Pick Up Upgrade Suggestions

[Shayne]

Hi all, just about to build an RC-1. I've gone for the upgrade tuners, now wondering about the pick ups? Are they any good (price point considered) or should I replace them. If so, any suggestions - trying to keep it under $100.

Any suggestions greatly appreciated.

Cheers, Shayne

[stan]

For the money there are several happy forum members with the Entwisles and the Toneriders, both seem excellent value for money and a good upgrade over stock
Having said that, why not try the stock ones and see how you like them, you can always upgrade if you want more.
Take care to read any descriptions to get the sound you are after, whether that is classic Ric, or something more modern

[tonyw]

Classic Ric is either toasters or Hi gain and your going to pay a bomb for them.

I would see how the pickups you have suit you, for under $100 a pair for HB's you may not end up with much better.

I would go for a P90 that fits a HB route, there was some good Korean ones out there.

There is an adaptor for a stock P90 to go into a HB route

[stan]

PBGs new Benson pickups might be a little more than you want to pay, but they have some nice P90 options

[vh2580]

Pretty sure the RC1 kit is close to P90 size - would double check your routes and check out some measurements on the net for pickups. The tone riders aren't bad for the money but about $140 the pair. generally less than one boutique or "major" brand like SDs

[Brendan]

Shayne - start with stock - if you're happy with the sound - great - save for a new kit instead. Generally they're not too bad. If you've got it all up and running and you're not quite happy - then you can look into a new set. Unfortunately the Ric pickups are a little smaller than a standard 'bucker, so you'll need to consider that as well as you shop. Changing out a set of pups is not too hard. I'd personally be focussing on changing out the pots and caps for some decent Bournes and Orange Drops - will be heaps cheaper and probably give better bang for buck.

[gavinturner]

Hey Shayne,

The pickups in the RC-1 are a little smaller than normal humbucker size. They arent mini hums, but the arent humbuckers either. If you buy upgrade HB pickups you'll have to do some work on the routes and the pickguard. Just a heads up.

cheers,
Gav.

[robin]

Hi Shayne, pretty much agree with all of the above.

I usually upgrade to Toneriders, and have been very happy with them. I have made a direct comparison between Toneriders in an ST-1 that I built and my mates $2,500 Fender Strat. Both through his Marshall Amp and by the time you unplug one guitar and plug in the other we could not tell the difference. Definitely in a gig situation you would not be able to pick them apart.

Having said that, there was not much difference between the stock pups in another of my ST-1's and the Toneriders. The Toneriders were a bit more "meatier" and had slightly more volume.

My current build of an MMB-4 will stay with the stock pup and I will see how that sounds before I consider any upgrades.

Just my $0.02 worth.

rob

[Shayne]

Thanks for all your comments. Think I'll go for Brendan's idea and upgrade the pots and caps first. I've had cheap pups before and there were fine - dark art pups... very dark. Ideally, I'm looking for a clean jazzy sound. Cheers

[wazkelly]

Hi Shayne, just dropped some stock PGB humbuckers in my son's cheap strat copy in a H-S-H configuration and they sounded OK. Not too muddy or dark and reasonably clear sounding so you should be able to achieve those Jazzy sounds you are after. As the stock humbuckers are 2 wire I have since ordered some Entwistle 4 wire Darkstars as wanting to play around with series/parallel and coil tapping. They were only $32.95 each on PBG website and should arrive within the next week. As he is not a serious player more expensive or name brand PUPs may not have made much difference to him anyway. Easy to spend plenty and not come out too much in front of where you first started. Best to see if you can find sound clips/demos on web or youtube to hear the different PUPs you may be considering before making the purchase.