Back to Stock

[UnderTheFlame83]

How many of you have bought a set of pickups hoping they would improve the tone you're looking for, then being disappointed in them right away and go back to the stock ones? This has happened to me a few times. I guess some guitars shouldn't be changed. Sometimes cheaper pickups, or whatever is stock, are just as good or better than more expensive ones. The brand isn't important. The price of them doesn't matter. It's all about what sounds and feels right for a specific guitar in the end.

 

[PFDarkside]

Never for me, but I’ve got a couple guitars I’ll never change the pickups in.

 

[Bogner]

I have yet to change a pickup just for the sake of changing a pickup. If the stock pickup meets my need I am fine with it. If it doesn't meet my need and I change pickups, I wouldn't go back to stock again because it didn't work the first time. You can buy the nicest pickups in the world and that won't guarantee they will work for what you want in your guitar.

 

[UnderTheFlame83]

I have yet to change a pickup just for the sake of changing a pickup. If the stock pickup meets my need I am fine with it. If it doesn't meet my need and I change pickups, I wouldn't go back to stock again because it didn't work the first time. You can buy the nicest pickups in the world and that won't guarantee they will work for what you want in your guitar.

I've bought pickups to experiment just to see if they would be any better, even though I'm completely satified with what is in the guitar. Good thing is you can always go back. Most the time I couldn't tell any difference, but other times they just sound worse. That's not always the case but it has happened.

 

[UnderTheFlame83]

A good example is the Dimebucker. A pickup I wanted to love, cause I'm a huge Pantera fan. No matter what guitar I put it in it just sounded terrible. Changed pots. Used Orange Drop caps. All new wiring. Lowered it. Raised it. Still nothing improved the sound of that pickup. I even bought another just to see if I had a defective one. Nope. Sounded the same. A stock ESP pickup out performed it with output and clarity, even the harmonics were better. My least favorite Duncan by far and one I will never want again.

 

[superpete]

i've had to swap pus a few times in certain guitars before i got the sound i wanted, but i've never gone back to stock...usually there's a reason i swapped them in the first place.

 

[AlexR]

Well, I build guitars from scratch, so there is no such thing as a 'stock' pickup for me. But I have done plenty of merry-go'rounds trying to find what might be the best for certain guitars. Not sure if I've ever come full circle though.

 

[pskorz]

Never for me, but I’ve got a couple guitars I’ll never change the pickups in.

I have a schecter Omen Extreme with whatever their ridiculously hot humbuckers are, I think Diamond Plus. I think good sounding pickups in their own right as a humbucker, and when split, they are truly "stratty." Usually a split humbucker doesn't really sound like a single coil to me. These really do. So for a passing moment when I thought of putting in replacement humbuckers on it, I re-thought it right away thinking that that would totally ruin this guitar. I think a Duncan Distortion/Jazz set in it would sound really good as humbuckers, but this is the one guitar I have that I can get truly good humbucker AND single-coil sounds out of.

 

[Artie]

I did take my Daisy Rock back from Slash AII Pro's, to the original Duncan Designed 59's, and it sounds killer. Mind you, I purchased it with the Slash's, and acquired the DD 59's later. Daisy Rock actually got it right the first time.

 

[Demanic]

How many of you have bought a set of pickups hoping they would improve the tone you're looking for, then being disappointed in them right away and go back to the stock ones? This has happened to me a few times. I guess some guitars shouldn't be changed. Sometimes cheaper pickups, or whatever is stock, are just as good or better than more expensive ones. The brand isn't important. The price of them doesn't matter. It's all about what sounds and feels right for a specific guitar in the end.

Here is the wisest person.
Though I don't ever recall reinstalling stock pickups after making a swap. Though I have used the replaced stock pickups to replace stock pickups in other guitars that definitely benefited from the upgrade.

Sent from my SM-A115A using Tapatalk

 

[weepingminotaur]

I have a schecter Omen Extreme with whatever their ridiculously hot humbuckers are, I think Diamond Plus. I think good sounding pickups in their own right as a humbucker, and when split, they are truly "stratty." Usually a split humbucker doesn't really sound like a single coil to me. These really do. So for a passing moment when I thought of putting in replacement humbuckers on it, I re-thought it right away thinking that that would totally ruin this guitar. I think a Duncan Distortion/Jazz set in it would sound really good as humbuckers, but this is the one guitar I have that I can get truly good humbucker AND single-coil sounds out of.

Funny, I have the same Schecter, but swapped out the stock Diamond Plus pickups for a Nazgul-Sentient combo, and I have never once regretted it. Nothing against the Diamond Plus pickups, but they weren't giving me the crushing metal tone I wanted for the guitar, and I had no need to split on the bridge. The Sentient splits very well and is so versatile that I don't miss the Diamonds in the least.

 

[Artie]

This is a little off base, but still within the spirit of the question. I changed the pups in my MIA Peavey Patriot. Then I had to get another one in order to have the original Super Ferrite pups. They're that good.

 

[Mincer]

I don't think I would take out stock pickups and then return to them. I took them out for a reason, and if the replacements aren't right, I look for other replacements. But if the stock ones were good, I'd never take them out.

 

[weepingminotaur]

It also depends what you consider "stock." I find that most guitars in the entry-level price range (that interest me, at any rate) don't have pickups worth much. For those models, pickups are where they cut costs. So I'm much more likely to swap those pups out. But my newest guitar is an LTD EC-1000 with a Custom-5 in the bridge and a Jazz in the neck. So not really stock, then.

But honestly, I don't have enough experience with pickup swapping to judge. I only started playing again after a loooong hiatus about three years ago, and have only delved into the world of pickups and taking guitar more seriously in those three years.

 

[jmh151]

I have a 2015 Les Paul that came with BurstBucker pros, that sounded a bit cold and thin, though they worked well with the phase switch and coil taps.

I switched them out for a custom set of 4 conductor Slash pickups- improved the overall base tone, warming the guitar up, though the phase switching and coil taps didn’t work as well.

Then I tried Dimarzio dactivators- they were too hot and loud, too compressed, though they were great when I wanted a cranked boosted tone.

Now I’m back to the stock BurstBucker pro’s as they did the best all around tone, though the Slash and deactivators excelled at their specific purpose