anyone know anything about pick ups?

[Hilikus]

I'm modifying my old guitar and i want to put different pick ups in it. Anyone have any suggestions?

Note:

*I hate a strats tone
*my other guitar is a les paul
*i think that i want to use this guitar primarily for metal, so any pick ups good for that.

[patrickhowell]

The EMG 81 (http://www.emginc.com/displayproducts.asp?section=Guitar&categoryid=6&catalogid=1) and the Seymour Duncan Invader (http://www.seymourduncan.com/compareTones/tone.asp?ID=14) are both great pickups for metal. They have a higher output volume than most pickups, for use in high gain applications.

p.s. the EMG is an active pickup, so it requires battery power.

[youcomebeforeyo]

You hate Strat tone :(

Go with Patricks advice, EMG's are right up at the benchmark for metal. High gain, very responsive. Will also give you quite a different tone to the Les Paul you have.

What kind of guitar are you putting the pick ups into?

For you steer clear of Single Coil pick ups and P90's.

[Doug]

what kind of guitar is it?

[OveriseFan]

It doesn't matter what kind of guitar it is... the pickups and strings give the sound, you can get a better sound out of a Mexican Squier Strat than a Gibson Les Paul if you switch the pickups.

I'd go with the EMG's or Seymour Duncan's, that's good advice.

[ArTkY_]

It doesn't matter what kind of guitar it is... the pickups and strings give the sound, you can get a better sound out of a Mexican Squier Strat than a Gibson Les Paul if you switch the pickups.

I'd go with the EMG's or Seymour Duncan's, that's good advice.
I don't like active pickups.

[Hilikus]

I don't like active pickups.

yeah i dunno if i really wanna deal with that.

Basically what I'm doing is modifying my old squire strat. I have already completely taken it apart and I am going to repaint it and stuff. I might try and reshape it as well.

When I'm done with that i'm going to put new pickups in it and put it back together. I'll probably replace knobs and stuff like that.

The only problem is if i had active pick ups i dont really know how i would go about putting those in there and stuff.

I have a question to: In order to put pickups in other than single coil, would i just have to buy a new pickgaurd?

[youcomebeforeyo]

It doesn't matter what kind of guitar it is... the pickups and strings give the sound, you can get a better sound out of a Mexican Squier Strat than a Gibson Les Paul if you switch the pickups.

I'd go with the EMG's or Seymour Duncan's, that's good advice.

The pick ups and strings are 75% of the tone. You underestimate the importance of the guitar.

Different woods give different responses and sustains. A mahoganay body is a lot more bassy than other bodys due to the woods dense structure. Etc.

[ArTkY_]

The pick ups and strings are 75% of the tone. You underestimate the importance of the guitar.

Different woods give different responses and sustains. A mahoganay body is a lot more bassy than other bodys due to the woods dense structure. Etc.
Yep. Body shape and wood has a lot to do with the sound.

[patrickhowell]

yeah i dunno if i really wanna deal with that.

Basically what I'm doing is modifying my old squire strat. I have already completely taken it apart and I am going to repaint it and stuff. I might try and reshape it as well.

When I'm done with that i'm going to put new pickups in it and put it back together. I'll probably replace knobs and stuff like that.

The only problem is if i had active pick ups i dont really know how i would go about putting those in there and stuff.

I have a question to: In order to put pickups in other than single coil, would i just have to buy a new pickgaurd?

If you don't want active pickups, then look at the Seymour Duncan invaders that I recommended. They are the highest-output passive pickups on the market (at least to my knowledge) and they sound great (i have one in my strat).

If the body of your guitar is shaped to house humbuckers, then all you will need is a new pickguard. If not, then you will have to use a router to hit the humbucking pickup into the body. Still, this should not be too difficult since this part of the guitar is covered by a pickguard, and it does not have to look perfect.

[Hilikus]

If you don't want active pickups, then look at the Seymour Duncan invaders that I recommended. They are the highest-output passive pickups on the market (at least to my knowledge) and they sound great (i have one in my strat).

If the body of your guitar is shaped to house humbuckers, then all you will need is a new pickguard. If not, then you will have to use a router to hit the humbucking pickup into the body. Still, this should not be too difficult since this part of the guitar is covered by a pickguard, and it does not have to look perfect.

thanks very much, I'll look into it.

[Elijscott]

If you don't want active pickups, then look at the Seymour Duncan invaders that I recommended. They are the highest-output passive pickups on the market (at least to my knowledge) and they sound great (i have one in my strat).


I have to disagree with this. I played invaders for about 6 months. I now despise them. If he's playing power chords, that's one thing, but if he plays metal leads.. invaders kill the highs and mids like crazy, and actually suck the tone/life out of my guitars. I would say the EMG's as well as some of the other SD's mentioned are a better choice for metal... but it also depends greatly on the amp and careful use of effects pedals. I play with bands every week that have marshall and mesa heads and prs or gibson guitars, with 20 pedals in front of them, and know crap about tone, they sound worse than some guys with "just" that combo amp and a squier. It depends greatly on how you play as well.

About the comment regarding getting the same sound from a squier strat vs a gibson les paul. I agree to a certain extent, but the make/body of the guitar plays about 30-40% of the tone. The best pickups do nothing but translate the tone that the wood is providing, if they provide/alter any sort of "sound", then they are coloring the actual tone.

We (the other guitarist in my band and I) have two Gibson les pauls, an Ibanez something or another, a Dean hollowbody, an Epi 335, and a squier tele. My favorite sound is the squier. (We changed the pickups in all the guitars)...

The squier has a Bill Lawrence pickup in the bridge and a GFS in the neck. Both of those pickups are cheaper and higher quality (in my opinion) than the SD's or the EMG's.

You can check Bill Lawrence Pickups out at www.billlawrence.com (http://www.billlawrence.com) at around $50 each... you would probably want the L-500eXtraLead.

The GFS pickups can be bought on ebay. (I've gotten four of their pickups at an average price of $15 each.). You probably want the GFS "Crusader" which should give you more equal output/bass with more clarity in the highs and mids than the previously mentioned Invader.

All of our other guitars have Bartolini's in them. www.bartolini.net (http://www.bartolini.net) (Which are amazing, but WAY more expensive).

Hope this helps. The biggest thing to do is to experiment with your stuff til you find your sound.. then improve it.

[high_output]

if you want to put a high output pickup in the bridge position, i suggest seymour duncan hot rails. not to bright like the emgs' and pretty cheap. i have one in my main guitar, my tele, and its a killer sound. its really warm and full.

i would reccomend not putting a full sized humbucker in a strat. i think later on you might regret the lack of versatility. i would reccomend (as a full set) the seymour duncan hot stacks pickup set for strats. they require no modification to the pickguard, and they are all hotter pickups.


and let me say that putting super high output pickups in your guitar does not make that guitar ready for metal. i would say a medium to higher output range (not crazy high like emg's) and a good tube amp/od pedal combo make an awesome metal rig. ive seen people put super high output pickups in their guitars and end up unsatisfied becasue their guitar basically turns into this crazy output monster that overdrives pedals (the bad way) and sounds shitty for anything other than super high gain butt metal.


just experiment. find guitars with diff pickups that are similar to yours and find something your ears like.