Think about whether you are replacing your pickup temporarily or permanently. If you want to change your guitar pickup from single coil size to Humbucker size, you need additional routing to the body. Remember, you can't go back. Consider this if the guitar is a vintage instrument—modifying it can change its value.
Why bother changing guitar pickups?Pickups are the heart of your guitar. The right guitar pickups can bring a dead-sounding instrument to life.
They can turn a good guitar into a great one. They might not transform a guitar that plays poorly into a magical instrument, but they will almost certainly deliver a huge sonic upgrade.
If you’re after more output, more sustain, blooming harmonics, a more vintage sound, crystal clear cleans or raw crunch – changing your pickups will have a large impact to getting the sound you’re after.Most importantly, they let you customize your instrument, creating a sound that’s perfectly and uniquely “you.”Pickups, in short, are one of the key ingredients of your tone. There are many other factors, of course: the materials and workmanship of your instrument, your strings, your amp, your cables, and your playing style.
But finding the right pickup is one of the fastest, most cost-effective, and exciting ways to upgrade the sound of your guitar or bass. And since pickups lie “upstream” from the rest of your gear, the right choice can actually make your and amps sound better too.Unlike changing the bridge, tuners, or neck profile, pickup changes are easily done and easily reversed. It’s a way of achieving a dramatic tonal improvement that you can do on your kitchen table, with very few tools, in a single sitting. We even have a you can follow to get you up to speed on the basics of guitar wiring in no time. And we have many to cover almost any wiring scheme you can think up (and some you probably can’t).
If you feel doing it yourself is still too daunting, most guitar stores will do the work for you for a small fee. Want more sustain?
Stronger harmonics? A warmer or brighter tone? More distortion? The right pickup will give you exactly what you want.
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What is the perfect pickup?The perfect pickup for you is the one that helps your guitar or bass sound exactly the way you want. Does your guitar sound massive in your bedroom, but puny onstage? Does your bass have enough presence to cut through heavy guitars? Do sustained notes dry up just when you wish they’d blossom into feedback? These are just a few examples of problems the right pickup can solve.If you haven’t experimented with different pickups, you might not realize how dramatically the right pickup can improve the sound of an instrument.
Even if you like the way your current pickups sound, it might be worthwhile to audition guitars or basses similar to yours, but outfitted with different pickups. If you find yourself experiencing “tone envy,” perhaps you should consider replacement pickups. This is especially true if you love the look and feel of your instrument, but wish it sounded better – or just different.But a great instrument and great pickups don’t automatically make great music together. You need the right pickup for your instrument and style. Our was designed to make recommendations based on your guitar and style. And we’re always an or phone call to away to help you through the process.