The look of pickups

[Mincer]

I like the look of direct-mount pickups, and my Warmoth has them. It does bother me that there is no good way to do this. I used threaded inserts set into the wood, and companies like FU-Tone makes very expensive brass inserts that allows you to do this. Pickup rings aren't very elegant to me, but that's what we got right now.

[Gtrjunior]

I just recently bought--then sold--my first and probably last direct-mount guitar. I couldn't bring myself to modify pickups just to try them out. And don't get me started on fitting a new, slightly wider or taller single coil in a narrow single route. Nope. Rings and pickguards for me from now on.

I’m with you on this.
I MUCH prefer to mount in a ring or guard.

[dave74]

Yeah rings all the way. Direct-mount is a hassle and you must already have a very good idea of the exact distance the pickup will need to be from the strings, which sucks if it's a model you have never used before.

[Mincer]

Yes, for ease of use, rings or a guard are the best. I like the direct look better, especially on nice pieces of wood. Too bad it is a PITA to do it. Ideally, I'd love the pickup to just stick through the top, with adjustment on the back of the guitar.

[jeremy]

you can do direct mount well but its a pita. threaded inserts, machine screws, and foam or springs make it adjustable

[Rex_Rocker]

you can do direct mount well but its a pita. threaded inserts, machine screws, and foam or springs make it adjustable

Kinda hard to make it so that you're not too limited with pickup swaps, tho.

Either you make the routes nice and tight, or it will look (or maybe even feel) like your pickup is in a swimming pool. But then, you won't be able to fit EMG 81TW's, Gibson 500T's, or other abnormally tall pickups.

I remember my Ibby Prestige RGA's routes were too shallow for pickups with oversized magnets, even if they had short legs.

Then I tried to swap EMG's in there, and I had to sand off the bottom corners of the pickups a bit, or else, they wouldn't fit the routes. So I did, but then realized the quick connect crashed with a little block of wood they had in the middle of the bottom of the routes, wich I guess was there so that there'd be more contact area between the woods and the pickups.

No way to make direct mounts universal with so much variety we have in pickup designs nowadays.

[Mincer]

You could make it universal by doing inserts or like FU Tone uses. But it needs to be easier and cheaper. Their system will only work if you have 'wells' like a traditionally-mounted pickup. It won't work if you buy a body built for direct mount pickups. On the pic below, those mounting tabs don't look stock, either.

[Rex_Rocker]

You could make it universal by doing inserts or like FU Tone uses. But it needs to be easier and cheaper. Their system will only work if you have 'wells' like a traditionally-mounted pickup. It won't work if you buy a body built for direct mount pickups. On the pic below, those mounting tabs don't look stock, either.

That's honestly a neat idea, but I still think there would be conflict with pickups that either have long lengs, oversized magnets, or huge polepieces (or all of the above), making them abnormally tall. Or pickups with quick connect terminals sticking out the middle of the underside like Blackouts, EMG's, or Fishmans.

[Rex_Rocker]

I love almost everything Paul Reed Smith comes up with guitar design-wise....but I cannot contain my dislike of the "squabbin" humbucker look, even if I loved the sound of the pups, I would yank those out immediately and sell them off! Generally I like open black coils, double creme in the right guitar, zebra once in a while, and good ol nickel covers, and I think the aged ones look the absolute biz!

I actually love the look of the the squobbins, but not the general sound of PRS pickups, LOL.

Granted, I've not really tried any of the squobbin pickups. But the old HFS/Vintage Bass were mehh at best (for me).

[soulforger]

The HFS like the JB can definitely be love or hate, and incidentally I still love 'em both! The current PRS pups seem to prioritize the split coil tones, and even being humbuckers that sound like single coils over humbucking tones. Not a bad thing for players who want or need that, but it's not really my thing.

[Rex_Rocker]

The HFS like the JB can definitely be love or hate, and incidentally I still love 'em both! The current PRS pups seem to prioritize the split coil tones, and even being humbuckers that sound like single coils over humbucking tones. Not a bad thing for players who want or need that, but it's not really my thing.

I actually don't hate the HFS. I just think it's OK-ish. But they want like what, 200 for one? I mean, I know it's not nearly the same thing, but I'd much rather have a Gibson 500T, DiMarzio Super Distortion, and hell, even a Duncan Custom if I wanted a ceramic pickup in that range that has more character (IMO, of course).

And for the record, I do love the JB, LOL. So we do agree in that.

I would, however, much like to try a PRS Tremonti Treble pickup. But what stops me is they want that much money for one. And I'm sure they're quality products. I'm sure making the unique bobbins gets expensive. But I wouldn't pay that much for a pop rocker guy's pickup that I don't really look up to, but that's just me being a bit of a hater, admittedly. But I do like the guitars and amp he developed with PRS, TBH. So I'm kinda torn on that.

[Mincer]

That's honestly a neat idea, but I still think there would be conflict with pickups that either have long lengs, oversized magnets, or huge polepieces (or all of the above), making them abnormally tall. Or pickups with quick connect terminals sticking out the middle of the underside like Blackouts, EMG's, or Fishmans.

Yes, the infrastructure isn't there to support a common way to direct mount pickups. I know Gibson had some models with humbuckers without rings that adjusted from the back, and it looked great. But that's all custom stuff.