Pickups

[wazkelly]

Hi Marcel, I reckon that might have been a Di Marzio Super Distortion as that seemed to he the most popular upgrade PUP of that era.
Unfortunately I was a Kiss fan during 70's and Ace had 3 fitted in his LP's and no doubt there were many other big name players using them too.

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[dave.king1]

I'm thinking I need a single pup with P90 in the quiver at some stage but need to get the CF 12 stringer done first.

Around the time Tony W became an ex member of the forum I got him to wind a dog ear P90 for my mates lap steel, it's an absolute beast and I'd go there again but he seems to have dropped right off the planet ( website and Facebook both gone )

[wazkelly]

Hi Andy, I'm really enjoying all the contributions too.
Hopefully we end up with lots of comments to help us sift through the PUP upgrade myths.

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[wazkelly]

I'm thinking I need a single pup with P90 in the quiver at some stage but need to get the CF 12 stringer done first.

Around the time Tony W became an ex member of the forum I got him to wind a dog ear P90 for my mates lap steel, it's an absolute beast and I'd go there again but he seems to have dropped right off the planet ( website and Facebook both gone )

If the minister for home affairs was agreeable one of those SG juniours with single P90 would be my next project.

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[fender3x]

This is a really interesting discussion. I like the sound of my '75 P-bass and never considered changing out the pickups. I did a mod to the controls on my G&L bass to get more different coil and cap combinations, but the pups themselves are stock. When one died, the options were get a new OEM pickup or get the busted one rewound...

Then I got a cheap Chinese bass to experiment on (an SX Jazz clone). Stock pickups were not horrible, bit also not great. So I swapped them for DiMarzio J's. The J's are a side-by-side humbucker that I thought would be somewhere between a P and a J pickup. That is indeed how it sounded....and also it's problem. Not quite the headroom and sass of a Jazz. Not quite the fullness of a P. If you want a sound between p and j they're great. But they also remind me of Columbus Ohio. Colombus is a nice enough place but it's nobody's favorite town.

I decided I really wanted this bass to sound like a P bass, so bought a new pickguard and control plate, did a little routing and installed EMG GZR-PJ's. These are alnico V passive pickups that come with a wiring harness. I picked them up for $135. I defy anyone to find a better vintage sounding p-bass pickup at a better price. The j-pickup also sounds good and gives it a nice crunch when added. These sound great, easy to install. The electronics are quiet and smooth. Even the box they came I was a thing of beauty. Can't say enough about them.

I swapped out the PBG humbuckers that came with my ES4-B kit out of necessity. The strings didn't line up perfectly with them, and I needed something that would fit the rout (did not want to re-rout an archtop) while sitting properly under the strings. I settled on lipstick tubes with an alnico core. Jury is still out on them. They look cool, and have a fairly unique sound. Great for Beatles-ish sound. But not sure they are all that versitile.



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[corsair]

This. Really... all of this!

I am guilty, like Waz, of being somewhat impulsive as a youngster and treated a 58 Telecaster with rather a ham fisted approach, changing out the pickups for DiMarzio Fat Strats and then - *sigh* - binning the bits that came out!

I've found that price of pickups does not necessarily equate to satisfaction with pickups; I've had high-end gear that lasted about 30 seconds (Bareknuckle Nailbomb in a maple bodied guitar) and un-named stock pickups that are simply fabulous and will be dragged out of their guitar over my dead body ( Aria Pro II LC440).

I have a Tonerider AC2 in a custom build and think it is wonderful, wired as a series/coil split/parallel set up; I certainly won't hesitate to use the brand again! I have a set of Kent Armstrong P90s in another build which are everything a P90 can be at a great price and will have no hesitation using that brand again, either!

I think you have to let your ears lead you and not be taken in by advertising hype; yes, SD, DiM, and the rest have well-deserved reputations - and their price reflects that! - but there are others that do just as well for less... YMMV, of course!!

[Dedman]

Tone Riders get a big thumbs up from me, used them in a Strat, a tele, the teardrop and a Vee. Happy with them all.
Have Entwhistle Darkstars in one build but I don't play it enough to really say I've bonded with them. I might do a switch and put them into something else.
I've used GFS pick ups in a lot of builds, mostly because of price and the different styles they offer. I'm happy with them all although they do tend to all sound very similar. I've used their fitertrons, lipsticks,Deamond,Jazzmaster , normal humbuckers and Gold Foils.Their Jazzmaster pick ups are very nice for the money, nice and bright , just right for surf.
I have Kent Armstrong mutherbucker in the DM-1 and love it, it has some real bite and with the switching I used I can go from 1 to 2, 3 or 4 coils. I'm using one of their single coil sized humbuckers in a single pick up strat build atm, should be interesting.

[wazkelly]

Hi Marcel, I reckon that might have been a Di Marzio Super Distortion as that seemed to he the most popular upgrade PUP of that era.
Unfortunately I was a Kiss fan during 70's and Ace had 3 fitted in his LP's and no doubt there were many other big name players using them too.

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Here is an article that sheds more light on the early beginnings at Di Marzio....https://reverb.com/au/news/a-brief-h...f-dimarzio-inc

[wazkelly]

I have Kent Armstrong mutherbucker in the DM-1 and love it, it has some real bite and with the switching I used I can go from 1 to 2, 3 or 4 coils.

I'd love to hear that.

[Andyxlh]

On the bass side...
I swapped out the stock Fender precision pickup on my Fender j bass special for a dmarzio model p, I also put one of these in the imprecision bass many years ago. They are great, high output and growly with lots of mid punch. Little bit of hum. I bought a pair of these precision pickups super cheap almost 25 years ago. They are still great.
My stingray is stock, it is absolutely beautiful but for the 25 years I have had it I have never found that tone in my head with it, either too bassy or too thin so it very rarely got played live or on recording.
I put a pair of eBay bass humbuckers in the RC4A, and am very impressed. They are totally hum free even at stage volume, have a great bottom end and midrange fullness. They don't have anything like the output of the dmarzio, but the have good tone in both the neck and bridge position, I'd happily recommend them, especially for the 20 odd dollars the pair cost me.