Upgrading Squier Strat pickups?

Dave

Dave

Dave

Soldato
Joined
30 Oct 2004
Posts
4,955
Location
Sacramento, CA, USA
Hi all

I'd love a new guitar but I really can't afford one, so I was wondering about replacing the pickups in it. Will replacing the pickups improve the sound or is it a case of "flogging a dead horse?"

The Squier sounds fairly decent through my Black Box (especially with a fair bit of gain) but I'd like to get more clean and clear tones from it. I don't really know that much about pickups, does anyone have any recommendations? Probably looking to replace all 3 of my pickups for under £200. Or am I better off trying to find a "proper" Fender Strat?

Thanks :)

edit/ was looking at pickups like these:
http://www.guitarampkeyboard.com/en/fender-strat-60/12236
http://www.guitarampkeyboard.com/en/fender-57-62-pickup/12224
http://www.guitarampkeyboard.com/en/fender-noiseless-strat/12239
 
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Is it easy to do? I've never modified a guitar before.

The noiseless pickups look a good bet. I've been reading a bit on the interweb and it seems the common opinion is to just get a Fender Strat but my Squier is a nice guitar, and I don't really have the money to fork out for a USA Fender guitar.
 
Its not hard and there will be loads of guides out there. You could allways buy em and get a shop to do it, still works out a hell of a lot cheaper than a USA strat.
 
True, but now I'm thinking should I upgrade the bridge and the machine heads too . . . could get more expensive :D
 
About a year ago I had my 79 Fender Strat customised with 69 Custom pickups, new bridge, new heads etc and the total came to £225.
The difference is they were put on an 79 American Fender Strat but yours will be put on a Squier (yes I know there are Squiers out there that outclass their big brothers).
Save your money and go and look for another guitar that plays and sounds like you want it to.
 
Thing is my Squier plays how I want it to, but doesn't sound how I want it to!

All the guitars that play and sound how I want them in the shops are all in the £800+ range, and I really can't afford to put down more than £150-£200 at the mo unfortunately, and it'll probably stay that way for a few years until I've finished being a cheap student. :p
 
Its your guitar do with it as you please. Putting in quality pickups in guitar improves it massively, you have a new guitar.
 
It's a Made In Mexico one, isn't it?

With the lace ones, since it's only 1 in a box, is it worth getting 3 Lace pickups? (different colour ones) Or am I best off going for a bundle of 3 like the ones dmpoole and Jimbo have suggested?

Cheers guys :)
 
Surprised nobody's said not to "waste" money upgrading a cheap guitar. I'm a total tweaker/modder, so I did a lot of work to both of my Squiers, the korean tele plays better than a typical mexican fender as well as sounding better than a typical USA standard, but people will still insist I've wasted my £200 making it so ;)

Pickups are always a good buy, for the simple reason if you do upgrade you can swap them easily. Personally I rather like Dimarzio Vintage Noiseless for single coils, I've always gone Duncans for humbuckers and tele pickups, Dimarzio for Strat. They're maybe a little too clean for the purist, some call them sterile, but if you want the noise back you can tap them and they make rather nice "noisy" single coils.

Kinmans used to get superb word of mouth, Chris Kinman is kind of a d*** IMO (example... me: "Can I order these pickups without the logo? I prefer a simple look". CK: "No, they look better with the logo". :rolleyes: but he does make damn fine pickups.

Second hand, if you can, is the way to go- there's a constant market of used pickups because people who buy pickups also like to xhange them around and chase the tones they want. I've bought probably 30 or so pickups for personal use, only a couple of the more uncommon Dimarzios and one shop floor custom Duncan were bought new, and I usually managed to sell my spares on for about what I bought them for.
 
mugwuffin said:
I bought Seymour Duncan humbuckers for my Squier Strat! Got a shop to put them in for me. Was definately worth it :)
Click to expand...

Do you mean you replaced one pickup and left in 2? I was thinking about getting a shop to put them in for me, and maybe re-set up the guitar whilst they're there as I've had my Squier for almost 2 years now.

Northwind2 said:
Second hand, if you can, is the way to go- there's a constant market of used pickups because people who buy pickups also like to xhange them around and chase the tones they want. I've bought probably 30 or so pickups for personal use, only a couple of the more uncommon Dimarzios and one shop floor custom Duncan were bought new, and I usually managed to sell my spares on for about what I bought them for.
Click to expand...

Do you know if there are any sites better/more trustworthy than others for buying second hand pickups? I'm a bit wary about buying them from the 'bay because of possible damage, and even reports of the pickup not being the right model at all.

Cheers :)
 
It's a while since I was really modding guitars, I got tired of burning my fingers, I used to get mine mainly from Ebay and sometimes from the Seymour Duncan and Fender forums. Also local shops.

Aargh. I never actually got round to rebuilding my japanese strat, it's still under the bed with about £400 worth of parts in the box with it :rolleyes: Perhaps I should do something about that.
 
At the moment, I own 3 nice guitars and a project guitar. If I ever finish it, I'll only have 4 guitars. That would be MADNESS!
 
Dave said:
It's a Made In Mexico one, isn't it?

With the lace ones, since it's only 1 in a box, is it worth getting 3 Lace pickups? (different colour ones) Or am I best off going for a bundle of 3 like the ones dmpoole and Jimbo have suggested?

Cheers guys :)
Click to expand...
This is what I'd be looking at:

http://www.mercasystems.com/s/index.php?target=products&product_id=55304457&currency=gbp

The only reason I posted to just one pickup was because some had linked to GAK, and I searched for the pickups on there. But GAK only had one to buy. :p
 
Dave, i'd say go for it. My first decent guitar was a Washburn MG-40 (£300 or so), and I lobbed a Seymour Duncan Screamin' Demon in it. The pickup made a nice difference and gave me a decent live sound for a few years.

As people have said you can always sell the pickups on or use them on a different guitar if you ever upgrade.
 
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