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Vintage Pickups.

MCBTunes

MCBTunes

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Apr 12, 2005
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I've been considering making a pickup change to my cheap OLP silhouette Special copy to make a decent guitar out of it...

I dont know much about guitar pickups.... nothing really... but I dig vintage tones... I really like a warm clean tone.

How well do these play distorted? Does the low output mesh well with modern high gain amps?

Say I wanted to play a mix of blues, funk, country, top 40, and punk.

I was thinking vintage in the 2 single coils then maybe a medium power in the humbucker position for edgier punk songs?

Will vintage all round cut it? How about recording?

Edit: Just thought I would mention they would be reissues... to be clear. Dimarzio or Seymour Duncan I was thinking
 
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beej

beej

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How much do you want to spend? If you put some expensive pickups in there the electronics are going to be worth more than the guitar!

If you're going to swap them, a good option is Bill Lawrence pickups- 200s or 280s for the single coils. They're awesome pickups - I prefer them over the other boutique pickups myself and they're totally noise free. They're also $40 apiece which is tough to beat ;)
 
MCBTunes

MCBTunes

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Apr 12, 2005
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Canada
beej said:
How much do you want to spend? If you put some expensive pickups in there the electronics are going to be worth more than the guitar!

If you're going to swap them, a good option is Bill Lawrence pickups- 200s or 280s for the single coils. They're awesome pickups - I prefer them over the other boutique pickups myself and they're totally noise free. They're also $40 apiece which is tough to beat ;)
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haha yeah, I dont want 200 dollar a piece pups. I wouldnt feel bad spending 80 bucks a pup... as I will have them forever. I also dont plan on replacing all 3 of them now... I'll start with a bucker because mine sounds like arse.. then a neck pup.

I will look into all the pups mentioned. Lindy franlins are fairly expensive, but if i'm only buying a single I could probably suck it up...

robelinda2 said:
i have a set of dimarzio virtual vintage pickups in one of my strats, even the silo special pickups obliterate the virtual vintages. to my ears anyway!
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Musicman uses Dimarzio for most of their guitar's. Though not the virtual vintage pups. (I think I read somewhere on here that they are similar to PAF pups.) Perhaps your ears are more suited to modern sounding pickups?

Keep in mind I totally dig the sound of the Silo Special too... unfourtuanatly I though I could get away with an OLP...:eek:

I've been looking for a cheaper perhaps 90's Silhouette for ~600 but nothing pops up. And really seeing as i am already i nthe hole with student loans I figured I shouldtry to make due using as little benjamins as possible :)

Others that I have come ascros as sounding good from clips I listened too tonight are

SD Antiquity's -- I really dig John Frusciante's tone... and apparently he's been using these forever.

SD SH-1 59'

Dimarzio Air Classic

The biggest issue I'm having is my singles are muddy and my bucker is glassy and thin...

I've heard.... from a few, but vary possibly unreliable sources that Dimarzio color's the tone more and therefor would be betetr suited for a cheaper guitar...

I'm probably being rediculous and my best plan is probably to sit around and wait for a Silhouette Special for a good deal :)
 
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jamminjim

jamminjim

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May 25, 2006
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robelinda2 said:
even the silo special pickups obliterate the virtual vintages. to my ears anyway!
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yer right there Rob. But, what is the DiMarzio equalivalent to the Silo and Silo Spec single coils?

I thought the Virtual Vintage were pretty good, not stellar, but good..

I'll have to try some of those Lawrence pups one of these days, I've heard many good things about them. I'm curious about these they sure look interesting......

these

I did pickup a Fender Vintage Alnico neck and mid pup on ebay a while back and stuck them in my strat and they are darn close to the Silo single coils. Must have got lucky
 
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B

Bazaboy

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Aug 2, 2006
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MCBTunes said:
I've been looking for a cheaper perhaps 90's Silhouette for ~600 but nothing pops up. And really seeing as i am already i nthe hole with student loans I figured I shouldtry to make due using as little benjamins as possible :)
QUOTE]

How about this one: http://cgi.ebay.com/MUSICMAN-SILHOU...goryZ621QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I'd be in the bidding if I didn't just pick up a black AS...You can find an older Silo for ~$600. I got my HSS Silo for $600 shipped, so it is possible.

As far as replacement pickups go, I've heard good things about the Van Zandt Vintage. But you might want to look at those Silo Special pickups on the bay...
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B

Bazaboy

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Doh!!! I just noticed that ThreeMinutesBoy is the high bidder...Could precipitate another forum-ite bidding war. Good luck whatever you choose to do. Personally, I'd go for the Silo.
 
jamminjim

jamminjim

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robelinda2 said:
i have a set of dimarzio virtual vintage pickups in one of my strats, even the silo special pickups obliterate the virtual vintages. to my ears anyway!
Click to expand...

Have you tried adjusting the pickup height to bring the v2.1's closer to the strings? Since they are alnico 2 magnets they have less string pull and can be adjusted closer for more output without sacrificing sustain...

my 2 centavos
 
robelinda2

robelinda2

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Diamond Creek, VIC, Australia- at Rancho Alberto
jamminjim said:
Have you tried adjusting the pickup height to bring the v2.1's closer to the strings? Since they are alnico 2 magnets they have less string pull and can be adjusted closer for more output without sacrificing sustain...

my 2 centavos
Click to expand...

i have indeed, its the tone of the pickups which concerns me, i used to love them , used my old red strat for 7 years as my main axe, and loved the pickups.

then i bought a silo special. game over.
 
Colin

Colin

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I was given a set of L series strat pickups years ago as a present. They where noisy and fragile so I ended up selling them for just over $900 Aus. I then purchased a set of dimarzio red and blue velvets which where a much nicer sound.
 
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