E pickups - are they really any good?

[villager]

''I always have the mid turned up full, the bass down low, and the treble and presence get adjusted depending on what guitar I use. Lots of reverb! ''


it would be interesting to compare the guitars with the amp set ''flat''

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Mike!

Spot on. I swapped the Es from my ST80 ash with 82 JVs middle/bridge and a Rockinger Blade-scramer HB at the neck. I also changed the 2nd tone pot to 500K and rewired it to control just the HB and mix it to mid and neck as needed. I also went from 22pf to 47pf (as normally found in basses) on overall tone-control. After many tries I put a 1K resistor in parallel to the 50(?) pf vol-cap to keep brightness when turning down volume.

Needless to say I play the hard way? 8)

However, just today I gave it a try on another ST80 (1980, alder) with Es: I played blues without planning to do so. And I enjoyed it no end at all. I just tuned bass at the M4 Rhy1 down to 3, mid to 7, treblle to 5. Gave it a bit more gain. Heaven is on my side.

Cheers! Rupert

 

[kmarccoco]

Rups E pups sound great in my ST 80!!!! Thanks Rup! 8)

 

[Anonymous]

I played blues without planning to do so.

Really? What happened Rup? Involuntary finger spasms? :lol: :-?

The Texas Specials in the ST80 seem to be a great success! I think I'll be taking it to the gig on Thursday. This is very handy, as I was thinking about selling the pickups as I thought I didn't like them, after trying them in an alder Strat. To my ears, they balance out the brightness of the Springy, and it now sounds much better than the ST60, which I will keep in original condition.

It's early days, so I might change my mind after living with the combination for a while - you guys know how it is..... But so far, so good.

 

[bunbury]

I played blues without planning to do so.

Really? What happened Rup? Involuntary finger spasms? :lol: :-?

It happens. I've recently bought a guitar that won't stop playing the Grateful Dead's Sugar Magnolia and Friend of the Devil. I lost my copy of the album American Beauty in about 1976 and don't recall listening to it since. I've now had buy the CD to try and keep up with the guitar.

 

[JohnA]

Good to hear the texas specials work well! It's interesting that pickups you didn't like in one guitar sound good to you in another. I would have thought that the pickups character would have played a bigger part in the tone, and therefore sounded pretty much the same in each guitar.

Some soundclips of before & after would have been nice.

 

[Anonymous]

Some soundclips of before & after would have been nice.

No idea how to do that. Anyway, I hate playing in front of musicians - they know when I screw up. Most punters in a bar don't..... :-?

 

[leadguitar_323]

Hi Mike, sh1t man you should be over that by now ... :wink: Loosen up mate we all make mistakes just some of us are better at covering them up...

Mick

 

[JohnA]

No idea how to do that. Anyway, I hate playing in front of musicians - they know when I screw up. Most punters in a bar don't..... :-?

There are musicians on the forum?

 

[Anonymous]

Yeah you're right Mick, but it's only really in the last year that I've started to concentrate on my playing more, and actually made some progress as a musician for the first time in years.

With every gig, it gets better, & I enjoy it more. Hopefully I won't be lazy any more. Next project is to learn how to use my fingers, instead of always relying on a plectrum - it's almost like starting over again... :-?

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Mike! Hi John!

Somebody, somebody, somebody put something in my drink! 8)


So far, so good. No musicians around here.

Cheers! Rup

 

[Anonymous]

somebody put something in my drink! 8)

Make up your mind - you said you were drunk in another post :lol:

 

[bunbury]

Hi Mike! Hi John!

Somebody, somebody, somebody put something in my drink! 8)

Cheers! Rup

Hi Rup, I blame Gerry Garcia or Bob Weir. I saw them in 1973ish and can't remember a thing about it. Now they get their own back. Was it a drink tho?

Bunbury

 

[Anonymous]

Having used the ST80 with it's new Texas Special pickups at the gig, I'm happy to report that they seem to be a big success. The warm, fat pickups and the clear, bright sounding guitar work well together, so I seem to have found the right combination.

:lol: 8)

 

[jeotokai]

No problem here, very much happy on the E PU's on my ST60. I can say its one of the best vintage style single coils. I tried swapping it to fender custom shop '54 set, texas spl. set, and original fender 70's PU. In the end, I put back the stock E PU's on my ST60.

 

[oldflame]

I've been junking Tokai pups since 1984 for (IMHO) better quality pickups. Saying that, I had a dud breezy sound pup scatterwound by Kent Armstrong around 2001 and it came back sounding very nice indeed.

IMHO again, if you want the best sounding Tele and Strat pups, there is only one place to go....

http://www.buckcannon.com/home.html

 

[Anonymous]

It's funny, I've been reading other posts about members changing pickups on their Love Rocks, and that seems to be quite common, but changing pickups on the Fender clones seems far less common, especially when E pickups are involved.

From my point of view, the ST80 is still growing on me - the neck is a dream, and it now sounds "right". I now have to admit that a lot of what I was told about ST80s when I joined the forum is true, even though I was very sceptical at the time. This is a very high quality instrument.

Thank you JohnA for making the unwise decision to sell it to me - I'm afraid you won't be getting it back.

8)

 

[Anonymous]

IMHO again, if you want the best sounding Tele and Strat pups, there is only one place to go....

http://www.buckcannon.com/home.html

Interesting website - do you think he likes Roy Buchanan? :lol:

Surprising that he picks Junior Watson as an example of Strat tone - I thought Junior had moved from Strats to P90 Les Pauls many years ago?

 

[oldflame]

Stratman wrote

Interesting website - do you think he likes Roy Buchanan? :lol:

Surprising that he picks Junior Watson as an example of Strat tone - I thought Junior had moved from Strats to P90 Les Pauls many years ago?

Definately loves Roy and he's probably talking about Jnr's old tone. Apart from sounding great Don's pickups look great too, and they are reasonably priced.