The Best Value Pickups for Electric Guitar or Bass - Cheap & Awesome! 

I'm so glad I found this video! I'm ordering my Warman bass pickups this week and can't wait to have them! thanks for the video Ninh!

i keep ending up in your channel every time i RU-vid diy guitar stuff. i have come to enjoy that fact very much. you have a very nice approach towards viewer and differ from other similar tubers by not being a stiff upper lip luthier. Thank you for your videos! keep up the good stuff!

thank you so much Ninh! I bought Warman MM style bass pickups and they sound amazing!

Such an informative, useful and correct video. I wish it had you kind of guys more on youtube! Thanks so much for the video

Thanks for this video, as someone on a budget, it's nice to get info that isn't snobbish, like a lot of "guitar guys" tend to be. From my perspective, it's about playing, plain and simple. Play what you can afford, upgrade when you can, just keep playing.

Wilkinson pickups are excellent value for money, I put a set of humbuckers in a cheap sg i picked up in a junk shop and they transformed it into a great guitar, total cost £75, new strings included!!

Your video is very helpful man. Thanks for that.

Hey Ninh. this is one of the MOST IMFORMITIVE videos on the web. Thank you so very much!!!!

Man! God Bless you, dude this really helped me out.... Warman has alot of awesome pickups and Pots. The output is insanely awesome!! Thank man for the video keep rockin out 🎸🎶👌

Loved this video. I don't know if you're sponsored by the companies you recommended or not, but your presentation seemed very honest and was definitely entertaining. I really enjoyed it. Thanks!

awesome video. Exactly the one i was looking for. Thank you soooooooooo muuuuuuuuch ! great work Ninh.

Dude thank you my dude amazing content!!!

Very informative. Thank You!

Anybody notice the background music is from GTA IV Ballad of Gay Tony?

Thanks for the video man :) Got myself a few pickups from Irongear, and they have made my 'budget' guitars sound alive, so I would recommend them for value and quality.

Hi ninh. Saw your video and bought warman 6 gauges for my strat and warman warblades for my les paul and the tone is killer for a fraction of the price of duncans or emg! Thanks a lot ninh!

I remember when he modded that pacifica.have the same git. helped me a ton. thanks Ninh!

Great cap advice! I will definitely check out the Vishay caps.

very good video Mr. !! keep on doing that!

You are so correct about the warmans ..amazing pickups !!!

Great vid - very informative. Cheers Ninh.

Your rehabbed Pacifica looks great. Thanks for the tips. I love your philosophy: good sound cheap price. Those who want perfection have better ears and more money than I do. Thanks, Dr. G

I needed this video, I already spent over $700 bucks on a bunch of Duncans on all my guitars just in the passed few months.

Great info Ninh. Thx. Always shopped the 2 big brands since I got back into playing a couple years ago, so will have to check these out. Might save me a couple hundred on pups. Much appreciated.

Boss video. Informative and highly useful as always.

I really liked your comments on pickups I will be trying the wilkinson Texas pickups in a Mexican Straticaster I like your honest approach about the sound quality cheers Gary

great bud buddy. should save me a fortune. keep em coming.

Nice one Ninh, really helpful. Thanks 🙂

Very useful information. planning to upgrade soon so This helps. thank you

Real good, from Costa Rica, thanks I like the way you put the things on the right way. I didn´t knows the Warman pickups, have to ear a demo, well thanks again. Mauro.. Guitar tech.

Thanks for the guidance! Great vid...informative!!

Great Vid, Thanks Ninh

That was very helpful mate. Cheers.

Haha I love the GTA soundtrack playing in the background! Great video Ninh, I just ordered some Wilkinsons for my Fender Squier! Keep up the good work man!

very cool informative video,thanks much,i just ordered a gfs 12k true coil,i have heard both good and bad reviews on it. i guess we will see!

Thank you so much for this man!

Great info, thanks, I have a pacifica 112v, and would like to upgrade the pickups, and possibly other components to beef up the sound. I will definitely look into the companies you've recommended here!

Great video, good work!

Great information!!!

Nice tip on the Vishay caps! I could never justify paying all the dough for Sprague caps, especially since the change in sound is very personal and subtle.

Excellent review!

Great info, thanks!

Good honest pickup appraisal there Ninh. Just stumbled upon this , prolly from my Recommended List, but excellent timing as I need a tone pot for my RG... btw I have Wilkinson MWCHB humbuckers on a couple of guitars. I like them. Especially pulled back with the poles raised a bit. A touring pro mate of mine gave my HB35+ with the MWCHBs the thumbs up just the other day, so it's not just me ... ;^)

Thanx for the good tips!

Great video mate.

very informative. thanks!

I put Entwistle pickups in my Jazz Bass, and they're awesome. I also bought a GFS humbucker for my Stingray and that was great too.

great information.Thanks man

Thank you this is very helpful

Great video. Thank you!

I'm enjoying the clarity and transparent 50's Strat sound from my Wilkinsons. Bought at 2015 NAMM for 10 bucks for all three! Loaded into a '94 MIM Strat.

good information, thanks !

Thank for Sharing Ninh

Great info! Thanks. I see you liked your DIY pacifica ;)

Great Video, just sub'd. Ironstone Pickups are also worth a look, just installed some.

Great Info Good job Ninh Going to try Iron Forge PUPs

Ninh, you have a voice that could quell a beast.

Awesome tips ! :)

excellent ! thanx a lot

Cheers Ninh very helpful

Great vid.

I got a set of warman destroyers and love them! Had them for 4 months now in a ml and it's great for metal

Great Video!

Thank you for the good info.

My friend have a Entwistle pickups on Squier Strat and they sounds so good!

Good video ,good information,Thanks

I dropped a Warman Twin Loco Hotrail into my bridge pickup on my Squier Strat, its an absolute beast! definitely recommended.

Thank you!

Informative. Thanks.

nice video mate your effort is appreciated cool

I was absolutely blown away by the Warman HBP90s. I have them in a Raygun Relics telecaster and now have a gigging guitar that covers everything from SRV to ACDC and even Rage Against the Machine. Couldn't recommend them higher to anyone looking to find a "Jack of all trades" pickup. Great video. Will check out those pots too!

great advise thanks dude!

I wish I had seen this before I spent an arm and a leg on duncans. Those Warmans look great

Thanks a lot man!

every time I've installed a wilkinson, I really enjoyed the experience. I even have a guitar with an expensive alumitone humbucker (they do sound amazing), and I wanted to install a cheap bridge pickup, because I didn't really care about it. I chose a wilkinson and with time i REALLY started to appreciate it, and now often play in the bridge position because it just sounds so clear, good and a little beaten. I'm really thankful for it

Thank a lot!

I actually found Warman by myself some time ago, and also seen a guy named Dave Barlow give a pretty honest review of IronGear. Sometimes the extra price we pay for the same quality pickups is just covering the costs of their marketing.

Good to see Warman recommended. Not heard them but heard other good things about them

Very good!!

great video thanks

What about Tonerider and GFS pickups? The tonerider Rocksongs (Might not be the best name) Are like a Seymour duncan JB on a budget. They also have a generator model , which is a bit hotter, something like an SD Invader. With GFS, there's just so many options , that I could not recommend just one without knowing exactly what the particular person wanted to do! And with Squiers (and some of the lower line Fenders have been known to do it to save money too the tightwads!) Get rid of the low-rent Alpha pots and switches and change them to CTS or something comparable. Always with cheaper guitars (as long as the pickups don't have metal covers over them) , pull the pickups out and have a look at the colour of the wire. If it's the proper golden browny colour that Copper is meant to be then you are fine, if you don't like the sound of them, then you can change them. But if the wire looks pinkish, then you really need to change them! As, it's really low grade copper that they get from recycled metal and they have alot of impurities do to them not being able to sort 100% of the non-copper metals out before the furnace, and due to things like wire being used and the burnt off plastic casing leaving impurities also. Something to think about anyway.

Two U.S. places to also find quality pickups are Guitar Fetish (also sells cheap guitars) and Stewart Mac Donald,. Thanks for the tips.

Bill Lawrence (Wilde and USA) offer incredible pickups for a very reasonable price.

bought a pair of warman PAFs for a les paul.....epic. thanks dude

Nice, useful, vid. Thanks. For what it's worth I much prefer Iron Gear over twice-the-price SDs.

Ironstone Pickups - great sound & great value! Sound clips are available on their site. I purchased the Vintage Strat Alnico V - exactly what I was looking for!!

Just about to change pick ups in very old but much-loved Ibanez super strat. I know Harley Benton use Wilkinsons and people rate them so in pleased you share that view. I think I'll go with them. A most useful video for which I thank you very much! Cheers - PT.👍

Brilliant, Ninh. Straight up info and getting away from the big brand BS. You messed up with the Irongear recommendation though; they are very pricey. Anyhow, you just got a new subscriber.

Thanks for posting GFS pickups are decent for the money same with Dragonfire.Thanks for the capacitor tip.

Tonerider pickups are fuckkking amazing i have the rebel 90 and the alnico 2 humbuckers

Great video thanks man

I just installed my new Warman 12 Guage (Seymour Duncan Invader rip off) in a guitar last night, and they really do sound outstanding. I highly recommend them. I want to replace my stock Seymour Duncan from my Jackson with a Warman Warblade.

great video :)

I bought a pair of Warman HPB90 a few years ago. 45€ (shipping included). I have them installed in a Jack & Danny LS500 type Les Paul guitar. Amazing sound and quality for the money. I fully recomend it.

I would've liked to know what pictures were in the still photo you posted on the intro and throughout the video. They looked really interesting!

I have used WARMAN pickups in about 16 guitars and basses I have built or replaced for folks . Wonderful sound for the money and in some cases better than PUPS 3 - 5 x 's the cost . Great people to deal with as well. They are designed and tested in UK by Josi Warman and in some cases made there , but I am sure the majority are contracted to be built outside of the UK to WARMAN's specs. Are not most things built in Korea or China these days?? Give them a try u will be impressed and tell Josi , MIKE sent you.

I have found the Rockfield pickups on Michael Kelly guitars to be phenomenal, nothing to envy to the SD in terms of roundness, mid range and brightness on their humbuckers especially the zebra ones...

Warman and IronGear make amazing pickups , Tonerider just released they're Alnico 8 Octane , absolutely insane value for money pickup , check it out !

Guitar Fetish VEH in the bridge, excellent humbucker

hey ninh great subject....