New pickup

[bruno]

Okay - confession time. I've always been sceptical about changing pickups in guitars. You know, the sounds in the fingers etc. Of course, you will get some kind of sound change, but perhaps 5% or so??? If you are lucky! I've watched a pile of YouTube vids of people changing pickup's, before and after on the same guitar, and I'm thinking, I cannot hear any difference, all sounds the same. Anyway, more to satisfy my curiosity, and because I'd never done it and because I always played around with electronics as a kid, and because I hated the bridge pickup on my squire tele (to much treble for my liking) - I figured the only way I'd settle this, at least to my own satisfaction, was to do it for real.

So thought it was no point on getting a cheap pickup as if that sounded the same, that wouldn't prove anything. So did some research and the Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounder fitted the bill, and was on offer on Amazon for £60. I approached this as a sceptic, and figured that if it sounded the same, I could say "see, it makes no difference ...".

Got it, procrastinated for an hour or so, and then thought I may as well do it. Its on, and it sounds stupidly good. Its like this old Squire has come alive. Its quite astounding, who'd have thunk" The neck pickup sounds murky now, the bridge suddenly has a clarity not heard before. I'm really rather stunned. Plugged into the Kemper, all the different amps have colour now on this guitar. I may need to do the neck pickup now .....

B

[Farrell Jackson]

Bruno, the results you are describing from changing the Squire stock pickup to a Seymour Duncan quarter pounder sounds great. Years ago, in the eighties, I got the same results when I sent my stock Tele neck pup to Seymour Duncan for a rewind with a request for less highs and more bottom and that's exactly what I got. I'm glad it worked out for you. Now you have some new inspiration from an old friend! I look forward to hearing it in a song!

Farrell

[cuthbert]

Congrats, Bruno! Installing one or more new pickups has been on my to-do list for a while. Glad to read that your experience has been a success!

[TPB]

After Hurricane Katrina I had lost all my equiptment . A neighbor stopped by and gave me a old squire he had so I could play on something, which I did for months then one day they had a sale at Guitar Fetish so I bought a set of tuners and a prewired harness with their coils in it .  It was like night and day  and for $60.00 had a squire I still play today
Tim

[kenny mac]

I've been thinking about new pick ups for an old squire I have.
Sounds good.

[Greeny]

The neck pickup magnet on my Fender Japanese Telecaster (my favourite and main guitar)  snapped, rendering it useless. The local guitar workshop seemed to think it would cost £75-£100 to replace it, depending on pickup quality.

'Fuck that' I thought. As I'm out of work, I bit the bullet and decided to do it myself. For a fraction of the cost.

I bought a new 'vintage' pickup from China on eBay. £4.25 - including postage!!!! I figured I wasn't losing much if it was rubbish or I messed up the installation.

So this turned into a full refit. A new pickup, pick guard, control knobs, selector switch, and some light relicing (it already has 20 years of wear).

I fitted the pickup without soldering by carefully stripping and taping the wires back together.

And it's fucking awesome. It roars. It has 10x the tone of the stock pickup. In short, it's a usable neck pickup - not something telecasters are known for. I've been using it on a lot of recordings, and the middle position also benefits considerably from the upgrade.

I was sceptical, but would recommend anyone else having a crack.

My entire refit and customisation cost £25. And it was a fun project.

Made me want a workshop!

Pic attached of the finished article. It really feels like I've created my unique, perfect guitar.

[Greeny]

And just to say, I'm the last person who'd ever usually try something like this. It really gave me a taste for it.

I've seen guitar build courses and would love to do one. I have a yearning to build a Les Paul Junior with one soapbar P90 and one volume knob.

One-day!

[bruno]

Bought 2 new pickups - unfortunately they came with 'guitar packaging' - I blame Johnny R for this, and his endless temptation for me and HB guitars
 

Its a very nice guitar for relatively small amounts of money - I cannot complain.

[Greeny]

That's a nice looking guitar alright. Looks PRS expensive.

[bruno]

198 quid delivered from thomann - plays and sounds much more expensive