New pickups or New guitar

[Mandroid]

My friend has a Hagstrom Super Swede B-stock MIC guitar that I sold him.
I was thinking of buying it back and putting in some new pickups.

But I was also considering buying a guitar for the same amount.
That amount would probably be $500. (including shop installation of the pickups)


So are there any guitars at $500 that would top the Hagstrom with new pickups?
If not, I would happily go that route.

 

[atf]

Re: New pickups or New guitar

Epiphone les paul tribute plus with classic 57 gibson pickups, mallory caps, cts pots and upgraded grover tuners. Top of my head

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[daenius]

Re: New pickups or New guitar

Find any used MIJ Charvel or Jackson, they already come with Duncans and typically fetch about $500!

 

[kramersteen]

Re: New pickups or New guitar

Find any used MIJ Charvel or Jackson, they already come with Duncans and typically fetch about $500!

Eh? All of my mij charvels didn't. Jackson and charvel mostly used their own pups like the j90c etc. The new fender brand charvel mim and mij promods do and some usa made charvels back in the day but not all.

 

[Mandroid]

Re: New pickups or New guitar

Epiphone les paul tribute plus with classic 57 gibson pickups, mallory caps, cts pots and upgraded grover tuners. Top of my head

Sent from my SCV33 using Tapatalk

I don't really know my epiphones, as there's quite a few. Is the les paul tribute plus the go to epi at that price range?

 

[atf]

Re: New pickups or New guitar

Yeah about 400 bucks used with hard case, closest to a gibson at that price

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[treyhaislip]

Re: New pickups or New guitar

Epiphone Les Paul in that range...also check out some of LTD's offerings.

 

[mwalluk]

Re: New pickups or New guitar

first question: wheres your location?
2nd question: do you care if its used?

if your in the states and dont mind used, theres no reason you cant find a killer axe at that price.

gibson les paul studio faded go for $500.
esp ltd ec1000 go for that price.
higher end prs SE go for that price.
Schecters go for that price.
should be able to find a highway usa strat for that price.

not sure what your looking for or style you play, but you have a ton of options.

 

[daenius]

Re: New pickups or New guitar

Eh? All of my mij charvels didn't. Jackson and charvel mostly used their own pups like the j90c etc. The new fender brand charvel mim and mij promods do and some usa made charvels back in the day but not all.

Damn, my bad! I'm used to seeing the Fender-era Jackson DK2Ms and Charvel Pro Mods, and they all have Duncans, so I made that blanket statement.

Not sure about pre-Fender Charvels actually, since... I don't see a lot of those anywhere...

As for Jacksons, I think they either come with those Jackson pickups or Duncans... I've seen MIJ pre-Fender Jacksons come with either, so I made that assumption too. Maybe they were installed aftermarket.

 

[Mandroid]

Re: New pickups or New guitar

first question: wheres your location?
2nd question: do you care if its used?

I live in the US. I don't care if it's used just as it's in good condition.

I gave it some thought and even went to guitar center to weigh out my options.

Is there no saving the Super Swede? I've never experimented with changing pickups before. The only thing I would want in the Hagstrom is a beefier neck. It's got a 25.5" scale, and the only guitars like that I know of is Fender.

Sound wise, are there no pickups that I can put into it that will rival or even surpass the aforementioned guitars?
How far can a pair of pickups take you?

 

[Demanic]

Re: New pickups or New guitar

If you want to save the super swede, I'm sure that there are several sets that would do it. 59 set, A2P set, Pearlies, good ol' JB/Jazz. Or maybe Whole Lotta's.

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[mwalluk]

Re: New pickups or New guitar

I live in the US. I don't care if it's used just as it's in good condition.

I gave it some thought and even went to guitar center to weigh out my options.

Is there no saving the Super Swede? I've never experimented with changing pickups before. The only thing I would want in the Hagstrom is a beefier neck. It's got a 25.5" scale, and the only guitars like that I know of is Fender.

Sound wise, are there no pickups that I can put into it that will rival or even surpass the aforementioned guitars?
How far can a pair of pickups take you?

if you like the guitar, toss some new pickups in it. that said, pickups will only take you so far. it may give you some clarity, more or less frequencies, volume, etc.

everything adds to tone from tuners, wood, style neck, bridge, nut, etc all factor in.

if you wamt a beefier tone, get a gibson les paul studio faded or ltd ec400 or ec1000. search guitarcenter.com, type used gibson les paul studio.

youll find some for your price range. i found a mint condition prs ce 22 for $1200. granted thats out of your price range, but just showing what you can find.

depending on if your installing them yourselves, pickups and a swap will cost you between $175-250 or for a few hundred more get a solid guitar that alreafy has good pickups in it.

 

[mwalluk]

Re: New pickups or New guitar

pm sent

 

[Adieu]

Re: New pickups or New guitar

Easily.

You can get full-blooded old Japanese ESPs for that money if you look real hard.