Question About Pickups in General

[HiwattDR103]

Hey All!

I have been browsing this forum on and off for years, but recently decided to join because I wanted other people's opinion on this matter.

I think have always disregarded the value of pickups in general, as I put much more consideration into the woods/specs of the guitars, amps, and certain overdrives to get what I needed. I really believe I have failed to take into account a huge factor in the overall tone of a guitar.

For example, when I ordered my Fender CS strat a little while back, I was very particular about the neck shape, radius, nut etc. but when I was filling out the form I just selected 'base model pickups'.

Another example, I recently got into Ozzy's "Tribute" album and was determined to seek out the RR tone. I found that I could get the exact sound I was looking for with my PRS Santana III through a plexi and a MXR D+ with a small amount of delay and reverb, not once did I take the factor of pickups into consideration.

As far as my philosophy on pickups goes, as long as they are quality and not too hot to get the vintage tones I need, then I'm good.

Basically, I want to know what I'm failing to see/hear. I never understood why are their entire companies dedicated to making a large variety of pickups. I thought this would be the perfect place to ask this question and possibly come to an epiphany or revelation on the matter.

 

[Brandenburg]

Re: Question About Pickups in General

Money.. trying to supply a demand

lots of people.. lots of different woods .. lots expectations of what the perfect tone is with this or that..makes for a demand for a wide diverse selection of pickups.. + you have variety of magnets Alnico 2,3,4,5,8,ceramic and even those you have different variations ..different wire gauges and # of windings... this makes for a ALOT of possibilities and EVERYBODY has that perfect sound in their head

 

[beaubrummels]

Re: Question About Pickups in General

Welcome to the forum.

This could open a can of worms, but the electronics impart a significant factor to the sound, as much as the wood, strings and other elements. Everything matters. If you've gotten sounds you like without considering the pickups, that's great. It's not a requirement to know all that stuff. The only reason to get into it is if you are not satisfied with your sound and are looking at all the factors, including pickups, to find ways to make the sound better, or rather, make it sound they way you want it.

Love the member name. I have one of those amps.

 

[Shooter.556]

Re: Question About Pickups in General

I have 4 guitars currently with 4 completely different pickup types.
I am most a Duncan guy, I have always been but two of my guitars one has Dimarzios that I love and the other has stock Gibsons.
I have each guitar for a different reason and depending on what I am playing or the mood I am in is what gets played.
Pickups play a very important role in your sound. They are the connection between the sound you hear in your head and what your fingers send to the signal chain.

It's kinda hard for me to put into words, That sound in your head is what the pickups send to the amp for everyone to hear.. They are the motor that is your sound..

The best way to describe it is to play several of the same type guitars with different pickups thru the same amp and listen to the tonal differences.

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: Question About Pickups in General

I was thinking about this the past few weeks while listening to hear podcasts/watching gear YouTube shows...

In my kind there are three types of players that don't replace pickups:
-Those that buy great guitars (that come equipped with great pickups)
-Those that arent aware of the tonal difference of good pickups
-Those that can't hear the difference

For the OP, if you are specing out a Fender Custom Shop guitar, the "base model" pickups are ones that many would be seeking out to PUT in their Fender style guitars. For someone that only buys high end Fender, Gibson and PRS guitars, the base pickups are pretty darn good. If this type of player auditioned a few different guitars and ended up with a specific one, part of that may have been the pickups themselves.

The first type may be the second type as well, attributing the differences in guitars to body wood, fingerboard wood, general guitar model differences when in fact the pickups are playing a large part.

The third type is either a young player that can't hear the difference, is playing on entry level effects/amps, or simply isn't interested too much in tone. Through my old Spyder, most pickup differences were buried. All you could discern was hot/vintage and position. MIM Strat pickups sounded just about as good as SSL-1s. Once I got a tube amp, the difference was much more apparent (and my ears had developed)

There you go, if you are happy with what you have and are more intent on tweaking amp and effects, that's cool, everyone approaches tone from a different angle.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Question About Pickups in General

I would say that the quality of the pickups are at least as important as any other in the sound of the guitar. I've played electrics that were dead unplugged, but transformed with the right pickups. The pickups are one aspect I would absolutely consider on a custom guitar (among many given equal consideration).

 

[BloodRose]

Re: Question About Pickups in General

Probably anything I could add has already been said in some way, but Ill give you the reason I change pickups. You stated you are getting the tone you want and need out of your prs. Thats cool and those come with good pickups, but may not fit everyone. I first changed a pickup because I had an old low model Kramer. Was a decent (emphasis on decent) guitar but the pickup was lifeless and noisy. I put a Duncan JB in it and it really woke the guitar up. Now, I change pickups when I get a guitar that I love the feel and playability of, but not exactly the sounds I get from the stock pickups. So, I fine tune it per se. Two examples. I have Gibson explorer. LOVE the guitar, but the stock bridge pickup was too hot to control. Works for some, but not for me. Next, I have a Charvel that came with Dimarzios. Yeah, they are a good upscale brand, but I changed to Duncans to get the tone I wanted from the guitar . And Unlike your custom shop strat, I couldnt order the pickups I wanted when purchasing. Welcome aboard!

 

[DrNewcenstein]

Re: Question About Pickups in General

Given that I've mostly owned imports, and those mostly came with off-brand/in-house/"designed by" pickups, changing them became more of a necessity to overcome the inherent flaws of those pickups. Low-quality materials make a low-quality product.

However, my USA Gibson LP Standard came with USA Gibson pickups, and I only changed the bridge pickup to another Gibson (500T) because I wanted a higher-output than the stock pickup (even though my rack provided plenty of gain, the stock 498T was not all that impressive tonally). Once I switched to using just using the amp for live work, the hotter pickup earned its keep as the head itself just didn't have that last bit of "oomph" in the gain.

Of the MIM Strats I've had, both sounded great IMO. One had the stock pickups, the other came to me with Fender TexMex pickups. Either way, I got the tones from it I was expecting in a Strat - SRV, Blackmore, Gilmour, Hendrix/Trower, etc, so playing style and attack with expectation of a certain tonal outcome is as much a factor as anything; I have to use this attack/technique to achieve this tone with this guitar.

The early days of custom pickups were driven by players who either wanted "more" out of whatever they were using (output, frequency shift/focus, etc) or who wanted to combine tonal aspects of various other pickups, or simply more versatility (make my Strat sound like a Les Paul, make my Les Paul sound more Stratty, etc). Hotter pickups came about to help the available overdrives in front of amps whose primary design was to merely amplify signal cleanly. Once amps came with internal overdrives, these hotter pickups helped even more, especially when combined with overdrive pedals, which were also getting more drive.
That eventually progressed into the ability to sculpt a tonal response with magnet type and wire gauge and basic intent of what the winder expects the pickup to sound like, and there's someone out there with cash-in-hand that wants it.

In then end, pickup swappers are a minority segment of the playing population, as most players are happy with whatever comes in the guitar, especially when they buy a top-quality guitar to begin with. Whether it's a stock Gibson, Fender, or even Duncan pickup, most people will tweak their EQ to suit their various guitars, or use one amp for this guitar and one amp for that one, rather than swapping pickups to get the same tone from every guitar out of one amp.

 

[Brandenburg]

Re: Question About Pickups in General

In then end, pickup swappers are a minority segment of the playing population, as most players are happy with whatever comes in the guitar, especially when they buy a top-quality guitar to begin with. Whether it's a stock Gibson, Fender, or even Duncan pickup, most people will tweak their EQ to suit their various guitars, or use one amp for this guitar and one amp for that one, rather than swapping pickups to get the same tone from every guitar out of one amp.

I guess im in the minority.. I just like to change them for something different as my sig shows..lol..Really doesnt matter what the guitar has in it,, I also have my #1 and # 2 with custom wirings as well to better customize them to me
AND no two pickups I have are the same model ... every single one is different.. 6 guitars.. 14 different pups
6 Iron Gear
2 PRS
1 Fender
1 squire stock
2 EMG's
1 Seymour Duncan

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: Question About Pickups in General

As far as my philosophy on pickups goes, as long as they are quality and not too hot to get the vintage tones I need, then I'm good.

job done.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Question About Pickups in General

Love the member name. I have one of those amps.

I want. Love that Hiwatt amp!

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Question About Pickups in General

From my experience (55 years of playing), the woods used in a guitar (body, cap, neck, fretboard), and even the size and shape of the guitar all make a difference in its tone. But the pickup (its type [single coil, P-90, mini-hum, humbucker] and its specific magnet), makes a greater difference in tone than all of those other factors combined.