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Post subject: Why not choose your pickups first, THEN choose your guitar?
Posted: Sun Nov 01, 2009 1:29 am
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Seems like most people find their 'ideal guitar' only to end up swapping their pups.

How about coming at it the other way 'round and choose your pups first (ANY pups) and then decide what's the best guitar to carry them?

Would you end up with a different guitar than if you'd thought about it the conventional way 'round?

It might be a rhetorical argument... ie. either way, you get to the same place in the end, but – sticking to Telecasters – which pups would you choose and then which guitar to match them?


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Posted: Sun Nov 01, 2009 4:21 am
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I like the perspective of this question...esp. when people buy a guitar already thinking which different pu's they're going to put in...not just MIM's but with MIA's...before they get to the cashier.

To splice my thread into yours, I think much of this is a way of not really upgrading one's playing.

But it's complicated. I can say I really love the vintage sound of the pu's in the 52 Reissue...but at the end of the day do I like vintage frets? Is it worth it to pop them into a more modern tele, different bridge, tonewood etc? No, IMO. It IS better to save and awit for the 52 Reissue...

I think it is fair to say that certain pu's, tonewoods, bridges are inseparable.

I think "as is" with only minor changes is the way to go, maybe just change tuners?


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Posted: Sun Nov 01, 2009 5:40 am
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sounds like a god idea, I did just that. got an ear for many pups prior to buying my guitar and decided which ones I would go with then decided which guitar.

Kinman Broadcasters and HWY 1 Tele

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Posted: Sun Nov 01, 2009 11:04 am
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We often tend to romanticize our guitars making them out to be more than they are. They're just guitars. They are the tools of our craft. If a particular combination of body wood, neck shape, pickup selection, etc. happens to be the best tool for a particular player then why not slice and dice until the combo is achieved? Want Vintage pups with medium jumbo frets and a flatter fretboard radius? It's a lot easier to swap pups around than reshape or refret a neck. Buying the guitar first based on wood, neck, color, etc. and then choosing a pup is the logical sequence of events when building your own personalized setup.


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Posted: Sun Nov 01, 2009 11:22 am
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Great post and to add to some of the posts...I tend to leave my guitars alone...I buy them with what Fender puts in them because of their tried and tested engineering methds...again that is my personal preference. There is a tone of merit to the question...but...I have seen guys do just that and then when they get the guitar...with the pups and everything set up they forget the one critical part...their amp...so IMO I would say ensure that you take into account what amp you are going to use... :D


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Posted: Sun Nov 01, 2009 2:06 pm
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That's always been an issue with me. Friends always ask which guitar? Which pickup? They already have a half dozen guitars. A couple friends have a LOT more than that but they all have one basic flaw ... they forget the amp. I have 7 guitars and 5 amplifiers. Some ask why I have so many amps but the amp is just as much an instrument as the guitar is and in some cases even more of an instrument. Trying different pickups is great. I do it all the time but I also know that a Tele still sounds like a Tele. Amp selection has the same bearing on tone (or more) as pickups in the grand scheme of things but good amps cost major coin compared with good pups so we swap pups instead of amps. I understand not wanting to change amps like underwear but I don't understand why so many people invest heavily into guitars and then cheap out on the amps. The chain is only as strong as the weakest link. If the weakest link is the part that actually makes the sound reach your ears you will NEVER be satisfied no matter how many guitars or pickups you try. The amp has got to be the strongest link in the chain or else everything else is a waste of time.

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Posted: Sun Nov 01, 2009 2:46 pm
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BMW-KTM wrote:
That's always been an issue with me. Friends always ask which guitar? Which pickup? They already have a half dozen guitars. A couple friends have a LOT more than that but they all have one basic flaw ... they forget the amp. I have 7 guitars and 5 amplifiers. Some ask why I have so many amps but the amp is just as much an instrument as the guitar is and in some cases even more of an instrument. Trying different pickups is great. I do it all the time but I also know that a Tele still sounds like a Tele. Amp selection has the same bearing on tone (or more) as pickups in the grand scheme of things but good amps cost major coin compared with good pups so we swap pups instead of amps. I understand not wanting to change amps like underwear but I don't understand why so many people invest heavily into guitars and then cheap out on the amps. The chain is only as strong as the weakest link. If the weakest link is the part that actually makes the sound reach your ears you will NEVER be satisfied no matter how many guitars or pickups you try. The amp has got to be the strongest link in the chain or else everything else is a waste of time.


You must be my twin brother from a different mother.. :D I also prefer Fender amps...they definately make my Tele sound even better. But..again..I try to have my sound and tone...I appreciate other guys' but...it ain't mine!


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Posted: Sun Nov 01, 2009 5:15 pm
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I always upgrade pickups just because I L-O-V-E super high output pickups.
Finding the pretty package to wrap them in usually isn't too hard either.
I'm a Strat man first and foremost. I own one Tele "just because".

IMO a Strat with the right pickups in various configurations (have more than one Strat with different configs) beats the heck out of any other Fender guitar out there.

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Posted: Sun Nov 01, 2009 6:56 pm
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Try selecting your guitar by playing unplugged first, you can always get the right pickups after the fact. The tonal qualities of an electric are just as important as the pickups.

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Posted: Sun Nov 01, 2009 6:59 pm
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So many choices. Not enough guitars. What to do.
In this day of modeling amps, computer gizmo's etc, it can be a mute point But the main reason I've changed pickups is the sound(s) I wanted had not been made yet. My Fav Strat had a Tele bridge, stacked HB mid and a tapped full size super distortion HB in the neck using a 3-way (built this in the 70's) the guy that bought it put a 5-way in it (I traded it for a Martin D-45) It was a Killer combo but Fender never made one. The same for the Tele's I'm building now I want some of the Twang but with options. I don't play with many pedals maybe a phase shifter and a comp. But most of the time it's just guitar and amp with pre- and master vol. knob twisting. 8)

Some people just don't want a factory guitar


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Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2009 11:03 am
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Unless I have a G.A.S. attack and buy another one, my next two guitars will be partscasters. I've already got all of my parts toward assembling a partscaster Tele (Warmouth body/neck, TV Jones P90s, etc.), but currently don't have the money to get the body painted. When ordering some final Tele parts from Guita Fetish, I also ordered a Cardinal Red Strat body from 'em. Once I find another job, and get back to the partscasters, I'll finish out the Strat with all Guitar Fetish parts...the Tele having parts from several sources.

My Tele is routed for a Strat trem, as well as being routed for P90 pickups. The Strat will get GFS Pro Tubes Lipstick pickups, and both will have locking tuners. It will be fairly interesting to hear the Strat, when it's finished, for the body wood being poplar. The Tele should sound similar to a TC-90, JA-90 or Telecaster Deluxe with Black Doves, as I went typical with my body and neck selections...alder body, maple neck/fretboard. With the partscaster Tele, at least, it's a case of "if Fender don't do it, I will" taken byond simple pickup/electronics swaps.

Matt

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Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2009 7:46 pm
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Pickups are very subjective, as the pickups may sound differently based on the wood that the guitar is made of...so the same set of pickups may sound different depending on what guitar they are in...

I am sure some people do choose PUs first, then build the guitar around that, but most people see how a guitar sounds first, then perhaps change the PUs later if something is lacking or not to their liking...

A guitar can be a guitar with or without the pickups, but the pickups without a guitar is just a bunch of magnets and wires...

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Posted: Sun Nov 08, 2009 4:23 pm
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I think its just easier to find the right guitar as far as looks and feel and then change the pickups to get the sound you want. I might find alot of guitars for instance with Texas Specials, but I might not find one with those pickups that has a 12 radius fretboard.

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Posted: Mon Nov 09, 2009 1:43 pm
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I answered this thread earlier, but after more thought, I have a better answer: Because no matter what kind of pickups they are, they cannot improve crappy wood...If the wood is crap, the pickups are not going to polish that into gold. So you get some good sounding lumber, then enhance that with the right pickups.

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