What Made You Decide On Pickup Swap.

Most of today's Les Paul guitars come with pretty decent sounding pickups and some even more so due to the qualities of the wood. A few tweaks from a screwdriver by either a tech, or the proud new owner and they should sound even better. What was your decision to swap the stock pups for something different? Was it because you were chasing a particular player's tone, a Blues tone (wide variance, there), Rock music of a certain time in music evolution, a general sound that'd fit most types of music?

I've swapped my 2000 Classic's twice in 25 years. First was to Duncan '59's for a less dominant pickup tone than the original overpowering ceramics it came with. After another 12 years another swap to Seth's (now 10 more satisfying years service) and an all around versatile tone for more than one style of music. My other 2018 Trad still has it's stoclk Burstbuckers and they remainin place; after learning how to evaluate their tone and tweak them accordingly…versastile, and suit the wood's unplugged tone. I think this experience has taught me to listen very closely to tone and not make rash decisions to change just to keep up with trends.

Classicplayer

Classicplayer said:

… for a less dominant pickup tone than the original overpowering ceramics it came with.

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I did the same thing - replaced the ceramics in my 2000 Classic with a Burstbucker Pro V set.

Much more to my liking, but I never fell in love with them. Over time, I discovered that I like 57 Classics more - I have them in several guitars.

Just for kicks, something different, I replaced the BB Pros with a set of TV Jones Filter’Trons.
Pretty cool.

I don’t do a lot of pickup swaps, but I have had three different unpotted humbuckers go microphonic and squeal uncontrollably.

One of them was potted by Lindy Fralin, which saved it. The other two were simply replaced.

Minis into a Tribute because I never had them before.
Black lipstick tube into a Melody Maker 'cause aesthetics.
P-90>cheap humbucker so I did that to a Squier Bullet.

Oddball stuff?
Yeah, I’ve done a few.

Danelectro lipstick tubes into a Strat.
Made by Seymour Duncan.



I eventually pulled the whole pickguard off and went back with the reissue WRHBs Fender introduced in 2019.

My cold, dead hands FrankenStrat.
I put this one together 20 years ago with Fender Dove P-90s.
Captured lightning in a bottle.

Classicplayer said:

A few tweaks from a screwdriver ...

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That is often the only change to be made to a sweet spot. If you replace your pickup without having tried to adjust the previous one, good chance you won't find satisfaction in a new one at the same height.

Leee said:

I don’t do a lot of pickup swaps, but I have had three different unpotted humbuckers go microphonic and squeal uncontrollably.

One of them was potted by Lindy Fralin, which saved it. The other two were simply replaced.

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Similar happened to me: I'd done various upgrades to my old Epiphone Les Paul but the pickups were really microphonic and not in a nice way. I figured that I could afford some decent pickups and easier to justify at the time than a whole new Gibson would have been. I ended up with a set of Bareknuckle Mules which are still in the guitar many years later, so I guess they were worth it.

These days I do tend to make lots of adjustments first to see if I can get a sound I really like before even considering replacements. More than that I generally try multiple guitars in a shop first, so I don't buy one that I don't like the sound of.

Of course - my Goldtop Deluxe.
I gave the mini-humbuckers a chance.
Nope - gotta go.
It’s had Fralin P-90s for nearly 20 years.

Old me: do something to make the guitar “mine”

me with some life under my belt: if for some reason the guitar isnt behaving how I want.

Examples: G0 - came with bkp, neck was great but bridge was too hot. Sold the pickups, bb1/2, perfect.

First R9: didnt come with custombuckers. Really nice guitar, lets try some pickups. 2 other sets later and Im comfortable not buying the “paf repro” stuff from the uber guys.

Second R9: bridge too different from the one above, swapped for similar. Golden since.

I’ve left many stock pickups in

KelvinS1965 said:

Similar happened to me: I'd done various upgrades to my old Epiphone Les Paul but the pickups were really microphonic and not in a nice way. I figured that I could afford some decent pickups and easier to justify at the time than a whole new Gibson would have been. I ended up with a set of Bareknuckle Mules which are still in the guitar many years later, so I guess they were worth it.

These days I do tend to make lots of adjustments first to see if I can get a sound I really like before even considering replacements. More than that I generally try multiple guitars in a shop first, so I don't buy one that I don't like the sound of.

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Similar philosophy here. I learned from folks on here about adjusting heights and pole screw tweaks. I didn't use the same approch years ago when I put the Seth in because I hadn't learned what others knew about adjustments and they were sounding excellent from the git-go. Tweaking the BB1, 2 set made good sounding pickups even better in my Trad.

Classicplayer

Swapped some cheap ceramics for cheap alnicos that sounds a ton better in a '97 Squier Affinity Strat.

Swapped low output alnicos for Tex-Mex pickups in a Squier 40th Telecaster. Changed pots and added a 5-way switch wired with the Bill Lawrence half out of phase mod.

Added a middle strat pickup to a Harley-Benton 62 T Style. It has a cool sound. The middle is always on, and through a capacitor for a bit different sound. A bit of the Lawrence mod again.

I’ve done two pickup swaps in my life.
First was my Les Paul Custom. I got it used, a previous owner gouged out some wood and angled P90 copies into it. Didn’t work so well, they moved as well. While I love P90s now, at the time I wasn’t a fan of them, but being wedged in and moving- plus I already had a pickup for an abandoned project, I did the swap. Duncan Distortions in bridge and neck-wired for series/parallel with push/pull pots.


The other was my LP copy. The pickups were weak and thin sounding. They were kind of microphonic. So when I decided to make it my slide guitar, I replaced my pickups. I had done a few mods before, and did a few more with the pickup swap, and after as well.
It now has Seymour Duncans: a P-Rail in the neck, (because I like options, having played other P-Rail equipped guitars), and a JB in the bridge (wired series/parallel/split. Both pickupsuse mini toggles.

It went from this:


To this:


Both basically were because I wanted something different due to weaknesses with what they had.

RocketJS said:

5-way switch wired with the Bill Lawrence half out of phase mod.

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I didn’t know about this one - thanks for pointing it out. I found a good explanation and circuit diagram/schematic at Premier Guitar.

I’ve swapped for looks a couple times.

Usually I swap because I’m chasing a sound so I might looks at what a band or artist uses.

In the end I don’t love Gibson pickups other than 57 classic and custom buckers, as they seem a little muddy to my ears and emphasize the sounds of the Les Paul that I love the least, but it totally just depends on the guitar itself.

Swapping pickups is just how I roll

Curiosity. Not because i was dissatisfied with what i had.

Turned out, i was happy, decisively with the swap.(custom hand wound paf's by a master winder who knew his shit)

The Seths in my other Lester...ever so slightly underwhelmed by comparison, but not dissatisfied enough to take them out...just they were not as much of a tonal leap as the others.

dc007 said:

Swapping pickups is just how I roll

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I just like to experiment a little. Never been able to afford a guitar that couldn’t be improved …

So I’ve tried pickup swaps on most of the electric guitars I have owned. A swap doesn’t take that long, and it’s a mod that really can make a substantial and unmistakable difference to the sound. If it’s not a positive change, just as easy to roll it back (if we’re talking swapping one humbucker for another, not re-routing etc.)

A major deal for me is note separation and articulation with overdrive. Some pickups are just mush and/or fuzzy. The ones I like are crisp and clear even with high gain. There is a feel I go for too. I describe it as 'juicy.' Harmonics are present fairly easily.

If these things are missing, I need to change pickups.

Some of it was bore out of dissatisfaction initially - as much as I love my #1 LP, I could never jive with the 57 Classic/+ set at all - just either too mushy or too brittle for me; but over time, it definitely became much more of a curiosity thing. About how certain magnets interact with certain voicings, both with the wind and the acoustic voice of the guitar itself, how they fit with the rest of the rig, individual parts and how they fit together within the humbucker itself, etc. It's sort of a modern day alchemy, one in which I find a lot of fun in toying around with.