Suggestions to replace Seth Lover pickup set

[RocknRollShakeUp]

I will never recommend pickups and here's why:

The "best" pickup for you is totally dependent upon the amp you use, the style of music, the way you pick, the way you fret, the volume you play at and where you use your guitar. Just because something works for me on a live stage with a large band doesn't mean it will work for you in a small club or at home.

And I'll offer this up too, if somebody recommends you a pickup without asking some very specific questions about what you need and how you intend to use it, they're generally either not very experienced or just talking out of their butt. Just because they like something in their application means nothing to you in yours.

And at the end of the day, "good" is totally subjective anyway.

I will say this, however; pickups are at best maybe 20% of what your rig sounds like. The rest is
a) your amp and how you set it
b) the guitar itself
c) your technique
d) How they sit in the mix.

I find that beginners and many amateur players have a strong penchant for round, mid-rangy pickups, pros (in general) love bright pickups that cut. That's that extra zing on top that give you that final 20%. You can always use the tone knobs to pull some highs outs, but you can't add what's missing.

That's the other thing I see all too often. Inexperienced players seem to have a pathological aversion to using the volume and tone controls on the guitar for tone shaping. Your volume and tone controls will generally do a lot more than any pickup swap will do. You can take a 14K pickup, roll off the volume and clean it up any day of the week. IF your guitar sounds too muddy with the volume and tone controls rolled off - you have an AMP issue, not a pickup issue. Usually tis is the sign of running the amp too low and that's usually a symptom of using to big an amp for the application.

Here's a better idea that has worked for me over the years: Don't buy guitars that sound bad to you. Problem solved.

I continually scratch my head at the BS people propagate to justify that they spent ridiculous dollars on some boutique pickups that are supposedly nailing the sound of the original pickups that were designed to be built as cheaply as possible, lol.

I have a friend who bought a really expensive set of pickups. He's a hobby player and he only changes his strings once three or four months (WTF!?) and when I installed his pups I put a new set of strings on. He was thrilled at how his guitar sounded. I didn't have the heart to tell him it wasn't the high-dollar pickups, he was merely experiencing new, quality strings. So a few months later he said they didn't seem as good as when I installed them. I said drop it off at my place. I put some new strings on and now he said "whatever you did to those pickups- it worked!"

I explained to him the importance of strings and he was all " You're telling me I need to change them every couple of weeks? That's rediculous!" Well, if you want your guitar to sound it's best, yes you do. Heck. my guitars get a fresh set for every show. And nothing will ruin your frets faster than crusty strings so in the end you're saving money.

Chuck

According to a TV Jones interview, Brian Setzer hates new strings, just saying.

But yeah ultimately one has to try new pickups for themselves.

 

[calcheyup]

Here's a better idea that has worked for me over the years: Don't buy guitars that sound bad to you. Problem solved.

The instrument was a gift from someone very close to me. I wouldn't have chosen it for myself, but it was an extremely thoughtful and not financially insignificant thing to do. My intention is to always have it, so that when that person is no longer with us, I'll think of them when I play it. And so, I'm running down every single possible avenue to make this guitar something that I look forward to playing and not just a piece of nostalgia.

Not that it's necessary for me to justify myself to you, it's more just food for thought. You kick down the door, sometimes to the point of outright condescension, with your posting style, but at the end of the day you don't know who you're talking to or what their circumstances are.

 

[Subliminal lanimilbuS]

Threads like this were an OP asks a question, gets a bunch of good responses, finds something from those responses that works, posts that he is happy about the situation, but then gets a bunch of flak about it is utterly disturbing. It should have ended there and there should be no need for calcheyup to have to justify himself to anyone. It was a nice thread up until that point.

 

[DrewB]

pros (in general) love bright pickups that cut. That's that extra zing on top that give you that final 20%. You can always use the tone knobs to pull some highs outs, but you can't add what's missing.

Thanks, Chuck, it's nice to have some backup on this! It's like inexperienced guitarists shopping for an acoustic guitar that think they want a big body because it has more bass, but I'm a fingerstyle player on acoustic and I want balance across the frequencies. What is your style and what does that best? Bigger isn't always better, and you don't want to be invading another instrument's EQ space, especially toward the lower end.

 

[RocknRollShakeUp]

The instrument was a gift from someone very close to me. I wouldn't have chosen it for myself, but it was an extremely thoughtful and not financially insignificant thing to do. My intention is to always have it, so that when that person is no longer with us, I'll think of them when I play it. And so, I'm running down every single possible avenue to make this guitar something that I look forward to playing and not just a piece of nostalgia.

Not that it's necessary for me to justify myself to you, it's more just food for thought. You kick down the door, sometimes to the point of outright condescension, with your posting style, but at the end of the day you don't know who you're talking to or what their circumstances are.

Well said.
Some have very high opinions of themselves and others’ choices aren’t valid unless they align with their own metric ton of bulkshiite.
I’m glad that you so quickly found a pickup that works for you!
Keep on rockin’.

 

[renderit]

I never bought a guitar that sounds "bad".

I have bought quite a few over the years, and some were purchased online without actually "hearing" other than a review.

A few were purchased because they were priced so well I couldn't pass them up.

Almost all were very good.

But I like them each to be "different" and some of the LP's were very similar, hence changing out some electronics.

Also, I would add, peoples tastes change over the years.

Hence, I always keep a drawer full of pickups so when the urge hits I have them.

Now I watch adds for pickups I don't have at good prices so I have a healthy stock of different stuff.

Nothing is wrong with trying. You can take "good" and make it sterling.

You can also (usually) take less than good and make it sterling as well. Just don't expect it to happen without trying maybe many sets.

No pickup, I don't care how expensive, is perfect or maybe even good in every guitar.

Case in point: I found a demo 339 at GC. Custom Shop, excellent unit a bit scratched up but less than half price.

I went through a bunch of pickups on it and was about to give up. Just couldn't get the sound I wanted.

Then I popped in a regular set of Wizz and it really woke up and sounded fantastic. Just the perfect match.

It went from almost never played to the one that sat out in my office.