What Pickups Do You Have and What are your Favorites?

The list would be a book.
Favorites;
Original PAFs, Throbak 101.
SD CCJ , JBJ , EMG 81
Early 50s Strat pickups alnico 3 6K ish and better replicas.
It's difficult because I often find ONE pickup I really like and find another one of the same model not exactly the same.
 
In my Strat’s I have:
CS 69 w/Tonerider Alnico II Blues in bridge
Lundgren 50’s
Wilde L-45S
Haussel F-500T

I like them all - for the desired tone & sound, but if I had to choose, it would be the F-500T
 
la szum said:
Wow! This post is precisely why I am not willing to be totally thorough and take the time you did. :rofl

Still have a fairly decent stash, and like to look at used pickups. Even bought a few in the past week
or two. Just happy with what I have in guitars right now, and honestly got tired of the analyzing, and
weary of the "tone is in the pickup rat race." :idk
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Forgot to push send on this reply:

After moving through many pickups, I learned a lot of tone is in the guitar not the pickup. There were some guitars that were always too muddy or thin sounding. Pickups should be used to tweak the sound not fix problems imo.
 
I have:

Gibson P90s
Duncan Whole lotta Humbuckers
DiMarzio 36ths
DMZ Transitions
DMZ Norton
DMZ PAF Pro
Duncan Custom 5
Gibson Iommi Humbuckers
DMZ P90 sized Super Distortion
Fishman Fluence Humbuckers
DMZ Tone Zone
Fender Noiseless Gen 4 Strat


Right now, my best sounding guitar is a MIJ Les Paul by a company called FGN which is not well known here in the US. I think I paid like $1200 USD shipped from Japan last year. Not an expensive guitar. The pickups are stock and they are "Alnico V proprietary". I will never sell this guitar.

I have an RG with a Tone Zone in the bridge that sounds KILLER. I had the same pickup in a Les Paul and it sounded like ass.:idk

The Gibson Iommi pickups are fire breathers and sound great but are not very versatile.

My favorite aftermarket humbucker is the DMZ Transition (Steve Lukather endorsed) bridge pickup. It is ceramic but not super high output, and the subdued low end is nice. It has worked in every guitar I have put it in.

Hard to go wrong with a Gibson P90 also. I like P90s better than any Gibson PAF style pickup.
 
Rocco Crocco said:
I have:

Gibson P90s
Duncan Whole lotta Humbuckers
DiMarzio 36ths
DMZ Transitions
DMZ Norton
DMZ PAF Pro
Duncan Custom 5
Gibson Iommi Humbuckers
DMZ P90 sized Super Distortion
Fishman Fluence Humbuckers
DMZ Tone Zone
Fender Noiseless Gen 4 Strat


Right now, my best sounding guitar is a MIJ Les Paul by a company called FGN which is not well known here in the US. I think I paid like $1200 USD shipped from Japan last year. Not an expensive guitar. The pickups are stock and they are "Alnico V proprietary". I will never sell this guitar.

I have an RG with a Tone Zone in the bridge that sounds KILLER. I had the same pickup in a Les Paul and it sounded like ass.:idk

The Gibson Iommi pickups are fire breathers and sound great but are not very versatile.

My favorite aftermarket humbucker is the DMZ Transition (Steve Lukather endorsed) bridge pickup. It is ceramic but not super high output, and the subdued low end is nice. It has worked in every guitar I have put it in.

Hard to go wrong with a Gibson P90 also. I like P90s better than any Gibson PAF style pickup.
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I’m sure you know this but FGN is the Ibanez Prestige factory.
 
Jarick said:
Forgot to push send on this reply:

After moving through many pickups, I learned a lot of tone is in the guitar not the pickup. There were some guitars that were always too muddy or thin sounding. Pickups should be used to tweak the sound not fix problems imo.
Click to expand...

Yup. So true. Some guitars are just non-resonant turds and there is not much ANY pickup can do about that.
 
  • Seymour Duncan Custom 5 (one of my favorites) & Jazz
  • Suhr Doug Aldrich (another fav)
  • Bare Knuckle Juggernaut and Mule 8-string
  • Fender Pure Vintage Jazzmaster
  • Mastertone SPA1 & VHA1 active pickups
  • Kiesel Lithium 7-string
  • Tesla TV-ML1 Filtertrons
  • G&L Legacy pickups from 1996
  • Vintage Vibe humbuckers, don't remember the models
  • Wolfetone Dr. Vintage
  • Bartolini BH1 bass pickups
So a bit of everything in different guitars. Don't own any P90 guitars tho.
 
I've had tons of pups. These are my keepers after emerging from the Rabbit Hole:

Suhr Aldrich (bridge) / Dimarzio Bluesbucker DP163 (neck) -> RG550LTD
Dimarzio Satchur8 (bridge) / Gravity Storm (neck) -> J.Custom
EMG SA + SPC + EXG (AKA DG-20)-> Fender American Deluxe Strat
Seymour Duncan SSL-5 (bridge) / Fender CS Fat'50 (mid and neck) -> Frankeinstrat
Harmonic Design Z90 (P90) (bridge and neck) -> Frankeinstrat

I cannot select a favorite amongst these because they all have different flavors. But I really love the Bluesbucker neck with the 3-pos split switch. If I had to choose only one guitar it would be the Bluesbucker with and the Aldrich bridge
 
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norminal said:
I’ve got a set of CS Fat 50’s in my Strat. Am I missing out on the SSL-5 bridge?
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I've never tried the Fat 50 at the bridge, so I cannot compare.

What I've found is that for me it easier to nail nice sounds with the EMG SA than with the SSL-5. Not that I cannot get good tones with it, but it is faster and easier to tame the EMG-SA than the SSL-5 (I am referring to nice rounded leads without harshness at the high frequencies, not these nasty Gilmour leads with fuzz, like at Echoes mid part solo. The SSL-5 is perfect for these harsh tones, but I don't like to play with them)
 
I only have 2 guitars these days so a bit more limited than about 20 years ago.

I've typically preferred more PAF style pickups, even for heavier tones. Typically in the SD Seth Lover, or Gibson 57 line.

On my Suhr Standard Custom I have SSH configuration with the SSV in the bridge which is PAF output and ML60's for the single coils.

On my LP GoldTop it came with Duncan custom shop antiquities they sounded good, but with modelers and "FRFR" they go microphonic real fast, so I switched out to Suhr SSV Neck and SSH (Medium Output) in the bridge. It's been a nice change without going high output on the bridge.
 
Anyone using the King Tone Switch? It seems it can nicely reshape the nuances of the Single Coils (kind of what I am already doing with the EMG SPC and EXG, but passive and with other flavors)

I am tempted with GAS, but I think to myself: you lazy cow, you could do all that with some surgical EQ at the Axe-FX 😅
 
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Eagle said:
The Eric Johnson mod that adds the middle pick up tone to the bridge pickup is all you need.
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I've done that since my first Strat, not knowing who is Eric Johnson. I just thought it was wrongly wired when I noticed that the tone didn't respond
 
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