Expensive pickups in cheap guitars?

[JohnnyGuitar]

Re: Expensive pickups in cheap guitars?

I think it is far sillier to put expensive pickups in an expensive guitar, really. If you pay that much, you had better get what you are looking for to begin with.

+1

 

[Willybomb]

Re: Expensive pickups in cheap guitars?

I've always chucked Duncans and Dimarzios into cheap guitars - it's something of a hobby of mine to make "sleepers" - guitars that don't look the goods but play and sound great acoustically and when plugged in really rip it up.

Until it got stolen, my number one was a plywood Aria Pro II SL that I had floyded and Dimarzio Megadrive'd and all I ever got was hugely positive feedback about how good that thing sounded into, of all things, my Marshall Valvestate... Playing that guitar was like coming home.

There's a chinese brand of pickup kicking around over here (Australia) called WSC that do a variety of pickups very cheaply. The volume out of them is phenomenal. Just as a comparison to a few other more well known pickups I had lying around, I quickly measured the resistance with my analogue multi:

The Dimarzio SuperD weighs in at 20kohms,
Duncan PATB-2 Distortion = 22
Duncan Full Shred = 21
Dimarzio Fast Track2 = 25
Duncan Hot Rails neck = 16
Dimarzio Humbucker From Hell = 9
Dimarzio H4 (Breed neck) = 15
WSC Distortion humbucker = 26.

For the AU$25 is cost me, the WSC pickup is great. And a lot of guys use them around here..

I think it is far sillier to put expensive pickups in an expensive guitar, really. If you pay that much, you had better get what you are looking for to begin with.

+1

+2. Makes nearly no sense at all. Also, I have trouble justifying the money for anything over $1k for a guitar despite being a full time guitar teacher. More economic to get a nice playing guitar and hop it up.

Willy.

 

[Robert Delahunt]

Re: Expensive pickups in cheap guitars?

TwinReverb, did you notice your LTD had balls on the bass side but was absolutely awful on treble? It is as I find the mine. I also read that you put a Hot Rodded combo in. I have been thinking of mounting Invaders to maximize the chunky thing, as my other guitar does everything well but it is not dark if I need.

Actually, no. A friend of mine (who owned a ZW sig epi) said my guitar had excellent treble response.

 

[baritone]

Re: Expensive pickups in cheap guitars?

American Fenders in stock form are superb guitars, but I prefer pickups like Duncan squished humbuckers. I think cheaper guitars are perfect for those who plan to make some changes eventually. I always get freaked out when I hear about people changing out parts on expensive Vintage Series reissues n things.

 

[CGord]

Re: Expensive pickups in cheap guitars?

I have a Duncan SH-6 Distortion in a $199 MIK Dean Z-X, & it fuggin' kills.

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=570498&songID=6120432

 

[Diocletian]

Re: Expensive pickups in cheap guitars?

I have a Duncan SH-6 Distortion in a $199 MIK Dean Z-X, & it fuggin' kills.

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=570498&songID=6120432

That sounds great, I'm into that! :beerchug: How did you get the drums like that (I mean what program?).

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Expensive pickups in cheap guitars?

The consensus on GFS' on this forum is that they are as muddy sounding as any other Asian-made PU, and are not an upgrade. Don't waste your money on them.

You must be mistaking the terms "consensus" and "my opinion".

You want tone, get American-made. We understand the nuances of what electric guitar tone is all about. You get what you pay for.

You should make sure all your posts contain such gems as this, so everybody knows how seriously to take what you say.

 

[blueman335]

Re: Expensive pickups in cheap guitars?

You must be mistaking the terms "consensus" and "my opinion".

You should make sure all your posts contain such gems as this, so everybody knows how seriously to take what you say.

The last time we went through this on this forum, the vast majority of players on that thread agreed that upgrading to American-made PU's made a huge difference in their guitars, and were far superior to the stock Asian PU's in mid-price import guitars. If you disagree with this view, you are not in the majority.

Just about all the high quality PU's talked about on this forum are made in America. Every country has things they excell at making, and high quality PU's are an American tradition. Other countries make them, but we make most of the best ones. That was my point; no idea what point you were trying to make.

 

[St_Genesius]

Re: Expensive pickups in cheap guitars?

To me, so much of having a good sounding electric guitar comes from the right combination of instrument and pickup(s). Sometimes, you walk into a store and pick something up whose parts work together just right. Other times (more often, imo) you will be well served by listening to how the guitar sounds both unplugged and plugged and determing what sort of sound you'd rather be hearing. In those cases, choosing the right aftermarket pickup can make a WORLD or difference to the sound of the electrified instrument.

For some people, an instrument that sounds great is great. For others, they need it to also feel just so. For still others, they need that feel to go beyond mere comfort to imparting an overall sense of quality in the materials and build. For still others, they need a particular name on the headstock to consider it a great instrument.

Changing a pickup can only help with the first concern. There are other things that can be done to address the second. But the rest? Not much to do there. Whehter it bothers you or not varies from person to person.

 

[CGord]

Re: Expensive pickups in cheap guitars?

That sounds great, I'm into that! :beerchug: How did you get the drums like that (I mean what program?).

Glad you liked it! The drums are part of the Line 6 RiffTracker package I record with.

 

[Robert Delahunt]

Re: Expensive pickups in cheap guitars?

The last time we went through this on this forum, the vast majority of players on that thread agreed that upgrading to American-made PU's made a huge difference in their guitars, and were far superior to the stock Asian PU's in mid-price import guitars. If you disagree with this view, you are not in the majority.

Just about all the high quality PU's talked about on this forum are made in America. Every country has things they excell at making, and high quality PU's are an American tradition. Other countries make them, but we make most of the best ones. That was my point; no idea what point you were trying to make.

I think it has less to do with where it's from, and more about what the company is about.

Seymour Duncan & Co are awesome, and I love their pickups. But what matters to me is how they treat me (fantastic) and their product (superior to others). They could be from bangladesh for all I care.

However, I'm glad that Seymour Duncan carries on the tradition and spirit of what it means to be "Made in America": quality.

 

[KeeperOS]

Re: Expensive pickups in cheap guitars?

Just about all the high quality PU's talked about on this forum are made in America. Every country has things they excell at making, and high quality PU's are an American tradition.

I haven't heard/played those GFSs but I can tell you that Kinmann pickups are Australian made and IMO are THE best pickups for a vintage Strat an ANY price point, bar none.

IMO, a country excels at sth as long as the person/team/company that excels at it is from that country, in short it's not the country, it's the people and ANY person/group of persons at ANY time and ANY place (read country) can potentially do it better/as good.

(BTW, I'm pretty sure that there have also been crappy US pickups, it's just that they probably went quietly into the night...)

 

[PLVTONIVS FILIVS]

Re: Expensive pickups in cheap guitars?

Thanks everybody, I have finally ordered an Invader set. I think they will fit well.

 

[Diocletian]

Re: Expensive pickups in cheap guitars?

Let us know how you like the Invaders. I'm sure you'll love the bridge pup for your riffage and it's also good for soloing. The neck Invader is very good for cleans, but I'm not keen on it for anything else - I really don't like it for soloing at all, it totally lacks that creamy neck tone I like in other guitars.
The two Invaders do complement each other, and they look good side by side, but I'd probably choose something else for the neck having had these pups for a couple of months now.

Thinking about it, I don't know why they even make the neck Invader. The bridge Invader is about the highest gain passive pup around - why pair it with something as lacklustre as the neck Invader? Like I say, the neck version is great for clean tones, but do people buy Invaders for that?

 

[hanumanlangur]

Whaaaaaa????

Whaaaaaa????

You must be mistaking the terms "consensus" and "my opinion".

Whaaaa??? JB_From_Hell... you obviously don't understand. Blueman335 only speaks objective truth. :bowdown:

From him, I learned that foreign pickups are muddy junk, PAF tones are the only ones worth having, Fenders are for wimps, the '59/C5 combination is what everyone should be putting in their Epiphones, A2 magnets are bad everywhere especially the neck, and most importantly the JB is the worst pickup ever made because it has treble and it doesn't sound great with the 500k pots that it wasn't designed for.

 

[PLVTONIVS FILIVS]

Re: Expensive pickups in cheap guitars?

Let us know how you like the Invaders. I'm sure you'll love the bridge pup for your riffage and it's also good for soloing. The neck Invader is very good for cleans, but I'm not keen on it for anything else - I really don't like it for soloing at all, it totally lacks that creamy neck tone I like in other guitars.
The two Invaders do complement each other, and they look good side by side, but I'd probably choose something else for the neck having had these pups for a couple of months now.

Thinking about it, I don't know why they even make the neck Invader. The bridge Invader is about the highest gain passive pup around - why pair it with something as lacklustre as the neck Invader? Like I say, the neck version is great for clean tones, but do people buy Invaders for that?

I will tell you. I suppose the neck will be dark too, good for dark cleans. I probably will wire them in series instead of parallel as I have done with my set of Distortions in my other guitar. This is nice for leads to me. Have you tried wiring your Invaders in series? It should be dark as Hell.

 

[Diocletian]

Re: Expensive pickups in cheap guitars?

I will tell you. I suppose the neck will be dark too, good for dark cleans. I probably will wire them in series instead of parallel as I have done with my set of Distortions in my other guitar. This is nice for leads to me. Have you tried wiring your Invaders in series? It should be dark as Hell.

I have no idea. I just wired them "normally"? I need to figure out this series/parallel thing.

 

[PLVTONIVS FILIVS]

Re: Expensive pickups in cheap guitars?

Then you have them wired in parallel at switch's middle position. This way you have a half output using them together. I'll try to explain (my English is bad, sorry):

1 Humbucker= 1 "output unit"
2 Humbuckers in parallel (stock way)=0.5 "O.U"
2 Hums in series= 2 "O.U"

It is easy to do, there are post about it with people telling me how wire this way, (great forum).

I also recommend you 1 Meg pots to avoid muddiness

 

[formula73]

Re: Whaaaaaa????

Re: Whaaaaaa????

Whaaaa??? JB_From_Hell... you obviously don't understand. Blueman335 only speaks objective truth. :bowdown:

From him, I learned that foreign pickups are muddy junk, PAF tones are the only ones worth having, Fenders are for wimps, the '59/C5 combination is what everyone should be putting in their Epiphones, A2 magnets are bad everywhere especially the neck, and most importantly the JB is the worst pickup ever made because it has treble and it doesn't sound great with the 500k pots that it wasn't designed for.

*beer sprays from nose*