What do you think? Are there pickups you recommend similar to these Ron Ellis pickups? ✅The great $400 guitar I used on 5 albums 🎸 ruclips.net/video/bIQiWfeWLA4/видео.html
No, I'd recommend swapping speakers before I spent $800 on pickups. Pickups aren't made of magic powder and unicorn farts and don't do as much as changing a speaker would. Lots of pickups claim to do a lot of different things but the differences are often minuscule when compared to the differences a high quality speaker will do
The new pickup felt like it catches the middle strings, maybe it's preferred for rock music than jazz. And I don't know but I'm sure of one thing for a good sound you surely need a good guitar and good strings. Anything else is more of an individual choice. Hope it makes sense
Electronic engineer that is also a guitarist here. The resistance, capacitance and inductance of the pickup combined with the resistance and capacitance of the volume/tone harness will have a certain frequency response, this frequency response cuts frequencies (no boosting unless you're active) picked up from the string vibrations in the magnetic field of the pickups. If you change the pickups you will change the frequency response of your guitar, unless you change it to something with the same characteristics. A much cheaper and versatile way of changing your tone is to swap the pots and/or caps in the volume/tone circuitry to get the brighter or darker response you're after. You can even change the circuit to do 'shape' the frequency response more towards you preference. Alas, there's way too much cork sniffing and 'magic' attached to all manner of things when it comes to guitar tone.
magnet strength and pole piece height, along with number of winds has an effect too. These influence the signal as it's being picked up, so it's slightly different. Although the number of winds dictates the capacitance, resistance and inductance of the pickup, along with the wire gauge, insulation thickness etc. Anyway, that's a whole different ball park, and assuming you have enough winds for the pickup not to be too feeble, you can play around with capacitors and resistors and get far more variation in tone from a few dollars than you can from hundreds by buying pickups.
@@nsjohnston Finally, someone that is knowledgeable in the comments. I completely agree. I would argue that all of the tonal differences that he noticed were because of the magnets. He went from the Epiphone ProBuckers which were AlNiCo 2 to the BKP Mules which were AlNiCo 4 to the Ron Ellis which (my educated guess would be) are AlNiCo 5. The more powerful the magnet, the more pronounced the U-shaped frequency response gets (everything else considered equal).
@@ErebosGR I'd like to hear an explanation of this "The more powerful the magnet, the more pronounced the U-shaped frequency response gets", I can't think why the magnet strength would have an effect on the frequency response unless it's dampening the string vibration, there could be something there.. Not really my area of expertise. I'm unsure what a U shaped response is either. Supressed mids? I'd expect it to be mostly a low pass filter with a bit of extra stuff going on because of the inductance etc. in the pickup.
Good Advice - I bought a J Mascis Jazzmaster with the P90ish pickups in them and didn't like the sound. I had 250k matched pots and I put those in with a typical cap and the pickups sounded amazing. I also have a 77 SG that sounded dark and muddy. Was going to remove the pups but switched the pots/caps and added a treble bleed - the pickups sprang to life and are some of the best sounding ones I have. Always start with the pots and caps.
Hey Jens. Great video. You came to the same conclusion I always come to. Of course I hear a difference...right...maybe...I'm not really sure...they kinda sound the same to my ears. Coincidentally, last week I did my first pickup swap EVER in 30 years of playing. I have an affinity strat with the perfect neck and I wanted to see if putting in a set of $300 920D Customs would make a difference over the $30 ceramic pickups that came stock. While I was slightly disappointed by the lack of output from the the 920Ds, I was pleasantly surprised at how much of a difference I FELT. Pretty big difference in touch response. I'm going to try changing the height of the pickups and see if that adds a bit of output because I love the clarity and articulation. Are they night and day better? Not to my ears. Are they worth the upgrade for a serious player? Probably. I'm just not that good. Thanks. Mark
It’s amazing how much you can get almost any guitar pretty close to a guitar you don’t own for a sound you want with an EQ pedal. You can have one guitar and a new pedal and a piece of paper for different presets you can dial in quickly and you can basically get different guitar sounds. You can make a single coil sound like a P90 or a even close to a humbucker if you dial in a Boss GE7. Can’t recommend a modded (less noise) GE-7 enough. It’s cheap and it works pretty well. I get along more using a Strat and eq/boosting it to sound like a humbucker than I do with the guitar I have that has humbuckers - but this is because until a year ago I only ever played strats and teles so maybe it’s psychological.
The first or at least an early video you did on this sheraton is why I later purchased a used one from a pawn broker. It was a 1997 model. I gotta tell ya, until I later purchased a fender ultra luxe, it was my favorite guitar. Number 1. Unfortunately I lost both guitars and many other things in a house fire a couple months ago. But a Sheraton or maybe a Rivera will be my first purchase when selecting replacement guitars. And these RE pups are gonna be next. Thanks for another cool video sir.
That is really great to hear 🙂 Congrats on that Epi! Edit: Crap, I didn't read the whole comment. Horrible that your house burned! Hope you get that sorted out and that you are insured!
My Sheraton 2 has Gibson 57s with coil cutoffs. For me this is a completely acceptable option. The rest can be adjusted with an equalizer and compressor. Your new sound search is also great. The guitar has dynamics and that's great!
I’ve Swapped Out Stock Epi Pickups with a Gibson 57 and a Gibson 57+ in a Few Guitars Over the Years of Course You Need to Upgrade to the Proper Pots and Caps as Well However with Doing That the Much Better Increase in Tonal Quality is Distinctly Audible ! I Suggest to Those That Deny This to Have Your Ears Checked and/or Cleaned ! As Further Actual Proof I Had a Set of Seymour Duncan Custom Shop Hand Wound High Voltage by “MJ” Which are Thee Set Angus Young Uses Even the Luthier I Brought Them to With My SG Was Excited I Scored a Set Back in 2020 !!! No Longer Available Hand Wound by MJ Who’s Made Pickups for MANY Big Name Guitarists She’s Pretty Well Known For it ! Now the High Voltage Set is Machine Made 😢 But MY SG Screams WITHOUT ANY PEDAL 🎶♥️🎶‼️‼️‼️
I think the most important crucial detail that consumers miss when they talk about pickups. It's almost always "I changed the pickups in my cheap $100 guitar and it made a difference" In my honest opinions those guitars are intentionally gimped to sound bad and have bad pickups so you shell out more money for higher end guitars. If you buy any midrange guitar changes are the pickups on it are completely fine these days.
I had my Epi 335 dot's stock pickups replaced with Lollar low-wind P-90s and like you, I was blown away by the difference. (Especially from the stock sound.) However - I also had the wiring replaced and the nut - after those changes the guitar's tonal colour changed completely. And I removed the pickguard :)
Hi Jens, thanks for great content, I`ve been watching your stuff for a few years already. As for the pickups change - in my opinion it`s mainly psychological difference, similar as in hi-fi equipment snobbery, based on the mechanism "I`ve spent more, I feel it`s better". It`s all happening in your head.... just as anything else we see, hear, smell, etc. Keep up the great work 😀
Wow. Maybe play guitar more. pickups make a huge difference. Doesn't matter if they are 800 or 80 dollars, they all read the strings differently. the only thing that smells is your mom.
I have the same guitar that you have. I replaced switch, tuners, pots, caps and pickups! I am using the locally made TV Jones pups - highly recommend them!
It seems like the issue is a tonal one, more than overall 'quality' of the sound. I'm curious how the Bare Knuckle Stormy Monday set would sound compared to both sets you used in the video, as this is apparently the set Bare Knuckle typically recommends for ES-335 style guitars. Even BK's tonal chart for the Stormy Monday set shows a much more prominent Bass frequency character, which might help with that 'nasal' midrange sound you noted from the Mule set. Thanks for sharing the journey, Jens. Cheers from Canada!
Yes, I don't think this in anyway shows that BK pickups are bad, both RIchard and I say that several times in the video. It is indeed a bit random which pickups I have tried, and I have never tried the Stormy Mondays. The Ellis pickups are very bright which I think works well with the guitar, and the nasal character might also be about the guitar being like that 🙂
Jens do you use flat wound strings? I’ve been using half wound and like the brightness without the squeak. We guitarist are always looking for that elusive sound.
Jens, love the cameos in your videos and thought bubbles , can’t think of any guitar videos that get a checkin from Monk and Carl Jung in the same day 😆 I play a $400 Ibanez jazz machine and I’m thinking of upgrading the pickups. You have convinced me , though I doubt I’ll go in for $800. Any suggestions on $100-$150 jass pups?
Ah pickups wound with gold-rhodium alloy wire, wrapped tightly around ivory bobbins by the hands of a blind gypsy, utilizing the rarest of meteor magnetite for pole pieces, and finally potted with the blood of a virgin.
This whole concept of diminishing returns is intriguing. From the original Sheraton you bought, did the initial switch from the MIK PAFs to Bare Knuckles PLUS the new wiring harness deliver the biggest tonal improvement… and the Ron Ellis PAFs just provided additional icing on the cake? Or was it more than that?
This all depends on what $800 means to you. If its a drop in the bucket - yeah, why not. Mainly, Im impressed you still have an Epiphone E on your pickguard. Ive had acouple and those things fall off in less than a week.
Your "E" is still on there because your guitar is a Samick or Unsung-built Sheraton Jens...and not a modern day Chinese one. The Korean buillt Epis are far superior in terms of build quality. I know...I've had dozens go through my workbench.
@@christoguichard4311 makes sense. Do you know when they switched production away from Korea? I bought a Casino in Korea maybe 15 years ago and I believe it was Chinese.
@@benkatof5852 I believe it was around 2008. As far as I read on online forums, first years of Chinese production were awful, but they found their way with the Sheraton II Pro. Before that, they stopped making figured Sheratons; it seems that the wood (?) they begin to use after production in Korea halted had no grain at all. Knowing this made me a little suspicious of post-2008 Sheratons. Can anyone confirm this?
Jens Larsen I say yes, with one understanding. That life is short and you should play what you love. I think they do ring a little clearer, revealing the upper registers in jazz chords. Beautiful. And yes the law of diminishing returns is real, but when you spend years mastering a instrument, I say play what inspires you. You earned the best. Love your playing and videos, keep it up and GOD bless you, and your family. ❤
I always view equipment changes as how it influences my playing. When I switch guitars, my non-musician friends don’t hear a difference. However, the different guitar puts ME in a different place and takes my creativity elsewhere. I would be reluctant (thrifty!!) to try expensive pickups in a lower end guitar, but what you do to your guitar doesn’t affect my playing! If it takes you somewhere, then you did the right thing. Music would be boring if there was one formula for all of us.
Changing the pickups is one of the easiest mods to do which can make a massive difference. I just changed a neck pickup in my main guitar (with a handmade Mr. Glyn -5% PAF) and it came to life. Also changed the pots which made a difference too (the taper is better now).
Oh meant to say - it depends on what pickups are in there beforehand. If you swap one type of high end paf type pickup for another high end paf it may not be a big difference. But stock pickups to handmade customs is a huge difference And one thing Glyn said to me was no one ever talks about how new pickups feel different. He’s a Jedi, if you don’t know his pickups, check him out. All hand made here in Nz by one guy and he knows all there is to know. All custom
I find the biggest change occurs when I use heavy strings on the top to reduce the snappy-ness and lighter strings on the bottom to reduce the boom. Also backing the pickups down just a bit on the bass side helps with the boom. Standard PAF’s are fine for jazz, that being said, I’ve been using the Benedetto A-6 in the neck position for jazz which I feel is a bit better. Even still, setup is the key to finding the sound I like for jazz.
I've got Bare Knuckles in my Les Paul, but I've got a Riff Raff in the bridge - very mid focused - and a Stormy Monday in the neck. The Stormy Monday is described on the BK website as being more hollow and it seems to me more like the way you're describing these new pickups. Either way, it's a terrific jazz pickup. I also have one of their humbucker sized P90s (the Manhattan) in an Ibanez archtop and that's also stunning.
Depends on who you ask, surely? To the sales person, "why not buy two sets?" To a parent, "Johnny, your guitar is perfectly fine!" To a tone chaser, "may be I need those pickups AND one more guitar!" Me, "nah, I can think of custom pick up winders who can very proficiently and way more than adequately meet my needs." On a side note, if I had to spend $800 on guitar stuff whilst a $400 guitar is in my quiver so to speak, I would use that budget on a better amp BEFORE a pickup swap. Just my 2 cents.
You cannot accurately remember sound for longer than about 7 seconds. The whole audio industry hinges on people being unaware of this, be it Hi-Fi or instruments. So your perception of the sound in the workshop after the switch probably was more influenced by expectation, blurry memories etc. than the actual sound. In the recordings you can hear a slight difference in the frequency response, as you described. But are the pick-ups less mid focused because they are more expensive? Or are they just expensive pick-ups that happen to be less mid focused? You could easily switch the price tags and say "listen to this amazing bass response in the Bare Knuckles" and so on.
Thank you for this video! i changed my Prs american model McCarthy pick ups for Seth Lover pick ups and suddenly the guitar played by itself. Also changing pickups changes the identity sound of both guitar and player, which is good thing! We can't all sound alike using our Gibsons! Again, thank you Mr Larsen
I've said this before on one of your previous pick up videos, but I changed the stock pick ups in an Epiphone Les Paul for Gibson Classic 57s and it made huge difference. Went from muffled and unclear to a rich, old school tone
Yes, the question really is are the expensive pickups better than cheap stock pickups? Not whether is worth the money or boutique vs boutique. People want to know if adding good pickups to expensive guitar improves the sound? YES! I also added 57 Classics to an Epiphone 335. Big difference! Stock pickups weren’t bad. 57s were better though.
Very interesting Jens! Did you keep the stock wiring/pots or change those also? If you'd had the BK Stormy Monday set I expect there would have been less of a difference - maybe ;-)
Firstly: Thank you for doing this sort of video, in the way you did. I love Glen and Colin's channels, and appreciate the way they did their debunking of toneewoods for electric guitars. That said... Note: I'm an electromagnetic technician. Coils, frequencies, and em currents/signals are my area of expertise. Pickups, and the signal response differences that can translated to tone, become extremely varied when you do the exact opposite of playing rock/metal: playing softly. By NOT overdriving the signal and causing it to clip and become distorted, the actual qualities of the coil (resistance, inductive reactance/capacitance, etc.) will have a much greater effect with regard to harmonic frequencies. Higher wound, or higher output, coils will naturally have a much greater flux density, which in effect is like turning up the gain on a microphone. Subtleties like scraping a string will have much more articulation because higher energy frequencies tend to pay more attention to surfaces, as it were. This is why bridge pickups tend to have higher output - the induced voltage through string motion in the magnetic field is less than the string motion by the neck, and so a higher frequency/output is required to detect what's going on at that particular section. That said, I feel like the ridiculous prices for designer pickups are just that. The price is more of a reflection of the branding than the actual cost of materials and time. Usually. Some of the fancy pups out there are pretty spiffy tho.
Just got me a cheap ibanez jazzbox that came with their cheapest and really hot humbuckers. Have an old pat metheny super 58 coming that im going to put in it. I can get good tones from the stock pickup but expecting a enough of a difference to notice.
The Ellis are something else. Of course, using modellers and compression in recording will take away most of their shine. Perhaps we should all go back old school, those Blue Note recordings with simple amps and high end mics. To me they remain the reference for classic jazz guitar sound.
I wonder if the difference between the pickups is being lessened by running your setup through the FM3. The FM3 does a great job at making disparate inputs sound similar. Running both pickups through a simpler set up might explain your initial impression at the workshop
I think you are misunderstanding something, my reaction is still the same, it is not so that I am less enthusiastic because it really feels so nice to play also on the FM3 or on my twin or my AER. There is no real difference there.
Great vid. So glad you did it as I had considered swapping pups for a Ron Ellis set. Now I won't bother as both sets, bare knuckles or Ron Ellis sound great to me, with only a very minimal difference.
For 800 bucks you can get a complete pickup winding setup, wires, magnets, bobbins etc and manufacture dozens of "handwound" pickups. Then you can choose the one you most like
IMHO, you can get amazing results with a little EQ and light compression even with stock EQs and compression offered by DAWS such as Logic Pro. As I have UAD interfaces, I've achieved satisfying results with their DSP plugins. This isn't difficult, most of the time I'll dial in the presets for any plugin used. For live gigs, I have a Johnson JM150 which to me is the best digital amp made with all the effects, EQ and compression built in. That amp does have a learning curve. But there are other units out there. The bottom line is you dont need $800 pickups unless it already comes with the guitar. I'm not knocking the Ellis pickups because they do sound very good. Whatever floats your boat as they say.
The pickups sound brighter and cleaner, but did not sound to me like an improved tone. I would try using the Bare Knuckles set at lower height (back off the screws by 1 full turn), and maybe use a cleaner amp setting. I personally prefer the demo of the Bare Knuckles as they seem to compliment the guitar pretty well IMO.
Hi Jens - I've been watching your vids for a few years now and love the valuable content. I bought the Jazz roadmap a while back and have begun to settle down with it again. very interested to hear your views on the Sheraton guitar. I have the same model and love playing with it. My only criticism is the physical weight of it! I couldn't stand upi to play just too heavy. Perhaps the difference in tone that you liked when you tried it out in Ron Ellis's workshop as well as the new pickups was down to the accoustics of the room. Just a thought. many thanks for the great content,
Thanks! Glad you like the Roadmap! I am playing the guitar all the time, and I don't think the difference is the room, but I do think that what I experience playing it doesn't really come across in the recordings (also not in the workshop). I think there is more to it than how the guitar sounds recorded though.
Ciao Jens,me li consiglieresti per la mia Sheraton pro ll,anche io trovo che i probucker soprattutto al ponte siano un po' impastati ciao grazie e vivissimi complimenti per i tuoi video jazz , Grande 🎸🤩
They certainly sound as you describe, but maybe I'm just very suggestible 😂 I'm all for putting in pickups that are worth more than the guitar itself, I've got a Lollar Charlie Christian in a cheap ply- and balsa wood guitar and it sounds great.
I want to buy a jazz guitar nice & compact not very heavy & sound like George Benson & not expensive not more than 500$ which brand should I search for & which model ?
My old 90s Japanese-made Telecaster always sounded a bit flat and the volume was always very low compared to the rest of my guitars, so I put a Seymour Duncan Little 59 set in it - a Vintage Stack noiseless pickup in the neck, and the Little 59 humbucker in the bridge. Almost nothing changed, except that now when playing through the neck pickup on my Quilter amp, the guitar is so, so bassy I cannot play at any reasonable volume without sounding ridiculous, even with the bass completely cut on the amp. I'll likely never change pickups again.
I recently thought about buying a cheap guitar and switching the pickups. This will sorta answer that question. I wouldn’t want the cost of both to be more then I’m willing to pay on just the guitar considering I want it to be my cheap guitar, like a sleeper
^This! I managed to get a guitar for cheap, and some pickups also quite cheaply. Together with professional installation the guitar overall costs the same as a stock new one. I'll lose money if I sell, but I planned on keeping it from the start. It needs at least a fret dress now, or better yet, a refret, but I have had so much fun on it I am glad to have walked this road, even if only a short distance.
Hi Jens, maybe the nice amp in the workshop brings out the differences in the pickups in a more detailed way than a modeler (supposing you recorded the comparison clips with a modeler). Would be an interesting contribution to the discussion on modelers vs tube amps if you made a comparison of the PUs including an amp vs modeler. Thanks for your nice work! Greetings from germany Markus
Добрый день, Jens! Вы не могли бы подсказать, - вот пришла мне новая бас-гитара Squier Affinity Series Precision Bass PJ Laurel Fingerboard с интернет-магазина, - красивая и внешне качественная, НО - довольно сильно фонит! Прикоснёшься рукой к крутилкам или к струнам, сразу тишина, убираешь пальцы, сразу высокочастотный фон! Дело не в шнуре, и не в усилителе, так как менял по всякому, не помогает. При игре стоит шорох и раздаются щелчки от прикосновения к струнам.. Такая картина - это же ненормально? Гитара стоит 400 долларов.. Или же и другие гитары, подороже, также создают фон!? И можно ли что то теперь сделать с этим? Очень жаль отправлять обратно в магазин эту гитару...
Hello Jens, I wonder what you think about Lenny Breau and Ted Greene, since they are not as famous as the players you usually cover in your videos, but just as great. There is so much stuff that nobody else did in his playing that i am curious what you took away from them to use it in your playing or what you think about them in general. Great channel by the way!
Ok, I see videos on Ted Greene all the time, so I am not sure I agree that he is not talked about that much? Both are of course fantastic and mind-blowingly skilled players but also primarily solo performers and I always found myself gravitate more towards people who play in bands, which is why I rarely do videos on solo guitar performances, but that is also something that people like Tim Lerch and Sandra Sherman do all the time, so I don't think there is a real shortage of that.
Jens - I thought your main guitar was the Ibanez! LOL! FWIW I put Manlius unpotted A3 '59LT in my Eastman T-486 and Manlius unpotted A4 Fat Diane's in my Epiphone ES 335 Pro. No question better pickups make for a better guitar - that and the amp & speaker.
I think the acoustics in the workshop were very reverby. This is what made the treble poke out more then in your studio. But there is a difference, it’s just rather subtle for me listening
Are the Ron Ellis pickups wax potted? unpotted pups are a bit clearer. also same magnets? there are several variables in pups. I did hear less compression in the RE pups. Enjoy!
I had Ellis LRP pups in a Les Paul. The clean sounds were outstanding: sweet, pleasing, nice clarity. But when I played blues gigs with low gain at a very modest volume they squealed uncontrollably. I don't use a lot of gain nor volume, but I finally had to give up and sell them. I hated to do it because those cleans were so sweet and clear. But the guitar became unuasble for me. I especially love the Humbuckers from Jim Rolph which are excellent. I have them in a ES-333.
I think for clean or slightly overdriven sounds pickups can make quite a difference in sound and feel. But when putting the guitar through effect chains or distortion then not so much. I like a slightly underfund pickup and notice a huge difference in lost dynamics with overwound pickups.
Many claim pickups are the only thing that maters in guitar tone. I think there are many factors actually. Many are subtle maybe, but still contribute. Does his hollow body sound different from a solid body?
Great video, as always, Jens. Pickups can make a big different in the tone of the guitar and some more so than others. But what I really like about this video is that you show that don’t have to spend a fortune on a guitar to get one that plays and sounds great. Bravo.
Oh I love this Epi Sheraton model !!! One of the original epiphones guitar. And about the pick up test…Art is very subtle in many ways. And I really believe that it makes a huge difference even being something that only you are able to feel it. Cause as you said, there is the human factor and this is where we all sound different even playing the same guitar. And if you have 0,5 db louder on treble with this new pickup , in my opinion, this is a huge difference!!! Cause when we are playing with the eq, all of the decisions are important, even this +0,5db I’m glad you like these new pair of pickups!!!
Although really the only "different" pickups I've ever played are Wilde pickups, I must say these seem to bring a nice top end to your sound. Maybe the Bare Knuckles are way too hot also?
I got lucky with a 1980 Gibson 335-S Professional Deluxe. It has original Tim Shaw designed Dirty Fingers humbuckers and a coil tap switch. I play through a Marshall DSL40C. I never played anything else. I love my rig. I've been told that my pickups are too 'hot' for jazz, but I don't have any problems. My teacher used to say that it had everything to do with my pickhand, not my pickup. He was right.
what to expect? i changed the stock-humbuckers on my "Aria Pro II (330-full hollow)" against, an used SD_SH-2 on the neck and a '57 Classic Plus Gibson on the bridge. I would give it a 5 of 5 stars!
It may be not a big difference in sound, but there is a difference. The main thing is that the player will react to that and this changes what is played. The average listener will perhaps not notice the difference in sound but will get a performance by a more inspired musician. It is like changing the pick, wich can make a huge difference in sound but maybe even more in the playing.
Bass player here. For me pickups make an unbelievable difference to sound and tone.. they are so different you can also it tell some brands with only hearing the player. My pickup are very carefully chosen and I’ve tried almost everything on the market. Bartolini will always be my choice and a specific pickup they do - there is a lot of choice.
The new pickups are more articulate. Like language, the right amount of the frequencies around the consonants defines the word. In guitar, that frequency defines what you're playing. I like a mellow tone that has a defining edge. Hank Garland was one of my favorite tones. Nice video.
Pickups act as inductors, which have a low-pass filtering property. The strength (inductance) of that inductor, in combination with the tone circuit (capacitor and pot) in your guitar gives you fairly flat frequency response up to a corner frequency, after which volume falls off steadily with frequency, and may give you a bit of a resonant bump at the corner frequency. The biggest difference between pickups (aside from sheer volume, which you can compensate for with a volume control) is just where that corner frequency is, and how much of a bump you get there, given your tone circuit arrangement. The biggest difference between normal humbuckers and normal single-coils is just that the single coils have a higher corner frequency. If you want tonal variation, your two best bets are (1) having a coil-split switch so that you can use your humbuckers as single coils (just using one of the two sides of each pickup) and make your Gibson sound like a Fender, or (2) an EQ to effectively move the corner freqency up or down. (You can roll off the highs starting below the pickup's corner frequency, to put the knee lower, or boost the highs somewhat above the corner frequency to effectively move the corner frequency up.) One very versatile arrangement is an HSH (humbucker-singlecoil-humbucker) strat with coil splits on the humbuckers. (The Nashville-style Tele used by a lot of studio guitarists in Nashville is just a Telecaster with HSH (& coil split) pickups like an HSH strat; it's one guitar that can do all the things people expect from electric guitars.)
It seems to me from my experience that the sound of a guitar is cumulative. Everything has a small impact. The amp and speaker being the biggest. I have guitars that sound great with certain amps and not so good with others. And when I swapped my first speaker, I realized that was the biggest change I could make.
I can say from experience that upgrading pickups can make a dramatic difference, especially in low priced guitars. I wouldn't pay $800 for pickups, though. Glad you liked the end result! You do you!
I'd gladly pay $100 to refit the mule back in. That, to me, is what I love in an electric jazz guitar timbre. Like some others on here I'd love to hear an AB test the Stormy Mondays.. maybe on a solid body as they are still common that viewers will almost definitely have at least one. And for my opinion? The tone is very different between your new pups and the mule. I'm happy to have a guitar for hi end but the main jazzer is more of a dark smooth mule.
1. While watching the video on lower quality speakers, I preferred the sound of the Bareknuckles, but with headphones I prefer the RE's 2. An EQ + compressor/clean boost before any effects/preamp can do what a pickup change does for the guitar's tone but with much more range and versatility. It's not EXACTLY the same thing as a pickup swap but all effects-using guitarists should consider this option before spending unnecessary money
I listened very carefully with good headphones. Analytically I could hear a very small difference, but not one to make a significant difference in music. Yes, the old set was a bit more nasal, and with more bass, while rhe new one are a bit more articulate in the mids & highs. But that's something that I could hear only if listening purposefully for tone, comparing the two. Strangely enough, I could hear the difference better when playing single lines rather than chords. But again, not something to make a difference musically. So, to conclude: the jump from stock pickups to decent pickups definitelly makes sense... but after a certain level (which is not that advanced), the differences are so minimally incremental, that it's not worth bothering about it. Couldn't you get the same results with some adjustments of the amp's EQ ?
With a plan to build a guitar, I purchased a $270 EART strat clone guitar just to use the neck. But first I used it to test some Kinman pickups, and was so surprised how good it played, that it became a primary guitar. In fact, I would prefer it to my vintage 65 strat.
The two sets are pretty similarly voiced, so it isn't hugely surprising they sound similar. I didn't run the samples through audacity but it sounds like there is a slightly bigger peak around the 3-5k range from the Ellis and less around 100? You should pop them into a spectrum and see the response.
For me, changing the wiring to a mojotone made a huge difference in my beloved mim stratocaster, don’t feel the need to switch pu’s though I’ve heard lots of good things about the kloppmans.
Great video! For me, changing pickups in my 335 is a sickness (chronic)... I changed the original Gibson classic 57 humbuckers for some Seymour Duncan, and those were nice but not that much different, then later put in a set from Harmonic design (another boutique), and then still later a set of Ron Ellis LRP. I actually ended up recently swapping those out for a set of Lollar (which are slightly higher output). All this is basically because this 335 (which I love otherwise) is itself very bright and seems to lack a certain amount of upper-mid, so all this has been to try to get the tome a bit warmer. The Lollar's do finally seem to help there (but the guitar basically still sounds mostly the way it always has).
I have a cheap Squier Affinity series from 2000. I put some really nice pickups in it and it sounds incredible! (Steve's special bridge, Fender Jaguar middle and PRS humbucker at the neck) The only problem is that the intonation isn't the best given that it's a cheaper made guitar.
Sonically the difference is definitely very subtle, but I think in the focus on "tone" the feel to the player tends to be a more under-appreciated aspect. There are lots of examples where very subtle differnces may not be that audible to a listener but depending on the player it can make a huge difference to the perofrmance and its hard (basically impossible) to subract the subjective element here because its all so individual (which in my view is kinda cool and why in the world would you want to remove the subjective element in the first place?).
I'll go against the current and say "Sure", if it gets you where you want to be. It's still *only* $1,200.00 total, and you're a high-level professional who knows what he wants. I don't know (yet) exactly what the pickups offer you, but crossing the line into "diminishing returns" territory can for sure be worth it, to me. Aesthetic experience, beauty...compared to the value of money, surely a purely personal thing?
Oh how I loved that guitar (all stock), my first "real" "jazz" guitar :) If another pickup helps to get more tonal range out of it - or TS mid-scoop, can't think of a better model that would deserve this or that mod
Pickup builders definitely know how to "voice" them. I struggle with "fairy dust" and "snake oil" type products as much as the next guy. That and there's about $10 of material in a pickup. I decided to swap my Seymour Duncan HB Jazz set out of my '06 Epiphone SG for P90s. Was ready to do some Fralin's or something and bought both sets of Toneriders for the same price(wasn't sure if I would think the neck was hot enough or bridge too hot). Alnico II(Vintage) Neck and Alnico V(Mean) bridge. Sounds beautiful. Same "new guitar" feeling for $200. Same type to same type, in the mix(live or recording), I doubt I would notice. We eq with tone knob, fingers, the mix. It sure is fun, though! I have no hollow or semi and have a hankerin' for that Ibanez JSM20.
If you reduce the space between the low E-String and PU mulm in most cases goes away! Fine tuning with the hight of the pole-screws. But I do here some more grit on the Ellis, a hint more definition, maybe a higher output level? I made the experience that replacing cheap stock-pus with better ones make a huge difference. Replacing good pus with good pus ends like your records. Mostly a matter of taste IF there are differences.
As a guitar player who can't make up my mind whether I'm more into jazz or metal, I can definitely say that a metal player who wants to use more elaborate chords will definitely benefit from a higher quality pickup. 800 isn't cheap, but a full set of Fishmans or high end Seymour Duncans will set you back about the same amount. Guitar players who complain about a few hundred dollars should feel fortunate they don't need to shop for a concert grade cello bow haha... finding your voice is important. The right decision doesn't have to mean the more expensive choice, it really comes down to making critical and thoughtful choices and finding something youre happy with that will elevate your experience. And it doesn't even need to be a question if something is better or worse, just being different is enough. Qualitative opinions like that are completely subjective anyway so find what fits the sound profile you want to convey. I recently upgraded the pups on a cheap 7 string and it completely opened up the capabilities. It's so much clearer now and sounds great heavy or smooth, so I definitely don't think that chasing the right pickup is a fool's errand.
I had a good listen to the Bareknuckle versus Ellis Pickups on both my headphones (Sennheiser HD215 via a Steinberg UR242 Interface) and Speaker Monitors (KRK Rokit 6"). I can hear how the midrange focus of the Bareknuckles would work great in a live Band / Gig situation. In such a setup the Bareknuckles would not intrude too much on frequency ranges of other instruments. When I play gigs (or jams) with my Strat, I've been told that the middle pickup works best in a band situation (for the overall band sound)😁. I used to NEVER play on the middle pickup. I hated it. Now I love it. I use it nearly all the time. Just a matter of getting used to it. The Ellis pickups were great too - but different. There seemed to be a 'spike' upwards of a few dB at (around 10 to 12 kHz ? - please correct me if I'm wrong). It may be argued that this may suit solo guitar playing more. This may be true but I would imagine you could still play ANY kind of Music with the Ellis pickups (and also the Bareknuckles). I think you mentioned the 'band vs. solo' points in your video. As you mentioned - it's different if you are the one there in person and playing the instrument. It's exciting when you discover something new in playing guitar / Music. Congrats on the new pickups Jens.😁
@@JensLarsen You can straight away hear that The Ellis pickups are hotter. I just thought for a small (Small Q) higher frequency range the signal was a tiny bit louder. No doubt though - the Ellis Pickups are great ! I like versatility in anything Musical - and that's what they are.
I do have to disagree about the difference for metal pickups, some play nicer with distortion than others. I swapped out a bridge dimarzio tonezone for a Titan on my ibanez, and it was a night and day difference (especially boosted with treble dimed). I've also had great experiences with Fishman Fluence pickups sounding clearer through layers of distortion.
I agree with @frankvaleron, I also changed my Epiphone pickups for Gibson Classic 57s and it was a big difference not only sound but the weight as I introduced 50s wiring and because I played jazz I also put Russian oil in paper capacitors in my 175 to give it more of a jazz feel and less brightness.
I think its fair to point out that if your audience is listening to your recorded guitar on cheap earbuds/tiny speakers (which many of us are) than much of the nuance imparted by pickup variations, etc is going to be lost in translation. I’d rather listen to a great musician on crappy gear than a crappy one with great gear!😊
@@JensLarsenI completely agree with you Jens, the feel is the difference….just like a great pair of handmade shoes or a tailored suit. 😊 Ellis pickups are chosen by some of the best in the business for a reason.
So. Idk about about expensive anything. But if you have a piece of hardware that you love the feel of, and can see the potential of your equipment. I can see no problem with costumizing your equipment
I liked the sound of the Bare Knuckles, but the Ron Ellis pickups had just that little bit extra that sounds great in your hands! I'm primarily a bass player, but made the ill-advised choice to start learning guitar at the beginning of the pandemic (I now have 3 cheap guitars :D ) and with my very first guitar, a Squier Bullet Tele, the original ceramic pickups were bright and brittle. I swapped them for a set of Fender 60's Vintera pickups, and while it was a good change, it still didn't get me quite where I wanted the guitar to sound. Now, I put in a set of GFI slightly-overwound (and budget priced!) pickups, and they sound WONDERFUL, and have flats strung up on the guitar now. They get a really warm but detailed neck pickup sound, and a bright but not overly-trebly or brittle bridge pickup sound (like what you'd expect a Tele bridge pickup to sound like). I'm pretty happy with my other 2 guitars' sound - a Squier Paranormal Cabronita Baritone Tele with P90s and a Grote semi-hollow (I don't really want to have to swap out pickups or electronics in a semi-hollow...because I'm lazy!).
It's gonna be a no from me, chief. No pickup is worth that much. They are not worth half of that, I can't understand even how people regularly pay a quarter of it. It's not a quantum computer, we are talking about the most retro piece of tech imaginable.
Agreed. Same tech that holds things to your fridge. Unless total garbage pickups I think it's pots, amp, string gauge, distance to PUs, position of PUs etc. Over the years I've learned the expensive lesson that the only way to make your guitar sound like the one you want is to buy the one you want.
Yeah, I'd rather get a guitar worth 800+400. At least you get better build, better worksmanship than a 400-guitar. Sorry, pickups at this price range are just stupid.
Winding pickings is actually quite a difficult skill and to do it at a truly high level requires a great deal of knowledge, training, and expertise. Not to mention, the taste that is developed over years of experimenting to give a customer a consistent, reliable product that sounds the way it claims to. Just because technology is “old” doesn’t make it cheap or less valuable. In fact, in many cases the opposite is true.
What do you think? Are there pickups you recommend similar to these Ron Ellis pickups?
✅The great $400 guitar I used on 5 albums 🎸
ruclips.net/video/bIQiWfeWLA4/видео.html
No, I'd recommend swapping speakers before I spent $800 on pickups. Pickups aren't made of magic powder and unicorn farts and don't do as much as changing a speaker would. Lots of pickups claim to do a lot of different things but the differences are often minuscule when compared to the differences a high quality speaker will do
The new pickup felt like it catches the middle strings, maybe it's preferred for rock music than jazz. And I don't know but I'm sure of one thing for a good sound you surely need a good guitar and good strings. Anything else is more of an individual choice. Hope it makes sense
I missed any earlier videos about the Mules, were these suggested by BareKnuckle as their “jazz” pu’s? Great tone and playing
any PAF copy would be a "jazz pu". I Don't think that is really a thing?
Pickup can change sound for sure! Especially with clean sound playing. Nice video.
Thanks George! Hope you are well!
Electronic engineer that is also a guitarist here. The resistance, capacitance and inductance of the pickup combined with the resistance and capacitance of the volume/tone harness will have a certain frequency response, this frequency response cuts frequencies (no boosting unless you're active) picked up from the string vibrations in the magnetic field of the pickups. If you change the pickups you will change the frequency response of your guitar, unless you change it to something with the same characteristics. A much cheaper and versatile way of changing your tone is to swap the pots and/or caps in the volume/tone circuitry to get the brighter or darker response you're after. You can even change the circuit to do 'shape' the frequency response more towards you preference. Alas, there's way too much cork sniffing and 'magic' attached to all manner of things when it comes to guitar tone.
magnet strength and pole piece height, along with number of winds has an effect too. These influence the signal as it's being picked up, so it's slightly different. Although the number of winds dictates the capacitance, resistance and inductance of the pickup, along with the wire gauge, insulation thickness etc. Anyway, that's a whole different ball park, and assuming you have enough winds for the pickup not to be too feeble, you can play around with capacitors and resistors and get far more variation in tone from a few dollars than you can from hundreds by buying pickups.
@@nsjohnston Finally, someone that is knowledgeable in the comments. I completely agree.
I would argue that all of the tonal differences that he noticed were because of the magnets.
He went from the Epiphone ProBuckers which were AlNiCo 2 to the BKP Mules which were AlNiCo 4 to the Ron Ellis which (my educated guess would be) are AlNiCo 5.
The more powerful the magnet, the more pronounced the U-shaped frequency response gets (everything else considered equal).
@@ErebosGR I'd like to hear an explanation of this "The more powerful the magnet, the more pronounced the U-shaped frequency response gets", I can't think why the magnet strength would have an effect on the frequency response unless it's dampening the string vibration, there could be something there.. Not really my area of expertise. I'm unsure what a U shaped response is either. Supressed mids? I'd expect it to be mostly a low pass filter with a bit of extra stuff going on because of the inductance etc. in the pickup.
Good Advice - I bought a J Mascis Jazzmaster with the P90ish pickups in them and didn't like the sound. I had 250k matched pots and I put those in with a typical cap and the pickups sounded amazing. I also have a 77 SG that sounded dark and muddy. Was going to remove the pups but switched the pots/caps and added a treble bleed - the pickups sprang to life and are some of the best sounding ones I have. Always start with the pots and caps.
@@nsjohnston me too @ErebosGR
Hey Jens. Great video. You came to the same conclusion I always come to. Of course I hear a difference...right...maybe...I'm not really sure...they kinda sound the same to my ears. Coincidentally, last week I did my first pickup swap EVER in 30 years of playing. I have an affinity strat with the perfect neck and I wanted to see if putting in a set of $300 920D Customs would make a difference over the $30 ceramic pickups that came stock. While I was slightly disappointed by the lack of output from the the 920Ds, I was pleasantly surprised at how much of a difference I FELT. Pretty big difference in touch response. I'm going to try changing the height of the pickups and see if that adds a bit of output because I love the clarity and articulation. Are they night and day better? Not to my ears. Are they worth the upgrade for a serious player? Probably. I'm just not that good. Thanks. Mark
It’s amazing how much you can get almost any guitar pretty close to a guitar you don’t own for a sound you want with an EQ pedal.
You can have one guitar and a new pedal and a piece of paper for different presets you can dial in quickly and you can basically get different guitar sounds.
You can make a single coil sound like a P90 or a even close to a humbucker if you dial in a Boss GE7.
Can’t recommend a modded (less noise) GE-7 enough.
It’s cheap and it works pretty well.
I get along more using a Strat and eq/boosting it to sound like a humbucker than I do with the guitar I have that has humbuckers - but this is because until a year ago I only ever played strats and teles so maybe it’s psychological.
Always awesome to see the experimentation of different gear. Definitely helps different situations and tone purposes. The new pickups sound bright!
The first or at least an early video you did on this sheraton is why I later purchased a used one from a pawn broker. It was a 1997 model. I gotta tell ya, until I later purchased a fender ultra luxe, it was my favorite guitar. Number 1. Unfortunately I lost both guitars and many other things in a house fire a couple months ago. But a Sheraton or maybe a Rivera will be my first purchase when selecting replacement guitars. And these RE pups are gonna be next. Thanks for another cool video sir.
That is really great to hear 🙂 Congrats on that Epi!
Edit: Crap, I didn't read the whole comment. Horrible that your house burned! Hope you get that sorted out and that you are insured!
My Sheraton 2 has Gibson 57s with coil cutoffs. For me this is a completely acceptable option. The rest can be adjusted with an equalizer and compressor.
Your new sound search is also great. The guitar has dynamics and that's great!
I’ve Swapped Out Stock Epi Pickups with a Gibson 57 and a Gibson 57+ in a Few Guitars Over the Years of Course You Need to Upgrade to the Proper Pots and Caps as Well However with Doing That the Much Better Increase in Tonal Quality is Distinctly Audible ! I Suggest to Those That Deny This to Have Your Ears Checked and/or Cleaned ! As Further Actual Proof I Had a Set of Seymour Duncan Custom Shop Hand Wound High Voltage by “MJ” Which are Thee Set Angus Young Uses Even the Luthier I Brought Them to With My SG Was Excited I Scored a Set Back in 2020 !!! No Longer Available Hand Wound by MJ Who’s Made Pickups for MANY Big Name Guitarists She’s Pretty Well Known For it ! Now the High Voltage Set is Machine Made 😢 But MY SG Screams WITHOUT ANY PEDAL 🎶♥️🎶‼️‼️‼️
I stopped falling for the boutique handwound hype after getting a set under a 50 bucks which sounded absolutely perfect
What kind?
@@zbthunderwoodtonerider, donlis etc
I think the most important crucial detail that consumers miss when they talk about pickups.
It's almost always "I changed the pickups in my cheap $100 guitar and it made a difference"
In my honest opinions those guitars are intentionally gimped to sound bad and have bad pickups so you shell out more money for higher end guitars.
If you buy any midrange guitar changes are the pickups on it are completely fine these days.
I had my Epi 335 dot's stock pickups replaced with Lollar low-wind P-90s and like you, I was blown away by the difference. (Especially from the stock sound.) However - I also had the wiring replaced and the nut - after those changes the guitar's tonal colour changed completely. And I removed the pickguard :)
I removed my pick guard what a difference ❤
Hi Jens, thanks for great content, I`ve been watching your stuff for a few years already. As for the pickups change - in my opinion it`s mainly psychological difference, similar as in hi-fi equipment snobbery, based on the mechanism "I`ve spent more, I feel it`s better". It`s all happening in your head.... just as anything else we see, hear, smell, etc. Keep up the great work 😀
Thanks! Sure, that makes sense 🙂
Wow. Maybe play guitar more. pickups make a huge difference. Doesn't matter if they are 800 or 80 dollars, they all read the strings differently. the only thing that smells is your mom.
I have the same guitar that you have. I replaced switch, tuners, pots, caps and pickups! I am using the locally made TV Jones pups - highly recommend them!
It seems like the issue is a tonal one, more than overall 'quality' of the sound. I'm curious how the Bare Knuckle Stormy Monday set would sound compared to both sets you used in the video, as this is apparently the set Bare Knuckle typically recommends for ES-335 style guitars. Even BK's tonal chart for the Stormy Monday set shows a much more prominent Bass frequency character, which might help with that 'nasal' midrange sound you noted from the Mule set. Thanks for sharing the journey, Jens. Cheers from Canada!
Yes, I don't think this in anyway shows that BK pickups are bad, both RIchard and I say that several times in the video.
It is indeed a bit random which pickups I have tried, and I have never tried the Stormy Mondays. The Ellis pickups are very bright which I think works well with the guitar, and the nasal character might also be about the guitar being like that 🙂
Jens do you use flat wound strings? I’ve been using half wound and like the brightness without the squeak. We guitarist are always looking for that elusive sound.
No, I use roundwound strings
Jens, love the cameos in your videos and thought bubbles , can’t think of any guitar videos that get a checkin from Monk and Carl Jung in the same day 😆
I play a $400 Ibanez jazz machine and I’m thinking of upgrading the pickups. You have convinced me , though I doubt I’ll go in for $800.
Any suggestions on $100-$150 jass pups?
Ah pickups wound with gold-rhodium alloy wire, wrapped tightly around ivory bobbins by the hands of a blind gypsy, utilizing the rarest of meteor magnetite for pole pieces, and finally potted with the blood of a virgin.
I almost spit out my coffee when I read “by the hands of a blind gypsy”
😂😂😂
😅 cool illustration. Very poetic
This whole concept of diminishing returns is intriguing. From the original Sheraton you bought, did the initial switch from the MIK PAFs to Bare Knuckles PLUS the new wiring harness deliver the biggest tonal improvement… and the Ron Ellis PAFs just provided additional icing on the cake? Or was it more than that?
This all depends on what $800 means to you. If its a drop in the bucket - yeah, why not. Mainly, Im impressed you still have an Epiphone E on your pickguard. Ive had acouple and those things fall off in less than a week.
Certainly! Didn't know those E's came of at all? 😁
Your "E" is still on there because your guitar is a Samick or Unsung-built Sheraton Jens...and not a modern day Chinese one.
The Korean buillt Epis are far superior in terms of build quality.
I know...I've had dozens go through my workbench.
@@christoguichard4311 makes sense. Do you know when they switched production away from Korea? I bought a Casino in Korea maybe 15 years ago and I believe it was Chinese.
@@benkatof5852 I believe it was around 2008. As far as I read on online forums, first years of Chinese production were awful, but they found their way with the Sheraton II Pro. Before that, they stopped making figured Sheratons; it seems that the wood (?) they begin to use after production in Korea halted had no grain at all. Knowing this made me a little suspicious of post-2008 Sheratons. Can anyone confirm this?
Jens Larsen I say yes, with one understanding. That life is short and you should play what you love. I think they do ring a little clearer, revealing the upper registers in jazz chords. Beautiful. And yes the law of diminishing returns is real, but when you spend years mastering a instrument, I say play what inspires you. You earned the best. Love your playing and videos, keep it up and GOD bless you, and your family. ❤
I always view equipment changes as how it influences my playing. When I switch guitars, my non-musician friends don’t hear a difference. However, the different guitar puts ME in a different place and takes my creativity elsewhere. I would be reluctant (thrifty!!) to try expensive pickups in a lower end guitar, but what you do to your guitar doesn’t affect my playing! If it takes you somewhere, then you did the right thing. Music would be boring if there was one formula for all of us.
Changing the pickups is one of the easiest mods to do which can make a massive difference. I just changed a neck pickup in my main guitar (with a handmade Mr. Glyn -5% PAF) and it came to life. Also changed the pots which made a difference too (the taper is better now).
Exactly! Thanks for checking out the video Nick!
Oh meant to say - it depends on what pickups are in there beforehand. If you swap one type of high end paf type pickup for another high end paf it may not be a big difference. But stock pickups to handmade customs is a huge difference
And one thing Glyn said to me was no one ever talks about how new pickups feel different. He’s a Jedi, if you don’t know his pickups, check him out. All hand made here in Nz by one guy and he knows all there is to know. All custom
I find the biggest change occurs when I use heavy strings on the top to reduce the snappy-ness and lighter strings on the bottom to reduce the boom. Also backing the pickups down just a bit on the bass side helps with the boom. Standard PAF’s are fine for jazz, that being said, I’ve been using the Benedetto A-6 in the neck position for jazz which I feel is a bit better. Even still, setup is the key to finding the sound I like for jazz.
I've got Bare Knuckles in my Les Paul, but I've got a Riff Raff in the bridge - very mid focused - and a Stormy Monday in the neck. The Stormy Monday is described on the BK website as being more hollow and it seems to me more like the way you're describing these new pickups. Either way, it's a terrific jazz pickup. I also have one of their humbucker sized P90s (the Manhattan) in an Ibanez archtop and that's also stunning.
Would love to hear a recording with you showing us what alternating between pickups can would sound like during a chord progression loop.
Depends on who you ask, surely?
To the sales person, "why not buy two sets?"
To a parent, "Johnny, your guitar is perfectly fine!"
To a tone chaser, "may be I need those pickups AND one more guitar!"
Me, "nah, I can think of custom pick up winders who can very proficiently and way more than adequately meet my needs."
On a side note, if I had to spend $800 on guitar stuff whilst a $400 guitar is in my quiver so to speak, I would use that budget on a better amp BEFORE a pickup swap. Just my 2 cents.
You cannot accurately remember sound for longer than about 7 seconds. The whole audio industry hinges on people being unaware of this, be it Hi-Fi or instruments. So your perception of the sound in the workshop after the switch probably was more influenced by expectation, blurry memories etc. than the actual sound. In the recordings you can hear a slight difference in the frequency response, as you described. But are the pick-ups less mid focused because they are more expensive? Or are they just expensive pick-ups that happen to be less mid focused? You could easily switch the price tags and say "listen to this amazing bass response in the Bare Knuckles" and so on.
I am not saying the Ellis pickups are better than the BKs, I am just saying that I like the more. For you it could easily be the other way around 🙂
Thank you for this video! i changed my Prs american model McCarthy pick ups for Seth Lover pick ups and suddenly the guitar played by itself. Also changing pickups changes the identity sound of both guitar and player, which is good thing! We can't all sound alike using our Gibsons! Again, thank you Mr Larsen
Exactly how I felt about this :) Glad you like the video!
I've said this before on one of your previous pick up videos, but I changed the stock pick ups in an Epiphone Les Paul for Gibson Classic 57s and it made huge difference. Went from muffled and unclear to a rich, old school tone
Yes, the question really is are the expensive pickups better than cheap stock pickups? Not whether is worth the money or boutique vs boutique. People want to know if adding good pickups to expensive guitar improves the sound? YES! I also added 57 Classics to an Epiphone 335. Big difference! Stock pickups weren’t bad. 57s were better though.
Correction: Adding good p/u to cheap guitar…
Very interesting Jens! Did you keep the stock wiring/pots or change those also? If you'd had the BK Stormy Monday set I expect there would have been less of a difference - maybe ;-)
No, I had the wiring changed when the BK's were installed
@@JensLarsen Thanks! Good move I'm sure
Firstly: Thank you for doing this sort of video, in the way you did. I love Glen and Colin's channels, and appreciate the way they did their debunking of toneewoods for electric guitars. That said...
Note: I'm an electromagnetic technician. Coils, frequencies, and em currents/signals are my area of expertise.
Pickups, and the signal response differences that can translated to tone, become extremely varied when you do the exact opposite of playing rock/metal: playing softly. By NOT overdriving the signal and causing it to clip and become distorted, the actual qualities of the coil (resistance, inductive reactance/capacitance, etc.) will have a much greater effect with regard to harmonic frequencies. Higher wound, or higher output, coils will naturally have a much greater flux density, which in effect is like turning up the gain on a microphone. Subtleties like scraping a string will have much more articulation because higher energy frequencies tend to pay more attention to surfaces, as it were. This is why bridge pickups tend to have higher output - the induced voltage through string motion in the magnetic field is less than the string motion by the neck, and so a higher frequency/output is required to detect what's going on at that particular section.
That said, I feel like the ridiculous prices for designer pickups are just that. The price is more of a reflection of the branding than the actual cost of materials and time. Usually. Some of the fancy pups out there are pretty spiffy tho.
Just got me a cheap ibanez jazzbox that came with their cheapest and really hot humbuckers. Have an old pat metheny super 58 coming that im going to put in it. I can get good tones from the stock pickup but expecting a enough of a difference to notice.
The Ellis are something else. Of course, using modellers and compression in recording will take away most of their shine. Perhaps we should all go back old school, those Blue Note recordings with simple amps and high end mics. To me they remain the reference for classic jazz guitar sound.
coiled copper wire is just coiled copper wire... no way $800 is justified
I wonder if the difference between the pickups is being lessened by running your setup through the FM3. The FM3 does a great job at making disparate inputs sound similar. Running both pickups through a simpler set up might explain your initial impression at the workshop
I think you are misunderstanding something, my reaction is still the same, it is not so that I am less enthusiastic because it really feels so nice to play also on the FM3 or on my twin or my AER. There is no real difference there.
Great vid. So glad you did it as I had considered swapping pups for a Ron Ellis set. Now I won't bother as both sets, bare knuckles or Ron Ellis sound great to me, with only a very minimal difference.
Glad to help
For 800 bucks you can get a complete pickup winding setup, wires, magnets, bobbins etc and manufacture dozens of "handwound" pickups. Then you can choose the one you most like
IMHO, you can get amazing results with a little EQ and light compression even with stock EQs and compression offered by DAWS such as Logic Pro. As I have UAD interfaces, I've achieved satisfying results with their DSP plugins. This isn't difficult, most of the time I'll dial in the presets for any plugin used. For live gigs, I have a Johnson JM150 which to me is the best digital amp made with all the effects, EQ and compression built in. That amp does have a learning curve. But there are other units out there. The bottom line is you dont need $800 pickups unless it already comes with the guitar. I'm not knocking the Ellis pickups because they do sound very good. Whatever floats your boat as they say.
The pickups sound brighter and cleaner, but did not sound to me like an improved tone. I would try using the Bare Knuckles set at lower height (back off the screws by 1 full turn), and maybe use a cleaner amp setting. I personally prefer the demo of the Bare Knuckles as they seem to compliment the guitar pretty well IMO.
As I also said in the video, it will be a question of taste 🙂
Hi Jens - I've been watching your vids for a few years now and love the valuable content. I bought the Jazz roadmap a while back and have begun to settle down with it again. very interested to hear your views on the Sheraton guitar. I have the same model and love playing with it. My only criticism is the physical weight of it! I couldn't stand upi to play just too heavy. Perhaps the difference in tone that you liked when you tried it out in Ron Ellis's workshop as well as the new pickups was down to the accoustics of the room. Just a thought. many thanks for the great content,
Thanks! Glad you like the Roadmap! I am playing the guitar all the time, and I don't think the difference is the room, but I do think that what I experience playing it doesn't really come across in the recordings (also not in the workshop). I think there is more to it than how the guitar sounds recorded though.
Ciao Jens,me li consiglieresti per la mia Sheraton pro ll,anche io trovo che i probucker soprattutto al ponte siano un po' impastati ciao grazie e vivissimi complimenti per i tuoi video jazz , Grande 🎸🤩
They certainly sound as you describe, but maybe I'm just very suggestible 😂
I'm all for putting in pickups that are worth more than the guitar itself, I've got a Lollar Charlie Christian in a cheap ply- and balsa wood guitar and it sounds great.
I want to buy a jazz guitar nice & compact not very heavy & sound like George Benson & not expensive not more than 500$ which brand should I search for & which model ?
My old 90s Japanese-made Telecaster always sounded a bit flat and the volume was always very low compared to the rest of my guitars, so I put a Seymour Duncan Little 59 set in it - a Vintage Stack noiseless pickup in the neck, and the Little 59 humbucker in the bridge.
Almost nothing changed, except that now when playing through the neck pickup on my Quilter amp, the guitar is so, so bassy I cannot play at any reasonable volume without sounding ridiculous, even with the bass completely cut on the amp. I'll likely never change pickups again.
I recently thought about buying a cheap guitar and switching the pickups.
This will sorta answer that question. I wouldn’t want the cost of both to be more then I’m willing to pay on just the guitar considering I want it to be my cheap guitar, like a sleeper
^This! I managed to get a guitar for cheap, and some pickups also quite cheaply. Together with professional installation the guitar overall costs the same as a stock new one. I'll lose money if I sell, but I planned on keeping it from the start. It needs at least a fret dress now, or better yet, a refret, but I have had so much fun on it I am glad to have walked this road, even if only a short distance.
Hi Jens, maybe the nice amp in the workshop brings out the differences in the pickups in a more detailed way than a modeler (supposing you recorded the comparison clips with a modeler). Would be an interesting contribution to the discussion on modelers vs tube amps if you made a comparison of the PUs including an amp vs modeler. Thanks for your nice work! Greetings from germany Markus
No, because the difference is just as big at home, it is just in the recordings (as I say in the video)
Добрый день, Jens! Вы не могли бы подсказать, - вот пришла мне новая бас-гитара Squier Affinity Series Precision Bass PJ Laurel Fingerboard с интернет-магазина, - красивая и внешне качественная, НО - довольно сильно фонит! Прикоснёшься рукой к крутилкам или к струнам, сразу тишина, убираешь пальцы, сразу высокочастотный фон! Дело не в шнуре, и не в усилителе, так как менял по всякому, не помогает. При игре стоит шорох и раздаются щелчки от прикосновения к струнам.. Такая картина - это же ненормально? Гитара стоит 400 долларов.. Или же и другие гитары, подороже, также создают фон!? И можно ли что то теперь сделать с этим? Очень жаль отправлять обратно в магазин эту гитару...
I can't troubleshoot that from a comment, sorry 🙂
Hey Mr. Jens, not sure sure if you have answered this but what are your thoughts on William Leavitt guitar books, if jazz guitar is my final goal?
I never used them, so I don't really have an opinion on them
Interesting.... but how did you do the comparison video? Did you change the pickups again when you got back your studio?
No, I played the first takes before changing the pickups and then the last ones afterwards. I don't know how to change pickups 😁
Well good job... shirt and camera were exactly the same! @@JensLarsen
Hello Jens,
I wonder what you think about Lenny Breau and Ted Greene, since they are not as famous as the players you usually cover in your videos, but just as great.
There is so much stuff that nobody else did in his playing that i am curious what you took away from them to use it in your playing or what you think about them in general.
Great channel by the way!
Ok, I see videos on Ted Greene all the time, so I am not sure I agree that he is not talked about that much? Both are of course fantastic and mind-blowingly skilled players but also primarily solo performers and I always found myself gravitate more towards people who play in bands, which is why I rarely do videos on solo guitar performances, but that is also something that people like Tim Lerch and Sandra Sherman do all the time, so I don't think there is a real shortage of that.
Jens thank you for the video actually I have a question (I hope it's ok to do it here): could you recommend a good luthier in the NL?
Certainly: Richard Heeres, Rob Elferink, Daniel Slaman, Chris Teerlink, Wout Bosma
@@JensLarsenthank you so much ! I wish you and your family a Merry Christmas 😊
@@juliendrouot128 you too 🙂
Jens - I thought your main guitar was the Ibanez! LOL! FWIW I put Manlius unpotted A3 '59LT in my Eastman T-486 and Manlius unpotted A4 Fat Diane's in my Epiphone ES 335 Pro. No question better pickups make for a better guitar - that and the amp & speaker.
I think the acoustics in the workshop were very reverby. This is what made the treble poke out more then in your studio. But there is a difference, it’s just rather subtle for me listening
Ron Ellis pickups are expensive, but god damn they’re incredible, 3D, sweet and beautifully sounding
Are the Ron Ellis pickups wax potted? unpotted pups are a bit clearer. also same magnets? there are several variables in pups. I did hear less compression in the RE pups. Enjoy!
I have Jason Lollar Gold Imperials in my Epi Sheraton. Got them used off Reverb for significantly less than 800!!!
I had Ellis LRP pups in a Les Paul. The clean sounds were outstanding: sweet, pleasing, nice clarity. But when I played blues gigs with low gain at a very modest volume they squealed uncontrollably. I don't use a lot of gain nor volume, but I finally had to give up and sell them. I hated to do it because those cleans were so sweet and clear. But the guitar became unuasble for me. I especially love the Humbuckers from Jim Rolph which are excellent. I have them in a ES-333.
I think for clean or slightly overdriven sounds pickups can make quite a difference in sound and feel. But when putting the guitar through effect chains or distortion then not so much. I like a slightly underfund pickup and notice a huge difference in lost dynamics with overwound pickups.
Many claim pickups are the only thing that maters in guitar tone. I think there are many factors actually. Many are subtle maybe, but still contribute. Does his hollow body sound different from a solid body?
Great video, as always, Jens. Pickups can make a big different in the tone of the guitar and some more so than others. But what I really like about this video is that you show that don’t have to spend a fortune on a guitar to get one that plays and sounds great. Bravo.
It’s a little easier getting a solid jazz tone versus others like using distortion ect !!! Good vid man !!! Thank you 🙏 🎸
i have an epiphone dot and I changed out the switches and pods. It made a big difference.
When PUs are that good, it is all opinion. I preferred the chords on the Bare Knuckles; they sounded more classic, but both sound great. Cool video.
Oh I love this Epi Sheraton model !!! One of the original epiphones guitar. And about the pick up test…Art is very subtle in many ways. And I really believe that it makes a huge difference even being something that only you are able to feel it. Cause as you said, there is the human factor and this is where we all sound different even playing the same guitar. And if you have 0,5 db louder on treble with this new pickup , in my opinion, this is a huge difference!!! Cause when we are playing with the eq, all of the decisions are important, even this +0,5db
I’m glad you like these new pair of pickups!!!
Although really the only "different" pickups I've ever played are Wilde pickups, I must say these seem to bring a nice top end to your sound. Maybe the Bare Knuckles are way too hot also?
I got lucky with a 1980 Gibson 335-S Professional Deluxe. It has original Tim Shaw designed Dirty Fingers humbuckers and a coil tap switch. I play through a Marshall DSL40C. I never played anything else. I love my rig. I've been told that my pickups are too 'hot' for jazz, but I don't have any problems. My teacher used to say that it had everything to do with my pickhand, not my pickup. He was right.
what to expect? i changed the stock-humbuckers on my "Aria Pro II (330-full hollow)" against, an used SD_SH-2 on the neck and a '57 Classic Plus Gibson on the bridge.
I would give it a 5 of 5 stars!
It may be not a big difference in sound, but there is a difference. The main thing is that the player will react to that and this changes what is played. The average listener will perhaps not notice the difference in sound but will get a performance by a more inspired musician. It is like changing the pick, wich can make a huge difference in sound but maybe even more in the playing.
Bass player here. For me pickups make an unbelievable difference to sound and tone.. they are so different you can also it tell some brands with only hearing the player. My pickup are very carefully chosen and I’ve tried almost everything on the market. Bartolini will always be my choice and a specific pickup they do - there is a lot of choice.
The new pickups are more articulate. Like language, the right amount of the frequencies around the consonants defines the word. In guitar, that frequency defines what you're playing. I like a mellow tone that has a defining edge. Hank Garland was one of my favorite tones. Nice video.
Did you use brand new strings for both tests? Changing the strings effects the toan a lot
Pickups act as inductors, which have a low-pass filtering property. The strength (inductance) of that inductor, in combination with the tone circuit (capacitor and pot) in your guitar gives you fairly flat frequency response up to a corner frequency, after which volume falls off steadily with frequency, and may give you a bit of a resonant bump at the corner frequency. The biggest difference between pickups (aside from sheer volume, which you can compensate for with a volume control) is just where that corner frequency is, and how much of a bump you get there, given your tone circuit arrangement.
The biggest difference between normal humbuckers and normal single-coils is just that the single coils have a higher corner frequency.
If you want tonal variation, your two best bets are (1) having a coil-split switch so that you can use your humbuckers as single coils (just using one of the two sides of each pickup) and make your Gibson sound like a Fender, or (2) an EQ to effectively move the corner freqency up or down. (You can roll off the highs starting below the pickup's corner frequency, to put the knee lower, or boost the highs somewhat above the corner frequency to effectively move the corner frequency up.)
One very versatile arrangement is an HSH (humbucker-singlecoil-humbucker) strat with coil splits on the humbuckers. (The Nashville-style Tele used by a lot of studio guitarists in Nashville is just a Telecaster with HSH (& coil split) pickups like an HSH strat; it's one guitar that can do all the things people expect from electric guitars.)
How do Bare Knuckle and Ron Ellis pickups compare to the Gibson T Type Humbuckers, which most 335's are equipped with? Thx!
It seems to me from my experience that the sound of a guitar is cumulative. Everything has a small impact. The amp and speaker being the biggest. I have guitars that sound great with certain amps and not so good with others. And when I swapped my first speaker, I realized that was the biggest change I could make.
When I want more clarity from a humbucker I turn the pole piece screws so that they come out a little.
Hello, what pick up with a good sound very smooth, mine is s 58 on ibanez AFM 95?thanks
I can say from experience that upgrading pickups can make a dramatic difference, especially in low priced guitars. I wouldn't pay $800 for pickups, though. Glad you liked the end result! You do you!
I'd gladly pay $100 to refit the mule back in. That, to me, is what I love in an electric jazz guitar timbre.
Like some others on here I'd love to hear an AB test the Stormy Mondays.. maybe on a solid body as they are still common that viewers will almost definitely have at least one.
And for my opinion? The tone is very different between your new pups and the mule. I'm happy to have a guitar for hi end but the main jazzer is more of a dark smooth mule.
1. While watching the video on lower quality speakers, I preferred the sound of the Bareknuckles, but with headphones I prefer the RE's
2. An EQ + compressor/clean boost before any effects/preamp can do what a pickup change does for the guitar's tone but with much more range and versatility. It's not EXACTLY the same thing as a pickup swap but all effects-using guitarists should consider this option before spending unnecessary money
I listened very carefully with good headphones. Analytically I could hear a very small difference, but not one to make a significant difference in music. Yes, the old set was a bit more nasal, and with more bass, while rhe new one are a bit more articulate in the mids & highs. But that's something that I could hear only if listening purposefully for tone, comparing the two. Strangely enough, I could hear the difference better when playing single lines rather than chords. But again, not something to make a difference musically.
So, to conclude: the jump from stock pickups to decent pickups definitelly makes sense... but after a certain level (which is not that advanced), the differences are so minimally incremental, that it's not worth bothering about it. Couldn't you get the same results with some adjustments of the amp's EQ ?
With a plan to build a guitar, I purchased a $270 EART strat clone guitar just to use the neck. But first I used it to test some Kinman pickups, and was so surprised how good it played, that it became a primary guitar. In fact, I would prefer it to my vintage 65 strat.
The two sets are pretty similarly voiced, so it isn't hugely surprising they sound similar. I didn't run the samples through audacity but it sounds like there is a slightly bigger peak around the 3-5k range from the Ellis and less around 100? You should pop them into a spectrum and see the response.
For me, changing the wiring to a mojotone made a huge difference in my beloved mim stratocaster, don’t feel the need to switch pu’s though I’ve heard lots of good things about the kloppmans.
Great video! For me, changing pickups in my 335 is a sickness (chronic)... I changed the original Gibson classic 57 humbuckers for some Seymour Duncan, and those were nice but not that much different, then later put in a set from Harmonic design (another boutique), and then still later a set of Ron Ellis LRP. I actually ended up recently swapping those out for a set of Lollar (which are slightly higher output). All this is basically because this 335 (which I love otherwise) is itself very bright and seems to lack a certain amount of upper-mid, so all this has been to try to get the tome a bit warmer. The Lollar's do finally seem to help there (but the guitar basically still sounds mostly the way it always has).
I have a cheap Squier Affinity series from 2000. I put some really nice pickups in it and it sounds incredible! (Steve's special bridge, Fender Jaguar middle and PRS humbucker at the neck) The only problem is that the intonation isn't the best given that it's a cheaper made guitar.
Sonically the difference is definitely very subtle, but I think in the focus on "tone" the feel to the player tends to be a more under-appreciated aspect. There are lots of examples where very subtle differnces may not be that audible to a listener but depending on the player it can make a huge difference to the perofrmance and its hard (basically impossible) to subract the subjective element here because its all so individual (which in my view is kinda cool and why in the world would you want to remove the subjective element in the first place?).
I'll go against the current and say "Sure", if it gets you where you want to be. It's still *only* $1,200.00 total, and you're a high-level professional who knows what he wants. I don't know (yet) exactly what the pickups offer you, but crossing the line into "diminishing returns" territory can for sure be worth it, to me. Aesthetic experience, beauty...compared to the value of money, surely a purely personal thing?
Jim Lill's videos are amazing.
Oh how I loved that guitar (all stock), my first "real" "jazz" guitar :) If another pickup helps to get more tonal range out of it - or TS mid-scoop, can't think of a better model that would deserve this or that mod
Pickup builders definitely know how to "voice" them. I struggle with "fairy dust" and "snake oil" type products as much as the next guy. That and there's about $10 of material in a pickup. I decided to swap my Seymour Duncan HB Jazz set out of my '06 Epiphone SG for P90s. Was ready to do some Fralin's or something and bought both sets of Toneriders for the same price(wasn't sure if I would think the neck was hot enough or bridge too hot). Alnico II(Vintage) Neck and Alnico V(Mean) bridge. Sounds beautiful. Same "new guitar" feeling for $200. Same type to same type, in the mix(live or recording), I doubt I would notice. We eq with tone knob, fingers, the mix. It sure is fun, though! I have no hollow or semi and have a hankerin' for that Ibanez JSM20.
Glenn Fricker just rolled over in his office chair.... I thought my bareknuckles were overpriced but sheeeeeesh.
If you reduce the space between the low E-String and PU mulm in most cases goes away! Fine tuning with the hight of the pole-screws. But I do here some more grit on the Ellis, a hint more definition, maybe a higher output level? I made the experience that replacing cheap stock-pus with better ones make a huge difference. Replacing good pus with good pus ends like your records. Mostly a matter of taste IF there are differences.
As a guitar player who can't make up my mind whether I'm more into jazz or metal, I can definitely say that a metal player who wants to use more elaborate chords will definitely benefit from a higher quality pickup. 800 isn't cheap, but a full set of Fishmans or high end Seymour Duncans will set you back about the same amount. Guitar players who complain about a few hundred dollars should feel fortunate they don't need to shop for a concert grade cello bow haha... finding your voice is important. The right decision doesn't have to mean the more expensive choice, it really comes down to making critical and thoughtful choices and finding something youre happy with that will elevate your experience. And it doesn't even need to be a question if something is better or worse, just being different is enough. Qualitative opinions like that are completely subjective anyway so find what fits the sound profile you want to convey. I recently upgraded the pups on a cheap 7 string and it completely opened up the capabilities. It's so much clearer now and sounds great heavy or smooth, so I definitely don't think that chasing the right pickup is a fool's errand.
It's not easy to hear differences just as a listener compared to what you can hear when you are actually playing.
I had a good listen to the Bareknuckle versus Ellis Pickups on both my headphones (Sennheiser HD215 via a Steinberg UR242 Interface) and Speaker Monitors (KRK Rokit 6"). I can hear how the midrange focus of the Bareknuckles would work great in a live Band / Gig situation. In such a setup the Bareknuckles would not intrude too much on frequency ranges of other instruments.
When I play gigs (or jams) with my Strat, I've been told that the middle pickup works best in a band situation (for the overall band sound)😁. I used to NEVER play on the middle pickup. I hated it. Now I love it. I use it nearly all the time. Just a matter of getting used to it.
The Ellis pickups were great too - but different. There seemed to be a 'spike' upwards of a few dB at (around 10 to 12 kHz ? - please correct me if I'm wrong). It may be argued that this may suit solo guitar playing more. This may be true but I would imagine you could still play ANY kind of Music with the Ellis pickups (and also the Bareknuckles). I think you mentioned the 'band vs. solo' points in your video.
As you mentioned - it's different if you are the one there in person and playing the instrument. It's exciting when you discover something new in playing guitar / Music. Congrats on the new pickups Jens.😁
That is interesting, Kevin! Not sure about spikes in the Freq response of the Ellis pickups, but I didn't measure anything. 🙂
@@JensLarsen You can straight away hear that The Ellis pickups are hotter. I just thought for a small (Small Q) higher frequency range the signal was a tiny bit louder. No doubt though - the Ellis Pickups are great ! I like versatility in anything Musical - and that's what they are.
I do have to disagree about the difference for metal pickups, some play nicer with distortion than others. I swapped out a bridge dimarzio tonezone for a Titan on my ibanez, and it was a night and day difference (especially boosted with treble dimed). I've also had great experiences with Fishman Fluence pickups sounding clearer through layers of distortion.
I agree with @frankvaleron, I also changed my Epiphone pickups for Gibson Classic 57s and it was a big difference not only sound but the weight as I introduced 50s wiring and because I played jazz I also put Russian oil in paper capacitors in my 175 to give it more of a jazz feel and less brightness.
I think its fair to point out that if your audience is listening to your recorded guitar on cheap earbuds/tiny speakers (which many of us are) than much of the nuance imparted by pickup variations, etc is going to be lost in translation.
I’d rather listen to a great musician on crappy gear than a crappy one with great gear!😊
Yes, I think this is mostly going to be about how it feels to play them, which is also why I talk more about that in the 2nd half of the video
@@JensLarsenI completely agree with you Jens, the feel is the difference….just like a great pair of handmade shoes or a tailored suit. 😊
Ellis pickups are chosen by some of the best in the business for a reason.
So. Idk about about expensive anything. But if you have a piece of hardware that you love the feel of, and can see the potential of your equipment. I can see no problem with costumizing your equipment
I liked the sound of the Bare Knuckles, but the Ron Ellis pickups had just that little bit extra that sounds great in your hands!
I'm primarily a bass player, but made the ill-advised choice to start learning guitar at the beginning of the pandemic (I now have 3 cheap guitars :D ) and with my very first guitar, a Squier Bullet Tele, the original ceramic pickups were bright and brittle. I swapped them for a set of Fender 60's Vintera pickups, and while it was a good change, it still didn't get me quite where I wanted the guitar to sound.
Now, I put in a set of GFI slightly-overwound (and budget priced!) pickups, and they sound WONDERFUL, and have flats strung up on the guitar now. They get a really warm but detailed neck pickup sound, and a bright but not overly-trebly or brittle bridge pickup sound (like what you'd expect a Tele bridge pickup to sound like).
I'm pretty happy with my other 2 guitars' sound - a Squier Paranormal Cabronita Baritone Tele with P90s and a Grote semi-hollow (I don't really want to have to swap out pickups or electronics in a semi-hollow...because I'm lazy!).
It's gonna be a no from me, chief. No pickup is worth that much. They are not worth half of that, I can't understand even how people regularly pay a quarter of it. It's not a quantum computer, we are talking about the most retro piece of tech imaginable.
Of course can some be, what if it’s out a 59 Les Paul?
Agreed. Same tech that holds things to your fridge. Unless total garbage pickups I think it's pots, amp, string gauge, distance to PUs, position of PUs etc. Over the years I've learned the expensive lesson that the only way to make your guitar sound like the one you want is to buy the one you want.
Yeah, I'd rather get a guitar worth 800+400. At least you get better build, better worksmanship than a 400-guitar. Sorry, pickups at this price range are just stupid.
@@pookachu64maybe is the 59 les paul comes with them. But pickups alone. No way.
Winding pickings is actually quite a difficult skill and to do it at a truly high level requires a great deal of knowledge, training, and expertise. Not to mention, the taste that is developed over years of experimenting to give a customer a consistent, reliable product that sounds the way it claims to.
Just because technology is “old” doesn’t make it cheap or less valuable. In fact, in many cases the opposite is true.
what was the result?