Why Cheap Pickups Suck

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[disgruntledfaerie]

And hot take: the primary benefit of really flash boutique guitars is how fiercely they get defended by people who splash out the dosh for them.

Are there stinkers? Yes. At every price range. But past about $500-$700 the returns diminish fast.

[disgruntledfaerie]

Last May, I picked up a "Leo Jaymz" Les Paul knockoff for $150, for kicks. The stock ceramic pickups were microphonic and useless. Stuck a set of 59 reissue style pickups in it, replaced the tuners, and filed down the sharp fret edges. Did a setup on it. Strung it with 10s.

And it's banging. Instantly recognizable tone. Tons of sounds available from it. Plays well enough for me.

[UnhungHero]

I've had cheap pickups that sound great and expensive ones that don't. I've also had cheap pickups that are generally built with higher quality than $200 PRS pickups... My suggestion is find what you like and use those, no matter the price

[LewtElune]

There's cheap pickups and there's cheap OEM pickups. Artec for instance has been producing great sounding pickups for decades that retails around 15€ and 25€ (for the high end) a piece. There's really no discernible sonic difference between a good Korean or Japanese made pickup and any Dimarzio, Seymour Duncan or Bare Knuckle. So no, cheap pickups don't suck. Sometimes (although rarely) even super cheap OEM pickups sounds fine.

[JimVaughanSolotet]

The amp is the key. When you compare pickups that are made the same way, there's virtually no difference. This video shows amazing pickups that are built differently than cheap pickups.

[TheModmc]

i dont get the "not worth it on cheap guitar" argument. if you have a cheap guitar that plays well maybe has some emotional value to you, it can be tremendous. if you get a 3k gibson was the guitar worth it if you have to change pickups?
i think we shouldnt always listen to the bean counters.
there is also the aspect of making it your own, comparable to getting a car for 2k and putting parts on it for double the amount.
working on something and actually making it better or more beautiful is a thing worthy of pursuing. it makes you feel better and you learned a practical skill.

[wlb-]

The main thing with cheaper ceramic pickups is they are usually way too hot/dark sounding. This is the big reason I replaced the pickups in my mid 2000's Telecaster. The bridge pickup read at like 16.8k and the bridge was 11k. I put a slightly overwound bridge and vintage neck set in and never looked back.

[guitar_gnome]

Thanks so much. Really good demo of what you're talking about. There's so much nuance to electric guitar that the journey is awesome.

[LeifGrahamsson]

What I love about this video is that it is educating guitarists without simply being an ad - of course we are learning Dylan pickups are designed and built to the absolute top tier, but I love how the wisdom is freely given.

[dartstudio]

I was tinkering with the single coil that comes in a Glarry guitar and found the ceramic magnet under the windings can be popped off and different copper, brass, hybrid shims can be used to get different effect. Nothing under the E and A string, but .020 brass shim stock gave the cords a more vintage ring (to me everyone has their own tastes) Customizing coils can be fun! Thanks for this comparison. Am taking notes!!

[martinskanal]

What is cheap? What is suck? It is a few cents of wire, a dollar worth of magnets, particle board and and a couple of drops of solder. There is inherently no reason why price should dictate sound quality.. Leo Fender picked whatever bulk woods that wouldn't dent too easily for the best price he could obtain, mainly alder and ash, he chose lacquer from the automobile industry - whatever colors were in style (he didn't even provide a color chart until 10 years into his guitar production), and ALL pickups from the start until CBS bought him out where all over the place with regards to number of windings, what alnico magnets he got hold of, and actual measured resistance - furthermore those PUs were scatter wound - so essentially no pickup that ever left his factory measured the same. Which means achieving some esoteric Goldie locks tone was never really part of the reasoning for ANY of the decisions made - apart from, arguably, the way he staggered the poles in a PU. Interestingly those specifications were based on a different mix of wound and naked strings than what (pretty much all) guitarists used today. Jimi Hendrix used his PUs mirrored the wrong way due to him being left handed - did his tone suffer for it? You think??

Interestingly, people today pay extra $$$ - for tone reasons - to get their guitars made by woods Leo Fender, Gibson or others never chose for tones, get their guitars painted with lacquer that Leo Fender, Gibson or others never chose for tone reasons, get their guitars equipped with PUs to certain vintage specs that never existed when the real vintage PUs were wound. For tone reasons.

When boutique builders today make PUs true to vintage specs, true to what vintage specs do they mean? PUs from Strat number 11372 or 11373? Or 11374? Because those PUs were all slightly or even significantly different. Do you think the Mexican, unskilled workforce winding those PUs at Leo's plant cared about exact measurements? They did not. They operated within a "ballpark". Did production managers measure each PU and say, "Hey, this PU is no good.. it is 0.3 kHz off!" .. no they did not.

What is underwound? when is a PU not underwound? When is it overwound? Overwound compared to what? Is it a fixed threshold? No, it ain't.
Is formvar wire inherently and objectively better than plain enamel wire? No, it is not.
Did ever a person exist that can pick up a guitar, plug it in, strum it and consistently separate between formvar and plain enamel wire in PUs through the use of his ears? No, that person does not exist.
Does a person nonetheless strongly believe he can hear a significant difference? Yes, in fact, many people do..
Can nature tell us the ideal number of windings on a single coil or a humbucker PU? No it cannot.
Did Leo Fender or Seth Lover find out what resistance is "ideal" for their PUs? No they did not. No such "ideal" exist.
Does modern amps deal with the signal coming from PU differently than how vintage amps did? Yes they do.
Were vintage amps consistent with regard to how they amplified PUs? No, they were not.
Will a PU sound the same in any guitar? No, they will not.
Will a PUs characteristics change with how big the string clearance is? Yes they will.
Will w h e r e and h o w you pick a string drastically affect your sound output? Yes it will.

Does Fender Texas specials suck? Yes, they do.
Are Fender Texas Specials the best PUs ever? Yes they are.

It entirely depends on who you ask.

Are Chinese PU winders unable to wind PUs half the resistance of 14K generic PUs. Of course not. Can you easily get low output PUs from even cheap manufacturers? Of course you can.

My best P90 PU at my Tele's neck position is made by Gotoh. It sports alnico III magnets and measure 5.95kΩ. I like low output PUs of similar reasons to that of the maker of this video. I used to believe hype. I paid more than 200 USD for a hand wound, boutique PU after lengthy exchanges with the maker. He sent me a 9.38kΩ P90. It's nice. Better than the five PUs I already owned costing just under 100 USD each new. I bought the Gotoh and it rocks. Like, .. fucking rocks. Is it the best P90 in the world? Yes. And No. It depends who you ask. It depends wether or not who you ask actually trust their ears.

In my two fav Strats sits a set of Lindy Fralin Woodstock '69s (came with the guitar) and a cheap set bought on AliBaba. The Fralins are slightly hotter than the Chinese made set, but neither are hot compared to most modern single coils. In both guitars I've rolled PUs and tried different sets, but these two sets raaawk. One set is about 300 USD, the other set was 35 USD. Both sound stellar. And I mean stellar. And slightly different.. although I am unsure whether or not the difference in sound is down only to the differences in PUs or if the sounds are different mainly due to differences in guitar construction, hardware etc.

I've got friends who payed 650 USD and waited several months to get their hand-wound boutique PUs. They are really nice people. They are also fucking insecure and stupid to pay 600+ USD for a set of PUs . Fender, Seth Lover and others would have never stopped giggling - these PUs are put together from materials probably worth 1% of that price.

Most of the best guitarist in the world never paid that kind of money for a set of PUs. Some did. They don't sound better.

But OP is right about one thing. That second set of PU sounds miles better. For sure.

[frankcarter]

I recently compared Harley Benton Roswell and Gibson P90s - except at the subtlest level, they sounded exactly the same

[shanehill]

I would like to see a comparison between cheap and more expensive similar pickups - same winds/resistance, same magnet type. These are very different pickups so a bit odd to compare.

[MichaelBLive]

This is literally the 1st time I get why someone complains about cheap pickups. Excellent explanation indeed. No balogna, just a real clear description of WHY a pickup can be nicer than another. Thank you sir!

[tedonyszczak]

Just wanted to let you know this is one of the most useful videos you or any guitar YouTube has done. Thanks so much. This clarifies so much.

[margarethouse]

Just for Devil's Advocate :

How did it sound on the other positions ?

How about adjusting the pickups ? Dropping the pickup body and raising the screws will make significant difference in the tone . That might or might not result in sufficiently usable tones, but definitely worthwhile to try *free* options before dropping the the cost of the guitar for new boutique pickups .

[EnJoony]

I've had some REALLY cheap pickups that put the pricey ones to shame - There definitely are exceptions and it's never good to generalize.

[wesleymorris]

I agree most humbuckers wound over 10k and have ceramic mags, have no character, I like 7k to 8.5k alnico 2 or 5, or even a3 for cleans. 6.4 to 7.5 on my single coils. The more winds the darker and less reactive to your playing.

[MajorUpgrade]

I have this guitar, and it is pretty freaking awesome. The paint job is flawless and along with the "roasted looking" neck punches much higher than "normal paint" for guitars in this range. I also have the white Gio with black binding (GRG120EX) with the reverse headstock. Both are pretty fun to play after a good setup. One thing I would say about the Chameleon guitar, and I'm not sure you mentioned it as this video was all about the pickups - I am not REAL crazy about Ibanez's choice for the input jack... it's some sort of hybrid plastic, jack and jackplate all in one deal - kind of weird... It works fine, I recon, but if it ever starts getting weird and breaking I might have to replace it with a more normal traditional jack/jack plate. Perfect time to upgrade to a puretone. 😃

[Shiznitt_]

This is exactly what I look for in a good pickup. Sometimes pots can hinder your pickups too though. Have a guitar with great pickups(humbuckers), but the pots drifted close to 250k. It sounded like it was missing high end definition. Replaced them with 500k audio taper + 50's wiring, and now it’s perfect.