Pickups are a powerful upgrade to any guitar, but the process can be a rabbit hole of trial and error. Regardless of the type of pickup, knowing what you are aiming for increases your chances of success. In this article we’ll discuss the decision to change your electric guitar pickups.
Pickups and their Effect on Tone
A guitar pickup is one of the most influential components of an electric guitar’s sound. In fact, many people attribute most of an electric’s sound—particularly solidbody guitars—to the pickups. At GK we don’t completely agree with this, but to each his own. We feel that ultimately a guitar’s sound is a combination of many factors that add up to a whole, there is no doubt that pickups are a huge part of it.
I have often said that one of the differences between an inexpensive electric and an expensive electric is that the expensive guitar has fewer bad sounds in it (of course, you can make “bad” sounds on any guitar!) The design of an electric guitar is based on the pickup transmitting a signal, and that signal being amplified; naturally, if the transducer (the pickup) does a poor job, the guitar won’t be able to be its best self tonally. Bear in mind that great pickups cannot fix a guitar that doesn’t sound good in the first place—more on that in a minute.
Guitar Pickup Quality: Are All Pickups the Same?
Pickups are one of those components where it’s not visually obvious that one is better quality and/or better sounding. From the outside, they look very similar. Generally, less expensive pickups are made to a price point and use cheaper labor and materials. For example, a budget single coil pickup will often have ceramic bar magnets instead of magnetic alnico pole pieces. On the other end of the spectrum, Seymour Duncan’s Zephyr Silver Strat pickups use pure silver magnet wire for their winding! How much difference materials make is subjective, but like many things in life you get what you pay for.
One particular angle that pickup makers have focused on recently is vintage correctness, which is a natural extension of the relic aesthetic; the goal is to get as close as possible to a vintage pickup. And like relic jobs, the extra attention to materials and the details commands a premium. For example, the Throwback Pickups Telecaster set features hand beveled USA-made pole piece magnets. For their Strat pickups, Throbak states that they have researched “every detail of the vintage originals”. If you are aiming for a true vintage sound it is worth investigating companies that put this amount of effort into replicating even the smallest details. Seymour Duncan pioneered the relic idea with their Antiquity series
Top Reasons To Change your Pickups
There are three reasons that you’d want to change your pickups:
- Your pickups in the guitar from the factory, and the guitar wasn’t too expensive. In this case these are most likely cheap guitar pickups.
- You are seeking a different sound than your pickups can give you.
- The pickups have either stopped working, or have decreased output due to age.
Despite the ability to tweak amps and pedals, sometimes the straightest path to the sound in your head is to get a pickup that was designed for that sound.
While it is true that you can dial in similar tones from a variety of pickups, pickups do not all sound the same. This is why it is essential to get a pickup that works well with your guitar, and that was designed to create the type of tone you are looking for. As influential as pickups are to your tone, there is a limit to how much they can shape your tone, and it’s crucial that you don’t try to coax a sound out of a pickup that isn’t designed for that sound. A pickup designed for high gain sounds isn’t going to get you a vintage 60s single coil sound, and you will probably be less than pleased if you are trying to coax a low output tone out of active guitar pickups. You might be able to knob-twist your way to it on your amp, but you’ll be making life more difficult than it has to be, and it will never be 100% convincing.
Can Good Pickups Fix a Bad Guitar?
In a word, no. The expression “garbage in, garbage out” applies here. A good set of pickups can perhaps minimize a bad sound, but they can’t create what’s not there. For example, a pickup cannot fix if a guitar is not resonant or not able to intonate correctly. That is why it’s important to decide if you like your guitar’s inherent tone before you decide to go down an upgrade path with pickups.
Pickup swaps can be also be tricky because of the high number of variables. Certain pickups tend to work better in certain guitars, and it’s difficult to tell this until you have them installed and play them though your rig. Just as pickups can’t fix a bad sounding guitar, they cannot change an amplifier’s inherent sound. A new set of pickups isn’t going to turn your Mesa Dual Rectifier into a Fender Tweed amp!
Upgrading a Single Pickup
Many people question if it is worth upgrading a single pickup instead of an entire set. In a single pickup guitar, the answer is obvious, because you only have one pickup. In the case of a two or three pickup guitar, upgrading the entire set is best, but there are situations where upgrading only one might be preferable.
Case in point: A common complaint from Strat owners is that they like the sounds they are getting from the neck and bridge pickups (positions 1-4), but feel that the bridge sound could use a little more “beef”. Many pickup makers offer hotter bridge single coils or stacked humbuckers to address this situation. In the case of a Strat pickup layout, it is best to have pickups that are reasonably similar to one another to ensure consistent sound in the middle positions (positions 2 and 4 on a Strat). Even so, I’ve paired a vintage hot pickup with a ceramic bridge pickup and it sounds fine, so don’t overthink it because you can always change it.
The second case is if you are not sure if you’ll like the new pickup style in your guitar. For example, say you have a Paul with a Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates™ pickups, which are vintage output, and are considering swapping for Duncan’s JB Model, which are high output. You may be able to tell if you’ll like the modern sound of the JB Model™ in your guitar by swapping only one pickup.
You may also elect to swap only one pickup to increase the versatility of sounds from your guitar, i.e., getting a vintage sound in the neck pickup with modern rock sound from the bridge pickup.
Should You Change Your Own Pickups?
Whether you should change your own pickups depends on how handy you are with your guitar. New pickups typically come with wiring diagrams, and there are many step by step guides on the web. Guitar pickup wiring is n ot particularly complicated but it does require a small amount of soldering. If you are pretty sure you’re going to stick with your new pickups, it’s easier to have your guitar repair person take care of it. I typically wait until my guitar needs some regular service—such as a fret dress—and have the work done at the same time. Learning how to replace pickups yourself has its advantages though; many companies offer return windows, and it’s easier and far more cost effective to try a few models out if you can do the work yourself. See our article on how to find a guitar repair shop.
Pickup Makers You Should Know
There are many excellent replacement pickup makers. Here is a sampling of companies I have used and recommend.
Seymour Duncan
One of the top pickup companies, and they’ve been around for years. Seymour Duncan has worked with some of the biggest names in music. Notable Seymour Duncan pickups are the highly regarded Seth Lover™ and Antiquity™ Humbuckers.
Fralin Pickups
Lindy Fralin has been handbuilding pickups for over thirty years. Notable Lindy Fralin pickups include the Vintage Hot Strat, Real 54 models for Strats, as well as the Pure Vintage ’65. The Pure Vintage ’65 shows the best of 60’s Strat tone, and featuring Alnico 5 magnets, period-correct cloth wire and fiber bobbin construction, and enamel-coated magnet wire.
Rio Grande Pickups
Rio Grande pickups is based in Texas, and pride themselves on delivering authentic “Texas Tone”. This translates into classic tones with a little extra Texas sizzle! Notable Rio Grande Pickups include Vintage Tallboys (my personal favorite) and Halfbreed sets for Strats and Teles.
Conclusion
With so many excellent options for replacement pickups, there is no best pickup, only the one that is best for you. And if you feel that you need even more tone tweaking, many pickup makers offer custom pickups as an option, where you can specify magnet type, resistance, winding, and other features. As we often say at GK, your tone is in your hands; pickups help though, and you’ll get closer to the tone in your head when you have a set of high quality pickups that are designed to produce the tones you like. Happy Playing!