Re: Worst pups you ever used
In my 40 plus years of playing guitar and 30+ years of being a certified pickup junkie, I can honestly say I have not played a pickup yet that I hated or though of as 'the worst'. There have been many that I pulled out just about as fast as they went in, but they found happy homes in other guitars.
While not something that happens all the time, I have had high end, highly rated, big bux boutique pickups that were a huge disappointment and I've had some cheapest of the cheap, import crap held together with toothpicks, bubble gum and a paper clip that totally knocked my socks off. I've got a couple sets of Japanese buckers from the 70's that are killer and the three single coils on a 67 Kent 823 nail that corpulent BB King sting as good as anything.
I know there is a lot of love here for GFS pickups, (and I've used some that did the job quite well) but their Hot Alnico Tele bridge pickup and one of the retrotron (can't remember which one) series sets were a total loss. Thin, reedy and treble laden with all the complexity of an undercooked, unsalted poached egg. That was just in one specific guitar however, (although a great one for hearing the true nature of a pup) and I'm sure they would be just fine in another guitar.
The main thing I've found over the years is a pickup that sounds bad in one guitar can bring another guitar to life. How cool is it that a handful of winders are bringing back various pickups from the past that are quite different than the many PAF, P-90, strat, tele offerings. Those great old Teisco style and DeArmond style Gold Foils, Kingstons, Valco, Speed Bump, Hershy Bar, Horse Shoe, etc. I really dig the Kleenex or tissue Box pickups on the 50's Kay Barney Kessel models and the skinny blade/bar pups on the old Kay/Silvertone 'Thin Twin' Jimmy Reed models. Don't know if anyone is doing a repro on those or not, but would love to try em.
Due to the various buy and sell places forums offer, I've been able to try a large amount of pickups. If I had to buy them new. that would not be possible. All in all, what a great time to be a guitar player....especially one that loves to mod and try new things. The plethora of used pickups out there provides a great way to find your voice. Plus, if it doesn't work out, someone is looking for what you have to sell and someone has what your looking for. As a matter of fact, I think I just bought a pickup that I sold a year ago!
In my 40 plus years of playing guitar and 30+ years of being a certified pickup junkie, I can honestly say I have not played a pickup yet that I hated or though of as 'the worst'. There have been many that I pulled out just about as fast as they went in, but they found happy homes in other guitars.
While not something that happens all the time, I have had high end, highly rated, big bux boutique pickups that were a huge disappointment and I've had some cheapest of the cheap, import crap held together with toothpicks, bubble gum and a paper clip that totally knocked my socks off. I've got a couple sets of Japanese buckers from the 70's that are killer and the three single coils on a 67 Kent 823 nail that corpulent BB King sting as good as anything.
I know there is a lot of love here for GFS pickups, (and I've used some that did the job quite well) but their Hot Alnico Tele bridge pickup and one of the retrotron (can't remember which one) series sets were a total loss. Thin, reedy and treble laden with all the complexity of an undercooked, unsalted poached egg. That was just in one specific guitar however, (although a great one for hearing the true nature of a pup) and I'm sure they would be just fine in another guitar.
The main thing I've found over the years is a pickup that sounds bad in one guitar can bring another guitar to life. How cool is it that a handful of winders are bringing back various pickups from the past that are quite different than the many PAF, P-90, strat, tele offerings. Those great old Teisco style and DeArmond style Gold Foils, Kingstons, Valco, Speed Bump, Hershy Bar, Horse Shoe, etc. I really dig the Kleenex or tissue Box pickups on the 50's Kay Barney Kessel models and the skinny blade/bar pups on the old Kay/Silvertone 'Thin Twin' Jimmy Reed models. Don't know if anyone is doing a repro on those or not, but would love to try em.
Due to the various buy and sell places forums offer, I've been able to try a large amount of pickups. If I had to buy them new. that would not be possible. All in all, what a great time to be a guitar player....especially one that loves to mod and try new things. The plethora of used pickups out there provides a great way to find your voice. Plus, if it doesn't work out, someone is looking for what you have to sell and someone has what your looking for. As a matter of fact, I think I just bought a pickup that I sold a year ago!
