pickups and guitar shop prices

pyure

hey guys,

im thinking about changing the pickups on my guitar (yamaha pacifica). yes i know its a beginners guitar and people are probally gonna recommend i buy something better rather than upgrade, but not alot of cash to go around.

so, i was going to buy em online, as its much cheaper, (seymour duncan jb and 2 vintage noiseless strat pups for about 150 euro), but how difficult is it to fit pickups ? also, how much would guitar shops charge to do it for me ?

finally, how much does a professional setup cost ? im getting pretty good at doing it myself, but a pro job at least once might be a good idea i think.

thanks
pyure

Oeneus

Don't under estimate the power of the Pacifica. It's the best budget guitar range out there in my opinion. But anyway...

Don't bother getting someone to do it for you for extortional prices. Just learn to do it yourself. It's no big deal. It's basically a matter of keeping note of where the wires of the old pickups were and putting the new ones in the same place.

Its basic stuff really. If your really worried about it there's plenty of stuff about it on the net. Do a search.

fitz

And it's also really easy to overheat components when soldering and fuck them up.

If you're in doubt, get a mate who's handy with a soldering iron, or bring it into a shop. I'd recommend checking out Seymour Duncan and EMG pickups. When you have them bought, getting the guitar serviced and the pickups fitted shouldn't cost more than about €50/60.

Doctor J

Check out the german online stores, you'll pick up the Seymour Duncans for about 60% of what you have to pay for them here.

New pickups should be straightforward enough to install, just practice soldering unattached wires together for a while before you try it for real. As Fitz said, it's very easy to overheat the wires/pots/pickups if you're sloppy/not careful and blow whatever money you've just spent on the new pickups.

Giblet

You could also buy a few connectors if you want. Snip the wire, expose the core, and then connect it to the pickup using a plastic connector with the screws in it.

I personally would solder it, but It's worth investigating.

Oeneus

50-60 ****ing Euro??!!! Oh come on!

Dude, definately do it yourself. not only will it be cheaper, but you will learn off it, and then you could do it for other people and charge them extortional prices like 50 ****ING EURO!!!???

pyure

thanks for the replies guys,

i was looking at the soldering end of things today, shouldnt be to bad with some practice i reckon, or at least getting a friend to do it

one quick question about EMG pickups...are they the ones that require batteries? if so why would i want one, and how difficult are they to fit?

also, knowing nothing about pickups as i do, is there anywhere i can listen to some sound clips before buying ? music123.com doesnt have any sound demos up for them.

Doctor J

Seymour Duncan's website has sound samples of pickups. I have a JB in one of my guitars and I can guarantee you won't be disappointed. They are an excellent pickup, very versatile tone, sound sweet clean or distorted. Haven't heard the vintage noiseless but I'd say they pretty much do what they say. Just check the output of the vintage noiseless is close enough to the JB so that the volume of each is pretty even when switching from one to the other.

EMG pickups do require a battery. Feylya sings their praises with just cause, but I just find them kind of ugly, especially in a traditional looking guitar and I just prefer not having a battery to worry about. Just plug in and let rip.

fitz

Well, 50 euro isn't cheap if there's a chance you're gonna fry components worth more than that.

I wouldn't experiment and learn how to do something for the first time on pickups I'd spent a couple hundred on tbh.

EMG, far as I know, make active and passive pickups, so just get passive ones, no batteries needed.

Feylya will be along in a moment to expound the wonders of EMG.

******:p

Zoton

So are the active pickups much better than the passive ones?

feylya

Originally posted by fitz
Feylya will be along in a moment to expound the wonders of EMG.

Is that all I'm known for? My love for EMG's? What about my wit and charm?

*ahem*

Anyways, EMG's are nice. Very very nice. Very clear, quiet, easy to install. Some people don't like the idea of 2 big lumps of black or white plastic sitting in there guitar. I love it. Especially in a Les Paul.

As for the difference between active and passive EMG's, passives aren't highly regarded. There's some punch missing along with some higher frequencies.

As for the battery, changing it once a year isn't a lot of hassle. The main distributor of ESP guitars in England changes his batteries on his birthday :rolleyes:

Doctor J

Originally posted by Zoton
So are the active pickups much better than the passive ones?

Down to personal preference really. I just love the sound of the JB, which is passive. There isn't a right and wrong here really, it's what suits you best tonally, aesthetically and financially.

Zoton

Hmmmm....interesting.
Anyone know how much "instrumental" charge for installation?

Oeneus

Originally posted by fitz
Well, 50 euro isn't cheap if there's a chance you're gonna fry components worth more than that.

I wouldn't experiment and learn how to do something for the first time on pickups I'd spent a couple hundred on tbh.

EMG, far as I know, make active and passive pickups, so just get passive ones, no batteries needed.

Feylya will be along in a moment to expound the wonders of EMG.

******:p

I have no idea what you lot are even thinking of in terms of frying components.

You must realise that there is absolutely no electrical power/current going through the guitar. Nothing can possibly get fried within the guitar without chucking it into a deep fat fryer, but I can assure you that you're not going to find one big enough anyway. So frying components is not even an issue to worry about. Of course this might not apply if you have active electronics (ie. EMG's with frickin' batteries/laser beems on their heads).

If something is soldered incorrectly, or badly, then it just means your going to get interference with the sound or not any at all.

feylya

I've fried pots without any power running through them. Any drop of solder or heat on them for too long will destroy them. Although, if you have ever soldered, installing pickups is easy :P

fitz

Originally posted by Oeneus
I have no idea what you lot are even thinking of in terms of frying components.

You must realise that there is absolutely no electrical power/current going through the guitar. Nothing can possibly get fried within the guitar without chucking it into a deep fat fryer, but I can assure you that you're not going to find one big enough anyway. So frying components is not even an issue to worry about. Of course this might not apply if you have active electronics (ie. EMG's with frickin' batteries/laser beems on their heads).

If something is soldered incorrectly, or badly, then it just means your going to get interference with the sound or not any at all.

It's quite apparent you have no idea.
As feylya said, you can destroy pots in one attempt at soldering.
Maybe you should not give advise that could cost people money if you don't know what your talking about.

feylya

TBH, I find that quite disturbing that the mod of the instruments bored is giving out blatently incorrect advice. Not trying to attack you Oeneus, but people would probably take your word as being completely correct.

fitz

My thoughts exactly.
If you're not 100% sure about something, don't give advice on it.
It's someone elses time and money you're wasting.
Bad form tbh.

feylya

No, not even the don't give advice bit. Just say that it mightn't be completely right. Normally, any advice I give is from my personal experiences. If it isn't, I state that. Especially seeing as you're the mod of this board, people will just listen to you firstly more than likely.

fitz

Okay, that should have read unqualified advice.
If you say it like it's fact, when you're not really sure...that's just irresponsible, especially, as feylya pointed out, for someone who'll be listened to, like a mod.

feylya

Like I said Oeneus, I don't mean to attack you, but how did you become mod of this forum?

Giblet

He suggested it.

Anyway, being a mod doesn't mean you have to know more than anyone else about the subject.

And in terms of "frying" I'm sure he meant electrical damage rather than mechanical. (I know it's ALL mechanical damage in the end, but melting the inards of a pot, and a IC unit, or transistor are different)

feylya

Originally posted by Giblet
Anyway, being a mod doesn't mean you have to know more than anyone else about the subject.

I would also imagine it entails not seeming like you know what you're talking about. Besides, it is quite possible to damage, mechanically and electronicly, components in a guitar, like pots and caps.

Giblet

I doubt you're going to electronically damage a pot in a guitar with the signal from a guitar lead. A soldering iron, yes.

Oeneus

Dude, as a moderator I just keep the board clean. I'm not Music tech support as default, I do that at my own, kind, free will.

But I have to say, I'm not big on electronics, but I've completely rewired a good few guitars (okay, three to be honest), and the electronics of a guitar are so basic, I can't imagine anyone having any problems providing they have common sense.

I just can't justify paying €50 quid for doing something that anyone can learn to do with 5 minutes research. I can imagine if I paid someone that amount of money to someone to do something that took him 5 minutes to learn how to do, he'd laugh in my face! I would.

Someone mentioned something about you could get a friend who's handy with a soldering iron in to do it. But realisticly, 15 minutes practice with a soldering and a lot of common sense, you'd be as good as anyone.

It's a matter of "get off your lazy consumer ass and learn to do things yourself!"

So to conclude, if you have common sense, and understand what everything does, which isn't a lot to learn, then it's a piece of piss. It is literally a matter of the red thing connects to the blue thing etc etc etc.

feylya

And I agree with what you just said. My problem is you pretty much said there's no way to **** up pots in a guitar without using a deep fat fryer.

Giblet

Hmmmm..... Deep fat fried pots.

Oeneus

Are you guys babysitting this thread or something? Email notifications are driving me nuts!

"i'm not trying to attack you feylya", but seriously, frying a pot with a soldering iron can only mean improper use! Jesush Christh!

feylya

Yeah, I just thought I'd drive ya insane with the emails popups!

Well, frying a pot demonstrates that you shouldn't solder while drunk

Oeneus

AAAAhhhhhh! Now this answers a few questions now doesn't it! Drunkeness!!

OK, so pyure. Learn to do it yourself, but don't get wasted! Mwhahaha!

Giblet

Oeneus, Giblet has replied to the thread pickups and guitar shop prices






Had to do it.

feylya

Originally posted by Oeneus
OK, so pyure. Learn to do it yourself, but don't get wasted! Mwhahaha!

And there is the moral for this entire thread :P

Oeneus

Hello Giblet,
_
Oeneus has just replied to a thread you have subscribed to entitled - Eat my cream Pie - in the Instruments forum of boards.ie/vbulletin.
_
There may be other replies also, like "taste good don't it!"
_
Yours,
boards.ie/vbulletin team

Hweh Hweh Hweh!

Giblet

Pfft, I don't have that on

pyure

thanks alot for all the replies guys - informative and entertaining

Originally posted by Oeneus

OK, so pyure. Learn to do it yourself, but don't get wasted! Mwhahaha!

i will definetly try to remember that

all i gotta do now is go listen to a bunch of pickup clips and try to figure out a decent combination.
oh the fun on a 56k modem.

greglo23

here`s a link to one of those german sites. these guys charge 23 euro shipping from germany to ireland no matter what size or amount of packages you recieve. a mate of mine got a full drum kit individually packed from them for 23E and when his son broke the snaredrum stand they sent him a higher spec one free of charge

http://www.netzmarkt.de/thomann/thoiw6_index.html

RicardoSmith

It worth noting that putting in custom high powered double coil and single coils together might effect the balance between the pickups especially the signal strength. I put a pair of double coil hotrails on a guitar once and it was vastly more powerful than the other pickups. In the end I had to change them all to get the balance right.

feylya

Which is exactly why it's usually better to replace all pickups with the same brand, especially in the case of EMGs!

RicardoSmith

Originally posted by feylya
Which is exactly why it's usually better to replace all pickups with the same brand, especially in the case of EMGs!

Personally I find EMG's sound a little sterile. Much prefer Seymour Duncans. But its down to personal taste. Its all subjective.