Re: Should I change out my bridge pickup?
I'm amazed at all the tonal variety I can get outta my stock EPI LP and my Marshall practice amp! I mention that to suggest this: "While changing pickups could possibly help you dial in certain aspects of your "desired" tone it is no substitute for touch and feel". You will find that the majority of your tone quality comes from you. Tone is in the touch, the finger tips, the pick and so forth! I'm firmly convinced of that!
Unless your axe is way off tonally, (i.e - Sound like a Jazz box when your trying to play Texas Blues) then leave it alone for now! I guess the determining factor is whether or not the guitar sounds the way you want it to for the styles you play.
Mods don't always end up making a guitar better. It's best to try out different guitars like at music stores rather than chop up your axe w/o doing a lot of research before hand. Like I really dig the tone I get from a Schecter C-1 Elite. So I look to see what type construction I'm dealing with. What is the wood that they use on the Schecter? Mahogany? Ash? Maple? Does it have a maple top? Is the neck Mahogany, maple or other? What is the fingerboard made of? Ebony, Rosewood, etc? What are the pot values for the pickups? How are the pickups wired? How thick is the body? All of these variables determine tone you end up getting out of an axe?
Now If I want my LP to sound like the Schecter C-1 then I need to at least see how much these two guitars have in common. You know? - wood, neck, everything I mentioned above. If it turns out that they are completely different from one another then the chances are that I won't get the results I want if I buy the pickups the Schecter uses and put then in my LP!
That's not to say that I wont end up w/ a slammin axe! Maybe not exactly what I was shooting for at best or a complete dog at worst! The moral to the story? Spend some time playing other guitars and learning what gives them their individual tonal characteristics before you decide to put the hack saw to your own axe!
