I destroyed my PRS Silver Sky by accident, but it was worth it 

I've started creating "quick swap" loaded pickguards for my Strat using extra pickups, pots, and caps, I've used in the past. The pickguard only requires one Quick Connect at the Output Jack. I've timed myself, and it takes 8 minutes to just loosen the strings, remove the pickguard, swap in the new pickguard, and tune up the strings. By my count, I'll end up with 4 or 5 unique swappable pickguards with distinct pickup configurations and sounds for my One Strat. 😎

As a tele player I always love when people wig out having to take tools to their guitar. I think I’ve actually stapled the set list to it once

The fact that the Texas Specials sounded that good when pitted against super high end, fart sniffing boutique pickups is impressive.

I don't think I have felt so many conflicting emotions in a single title before. Let us not forget the sacrifices that the Silver Sky made for the journey of tone and quality.

I really dig that G minor slow dancing inspired thing you played at the beginning. Makes me think of an alternate universe where John wrote it in a minor key instead of a major key

Wow! Good job Ronnie! The silver sky was cool but the strat was my favorite transformation. Although they have a fantastic tone out of the box. The Ron Ellis pups gave just a little nudge of fullness that is so sweet to my ear.

I wouldn't say I always thought they sounded better on any of the guitars overall (some positions yes, other I preferred the originals), but definitely very different. Cool to hear such a big jump each time. In general they tend to sound crunchier, with a bit more personality to them. As a Silver Sky owner, I didn't get worried or upset by your modding since I knew you had a second one, but either way who doesn't want something completely unique? Ending jam was fantastic, by the way.

Lovin the Ron Ellis pickups. They just seem to have this melodic flow note to note, very hypnotizing and incredible sounding.

I personally think the texas specials sounded better. The Ron Ellis pickups were too bright, bit too high output for my liking. The Texas Specials were rich and chalky sounding with the right amount of thud and chimey-ness.

Man! That bang on the noggin has taken your playing to another level! Fantastic and informative video - thanks! If I wanted to see anything it would be an SG trialled with stock and then the Ron Ellis Signature Humbuckers. Cheers!

a couple things i would recommend is the height of the pickup matters so much as well. and what i love to do with all my strats is add an on off switch to turn on the neck pickup in any setting so you can have two extra settings on a strat. so 7 settings and not 5. you will add all three on at once and my favorite which is the neck and bridge at the same time. promise its great

This is one of the few comparison test where you can see a HUGE difference. Those pickups are amazing. Thanks

After all these years the content just keeps getting better 😊

Kinda love it. Keep going back and forth on whether the backwards wiring makes me uncomfortable or if it was great. Glad the pros got you sorted.

For anybody who doesnt know, with es-335's, if you want to swap Pickups, just cut the wire near the pickup itself and solder the new one in. Fishing out your whole harness is really only necessary if you want to change your pots and such :)

Cut is healing well! Great content as always. Thanks!

And it's nice to see Tyler supporting Caldwell Guitars...gotta keep things local!

I'd highly recommend getting a Dremel tool. It's great for little odds and ends. Just don't sand-blast your brand-new guitar finish with plastic flakes while cutting the control cover to size, like I did.

Yes, those are all very nice pickups. That said, what you did to the PRS made me very sad and damaged my soul. I must lock myself in a dark room and mourn for the rest of the day.

Loving the bedroom Frusciante lick at the beginning!

WOW ! I love that Gibson with the Ron Ellis Pickups ! That surely is my sound !🤪👏

Love that 4th position with the Ron Ellis pickups on the first guitar.

Always experiment, always expand, always grow.

Great vid! I thought all of the pickups (stock and replacement) sounded great. Just kinda depended on what vibe you're going for. I personally liked the PRS better, and a slight advantage to the RE Pickups in all the other axes.

Keep up the good work dude, love the album btw.

The Ron Ellis pickups are FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Holy crap! I didn’t know how much of an effect saturation has on tone. 😱 Seriously though, great video. Very cool.

On a hollowbody guitar like a 335, you can use clear tubing material you can get from the hardware store to put over pots and it will keep them from falling through. Works better than strings. Great video.

The Strat is my fav sounding guitar. Great sounding guitars and nice playing!

In almost every case, I enjoyed the warmer, less strident sound of the OEM pickups.

I would like to see/hear what a guitar would sound like with Mark Tremonti’s hum-bucker in the bridge, Myles Kennedy’s modified single coil in the middle, and a normal single coil in the neck pickup. That would be a lot of money and time but it seems like it would sound awsome.

I think the Texas Specials sound better

The Strat sounded really good after the swap...I did not necessarily see an improvement in the PRS swap, but it was a change. I would personally leave the PRS alone. ...The others were about the same for me. That is, different but not necessarily better to my ear.

I love the sound of the 50s 60s single coil, and the Texas ones. Even on the clean setting❤ I might have to upgrade lol

I really disliked the Ron Ellis strat pickups, wasn’t expecting that. Edit: I do wonder if they were correctly installed tough. Specially on the Prs comparison there’s significant hum and noise on the Ron Ellis pickups compared to the originals ones.

Man, those pickups are sweet!

Definitely would love to hear a tele!

Love your videos frl

SaaWeeT sounds Bro!💚

The stock Silver Sky pickups sound much better in that particular Strat, IMO. Especially in the 4 and 5 positions. I'm just a fan of the OG Strat tone, which I think PRS nailed with those pickups. Silver Sky clean through a Super Reverb is hard to beat.

On the JM (IMHO) the difference was so much that I don't think there is a real comparison. Apples to oranges. It would depend on your style. In the playing demo at the end I thought there were aspects of the WE neck p'up on the Strat that I really liked and I really like the Strat middle pickup, but overall I would prefer the original pickups. That is why this type of content is so amazing: I got to do the next best thing to doing it myself and all I had to to do is listen. Great video. Even though I didn't; like the WE pickups that much I learned a TON without spending the money. THANK YOU and Thanks to Warren Ellis Pickups for teaching me a bunch of stuff for FREE!

Should try having them send you an Ellisonic JL set, so you can find out how much of the mojo of a Collings 470JL is in the pickups.

Assuming the TS set has AV poles and the wire gauge and wind count isn't much different, the tonal difference would mainly come down to the pole magnets, although wire insulation thickness affects coil size and possible semi-shorts around the bobbin edges with PE wire insulation that generally reduce highs. it does sound like the main difference is the lower Gauss/Tesla and higher permeability poles of the RE set. Permeability can have a radical effect as the flux lines are pulled more through the coil to increase efficiency, and possibly affect lower to upper harmonic balance. Other builders offer AII, AIII and combined poles (for the same effect as the 50s/60s set). FI, the noiseless Wilde NF sets have lower Gauss/Tesla high permeability poles and thinner wire with specific height bobbins for a given tonality at ~1/4 the cost of RE sets...and they are noiseless. Zexcoil also has several affordable high permeability mild conductivity pole noiseless options like these RE sets. The ~$100 Tonerider brand 'Pure Vintage' set is like a cross between the RE 64S & 50/60s set with softer/weaker AV poles and combined AV & AIII poles only in the bridge. Not sure the wire insulation type, so maybe not quite as much lower note harmonic strength as the 64S set (PE wire), or more than the 50/60s set (HF wire).

Sounds like the Ellis Strat pickups magically make more reverb appear. Impressive 🤨

Loved the single coils, but I have to say Gibson 57 classics are probably my fave stock humbucker. Definite honorable mention to stock p90s as well! Liked the Ron Ellis one better, but both were good

I personally enjoying seeing a PRS of any sort get mangled. With that being said, the new pickups in that sounded awful. It was like it was just an effort to get as much treble into a pickup as possible. The stocks were way better.

Hell yeah! Hackin the crap outa geetar for the win :) Worth it for that sound though! Awesome vid :)

I've done the exact same thing on my Telecaster once... got the pickups wired to the switch in reverse order. It's easy to do cuz you automatically think the end of the switch towards the neck pickup gets the neck pickup wire. But while the top of the switch points that way, the bottom of the switch points the other way.... so the neck switch lug is at the bridge end of the switch and vice versa. I just kept mine that way cuz it made it easer to use the volume knob while on the bridge pickup since the switch was in the forward position away from the volume knob.

Any Filtertron style pickup would be awesome. it's such an underrated pickup. humcancelling but the sparkle and brightness og af p90 singlecoil

Ron Ellis pkups are a bit darker to coarse in tone. I've got a neck pkup on my Tele that has alnico5 that I've done some work on and it sounds like the RE neck pkup. Dark, rich and a bit coarse w/.013 solid nickel Stringjoys and tuned D standard. With both pups and the bridge dropped low for less volume. Neck is just a 20% louder like a big fat humbucker. Tone knob changes everything many times. Great roll out tune...SteelyDan-ish !

I bet Ron is using different types of magnet slugs for each string position in his Fender-style pickups and different strengths to achieve some of the more brilliant sounds. Like, maybe ceramics on the bass strings, Alnico 3 for the middle strings, and Alnico 2 for the high strings.

I love the stock pickups in that 335 more. And that finish. Yummy

I am more of a bareknuckle pickups kind of guy and did swaps like to all of my guitars but with bkps. End results really worth it when you fond what you like

Those were sadly unimpressive in the Strat. The others sounded louder but not better. The 335 sounded different enough that you can hear some clarity with it and the Tele pickup in the Silver Sky in the bridge was notable. Nothing here that I've heard so far to make me want to change my pickups. I buy what sounds good to my ear. I only wonder what happened to your eye and forehead? I can see a scar but that looks pretty nasty!! I hope and pray that it heals without being noticeable. ROCK ON!

7:48 - 8:16 Pliny meets An Endless Sporadic anyone?! Gnarly licks Tyler! 🎸 🌌

Good video. I''ve been doing some single coil swapping in a couple of my Strats, over the last year or so. First time I've ever swapped pups just for the sake of swapping. It's been kinda driving me crazy and it was all kinda a waste of time, for me. I've tried a couple of the Fenders, a set of Lace, a set of Lollars, and set of EMG's. They all sound different and really great. The original Fender pickups are awesome, too. The cheap Roswells in Harley Benton sound great. Seems like I just can't go wrong, so I go with the quietest. I'm kinda getting the same thing from your video. They sound different and great, but the originals sound great, too so I don't know if I'd say "better".

Sooooo much more character and depth!

Man, those are some bright ass tones!

Ahh the American special love it, id love some of those pups to swap my Texas specials out tho

Funnily enough I had the idea to try a tele bridge pickup in a strat recently, I don't use the strat bridge much either but I do love a tele bridge pickups, Warman Guitars in the UK do one with oversized pole pieces called a Tele Wide Boyz I wanted to to try out so went with one of those Threw in a 6-way switch to get the bridge and neck position as well and for good measure swapped the trem block for a big weighty brass one whilst I was at it, did also shift the peak of the neck pickup slightly to get just a shade more warmth which improved that 6th position, f'kin love it with that tele pickup, made it a much cooler guitar especially with the 6th bridge and neck position

This is only My opinion but a simple EQ will solve pickup issues. Thats basically all those different pickups do is change the frequencies.

The unhinged madness while you’re hacking away at a silver sky is the chaotic energy I needed to start my Monday. Thanks

Hey Tyler don’t forget to oil and hydrate your scar to make it less apparent. Take care, cheers from France.

Amazing, complete win, a turn of chapter, f the page! Almost forgot too to say great expense hand labor our application, apparently, approved, appreciated✝️

Remember to put vitamin E on that (rather cool looking) scar! These pickups are phenomenal. I've installed them for a few customers over the years and they have never failed to improve whatever they are installed in!

I think the single coil Ellis pups are more dynamic and preferable to the stock both in the PRS and strat. Honestly though I preferred the stock Gibson P90s and Humbuckers to the Ellis ones

I have really enjoyed watching that destruction of the PRS that was pure quality comedy 😂😂😂

I actually prefered the JM pickups over the RE ones. More full sounding.

hey Tyler, Your Strat at the beginning is an easy fix. Just rotate your switch 180 degrees. As long as your wires let you. I did to one of my "mistakes".

Whoa, Ron Ellis lays the smackdown IMO

4:19 that riff is so good!!!!

Smart design on PRS knowing you have to buy their pickups. Might backfire now that someone looking at a strat guitar knows they're gonna have to hack the body cavity if they ever want to try something different. The RS pickups we're a drastic upgrade in everything as long as settings and signal stayed the same.

I think I'm just old and being nostalgic, but I remember back in the day when you got stuff ("they sent me thousands of dollars of pickups") from a company there would often be a give away. We all change, I reckon.

I think EMG single coils are the shape that fits in the silver sky (though I’m not sure if the depth would fit though.) Edit: Stew Mac sells a thing that looks like a brass bent coat hanger for putting knobs and stuff back into an ES guitar without a backplate.

Man..that bottle hit hard!! the pickup are rotated 180....look at the bridge pickup cavity next time...that is a tell tale sign for the alignment

Love that sound from ron ellis pickups ❤

These pickups are genuinely much more expressive in every guitar played in this video

I'm shocked by the difference in the Silver Sky. Those new pickups are pretty amazing.

The R.E. pick-ups are waaaay better than the texas specials. Night and day imo.

Texas Specials get my vote.. The Ellis pickups bury the unique tone of the strat

Honestly... I think the stock pickups are better. BUT if the amp settings were tweaked on the Ellis pickups that clearly have more output, I would likely think differently.

Such a dramatic brightness and crispness, I think I could only have those on select guitars, I don't always want all that high end cocaine alertness in a pickup... but sometimes... SLICE THE DIMENSION OPEN AND SEE WHAT'S ON THE OTHER SIDE.

Thanks for fun comparisons. As someone that has done a ton of these type of comparison videos, enjoy all the keyboard warriors that will tell you should have done this or that .....and this isn't a fair comparison because of this or that. Ignore them, and keep these coming.

Yeah!! Those sound fan-tas-tic! But you got the *Thumbs Up* for the strings at the end! ¡?¡

I prefer the 57 classics to the Ellis humbucker tbh, but the rest sounded like a definite upgrade. Especially the p90

OMG that was a little bit painful to watch, great results!

Those Ron Ellis pickups have a dark, nasally, fuzz(hair) attack. It lives in the mids and gives your tone some personality. Definitely has that classic rock "edge" in comparison.

The RE pickups are def nice

I think these pick ups are just tools for a job. However, I like the texas single coils. The new ones are punchier almost like a tele.

I want Peavey T-60 ‘Toaster Pickups’ complete wiring harness in a PRS Silversky, And this will take some careful body routing… The resulting guitar will be unsellable and tone-magical. (John Mayer will ask me to send it over. 😴 💭 ) The scrapped Peavey husk guitar will be a good boat anchor… ⚓️ 🐟 🐠 for up at the lake - or a weight relief experiment.

I’d like to see Ron Ellis Tele pickups in a Tele, and I’d like to see you make an HSS Silver Sky

Not gonna lie the Ron Ellis pickups just sounded hotter too me in each case, and I only liked them better for the p90s,, possibly the middle position on the 335, and tele pickup on the silver sky sounded pretty badass ngl but other than those cases I tend to like a lower output pickup. But to each their own!

The sound of those pickups gave me tone wood!

As a Gibson guy this makes me happy 😂

I liked the Gibson pickups better in each guitar. Which makes me want to change the originals back into my sg to see if I like them better than the Duncan’s I have in it

PRS neck position was personally my favorite tone of all. They sounded kill on the Texas special.

You didn't think we notice. But we did. You played ride with me from nelly

I think they all sounded better than the stock pickups in all but one case. IMHO Gibson P90s have a certain bite that stands out in most mixes. They can be dialed back in the mids slightly with eq and set up tweaks to give a more balanced range like the RE pickups, if your after that. Mids will always rule most guitars tones. Scooping them out drastically seems great on its own, till you hear it in most mixes. It's all relative to the other instruments being used, and how their predominant frequencies blend. It's the theory of frequency relativity!

Cucaracha! Yes, they do sound great, but those are pricey at $850 for a set of HBs. I'm not saying they aren't worth it, but I'll only be modding one or two guitars if I pull that trigger at all. Thanks for doing this!

Honestly I thought the texas specials sounded better than the Ron Ellis pickups. The silver sky sounded so much better with the stock pickups! To me the silver sky lost is mojo with the Ellis pickups. The Gibsons got noticeably dirtier with the Ellis pickups, which I guess is cool if you want more distortion.