What do you do with your old pickups?

[The_Sentry]

Question (Sorry about this, but I do have a few)...

For those that have...a lot of pickups...what do you do with your old ones? Put 'em in storage? Sell 'em? Give 'em away? Same 'em for parts?

I've got a few sets...nothin' great to talk about...I'm almost of half a mind to send them off for a rewind. But, they're cheap. Is it worth it, or should I just give them away (I've done this with a few sets)...or leave 'em alone?

What do you do with your old pickups?

 

[Kosh Naranek]

Re: What do you do with your old pickups?

Sold a bunch.
Saved a few if I thought I might put them back in to return the guitar to stock condition.
But I'm talking about name brand pickups.
If you have a box of cheap no-name pickups from overseas-made guitars, then they would be harder to sell or to justify using again. Those are the ones that end up in a box of parts for 20 years and then just get thrown out.

 

[dr. ad]

Re: What do you do with your old pickups?

i would probably pull them apart and use the parts, depending on what they are; or put a thread in the trading post section

 

[Christopher Caruana]

Re: What do you do with your old pickups?

I keep them. I have a drawer full of my old pickups. I keep them because I never know when Im gonna want to use them again, or get a new guitar and want to use an old pickup. I currently have: A duncan distortion, a Custom Custom, a 496r, a 500t, a Dirty Fingers, a '57 classic, and an A2Pb.

 

[idsnowdog]

Re: What do you do with your old pickups?

If they're quality I will keep or sell them. If they're poor quality I will save them to scavenge parts like magnets, baseplates and screws.

 

[blueman335]

Re: What do you do with your old pickups?

I keep them. I have a drawer full of my old pickups. I keep them because I never know when Im gonna want to use them again, or get a new guitar and want to use an old pickup. I currently have: A duncan distortion, a Custom Custom, a 496r, a 500t, a Dirty Fingers, a '57 classic, and an A2Pb.

+1. Keep them. New guitars have a habit of appearing at good prices, so I buy PU's ahead of time when I can find deals on them. Keep an eye out for used ones, they can go pretty cheap sometimes. It's always good to have some spares on hand regardless; maybe you decide to swap out an existing PU or two. To have a few guitars and no extra PU's is unthinkable. How many shirts & pants do you have...you can afford a few spare PU's.

If you have cheap PU's, don't sink any money into them. But keep them to put back into a guitar if you sell it down the road. You don't get much more, if any, for selling a guitar with upgraded PU's (it's like putting in a swimming pool).

 

[Robert S.]

Re: What do you do with your old pickups?

I have a big box full of pickups. Some like the Ibanez stuff I just keep for replacements in customer guitars or for magnets but most are pretty good stuff. I have an Antiquity set, a JP set, a Hot Livewires for Strat set and more 59s, Customs and JBs than I like to think about. Phat Cats, a Dime....

It goes on and on. I just like having them around, they come in handy!

 

[brunogio]

Re: What do you do with your old pickups?

I sell mine mainly to offset the cost of buying the replacements and because I got too many guitars at the moment.

If I had 5 or fewer I would say keep them, but most of the pickups I've sold are ones I didn't like at all but were valuable to others with project guitars looking for a good value.

A few sets were given to friends who had cheapo guitars that played nice and wanted to upgrade them.

If you buy them used you can often get the same price when selling them so they are sort of free when you think of them like that.

 

[blueman335]

Re: What do you do with your old pickups?

I just like having them around, they come in handy!

+1. It's a reassurance thing, the comfort in always having a box of good PU's.

And like brunogio said, I sell the ones that I have no earthly interest in, that I somehow wound up with (came in a used guitar), like Invaders and super hot ceramics.

 

[brunogio]

Re: What do you do with your old pickups?

For example I sold one set of Gibson ceramics and gave another away. I have no love for those even though they do have their place.

The other set I sent out were from a Gretsch (so they have a specific size) and I wasn't going to put those 1999 Japanese Gretsch pickups in either my 1966 Nashville or the guitar they came from so out they went.

The 490 set I pull from my LP for the set of 57 classics that replace them will stay around unless another friend wants to upgrade his Epiphone and gives me a few bucks. Those are the types you keep around because they are very solid and would be useful if I find a Gibson at a good price with lousy pickups.

 

[LtKojak]

Re: What do you do with your old pickups?

I've experimented using the coils of some asian-made p'ups if their windings were alright, so I've changed baseplates, magnets and pole screws to make some "hybrids" that in most cases turned quite alright.

The ones that stunk... well... they REALLY stunk!

The best set I've made was from a Duncan Designed HB103N that changed the pole screws and put an A4 magnet paired with two coils from two different old asian humbuckers that measured 'round 11.0K putting'em in a StewMac baseplate with an A8 Magnet and new polepieces screws. The last one sounded like a very angry '59b!

 

[d1dsj]

Re: What do you do with your old pickups?

I still have a few in a box although I've given mates a few good ones too. When things were good and I had a few guitars I was going to do a fair few changes, but alas the guitars have reduced in numbers. I still have a few including Seth bridge, Brobucker, 2 x Crazy 8's, gold covered '57 set, 2 x Custom, an old JBJ, '59, Antiquity bridge bucker, Tele stack n and a 'lil'59 Tele. Probably a few others somewhere. One I wished I still had was the EVH78... gave it to a mate who couldn't afford one... went to a good home though.

Also, it's always useful to have some around to swap/ trade for other pick ups when things are tight.

 

[AudioWonderland]

Re: What do you do with your old pickups?

I used to be far better stocked with duncans than the store I bought them from. I stored them for years as I tried different combinations. Over time the guitars that weren't quite right got sold off and the ones that were money were fined tuned. At that point I started selling off a ton of stuff I knew I would not need. It funded a lot of studio gear. I still have a set of floor shop custom 59's, an antiquity neck 'bucker and a PGn on the shelf.

 

[ACH91332]

Re: What do you do with your old pickups?

I keep them for parts or backups. You never know what you'll need them for. Magnets, other parts, swaps, etc. I had a Steve's Special where the threads for the mounting screw stripped. Originally I was going to slap my old C8 in the bridge but decided to take the base plate off of an old Rockfield I never used and just slapped it on the Steve's Special. It didn't sound exactly the same since it wasn't a brass base plate. It didn't have those warm mids the brass gave so I went and took the A8 out of the C8 and slapped it in the Steve's Special which got it closer to how it used to sound. It's holding for the time being until I decide to replace it again. That was just three examples of why I keep old pickups and funny enough all three situations came up just from one pickup ordeal haha.

 

[Surgeon]

Re: What do you do with your old pickups?

I always keep the originals from my guitars in order to put the instrument back to stock form when/if I ever want/need to sell it.

I still have a lot of pick-ups I like around here. I keep them in the eventuality that I may someday want to use them again.

Those that I buy and don't like I sell.

 

[Jessie Sammler]

Re: What do you do with your old pickups?

Most of the pickups that I replace are horrible. I throw them away.

 

[baritone]

Re: What do you do with your old pickups?

After I switched out pickups on my Squier, I never gave much thought to where the old pickups went; I guess the shop just kept them. I changed out the pickups myself on my Epiphone, and I sold the Epiphone pickups very cheap on eBay. Those, I pretty much sold for a nominal price, since I didn't feel like they were wroth much.

 

[blueman335]

Re: What do you do with your old pickups?

I still have a few in a box although I've given mates a few good ones too. When things were good and I had a few guitars I was going to do a fair few changes, but alas the guitars have reduced in numbers. I still have a few including Seth bridge, Brobucker, 2 x Crazy 8's, gold covered '57 set, 2 x Custom, an old JBJ, '59, Antiquity bridge bucker, Tele stack n and a 'lil'59 Tele. Probably a few others somewhere. One I wished I still had was the EVH78... gave it to a mate who couldn't afford one... went to a good home though.

Also, it's always useful to have some around to swap/ trade for other pick ups when things are tight.

Nice assortment, better than most music stores.

 

[mrturtle_91]

Re: What do you do with your old pickups?

so far I have kept my old pickups, re-use them if I can...I have a dimarzio SD, plus two MIM Tele pickups stashed away.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: What do you do with your old pickups?

Keep the ones that will be returned to seller guitars.

Sell the ones that won't be used, but are good.

Keep the crap for magnets, baseplates, or giving to neighbor kids who need anything.