Cheap pickups that should suck but dont.

I liked the Epiphone 700T that came in my Epiphone Special II.

I like the GFS RedActives too.

I kinda like the Artec HBA115's that I have, but I don't really love them either. They're kinda scooped and slightly wooly, but not horrible. They've got kind of an overwound '59N vibe.

But not all cheap pickups are great, IME. I really didn't like the stock pickup in my Squier Sonic Strat. It was scooped, harsh, low output, much like you'd expect an 8K-ish wind with a ceramic magnet, yet it somehow still sounded kinda muddy.
 
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Guitar Madness sells $20 humbuckers on ebay that are incredible bang for the buck. The 57 Special and 1984 are 2 stand outs for me.
 
The Guitar Madness 1984 and 59 model humbuckers are pretty damn good for $20. I put a set of their alnico 2 Strat pickups in a $99 Squier I strung Nashville well over 10 years ago now. No complaints their either. They may not be the most nuanced pickups out there but they are capable

A little more money, but Bootstrap Pickups are US made and are extremely good. I have 2 strats and a tele outfitted with ttheir pickups. A Strat set was just $50 when I got mine. I think they may be $65 or $70 a set now.
 
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I have a Godin Exit 22 from ages ago that came with cheap ceramic single coil pickups with a bar magnet on the bottom and a cheap/generic bridge humbucker. The humbucker and I never got along, and I ended up swapping it out with an alnico 5 tele bridge but the singles are lovely sounding low/medium output single coils.
 
The el cheapo humbuckers that came in my wife's Squier Bullet Mustang actually sound really good! I gave the thing a good setup and tested it out through my rig and the guitar just sounded really nice!
 
GilmourD said:
The el cheapo humbuckers that came in my wife's Squier Bullet Mustang actually sound really good! I gave the thing a good setup and tested it out through my rig and the guitar just sounded really nice!
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Agreed. I would have left mine in if I hadn't bought it for the express purpose of giving my Lace Sensors a home
 
I do think the Epi Probuckers sound good, the SE versions of the PRS HFS I really like, and the first SE 245 pickups (totally different spec than the USA SC 245 pups) sounded really good as well, I had those in a Fredrik Akesson signature, but at the time they also came in the SE Tremonti Custom, SE Santana, SE Bernie Marsden and SE 245.
 
I just trotted out my $92 IYV Strat
With Alnico 5 pickups , I haven't opened it yesterday to see if they have a magnet stuck to the bottom (I don't think they do)
And while I am still debating the thicker neck.... those pickups are NICE . Bold loud clear dynamic. Exactly what you want

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Very nice features.
I have one too, a blue one I repainted in turquoise, I put an SSL5+SSL1 in , the original double HB config never left me in awe, plus I add a chinese mustang bridge, unfortunately the screws threads of the tailpiece broke soon (I had to expect it) so I put some washers below and stuck it fix, the tuning improved a lot but no vibrato.
It still seems more a toy guitar than a real one in my head, but I use it tuned down two whole steps with .012, 3rd wound, for some stoner stuff when I want to creatively 'reset' my mind :)
 
I honestly dont have much experience with "cheap" import pickups as i usually yank them out right away. I do have a set of BG Dark humbuckers in a Hamer Diablo that were actually relatively inexpensive (no longer being made) that sound fantastic in that guitar. I think the pair was under 100$, which is super cheap for a pair of hand-wound pickups if you ask me.
 
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