Quality pickups on basic guitars

Zoton

Simple yet complex question here. (:rolleyes: )

Taking a basic epiphone/jay turser type guitar and sticking in some seymour duncan/di marzio pickups would imporve the sound greatly. However, would the inferior build quality of these guitars and the wood used have a big impact on the overall quality of the tone?

Doctor J

Yes. Definitely. The acoustic tone of the guitar is defined by the type and quality of woods and materials and the build quality. This directly effects how the strings vibrate and it's the string vibration which is magnetically interpreted by the pickups.

A good pickup will always sound better than a regular pickup. Good pickups can only do so much, they can only translate what the strings are doing though.

A good guitar with good pickups will sound magnificent, however.

Zoton

Any views on jay turser guitars?

Doctor J

Never played one, never even heard of them.

I suppose if you want an example, check the price of a Warmoth body, especially with some of the premium woods. It gets quite pricey, but those woods are selected for tone and looks. One piece of ash can sound very different to a different piece of ash. I was looking at a Jazz bass body with a sunburst finish for over $400, just a body with a specially selected piece of wood, no neck, no hardware. A full guitar for budget prices just isn't going to give you the same natural acoustic sound, which is what the pickups react to.

If you want a guitar that will really respond to you, generally you've got to fork out.

Zoton

Ah yeah, gonna frok out a bit for a decent one, but would also like to get a basic one and doll it up a little. Do my own maniacal wiring, get some crazy tones out of it.

Doctor J

Just get the cheapest resonable spec (squier, epiphone, etc) out of Buy and Sell. Don't fork out on a new one. You'll feel less guilty about hammering a chisel into a guitar that's 'been around the block'

feylya

And it's such fun chiseling guitars Did a nice little jobby on my epiphone. Just need to finish it some day when I get some cash.

Doctor J

Oh?

Details man, show us some pics

Zoton

Found a sweet looking Jay Turser guitar on ebay. Its got a funky silverburst finish.
So i reckon a seymour duncan and a dimarzio, drop it into D or C, adjust truss rod, give it a crazy low action
should be interesting.

Anything else that should be done?

Doctor J

Buy new pots and wiring, get someone to dress the frets properly and maybe sort out a new nut, and you'll almost definitely need new tuners, but not worth it, IMHO.

With the money you spend on upgrading a cheap guitar you could just go out and get a good guitar to start off with :dunno:

Zoton

Gonna get get a good guitar, but also wanna have a bit of fun upgrading a basic body that i like.

Doctor J

Hmmmm... I used to be into that, but then I bought gear I didn't have to upgrade and the urge left me

It's not like acheiving nirvana but it is good