Another Pickup Question (full of consumer embarrassment)
I've posted on another thread that I recently got an American Special. It's a wonderful guitar and I'm quite happy with it. I also have a knock off T-style guitar that was made in England. The wood and the hardware weren't bad, but the electronics and the pickups were, at best, mediocre.
I decided to change these so I got a StewMac wiring kit and a set of '51 Nocaster pickups. I had to re-route the control plate cavity, but other than that I just needed to install the pickups. I was nervous about doing the wiring since I'm a beginner at that, but it seemed to go alright until I tried it out, when I discovered that the bridge pickup didn't sound at all. (The neck installed fine and sounds fantastic). I thought it was the wiring, but someone on TDPRI suggested that I meter the bridge PU to make sure it was working. Which it is not. Dead as Marley's ghost (even more so).
I don't think that I can return it - bought at Amazon, threw the packaging away - so it's just a loss. My question is: should I just buy another Nocaster bridge PU (I'm leery of Fender's Quality Control, but love the pickups), or should I look for a third party pickup to match the bridge. I'm strongly leaning towards just getting the Fender, but I'd be curious to hear opinions. Note that the Nocaster is an Alnico 3 with fairly low output (7.5 on the bridge? In that range anyhow). Any opinions are appreciated!
I decided to change these so I got a StewMac wiring kit and a set of '51 Nocaster pickups. I had to re-route the control plate cavity, but other than that I just needed to install the pickups. I was nervous about doing the wiring since I'm a beginner at that, but it seemed to go alright until I tried it out, when I discovered that the bridge pickup didn't sound at all. (The neck installed fine and sounds fantastic). I thought it was the wiring, but someone on TDPRI suggested that I meter the bridge PU to make sure it was working. Which it is not. Dead as Marley's ghost (even more so).
I don't think that I can return it - bought at Amazon, threw the packaging away - so it's just a loss. My question is: should I just buy another Nocaster bridge PU (I'm leery of Fender's Quality Control, but love the pickups), or should I look for a third party pickup to match the bridge. I'm strongly leaning towards just getting the Fender, but I'd be curious to hear opinions. Note that the Nocaster is an Alnico 3 with fairly low output (7.5 on the bridge? In that range anyhow). Any opinions are appreciated!
Comments
HOWEVER- I have recently been shopping for a new tele, and have thought maybe I would try some more vintage "correct" pickups instead, just to play around. I was going to buy a tele with the Fender Alnico III pickups (which get very good reviews), and then found the Jim Weider "Big-T" pickups, made by Lindy Fralin. They also happen to be alnico III, but I like Weider, and Analogman and Fralin who helped design these things, so I figured they would be worth a shot... the few people I have read who bought them seem to LOVE them.
I'm with Jim on this whole pickup thing- besides the fact that's it's a personal taste/choice, there are SO MANY wonderful pickups out there now, it's mind boggling. It would almost be hard to find a set that "sucked"! lol Find a set you love, and stop looking.
You (and Jim) are right, and I'm no equipment hound (I used to be, but it's just distraction now). I'm still always curious about what people choose to use and why. I'm doing this switch out of necessity; the pickups and electronics in the guitar were truly awful, but the guitar itself is really not that bad, so I thought I'd try to make it into the best instrument that it could be without going over the top. I'm sure that I'll be happy with the Nocasters, and I've been impressed with Fender's customer service, so that's not a bad thing.