Budget pickups

[badscrew_projects]

Very cheap bottom of the barrel pickups often miss nice features like potting. Or have mechanical defects (screw holes not centered, badly put chrome covers and so forth). I had once a strat pickup from a cheap 3-pickup set wound with less than half amount of wire than normal for some reason.

 

[Rockinvet]

Very cheap bottom of the barrel pickups often miss nice features like potting. Or have mechanical defects (screw holes not centered, badly put chrome covers and so forth). I had once a strat pickup from a cheap 3-pickup set wound with less than half amount of wire than normal for some reason.

Tru, true, the consistency may not be there.

 

[memorex]

I just bought a half dozen of those $12 Musiclily/Wilkinson hot blades Strat pickups to put in various projects. I haven't got around to doing it yet, but when I do, I'll let you know.

 

[Dan German]

As many have noted, you can get good pickups for not much coin. However, when you can save money and still get a product from a person you can actually talk to, like Bootstrap, Vineham, or Wilde, that’s a no-brainer for me.

 

[Rockinvet]

As many have noted, you can get good pickups for not much coin. However, when you can save money and still get a product from a person you can actually talk to, like Bootstrap, Vineham, or Wilde, that’s a no-brainer for me.

Bootstrap was out of humbuckers unfortunately.

 

[Rockinvet]

I just bought a half dozen of those $12 Musiclily/Wilkinson hot blades Strat pickups to put in various projects. I haven't got around to doing it yet, but when I do, I'll let you know.

Definitely, please do.

 

[Dave_11]

I've had two really good experiences with GFS. I have a set of their mini humbuckers that I put in a Gibson LP Studio and they sound great. I also just bought a GFS minitron that sounds great as well. I've never tried their full sized HBs, but I've heard good things about them. Plus their Kwikplug system makes swapping different pickups super easy.

FWIW, I contacted Vineham a month or so ago about some T-tops and he told me he would be "in the oil patch" and not winding until February. I got a set from Brandonwound and am super happy with them.

 

[Blackmore Fan]

Yeah the specs on theses cheapies look similar to pickups that cost at least 2 to 3 times the price. It’s wire and magnets. How much pixie dust is added with price.

I wish it was that easy. I've had flawless experience with Tonerider, Fender Tex Mex, Fender 57/62s, Fender American Standards, Fender Player pickups, and Seymour Duncan SSL-1s. Because of that, I'm not inclined to run thru "bargain" pickups at half the price--the good stuff is reliable.

 

[Rockinvet]

I wish it was that easy. I've had flawless experience with Tonerider, Fender Tex Mex, Fender 57/62s, Fender American Standards, Fender Player pickups, and Seymour Duncan SSL-1s. Because of that, I'm not inclined to run thru "bargain" pickups at half the price--the good stuff is reliable.

Yes I’ve had American Standards, Player pickups, Fender originals all fantastic pickups. Also had any more high quality brands too many to mention Gibson, SD etc.. all fantastic . I just want to try out the two brands in the original post to compare. some if the videos I’ve seen compare them are pretty close so I just want to see if anyone has experience with them. Some have with lower budgets and had good experiences, some have not. I am curious and going to give it a try.

 

[hopdybob]

Very cheap bottom of the barrel pickups often miss nice features like potting. Or have mechanical defects (screw holes not centered, badly put chrome covers and so forth). I had once a strat pickup from a cheap 3-pickup set wound with less than half amount of wire than normal for some reason.

set of humbucker, magnet orientation was wrong were one had north on the bare poles the other had it on the screw poles.
one pickup had more windings on one coil than the other of the same humbucker, but Kohm they were the same.
so cheap can be a leftovers put together and hope for the best

 

[Bourbon Burst]

Is there a music store or a guitar guy that does setups near you? I bought used Seymour Duncan Alnico 2 Pros and Gibson Classic 57s from such a place and they were half the price. Both sets worked great.

 

[tlsmack]

The solution to my constant pickup swapping was a good compressor. The EHX Tone Corset. A few tweaks of the knobs, especially the blend knob, can make any tele pickup sound like just about any classic tele tone you can think of. A cheap set of pickups and a four knob compressor is really all I need.

 

[G Stone496]

Has anyone here tried out any of those budget brands like Wilkinson or Fleor humbucker pickups that are on Amazon? I am thinking of trying some out on a Samick Greg Bennett Avion 3 I just picked up. Actually bought it to see if a budget guitar can play as good as my made in USA guitars. Truthfully I cannot believe how beautiful this guitar really is. It plays better than many Epiphones that I have tried. The Duncan designed pickups are a little weak but sound ok.

Ive seen some YouTube videos comparing budget pickups that were pretty interesting and it piqued my interest.

Yeah I got a couple Guitar Fetish (GFS) humbucker bridge pickups for LP Jr. type guitars and that worked out great.

I got what they call the “Professional Series Alnico V Hot (PRO115). It’s a little hotter than vintage at 9.6k and has 5 conductor wiring for coil split.

Sounds quite good. Big and thick in HB mode and not bad in coil split, for a different flavor. I recommend it, expeshally since it costed $35.

 

[Rockinvet]

Is there a music store or a guitar guy that does setups near you? I bought used Seymour Duncan Alnico 2 Pros and Gibson Classic 57s from such a place and they were half the price. Both sets worked great.

There is a local guitar guy I can hit up. Good advice thx

 

[Rockinvet]

I've considered the ones on ebay, reverb, etc.

But soldering in pickups and changing strings is an added time +$$ investment, and I just keep leaning back to Bootstrap instead.
If I had half a dozen $150 guitars, it'd be different. But I have 7 guitars, only 2 teles have stock pickups, and I either k ew what I wanted and had to special order, or the cheapest weren't worth potential dislike on the other ones.

Other people seem to have mixed luck though.

Bootstrap was my first choice but he is out of stock with the Humbuckers.

 

[TX_Slinger]

Artec, Guitar Madness (also Artec) and Wilkinson "Premium" line (probably Artec) were my go to but I'm not sure what was cheaped out on with the M-series (musiclily) Wilkinson line (maybe Artec). Just got an Artec Splendor (distributed by Musiclily) humbucker sized P90 that's really nice but also quiet (likely double potted) for $22. It has nickel silver baseplate so they def didn't cheap out on materials.

 

[guitar_paul1]

Tooth brush magnets on the back...

Ceramic to Neodymium swap - Anyone tried this?

I had this idea and found a video on youtube of someone doing exactly this. Has anybody tried it? It seems easy to try and easy to reverse if needed. It sounds like it adds a bit of high end, but of course who knows? Has anyone tried this? I'll be reunited with my Squier affinity in a...

www.tdpri.com

 

[naneek]

You can't go wrong buying stock Fender pickups used.

With all the people swapping pickups on their guitars, the stock fender pickups can be really cheap used.

 

[northernguitar]

The Tex Mex set looks cheap enough (CDN$99). Any opinions on these?

 

[naneek]

Fender tex mex? Like I said above, you really can't go wrong with the stock fender pickups.

Any opinions on these

I'd describe the tex mex telecaster set as twangy, on the hot side, and modern. I'd describe the strat tex mex as modern, and a lot hotter than classic strat pickups.

By the way, I do not recommend guitarfetish their quality control is poor. I got a mean 90 pickup from them that reads "incomplete circuit" on the multimeter and sounds terrible.