What if your dream guitar isn't what you though it was....

[Shades of Blue]

I am a strat guy...I can't get enough of them. Growing up, I have always loved John Mayer's music and style and I told myself many years ago that I would own a John Mayer Strat one day. That day came February of this year and I really couldn't believe that a strat could make me so happy.

Fast forward to today, I have fallen a bit out of favor with this guitar. It is very difficult to gig because the Big Dipper mid-scooped pickups don't cut through the mix. I don't even gig the guitar anymore because it is very difficult to hear myself on stage. I don't want to replace the pickups because I don't want to devalue the guitar in case I decide to sell.

So, the reason I have held onto it this long is because this is something I've wanted for years, and it also feels GREAT. I'm considering selling the JM Strat and a couple other strats and getting a '62 AVRI Strat. The specs are almost identical accept for the pickups.

What do you guys think? It sounds AMAZING on its own, but I can noticeably tell a difference with my other strats when I gig. I feel terrible because this was "supposed" to be my end all strat, but if I can't gig it I don't want it.

[LeftyF2003]

Change the pickups and keep the stock pickups to include or re-install in case you want to sell it. You could even swap out the entire pickup / harness Assembly if you don't want to break the solder joints. If you don't like the way it sounds it seems you don't have much choice. If you didn't like the way it played I'd just sell it, but if you like everything else about the guitar that's what I would do.

[hbucker]

There are a million variations on the Strat design out there, both from Fender and from other builders. If the body design is what you like, go find the version that gets you where you need to go.

Otherwise, change the pickups, save them and put them back in when you sell it. Since you grew up to John Mayer tunes I know you're not very old. Your tastes will evolve through the years as you age. Don't feel obligated to one guitar and one set of pickups for the rest of your life. That is way too limiting.

[Shades of Blue]

Originally Posted by hbucker

There are a million variations on the Strat design out there, both from Fender and from other builders. If the body design is what you like, go find the version that gets you where you need to go.

Otherwise, change the pickups, save them and put them back in when you sell it. Since you grew up to John Mayer tunes I know you're not very old. Your tastes will evolve through the years as you age. Don't feel obligated to one guitar and one set of pickups for the rest of your life. That is way too limiting.

Very true, thanks for that. I am 25, and have been playing guitar since I was 12.

The thing that kind of bugs me is that I was so dead set on the John Mayer that I totally dismissed the 62 AVRI when I was shopping. I played both, and I actually liked both guitars pretty equally, but went with the Mayer since that was the one my mind had been wanting.

I may do a pickup swap and put the dippers in a partscaster down the road...that way, I can still make use of the dippers.

[HOT-BRIT]

Iwould trade it for one that will work better for your needs!

[Job-Job type Job]

I know how you feel. I bought a $2000 Ibanez JEM for the same reasons some years ago and it has since fallen from grace. Unfortunately the used market on these sucks right now so selling is not in the cards.

In your case. I'd swap the pickups. It's like changing a lightbulb, only a little harder. It's not going to devalue the guitar. Keep the originals. At the end of the day it's just a guitar and it should be enjoyed.

If you love everything else about that guitar then you must swap the pickups.

[gibsonguitar1988]

I would also recommend holding onto it and swapping the pickups if you like the way the guitar feels and plays.

I never leave stock pickups in a guitar. Don't feel bad or worry about getting them changed. If I were to go out this morning and buy a 7k Fender Custom Shop Strat I'd have the pickups out by this evening replaced with something else. I keep a pile of boutique and mass produced pickups and Orange Drop capacitors in a drawer so that everytime a new guitar enters the door I remove the strings and take out the pickups and put in aftermarket pickups be it mass produced (Duncan, DiMarzio, etc) or Boutique (Fralin, WB, etc). I only have one guitar out of 25 that have stock pickups and that's because the pickups are the most perfect PAF pickups I've ever heard (PRS 57/08s FWIW). But the other 24 have Duncans, DiMarzios, WBs, and Fralins in them. I also dislike Gibson pickups and never use them (always remove them) although I do like some of the Fender pickups like the Texas Specials and the Nocasters but not others like the CS 69s or the Vintage Noiseless series for Strat and Tele.

Might I recommend Lindy Fralin Blues Specials. Very much in that 60s Strat overwound SRV/Hendrix/Mayer/KWS sound but you can cut through much better. The Blues Specials are great pickups for that. Also Fender Texas Specials may be another option if Fralin's are too costly.

[GitFiddle]

If you really like the way it plays and feels and are dead set on keeping things original, get yourself another pickguard and build it up with all new, pickups, switch, pots etc. Then just take the entire stock PG assembly off the guitar and set aside for possible resale some day. Then you can play and mod the new setup all you want with out affecting the original hardware.

[zslane]

This happens to a lot of us, I think. My dream guitar ever since I was a kid was a Gibson Les Paul Goldtop. When I turned 31 I was finally able to afford one and so I went to Guitar Center and bought one. Over the years I've played it very little. Turns out I don't like 10 lbs guitars. I didn't realize how much that would actually matter to me when I bought it.

The thing is, the weight of a Les Paul isn't something you can do anything about. The only solution, for me, was to replace it with a lighter one. Which I did, with a CR7 Goldtop weighing in at under 8 lbs. With a Strat, at least, you can swap out necks and pickups very easily, and even body weight can sometimes be tweaked (e.g., a heavy Strat with traditional top routing can be made lighter by giving it a "swimming pool" rout).

I agree with the others that you should just try replacing the entire pickguard/pickup assembly with a new one before giving up on it. The only thing you'll have to unsolder/resolder is the grounding wire. Makes it real easy to restore to stock if necessary.

[AngryHatter]

Buy an EQ and enjoy what you bought.

[zslane]

Originally Posted by AngryHatter

Buy an EQ and enjoy what you bought.

EQ can be a really powerful tool for shaping tone, no doubt about it!

Unfortunately, it can't add signal that isn't there to begin with, it can only emphasize (or reveal, but cutting other frequencies away) what's already there. If it is true that the JM pickups are cutting out mids at the source, then there's very little of usable substance to emphasize with EQ.

[jason_mazzy]

go american deluxe.

[Hawksquat]

Originally Posted by LeftyF2003

.....You could even swap out the entire pickup / harness Assembly if you don't want to break the solder joints

I vote for this solution

[snaredrum]

yeah, if you've been lucky enough to find a guitar that feels right, just yoink the pickups out and upgrade them!

i'm getting a custom relic mayer strat soon and have the option of mid-scoop pickups, are they really that bad?

[Shades of Blue]

Originally Posted by snaredrum

yeah, if you've been lucky enough to find a guitar that feels right, just yoink the pickups out and upgrade them!

i'm getting a custom relic mayer strat soon and have the option of mid-scoop pickups, are they really that bad?

Oh don't get me wrong they are awesome pups and sound great! I love them actually, but in my rig at the church, this is the only guitar that I can't hear myself when I play...

[JonMan94]

I wanted at one time a EC-1000, but instead I bought a PRS SE 24

now that I look back n it, I'm glad I choose the 24, I have grown to love passive Pus more than EMGs or any actives.

[zontar]

I have my dream guitars--at least what my dream guitars were when I was in high school--a Les Paul Custom and an Iceman.
Sure the LP is modded, and stuff, but it's what I thought it was--so was the Iceman--otherwise I wouldn't have bought them.

If this one isn't what you thought it was, and you bought it--well--there's good advice above.

[Mr Insane]

Pick up change.

[AngryHatter]

Originally Posted by zslane

EQ can be a really powerful tool for shaping tone, no doubt about it!

Unfortunately, it can't add signal that isn't there to begin with, it can only emphasize (or reveal, but cutting other frequencies away) what's already there. If it is true that the JM pickups are cutting out mids at the source, then there's very little of usable substance to emphasize with EQ.

Actually mine can add 10db to the signal.
Tone is your finger, not your pickups. If you are after a particular sound, shape what you have. Tone knobs on the amp or guitar...Or an EQ.

[zslane]

Originally Posted by AngryHatter

Actually mine can add 10db to the signal.

I might not have been as clear as I could have been.

This is basic signal processing. There is signal and there is noise. EQ can't create signal, it can only boost the level (amplitude) of selected frequencies in existing signal data. If a particular frequency region has little or no signal of meaningful quality, using EQ to boost it by 10db isn't particularly helpful. In fact, doing so will mostly just raise the noise floor, which is usually undesirable unless you are an avant-garde noise artist or something.

In the case of heavily scooped mids, in which the richest guitar-tone frequencies are suppressed yielding about as much noise as signal, trying to "dig out" the mids with EQ often just makes your amplified guitar sound like an ugly mess. Now maybe those JM pickups don't scoop the mids like a death metal guitarist (like me) thinks of the term, in which case EQ might help those shy mids out of their shell so to speak, but in general one has to realize that EQ can't work miracles with signal data that doesn't exist in the first place.

[The_Sentry]

Originally Posted by Shades of Blue

I am a strat guy...I can't get enough of them. Growing up, I have always loved John Mayer's music and style and I told myself many years ago that I would own a John Mayer Strat one day. That day came February of this year and I really couldn't believe that a strat could make me so happy.

Fast forward to today, I have fallen a bit out of favor with this guitar. It is very difficult to gig because the Big Dipper mid-scooped pickups don't cut through the mix. I don't even gig the guitar anymore because it is very difficult to hear myself on stage. I don't want to replace the pickups because I don't want to devalue the guitar in case I decide to sell.

So, the reason I have held onto it this long is because this is something I've wanted for years, and it also feels GREAT. I'm considering selling the JM Strat and a couple other strats and getting a '62 AVRI Strat. The specs are almost identical accept for the pickups.

What do you guys think? It sounds AMAZING on its own, but I can noticeably tell a difference with my other strats when I gig. I feel terrible because this was "supposed" to be my end all strat, but if I can't gig it I don't want it.

Turn down the bass on your amp...crank the mids up....Just an initial impression...I don't think there's any pickups out there (even EMG's) that are so scooped they can't allow an amp to override that.

[Iceman0124]

you can always dream another dream...

[b3john]

Originally Posted by GitFiddle

If you really like the way it plays and feels and are dead set on keeping things original, get yourself another pickguard and build it up with all new, pickups, switch, pots etc. Then just take the entire stock PG assembly off the guitar and set aside for possible resale some day. Then you can play and mod the new setup all you want with out affecting the original hardware.

This.

Especially because the existing big dipper pups are in high demand, it'll be a lot easier to change back if you decide to sell (and, depending on your skills, won't look so much like a soldering experiment).

If you decide at some point to dump the pups and keep the guitar, you might check on how much reliablefender has been getting for loaded JM pickguards with the big dippers...

[frankthomson]

read the pearl by john steinbeck, then get back to me

lol

dood, its not a 54 strat, its a JM strat.
cut the damn wires and thro in a loaded PG

[Ledheadforlife]

I always thought my dream guitar was a norlin les paul standard. So I got one and it turned out to be awkward to play, insanely heavy, and difficult to keep in tune. Turns out my dream guitar is an '80's MIJ Fender Strat with a floyd.

[hbucker]

A lot of the time we decide what our dream guitar is going to be based on what we read in magazines, which of our heroes plays it, or simply how cool it looks. We decide "that's the guitar for me" before we ever play it.

I get all of the above. Been there. But in reality, we shouldn't make up our minds until we play it and know that it's something we like and not just something we look cool playing. (not that there's anything wrong with that...)

[redcoats1976]

always wanted a rickenbacker.looks good,plays well with low actio but only gets the ric sound when its loud enough to piss off the old lady...but...ive got a rick...

[ant_riv]

Originally Posted by GitFiddle

If you really like the way it plays and feels and are dead set on keeping things original, get yourself another pickguard and build it up with all new, pickups, switch, pots etc. Then just take the entire stock PG assembly off the guitar and set aside for possible resale some day. Then you can play and mod the new setup all you want with out affecting the original hardware.

Another vote for this.

Not too hard to do yourself, but certainly not difficult for any qualified repair shop.

You could probably find an entire assembly ready to drop in.

Best wishes to you on getting this sorted out!