many times with no problems... By the way... Those used epiphone pickups make good paper weights... Or stocking stuffers for the drunk uncle....

[TWANG]

You'll pay a lot for the Gibby/Duncans. esp. going MF.

I only carry Kent Armstrongs, but that's what I use.. too small for a Duncan dealership, and I've never even tried Gibson assuming that would be true for them as well.

 

In here, you'll see good reviews of GFS, and Kent Armstrongs, both of which can save you some dough and give good performance.

Stew Macs got some less expensive pups too.. worth checking out their site/catalog.

 

You can always get at least ten bucks each out of your epi pups... plus shipping, using ebay so don't toss 'em out or anything.

there are people with far worse.. I promise you. For all this talk about replacing epi pups sometimes we seem to forget they've gotten better over the years, and aren't 'bad' to start with.

 

I use a KA humbuck bridge with a humbuck sized p90 at the neck in my epi lp. and I love that combination.

 

You want to consider what you play.. for instance metal heads dig the high output pups quite a bit.. while classic rockers lean toward

the more traditional output.. around 8K for humbucks.

 

So if you take your time and google your fave bands/guitarists gear and see what they have.. it will help get you closer to what you want.

 

There's a book I bought years ago.. still in print.. that I've often said any guitarist ought to have..

It's by Donald Brosnac, and it's called Guitar Electronics, a workbook.

It's been updated, so it's contemporary.

Has the history of pups.. how they are made.. all the famous brands are in there, just about.. Kent Armstrongs weren't around except as

high end custom pups when it was written..

also contains all the stuff about wiring your guitar up.... what fender and gibson, etc., do..

so you have this pretty inexpensive book that you can read anytime you want that explains it all simply and clearly..even has schematics and diagrams in the back..

covers piezos.. and all sorts of gizmos and such that are available.. debunks a few vintage pickup myths..

 

If you don't know much about them. forget the google.. find that book and you'll get a LOT of service out of it.

and it's easy to sell to the next guy when you've learned it all if you want to.

not expensive, either.

TWANG

[epilover9568]

there are people with far worse.. I promise you. For all this talk about replacing epi pups sometimes we seem to forget they've gotten better over the years' date=' and aren't 'bad' to start with.

[/quote']

 

To be fair they have gotten better over the years... But in the late 90's Early 2000's they were horrible...

 

Sorry TWANG.. buy IMHO, if you are going to change out pickups you might as well go all way and get the best... That would be Burstbuckers, 57 Classics, or SD seth lovers... Kent Armstrongs are good but IMHO not as good as Gibsons...

 

I have heard lollers are prettly darn good too... Don't know anything about them...

[lpdeluxe]

Seymour Duncan has sound samples at their website. To me, that's the only sensible way to decide on a pickup: listen to it, first.

[Ron G]

Reviews, sound samples on a computer, opinions, even direct experience but on a different guitar

or with a different amp, or in a store with bad acoustics and too much ambient noise, whatever -

it's still a crapshoot. I think that's one of the reasons the less-expensive aftermarket pickups are

so popular, especially for those of us who are new to mods. The risk is lower with, say, $80 GFS

vs. $200 Gibsons. And in the "polishing a turd department", $200+ pickups might seem a tad much

for a $300-400 guitar. From what I know (which is admittedly limited) any of the brands mentioned

will be an improvement over the stock pickups. FWIW, I bought GFS and am quite pleased.

YMMV

[djroge1]

You want to consider what you play.. for instance metal heads dig the high output pups quite a bit.. while classic rockers lean toward

the more traditional output.. around 8K for humbucks.

 

So if you take your time and google your fave bands/guitarists gear and see what they have.. it will help get you closer to what you want.

TWANG

 

TWANG's advice is great. You need to consider what style of music do you listen to, what bands do you listen to, what do you want to play?

 

All of the pickups mentioned are good - personally, I like Dimarzio but I also have Semour Duncans as after market pickups. They are both good and both of these sites have sound bytes to listen to on their web site.

[PBfever]

what kind of music to you play? that would help.

[Stevie Nazarenie]

i have just had some wilkinson pups in an av1 guitar. they are as good as gibson imho and cheaper. search and you'll find the pair for £40. as cheap as gfs. these are made from seth lover specs. i have no experience of the others but they do a ceramic for a similar price for metal. http://www.jhs.co.uk/wilkinson.html the web site prices are higher than the shops. the mini humms in my v100gdl are wilkinsons and they are better than the mean 90's. i do like the gibsons (490t 490r) i had in my sg but they are far more expensive.

[starman]

I am into some psych/funk/experimental like Prince, of Montreal, things of that sort, and a lot of good ole fashion pop music ala Elephant 6 if anyone knows what that is. Beach Boys, Kinks, and Pixies influenced stuff.

[Nic]

I'm curious. If you know absolutely nothing about pickups' date=' than why do you feel the "need" to change them?[/quote']

 

You don't have to know anything about pick-ups to know they don't sound good. Most of my Epi original pick ups were muddy. The pick-ups on my Joe Pass are OK, barely.

[starman]

How about these two Gibson's? Is $90 a good deal?

 

http://asheville.craigslist.org/msg/863873863.html

[Stevie Nazarenie]

are they genuine? good condition? ahh the second hand market! :)

i think they are £100 for the 2 new.so i guess if they ok it's a good deal!

[Mr. E]

I have to agree SD and Gibson pickups are very good and fine pickups (to some, the best out there).

I bought a Mean 90 from guitarfetish.com and it was very good. I'm currently searching for a new pickup for a little project I have there and this guy recommended Tonerider pickups. I checked them out and they sound good and are cheap (about 40 bucks a piece... better than $75 or $100 a piece). I'm going to order one this week or next. This pickups seem like extremely high quality and I think they are better than GFS pickups. Not saying GFS pickups are bad, but this are alittle better. Or why not just try Rockfield pickups, they are good too.

 

Well, that's just me trying to save you some money.

[epilover9568]

How about these two Gibson's? Is $90 a good deal?

 

http://asheville.craigslist.org/msg/863873863.html

 

Good deal... Nice pickups.... Almost identical to 57's....

 

But keep in mind these probably don't have covers on them. Covers would be an additional $20 to $30...

 

And ask about how much lead wire they have... 12 inches plus is what you would need....

 

Do you know how to install them and extend the lead ? If not, a professional should be able to extend the wire easily... Maybe you are having a technician install them ?? I don't know...

[Dave]

All good advice. The key is to find a "star" who has the sound you want, taking into consideration that amps and effects can color the sound, and buy those pickups. You can also listen to audio samples on pickup manufacturers web sites and decide. Keep in mind that you need to listen to these samples on a good quality sound system to hear the difference. You can save MP3 samples and play them in your player with good headphones or in your car stereo from CD or input jack from the MP3 player.