Swapping/replacing humbuckers btwn 3 guitars

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BenJB

New member
Hello everyone. Thanks in advance for any advice! I have been playing for about 15 years; but after grinding out 4-chord punk for half my life, I'm ready to get serious about tone and learn something more artful like the blues (in other words... I got old). I still want to play some punk, but I also want to learn blues and maybe some classic rock. What I would like your help doing is deciding what new humbuckers to purchase and install in my various guitars - other gear recommendations are welcome.

The current gear:

Samick (Greg Bennett) RL2 - This is a 335-style guitar with SD designed HB-101s in it. The HB-101 is a copy of the SH '59. Mids and treble sound nice clean, but I don't get any bite out of it. It can be heavy on the bass and gets muddy. Not very good with distortion.

Partscaster - This is a strat-shaped guitar with a Gibson style bridge. One humbucker at the bridge position. Body is probably poplar - maple neck with rosewood fretboard. The pickup is a Gibson T-Top that I found in my grandfather's attic years ago (didn't know what it really was until recently). Sounds good clean or distorted. This guitar has a nice bright tone. I would love to get a Bad Religion-style crunch out of this guitar, but maybe that doesn't work with a poplar strat?

Telecaster - Just ordered one from Albatross Guitars. It's a kit for a mahogany tele. I plan to route the neck position for a humbucker.

Amps: Behringer Blue Devil (1x10 combo); Behringer 15 watt 1x6 practice amp.

Pedals: Boss DS-1; RP-150 Effects Processor

Due to living in an apartment with a wife and child, I mostly play through the practice amp with AKG K240 studio headphones on.

The Plan:

Here is the current plan that I want you to weigh in on, if you would please: Put T-top in the Tele neck; swap HB-101s in the Samick for some SD Pearly Gates and throw the bridge HB-101 in the Strat until I can get an SD Invader (always loved the Tom Delong strat with the Invader in the Bridge).

Another option is to put the T-top in the neck of the Samick and a PG in the bridge. Then I would split the HB-101s between the tele and the strat.

I know a better amp would do me wonders, but I don't think it's in the budget for a long time and I wouldn't be able to use it much. I would be willing to buy a new pedal, but the budget for this whole project is between $200-300, so it has to fit with the humbuckers.

Thanks, everyone. I know this was a long post, so I appreciate your time.
 
Re: Swapping/replacing humbuckers btwn 3 guitars

A cheap TS clone from Joyo or similar will get you more authentic tones for rock/blues than a DS1

You can swap in some mags into the duncan designed pickups.....A4's will give more mids and cut down on the other ranges. If you have the t-top, then this can go into the semi in the neck posi perhaps. Thats a great pickup in its own right and the semi will benefit from it more than the tele.

If you still feel like a replacement set for the semi.....the Seths can't be beat in that format for vintage tone. The t-top would then go into the tele.
 
Re: Swapping/replacing humbuckers btwn 3 guitars

I never thought about replacing a magnet. Where could I get an A4? I see A2 and A5 on StewMac.

After thinking about it, I am leaning more toward putting the T-top in the Samick. It would be more at home in a Gibson-style guitar. I know my uncle popped it out of a Les Paul in the 70s. I should call him and find out more about it. I would still need to decide on the bridge pup.

I am going to look into a cheap TS clone. I bought my RP150 ten years ago and never used it much, but maybe now is the time to experiment.

How much does my choice of amp affect the tone through headphones? I would love to get a tube amp, but it seems silly to spend the cash and then sit in my apartment with headphones on. EDIT: I just remembered my Fostex MR-8 recorder has some sort of cab simulator in it. Maybe that is what I should use for headphone practice?
 
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Re: Swapping/replacing humbuckers btwn 3 guitars

AlexR said:
A cheap TS clone from Joyo or similar will get you more authentic tones for rock/blues than a DS1

You can swap in some mags into the duncan designed pickups.....A4's will give more mids and cut down on the other ranges. If you have the t-top, then this can go into the semi in the neck posi perhaps. Thats a great pickup in its own right and the semi will benefit from it more than the tele.

If you still feel like a replacement set for the semi.....the Seths can't be beat in that format for vintage tone. The t-top would then go into the tele.
Click to expand...

sorry for hijacking the thread, but I'm looking for some pedals from joyo. Do you recommend any? I'm looking for a combination like a rat and a ts9... I already have a boss sd-1 and was thinking of experimenting with a budget level distortion...
 
Re: Swapping/replacing humbuckers btwn 3 guitars

Joyo do clones of pedals. There is one of the OCD which is I think the ultimate drive or dist. Thats sort of RAT like. The Vintage OD is their TS808 clone.
 
Re: Swapping/replacing humbuckers btwn 3 guitars

I like this project, and I think it would be fun. I think if you look for an Invader, you can find one used pretty cheaply. I like the idea of the Pearlies in the Samick, too. I don't know if getting any kind of pedal will help, as I think any problems might just be the smaller amps. Don't sweat it, do the swaps and have fun (and post pics of that Tele when it is finished).
 
Re: Swapping/replacing humbuckers btwn 3 guitars

Thanks, Mincer. I appreciate the encouragement. I read a little about adjusting humbuckers yesterday and fixed some of the issues with the Samick, but I'm still leaning toward replacing them. The T-top deserves better than my partscaster. A zebra pearly gates would match the T-top if I didn't use covers. The T-top has globs of solder where it must have had a cover once upon a time though, so maybe I'll cover it up.

I plan to photograph the tele process as I go along, so I'll post pics when the time comes. Should arrive tomorrow.
 
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