Stock pickups, ghaaaaa !!!!

[Davesax1965]

Whoopsie ! Just bought an ALS 48 Premium in Black Cherry - which I'm enormously happy with, except for the stock pickups, which, er, um. Less of which said the better.

Alas, given the current state of the UK economy (and the fact that my missus might disembowel me if I ask for a small fortune) - I'm on the lookout for replacement (cheap) pickups. $eymour Duncan et al are somewhat out of my reach, so the question I have is - have any folks out there used Tonerider / Guitar Fetish humbuckers, and, if so, what do you think of them ?

I know they won't be fantastic, but any improvement upon the stock pickups.... is an improvement.

 

[JohnA]

Keep your eyes peeled for some of the MK II pickups as fitted to most of the Japanese Tokais, if you wait a month or two you'll pick a pair up on ebay for 30-40 quid, I'm sure people pull these out and replace them without listening first, they are great sounding pickups.

 

[JonnyFriendly]

Tonerider pickups are fantastic - phenomenally good in fact. Seriously, do not be fooled by the price, I have installed them in several of my guitars and cannot recommend them (particularly the Alnico IVs they do) highly enough. They are generally very highly thought of - Google some reviews to see other opinions on them.

 

[rayspang]

I've read on other forums that if you want really good pickups and if your on a budget, Tonerider is the best choice you can make. Everyone that has them is really happy. Mixed reviews on GFS.

 

[Davesax1965]

I've read on other forums that if you want really good pickups and if your on a budget, Tonerider is the best choice you can make. Everyone that has them is really happy. Mixed reviews on GFS.

Thanks, folks - much appreciated !!!

I'm getting told (by my brother, who's been playing guitar for 35 years) - "Oh, forget cheap pickups, get a Seymour Duncan SH1 bridge and save up for the neck pickup"..... I think he's forgetting that a pickup is a bobbin, some magnets, a ton of wire and not much else. It's - after all - an inductance coil.

Tonerider it is, then !

 

[Anonymous]

You often see Seymour Duncan pickups sell for less than new Toneriders, if you buy them secondhand on eBay. This makes them better value, if you're reasonably patient. :wink:

Mike

 

[LuBee]

Whoopsie ! Just bought an ALS 48 Premium in Black Cherry - which I'm enormously happy with, except for the stock pickups, which, er, um. Less of which said the better.

Alas, given the current state of the UK economy (and the fact that my missus might disembowel me if I ask for a small fortune) - I'm on the lookout for replacement (cheap) pickups. $eymour Duncan et al are somewhat out of my reach, so the question I have is - have any folks out there used Tonerider / Guitar Fetish humbuckers, and, if so, what do you think of them ?

I know they won't be fantastic, but any improvement upon the stock pickups.... is an improvement.

My advice is go join the seymour duncan forum and keep and eye on the trading post for a used set of SD's most of the bros over there will ship pickups internationally for an additional $6-$10.

Like others have said keep an eye on fleabay, the popular models come up quite often 59's, JB's, Alnico 2, Jazz, depends what your after. Saying that I've found that fleabay is sometimes nearly as expensive as new.

For new ones http://crazytrainmusic.co.uk/ are very competitve pricewise.

I'm a bit of a SD fan, Love Rock has Pearly Gates Set (dabbled with s 59 in both positions but not what I was after), Seth Lover in my Tokai 335, Californian Set (calibrated SSL-1's) in the strat, Tele has Quarter Pounder and Hot for Tele Tapped.

The only guitars that have escaped the SD overhaul is my Tokai SG which came with Gibson 57's and are a really nice pickups and my Gretsch Electromatic which really needs TV Jones but they're silly money so has a set of GFS.

 

[Anonymous]

I'm a bit of a SD fan, Love Rock has Pearly Gates Set (dabbled with s 59 in both positions but not what I was after

Yes LuBee & I agree on the SD Pearly Gates pickups - very nice & a bit rude, as you once said. :lol: You don't really see them selling cheap on eBay, but the '59s, JBs etc often sell for an affordable price.

 

[LuBee]

I'm a bit of a SD fan, Love Rock has Pearly Gates Set (dabbled with s 59 in both positions but not what I was after

Yes LuBee & I agree on the SD Pearly Gates pickups -

very nice & a bit rude

, as you once said. :lol:

:lol: funny you remember me saying that about PG's. Its very true though.

They don't come up on fleabay that often, think I got one from fleabay, was supposed to be a bridge but turned out to be a neck version and the other from the SD forum.

 

[Dave_Mc]

I've read on other forums that if you want really good pickups and if your on a budget, Tonerider is the best choice you can make. Everyone that has them is really happy. Mixed reviews on GFS.

Agreed. I haven't tried them yet, but if their pedals are anything to go by, they'll be great. If I were buying pickups on a budget, tonerider is where I'd be looking, I've only heard good things about them. I've heard mixed things about GFS too, thinks like not using the exact spec they claim, some models sounding much better than others etc. etc.

Irongear might be worth a look too- I haven't tried them either.

Obviously if you're willing to go second-hand duncans might be worth a try, but then I'm guessing toneriders might go for next to nothing second-hand (though may be a lot less common).

 

[RocknBlues]

Just yesterday I installed a set of Wilkinson WVHZ series Zebra puckups in my ALS43 (same as ALS48). I picked them up on Ebay for AU$45.00 plus $9.00 postage still cheap for a set of pickups, like you the MK4 stock pickups in mine where crappy sounding I think its because they measure around 17Koms neck and 18.5Koms bridge, preaty hot, maybe good for metel heads.

Anyway these Wilkinsons sound preaty good, clear clean tones and seem to handle distortion well,they measure 7.2k neck and 8.3k bridge, they give a very good vintage sound and I havn't changed the caps yet, I was thinking of puting in some sprague orange drops next, another cheap mod for a cheap guitar :wink:

keep in mind that these guitars are made of basswood and sycamore,so a pickup that sounds good in a mahogony guitar will most likely sound different in these Chinese models, It's all trial and error i suppose 8)

Oh they look good too!

 

[MASTER VOLUME]

I replaced the stock pickups ( mk4s)in my ls85f to irongear rolling mills and am really impressed with them. they are about ?25 a pickup.