How to judge if the guitar is worth changing its pickups?

[TripleNick]

Hi guys need some hlp here. Im gg to buy my 2nd guitar but at the same time i wanna keep my 1st. Kinda special to me. But i dunnoe if its worth changing the pickups. Some ppl says its the weight of the guitar.

Model:JnD Black Strat EG6
Pickup: S-S-H
Body: Basswood (not so sure but its kinda light!)
Neck: Rosewood

 

[ChanMin]

what? WEIGHT?


well if you really like this guitar... and will play it often. then why not upgrade the pickups? ... its an "upgrade" after all.

 

[MadWerewolfBoy]

I think for me, what's most important is whether i feel good playing the guitar. If the guitar is nice to play for me, but it's basic clean sound isn't what i want, then i'll change it. The initial cost of the guitar will be of little importance to me.

What's most important is whether you like playing the guitar and if it really requires a change of pickups to suit what you want.

But if u know you're not going to touch the guitar for like, ever, after getting the new one, then just well... don't waste money... haha...

 

[markedymark]

two words, " By Feeling". if you feel that your tone can be improved by the pups, then do it. but dont confuse this with the urge for new stuff. you might end up spending money and throwing the guit to one side.

 

[relinquish69]

I think quality of wood is important. if the wood is not good, no matter what pickups you throw in there wouldnt be of much help.

Squire guitar use alder. Fender guitar also use alder. however, would the both of them sound the same even with the same pickups?

how to test if its a good piece of wood? just play the guitar and hear if it sounds loud I guess. an easier way would be to knock on the wood to hear whether its hollow sounding or not :lol: . dont take my last comment seriously but some people do claim so.

 

[Ratboy]

this is sooo subjective

i have built a guitar out of scrap wood
put a tonezone into it and it sounds great

same tonezone was sold to someone
who puts it into a 'better' ibanez RG series higher end model
and it sounds way thin.

So i guess moral of the storey is to try
and if not happy, sell and recover most of your cost.

Another lesson learned is to buy used pickups
so you do not loose too much
esp those mainstream models by Dimarzio and SD.

 

[subversion]

a particular swap in pickup/ addition of pedals etc depends largely on what you like to hear. if you are happy with you current tone, leave it be. otherwise, no harm experimenting 8)

 

[Ratboy]

maybe we should form a pickup swap group in singapore
so we can meetup and swap pickups : )

 

[re_unknown]

Yeah, I Agree. It's About That "feel good" Feeling When U're Playing It.
If U Can't Bear To Let Ur Old One Go, Just Swap Some Parts And Maybe Polish It Awhile.

LOL.
This Way, It'll Look Like How U First Saw It In The Display Lighting...
Eyes Opened Widely *O.O* And Jaw Drops. :0

 

[bin4christ]

relinquish69: if u're gonna play with very2 high gain then does the type of wood matter?

re_unknown: sadly, while u can do that to a guitar, u can't to a woman

btw i have a strat (copy). i hate its shape, i hate its colour, i hate its fretboard, i hate its headstock, i hate its machine heads, i hate its nut, i hate its bridge. i only like the tone (somehow it has that twangy/ jangly sound of Fender strats) but the pickups aren't "HOT" enough for me. is it advisable to change pups for my case or just get a new guitar (haven't spent my angpao dollars)?

 

[gutturalpiss]

if the only thing u like is its tone but then again its not hot enough for you, get a new guitar since practically every other aspect is a pain to your eyes.

 

[tany]

i have learned an expensive and yet important lesson:

never waste good pickups on lousy guitars!

 

[re_unknown]

Either U Change The Cover, Or Get Some Skateboarding Punks To Spray U're Choice Of Graffiti On It.
If The Sound's Good, I Don't See Any Reason Disposing It.

 

[relinquish69]

relinquish69: if u're gonna play with very2 high gain then does the type of wood matter?

if you are refering to EMGs, maybe the type of wood doesnt matter that much cos EMG pickups sound pretty much the same on anything. some people say that EMGs have more sustain as compared to other types of woods. however, the topic that I'm refering to is more of the quality of the wood rather than the certain characters of certain woods. you know, how the wood was processed and stuff like that.

why does Ibanez ( for example ) put American Basswood on a JEM ( as stated in their catalogs ) and Basswood for say the RG series? its not marketing tatics but more like the quality of the wood. would they sound exactly the same with the same pickups. definitely not but the tone should be very similar. it is still Basswood after all.

I bought this alder body from someone long time ago. when I set up everything nicely, the tone was so dead even though I had like Fender Texas Special pickups in that project guitar. no character no nothing. if I were to describe it, it would be microphonic.

moral of the story? guitars would shine if only they use good quality wood. threw the damn body of it cos I was so fed up. painful lesson learnt there. there are plenty of hits and misses out there. sometimes you are lucky, sometimes not.

whatever the case, just try searching the 2nd hand market for SD or Dimarzio pickups and give them a shot. might be good might be bad. if its bad, its totally up to you to decide whether you want to keep or sell the guitar.

everything that you've just read here is based on my opinion. so yeah, believe what you want .

 

[bin4christ]

u threw the body away? cud have threwn in some EMGs or Dimebuckers n made it a "heavy metal guitar" man! after all, if u listen to "cowboys from hell", some parts in that song u cant even hear the type of wood affecting the tone! that was i planned to do to my guitar if one day i got bored of the strat sound- put in some high-output humbuckers (but not ex one lah) in the bridge socket n make it a heavy metal guitar.

 

[relinquish69]

hahaha, well it was a tragic day. I assembled everything nicely together only to find out that the wood totally sucked. it sounded dead as compared to my other strat at that time. do note that both of them are using alder bodies. no amount of eq-ing could save that guitar. hence I was pissed and threw the damn thing ( the body only ) away. if I sold it to another person, that would be bad wouldnt it? got ripped off $100. damn those cheap strat copy bodies.

yes making it to be a high gain chugging machine is possible but you wouldnt like the idea of that if you've spent close to a thousand bucks just to assemble the entire guitar. i mean, surely that wasnt what I had in mind the the first place when I spent the moolah :wink: .

 

[loldude333]

Definitely got a point there. I've seen a fake china strat actually sound better than some Squiers i've tried. Bin4christ, since u love the tone, i dun see any reason to throw it away. Jus change the pickups if u really wanna. I dun think physical looks shld be a consideration when choosing a guitar. But u said u hate the bridge, nut etc. etc. If they are giving u problems, then change the guitar.

 

[bin4christ]

the tuning's terrible. someday (hopefully soon) i'm gonna change the pickups. if tuning's still terrible i'm gonna change the nut. if tuning's still bad then maybe i'll route a FR cavity n install a FR on it. maybe. MAYBE.

 

[ShredCow]

After changing your pups, your tuning will still be terrible.

 

[ciel]

change the tuners.....