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The only money I have in it is a Wilkinson roller-tree -- six whole bucks! I like it in every other way, just the pickups are a little on the anemic side to my ears, even compared to other Squiers I've owned. I love how it plays, though.
Originally Posted by joe2758
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01-15-2019 11:30 AM
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oh i forgot i put a 4 way switch in mine, it is awesome!..i guess that's ot
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I installed a set of (mid 80s) Made in Japan Ibanez Super 58s into my Ibanez AF125. The results? Amazing! Everything about this guitar is superb now with the new pups. A professional set up, upgraded to Gotoh bridge and I can't put that guitar down. Every string and note sounds so clear and rings so smoothly. If you want some pickups that are very unique, Made in Japan Ibanez Super 58s are amazing! Seth Lovers come close; so do DiMarzio 36th Annv PAFs.
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I put a Bareknuckle Manhattan into a 2007 Epi Joe Pass and it completely transformed its slightly muddy tone with the stock neck pup to a very clear articulate tone. So for me it was definitely worth it.
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Seth Lover into neck of Ibanez AFJ95 and DiMarzio Area T into Classic Vibe Tele - both transformed.
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I put Lollar P90s on a MIK epiphone casino. Great pickups, but the guitar stayed mediocre.
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= an epiphone 175 premier ! The concensus seems to be that it's a very good thing
years ago a friend put a strat type scratchplate/ pickups into a music man
that came with two music man humbuckers.....that was a bit meh sounding ...
It surprised me .....
the mod really transformed it , into a great guitar ... it came alive
so it can happen
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In general: if you can get a cheap instrument to play well (usually involving fret dressing, re-cutting or renewing top-nut and overall adjustment) then a pickup-upgrade usually improves the sonic quality of an instrument.
But it depends on the guitar and pickup! I found out a more expensive pickup can emphasize the wrong tonal aspects when I put a SD 59 humbucker in an Epiphone Sheraton II. That particular pickup in that particular - all maple and bright sounding - instrument did not work: too much clarity in an instrument that needed the highs to be tamed a little more. A cheaper and darker (more mids) sounding StewMac Golden Age worked much better in that instrument. (I suspect a Classic 57 would have worked as well.)
My greatest success was putting a stamped patent number Gibson HB in my Ibanez AF-55. The value of the pickup was more than that of the guitar, but well worth it! (Besides, I had it laying around, so it cost me nothing).
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I just purchased a wine red Epiphone ES-175 Premium and I was very impressed with the performance of the Gibson Classic 57 pickups on an Indonesian made laminate hollow body. It's not cheap though, Musician's Friend sells new ebony ones for $720 (open box and restock ones $460-$630). Originally Posted by pingu
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$720 seems very inexpensive to me. That's far less than most entry level hollow body guitars. Originally Posted by medblues
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There are a lot of well made Asian copies out there worth upgrading with new pickups. I have an Indonesian made G&L semi-hollow Bluesboy Tribute that is a very good guitar, and cost only of what the Fullerton made G&Ls sell for. It came with a very muddy humbucker, but a Seymour Duncan Phat Cat P90 fixed that for $89.
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There's a lot to be said for playing a guitar, loving it, and never feeling that it needs to be or even has the ability to be upgraded. There isn't a substitute for that. Not even with a $1k pair of pickups. The poly is still poly, the neck angle is still the neck angle, &c.
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This is great example if why using "cheap guitars" as a metric is not always functional. There are inexpensive guitars that are just lousy sounding instruments and no pickup upgrade will help but there are also inexpensive instruments (like the Stratotone) that sound really good (and in the case of the Stratotone with the club neck, also play really nicely). Put a great pickup in that and it's likely to sound great. Originally Posted by Gitfiddler
Back in 1970 I had no money for a 'real' Les Paul, so I had Guitar Villa (in Hollywood, CA) modify my one and only guitar. It was my cheap, single pickup Harmony Stratotone.
He pulled the DeArmond foil p'up, routed it and mounted two new Gibson PAF T-Tops in it along with Gibson tone/volume pots. The result was a decent playing, but GREAT sounding small hollow body.
I still have it and use it for killer slide guitar tones.
I've put better pickups into a couple inexpensive guitars that were both good playing, good sounding instruments (one solid, one archtop) and they became great guitars.
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As others may have pointed out a "cheap Korean plywood arch top" is not all that bad these days. Swapping pups is just adding a little special-sauce.
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Agreed. My 1997 Epi Sheraton II is a well made, great playing and beautiful guitar. Swapping the stock Epi pickups for the Stew Mac "Vintage Vibe" pickups yielded an exciting new tonal Character. As I mentioned earlier, I have 3 hollow bodies to handle the "warm and mellow" tone and I wanted something different. The "Vintage Vibes delivered in spades. The Sheraton now sounds more "Bluesy" than "Jazzy" Originally Posted by ugarte
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I had a funny experience once when I went with a cheap guitar to a guitar tech and asked him the question. "Will it sound better with a different pickup?" He replied dryly: "Nah. For a better sound just buy some better woods and put the pickup from the old one in it."
Not sure if he is right but somehow I never forgot that ...
DB
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That IS funny!
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And let's analyze the phrase. "Cheap" just means it didn't cost much. Lots of reasons that could be. "Korean" doesn't tell you anything about quality one way or the other. "Plywood" is the deprecatory term used for laminates, but the ES175, ES350, and Tal Farlow are laminates. Jimmy D'Aquisto built laminates. Originally Posted by ugarte
So if you said "an inexpensive Asian-made laminate guitar" could be greatly improved by upgrading it's pickups, it would sound totally reasonable. But using "cheap" which connotes something like "trashy" to many English speakers, and "plywood" which carries connotations of low-grade, low quality is prejudicial wording.
I have a "cheap Korean plywood archtop" known as the Epihone Broadway. I put a StewMac Golden Age Parson Street humbucker in it, and it sounds just gorgeous. Plays wonderfully, looks nice. I always get compliments on the guitar's appearance and tone. Likewise, aside from the Class 57 pickups, the Epiphone ES175 Premium is just a "cheap [insert prejudicial Asian term here] plywood guitar" but with those pickups, it sounds very nice indeed.
If the body is competent, if the neck is good, if the fretwork is adequate, an inexpensive electric guitar can gain much from a pickup replacement, not even going for the most expensive pickups. The StewMac is about $70.
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An excellent and insightful post.
Mich agreed!
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If you like the sound of the guitar unplugged then a pickup upgrade will improve it (solid bodies included) If it sounds bad unplugged then no pickup is going to help and it will be the equivalent of dressing up a turd, and that goes for a guitar in any price range.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
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I actually disagree with that. A Tele or a Strat sound awful unplugged, but wonderful amplified. The electric sound is affected of course by the resonant qualities of the guitar body, but I have never found the acoustic sound to predict well how an instrument will sound amplified. For me, the amplified guitar is its own instrument, its own voice, and not just the making loud of the acoustic tone. How the guitar body's resonant response will interact with strings, bridge, pickup, etc. is seldom obvious from the unamplified sound. I have known guitars that were lovely unplugged, but were really hard to make sound good amplified unless all you wanted to do was basically to mic the acoustic tone. I play electric precisely to get something other than the acoustic tone made loud. Originally Posted by rio
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Mostly true if the pickup has microphonic qualities. Otherwise, the amount of sustain is the most common quality discriminating ears use to separate hollow bodied more resonant guitars from slab bodied less resonant guitars. Originally Posted by lawson-stone
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What are the most microphonic pickups available, and would they be ideal candidates for acoustic archtops whose acoustic properties you'd like to maintain? Originally Posted by medblues
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See here: Pickups - how to make them microphonic? | The Gear Page Originally Posted by Klatu
Mostly vintage pickups, or custom boutique pickups ordered unpotted and a bit loose. Any pickup that squeals easily.
For real acoustic properties, I would go the way of Jonathan Stout (campusfive) he has detailed descriptions of miccing his archtops in his swingguitarblog
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I used to have an Ibanez semi and had no complaints about build quality. I enjoyed it for a couple of years. I switched to an Eastman semi which I like a lot better, one of the reasons being the finish, which beyond mere looks, makes it feel a lot nicer to play and handle, at least to me. That Epiphone you mention is an attractive model, how is the finish and how would you characterize it in the "feel" department? Originally Posted by lawson-stone
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Recommandations for Hollowbodies for $600 and under?
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