Hi ppl, I have a blacktop HH strat (rosewood) guitar. And it has;
Hot Vintage AlNiCo Humbucking Pickup (Bridge)
Hot Vintage AlNiCo Humbucking Pickup (Neck)

I was wondering If, changing pick-ups to Seymour Duncan Vintage Blues Humbucker Pickup Set would truely make a difference, would it be a big upgrade or should I get something better:
http://www.americanmusical.com/Item--i- ... BLUES-LIST

I am a professional pop-rock singer in my country. However I am really into blues style. I practice and learn regularly to take it to a professional level. why Im telling you this is to let you know that it wont be only for home use. in several months, I will be jammin giggin blues in public. sorry for my sloppy english btw
cheerz everyone )

I havent listened to them, the Duncan Vintage i mean, but I think the Duncan '59 is an overlooked pickup. Its affordable, and I think a great sounding pickup. People usually get them with a JB in the bridge, but I had put 2 Duncan 59's into a PRS Single cut SE i picked up cheap, and I liked them. It was the first humbucker guitar i had in a while. People kind of pass them up because its marketed as a PAF style pickup, and besides output, it really isnt. It has alnico V magnets, so it has a more aggresive attack than a PAF, and tends to be a bit more articulate and cutting.

If you want a PAF type pickup, there's countless, just in Gibson alone; Classic 57's, Classic 57 Plus, Burstbucker 1 through 25, (okay only like 3 or 4), duncan has some good ones. I put a set of Diarzio PAF's into someones Les Paul, and they reported back its the best set he's used. If you're playing blues, a PAF is probably the right way to go. I'd get it with a relatively low output, and maybe a little more in the bridge for some mids. The Duncan Alnico II's are pretty good.

I've gone through... I cant even begin to count how many PAF pickups, including a set of PAF's rescued from an early ES335 ( the neck was an actual PAF, with the PAF sticker the bridge was made after they got the patent, so they werent technically Patend Applied For, but they were the same exact pickups they were making, I actually liked these the least. Not all vintage pickups sound good), Lollars, Scatterbrains, Barenuckles, PRS 57/08's and on and on. My favorite, by a big margin are Lindy Fraling Pure PAF's. Ihave them on ALL my humbucker equiped guitars. Get them custom wound to what you want. I have a set ranging in output from (N/B) 6.50/7.75, 7/8, 8/9.5 ohms.
I love them

Majere, welcome to the forum. Before any advice or opinion giving, I have to bother you with a question or two first.

1. Are the stock pickups not what you like?
2. What kind of amp are you using?
3. What style of blues are you wanting to play?

Also, here is a little help as far as listening to pickpus. You might have already known about this but here you go anyways. Good luck, and again, welcom!

http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/au ... ckers_and/

_________________
"Bring me four fried chickens, and a coke."
HOUSE-OUT!

windwalker:
thanks for the detailed tech info didnt even know much about custom wounds. my plan was to take the pick ups to the luthier and have him installed well I hope he DOES know what is best L. Fraling pick ups also caught my eye but since I didnt know them well and is hard to find them here. I couldnt consider them but I'll make some research and see.

byooboy;
thanks for welcoming. it will be a wide range of blues styles from bb king to SRV since the audience will enjoy different styles of tunes. and more than that, I really enjoy playing and singing them.

stock pick ups sound good enough actually nothing bothers me but somehow I just got the idea to customise it a bit more for blues. I got Fender Super Champ XD at home however I don't think I will be using amps on the stage I hardly use the amp even at home becuz using guitar rig 4 seems much more effective for home practise . I have boss ME70 multi effects pedal and I guess I will use the setup; effects pedal to mixer like my guitarist does for small gigs like bars and pubs...for concerts, I donno what is he using cuz I never played on the stage just sang )
I just wanna make sure wasting the stock hot vintage pick-ups will worth what is replaced with.

You may want to start by just replacing the capacitor that came with the guitar. im going to assume its a ceramic; just cut to the chase and pick up a Sprague Orange drop cap. Get one the same value thats in there, and one higher or lower. Start there. For a few dollars, you may find that all it needed was a new cap. Also look at the pot values. Im (again going to assume) it has 500K, though older guitars with PAF's have 300K alot in them. The higher the value, the more output, and the more high end and cut it will have. If you want more cut, and it has a 500K, get a 1 Meg, if you want it warmer, and it has a 500K, put in a 250 or 300K. You can mix and match to; 1meg for the bridge, 500k for the neck.

Yeah, Im pretty cynical when it come to pickups, and I kind of turned away from Fralins for some unreasonable reason, the same way I do with Taylor acoustics. There was never anything wrong with them, the Taylors i just found too..... perfect built. I know its weird, but sometimes I like small imperfections. Plus I would never spend $2500 for an acoustic with a bolt on neck (sorry Taylor), that's why I stick with Martin and Gibson (though I bought one of the Epiphone Masterbult Mahoganay dreadnaughts. I wanted a gutiar I could carry in a gig bag without worring about it hitting something and getting damaged. It cost like $500, which for the tone, material, and playability was a friggin bargin; solid wood, and, unbelievable for the pricepoint, a dovetail neck joint, (they messed up on my shipping royaly, I ended up getting it, for half off, plus 40% off the next guitar. The only complaint with it; its a 'non servicable' guitar, meaning its disposable. They use epoxy instead of glue, so if you need a neck reset, your just out of luck theres no way to break the bond like you do with steam on glue.

Im off track though. I installed tons of Fralins, the shop I work out of was an exclusive Fralin dealer, so I tried them all. They all sounded great but noting grabbed me. After exhausting all the pickups I could find for a guitar, i tried the Pure PAF's, and that was it. I put them, with varying outputs and winds, on all my humbucker guitars.

But on one guitar; a PRS 25th Anniversary Custom 24 SE(yes the Korean made, but well made, great platform for hotrodding), I put them on. While they sounded ten times better than the stock pickups, they didnt floor me. I hadnt replaced the pots yet, I had ordered some Bourns low-friction, and they werent in yet. So i had the stock ones. I had it opened and saw the cheap capacitor on it. I didnt want to wait for the new pots, I put in a Mallory I had laying around. AND IT HAPPEND! The whole guitar just opened right up. I didnt even go for a different value, same value, just made with a different material. A $7 capacitor, thats all it took.

So try a different cap first. And like the other poster said, try to figure out what you want and expect out of the next pickup.

Im not sure about the specific pickup set you mention but I think you can definitely improve on the stock HBs of a Black Top. The relatively thin tone is one of the reasons I traded my Black Top in.

Id say listen to audio clips on the web and try to play as many guitars as you can with the pickups you have in mind. I hear really good things about Seymour Duncan HBs, you really cant go wrong.

geez didnt know a capacitor would make such a huge difference.. I'll take my blacktop to the luthier and have it checked to see what kinda capacitor it has. and by the way not so sure about vintage blues set but it seems like this one would make a difference:

http://www.americanmusical.com/Item--i-SEY-SHPG1B-LIST

I'd be willing to wager that the thin tone of the blacktop's is caused by a crappy capacitor. IT REALLY DOES MAKE THAT MUCH OF A DIFFERENCE. You dont need to take to a Luthier, just take the pickguard off and look. itll say like 2223, or something like that, and that would be a .022uF cap. You can replace the caps yourself with minimal experience with a soldering iron. Its not like replacing components on a PCB board, as long as you use heat sinks to draw the excess heat away, you wont burn anything up.

I am good at computer hardware and experienced with use of soldering iron I was just cautious cuz I never poked an electric guitar before well anyway...

waoww so first thing to do is replacing the capacitor that is obvious however just checked the net and couldnt find sprague brand on sale in here are there any other brand options?

Google it. There are plenty of places, at the very least, stew-mac will have it. You can try polyester(if it doesnt already have one, it may be ceramic, if so polyester will sound better), silver mica, etc. Try different values. Set it up with wires and alligator clips so you can try different ones without soldering, then removing them, then solder another one, etc.
Just hook different ones till you find works.