Upgrading my PICKUPS! 

And I thought swapping my laptop hard drive was intimidating. It's like he's diffusing a bomb. 🤯

The old ones really weren't that bad, imo. I liked the natural fuzz they had, but I enjoy that type of tone.

Over the years I've learned I prefer my pickups as low as I can set them. Drop them to the pickguard if necessary. When they start to sound too thin, raise them back up just a bit... this allows the notes to bloom with a more vintage clarity that's impossible to achieve when they're set high. Use the amp to get your volume back. - I think I learned that from Dan Petlanski IIRC....but it was truly a "light bulb" moment for me.

I would recommend one thing if you solder something again: Always add some fresh solder to the joints, to avoid cold connections. Fresh solder contains "flux" (colophony/rosin) which makes the solder flow better. Second: Heat your connections more. Good connections have both parts heated up a bit. So just stay there for 2-3 seconds and then remove heat. But nevertheless: Great work!

Got to be honest, I don't hear a ton of difference between the two. But that can have a lot to do with the recording, and the computer and headphones delivering the sound.

5:12 - "There will probably be guys in the comments saying that I do everything wrong. ... Probably. Gotta learn it. Gotta do it." I've seen too many people who seem only capable of replying "hire a professional" when you ask how to do something, as if "professionals" are somehow different beings than the rest of us. I still remember a quote from the movie The Edge that I watched when I was a kid: "What one man can do, another can do." If someone else learned it, you can learn it too. It might be harder for you, or take more time for you to learn it, but you can learn it.

yes, the new ones sound better. But it seems there's more energy / excitement in your playing after the switch too. Spirit impacts tone! Worthy project.

That lollar neck pickup sound is almost all the guitar sound I could ever need, really does sound lovely.

Interesting! I actually really loved the way the old ones sounded, but then heard the new ones and I'm blown away because I didn't think it'd be THAT much better. Definitely an improvement. Lollar doesn't disappoint in my experience

Next Strat upgrade: I don’t normally go for relic guitars because those battle scars weren’t earned. In this case though, I’d peel off the chipped portion, and sand the edges between pain and wood, and live with a guitar you’ve owned for so long. (Edited to correct spelling)

What I have found when swapping pickups and soldering wires to tiny components is that it's easier and cleaner to cut and strip the old wires instead of trying to solder to the tiny junctions. As long as there is still wire on the old pickups, you can reuse them. By doing it this way, you avoid grounding issues. Like when your solder bleeds over and touches another junction point.

The old ones sounded a bit muffled and compressed.

As an electronics engineer super fun to watch. Compliments for the can do mentality! Great job 👍🏻 (Yes there are things but why be nitpicky about it?)

When rewiring a guitar, especially when you get into sophisticated wiring like the S-1, I like to use an ohmmeter to check the resistance of the pickups in the various switch positions. It's not 100% conclusive but can give you a decent idea if things are as they should be. It's a little easier than semi reassembling the guitar. If you haven't done it before it's probably not as informative but it can still be useful. Props for getting into it without being sure of what you are doing.

Just wanted to say thanks for another great video, really appreciate what you do. Don’t get discourage, keep making content you like and we’ll keep watching.

I remember watching this video when it came out and I couldn’t hear a difference, glad to say I really do hear a big difference now. It absolutely does that ‘strat thing’ with the new pickups

Wow, what timing! I have a 2018 Fender elite strat with the 4th generation noiseless pickups. And I recently bought the same lollar pickups you have, but also the Emerson Custom 5-way Blender Prewired Kit. I will install them soon. Thanks for the video! UPDATE: yeah, much better sound - no muddiness, strings and notes ring out clearly and separately. Great tones, and very responsive to changes in picking technique. The blender feature is great too. I play on the neck pick up mostly and blend in the bridge pickup to nearly 40-50 percent for that extra glassy tone.

The old pickups sound like the Lollars if you were using a 50 foot cable and capacitance was robbing your tone.

Paul, you're a great guitarist and a novice electronics guy. I'm a great electronics guy (so I'm told :) ) and a novice guitarist... who takes lessons from you! Allow me to return the favor and eliminate the 'string buzz', as it were, from your playing of my instrument... the soldering iron. You'll need a wet sponge, a spool of no-clean rosin core solder, some solder wick, and a decent soldering iron (the one you have will do). Others have mentioned flux here in the comments, that's in the aforementioned solder & is the rosin. Flux cleans oxides off the metals being soldered and 'no-clean' means leaving the flux won't corrode the metals if left on once soldered. 'Tin the iron', this means wipe the tip on the wet sponge (with a twist to clean it all the way around) apply some solder to the tip, and if clean, it should melt quickly & flow evenly around the tip. If not, repeat the wipe/apply. Being careful with the 450-550F drop of molten solder, tap or shake off the excess (don't leave a glob on the tip is the point here). Apply heat with the tip to the joint (heat rises, so under or on the side of the joint is best) and apply a little solder to the opposite side of the joint. The solder will flow toward the heat of the iron. Add only enough solder to fill the gaps of the joint, don't make globs. Cleanliness is key. With a decent iron, good solder and a little practice a solder joint should only take 5-8 seconds. Look for shiny solder throughout the joint, if dull, it's dirty or wasn't made hot enough and will fail eventually. If, like in your case, there is old solder on the joints, use the wick (it's a copper braid impregnated with flux). Push the braid against the joint with the tip of the iron to 'sop' up the old or excess solder. And as you always seem to tell me... "Good Luck!" :) Oh, you ever like to ask about anything electronics wise, shoot me a line.

Ok, I'm listening on my phone whilst researching some replacement pickups and, truthfully, they sound the same to me. You've a great channel and I appreciate you sharing your skills and knowledge.

0:28

taking off the poly will be a chore and fairly expensive if you have someone else do it, but from what I've read and heard it will make a massive difference in the guitar. Great Video Paul as always. Great job on your 1st pickup swap.

Paul, Great job on all your videos. Content, playing, production.....Outstanding!

I had an opportunity to play a Nash S-63 over the weekend,. and was blown away with how glassy and toneful the Lollar pickups were ( primary guitar includes a Suhr, and an early EJ Strat). So now I'm down the rabbit hole looking into Lollar pickups to replace my Texas Specials in my '62 RI Strat. Maybe how its recorded, but I didn't hear a huge difference. The big difference was your impression- you're impressed with them, and now you've breathed new life into and old friend.

Damn I’ve swapped out so many pickups in my strats!! It took so many years to find the sound in my head. The noiseless stuff is a nightmare. I no longer use em’! Basically I’m using a combination of ceramic bar and alnico V. And I lower the height way lower than Fender specs. Almost every pickup I’ve tried sounds better lower than spec height!

Jason sprinkles some magic dust into his pickups. The difference isn't huge but totally worth it. My fav pickups. I'd replace the pots etc too. As they will affect the sound too.

Congrats Paul and welcome to the dark side of gear modders!! You are one of us now. It starts innocently enough with pickup swaps, a new bridge, tuners etc.... then one dark day you look in the back of your tube amp and get mesmerized by those glowing glass bottles. Uh oh....the hard stuff they warn u about that can literally kill u. Hey have fun Paul, been modding for 35 years, started with with my first strat (which i butchered the frets on back in 85) now i can basically mod or repair all my gear but it took time. You did a fine job for your first swap, its just part of the long fun road of being a guitarist. Love your channel and your style.

Sounds good! I just put a set of Fender Yosemite pickups in my MIM Strat, and now it sounds like a late 50s beast!

I love how the diagram is so simple but then when you open it up it's just a mess of cables

Crazy dutch guitarist uses inches instead of the metric system😂❤️

I just wanted to thank you... not for the demo or anything. But for being so open with what you don't know! So many RU-vid guys seem to know everything... and your honesty and willingness to just try meant more to me than the actual content of the video (though the new pickups sound great... good to have a backup strat tuned flat for the those days when you need a SRV/Hendrix fix!). Thanks again... inspiring... going to try some things myself.

Great to hear you’re going on a strat mod journey! A really interesting test is to listen to how much sustain, clarity and high end exists when you play both strats acoustically - the sign of a great strat is clear high frequencies in the bass strings in particular, and it’s not something that is fixed by just changing strings. Everything the string touches affects the guitars natural acoustic resonance, particularly the high end clarity and response. The things that made biggest difference to my Am. std strat were (in order), solid steel (now a KGC solid brass which I prefer even more) bridge block, solid steel saddles (with a solid brass on E1 to tame the thinner sounding E), and lastly bigger frets - all made the Guitar way clearer acoustically, which definitely translates through any pickup, but especially through pickups that can actually hear that high end like your new ones 😁

I was interested in this video as I have a 2011 Deluxe and don't love it. I was expecting more of a difference, but can hear the Lollars are more sparkly or brighter. Your playing is so good that nothing ever sounds bad though (unlike me). I think if I was going to change pickups I would just get a fully loaded pickguard and swap the whole thing over.

Yes they definitely sound better and they "breath" more, however, I was also expecting a larger difference. You should put a nitro finish on it in a color you don't already have! Personally, white strats have always been my favorite

My American deluxe is in the shop right now getting its pickups upgraded from SCN to Lambertones so this video is right on point.

The guitar sounds so clean now.Good job man!!!!

Prefer the old ones. I think they're mellower. Just got one of these actually, and I absolutely love it just the way it is!

6:00 you can test the pickups by tapping anything metallic (e.g. screwdriver) against the pickup :)

👏 It is much better Paul, great job on the soldering too. I had Lollar drop ship mine directly to 920D where the installed them in a new pick guard because I didn’t want to mod my original CS Ancho Poblano stock pick gaurd.

Great Job!!! I love working on my own guitars and you made it way more simple then I would have. thanks for the simple tips..

It's sounds like you could have fixed the original pickups with some brighter pots (changing 250k to 500k or 350k etc.) Higher value pots will let more of the true pickup sound to come thru. But well done. I hope you will now pickup this guitar more often. 👍

Changing those saddles would also make a lot of difference. I've had a couple of guitars with those bridges & saddles I really feel they inhibit the guitars a bit. I swapped the saddles for more vintage style replacements.

I love listening to pickup demo’s. So many great choices!

It's very helpful for me because I wanna change my pickups recently. Thank you for your video!

I just put lollars in my jazzmaster. Got a gold foil and a p90. Lollars are the bomb! Good choice!

I just finished building a guitar (sg) myself. I first tried spraying paint, but wasnt quite happy with how the paint job turned out. After some searching on the web i came across the "stunning stains" paints/oils from Crimson guitars witch worked really well for me! Maybe someting for you to check out when you dicide to refinish?

I myself used always pre-wired Pickups in the past, because I hate soldering. But, well done! You did a great Job! Thank you for posting your video, Paul!

Anything you accomplish for yourself is always better. Good for the soul !! Congratulations !!

Great vid.... those p/ups that were replaced were pretty ‘high end’ anyway and it was still a noticeable difference in a really good way... I have to get these in my strat!.

So, just some general advice for anyone looking to up upgrade their pickups. A lot of small pickup makers will tell you what pots, caps and resistors they recommend to use with their products. Lollar doesn't include this info but, they will help you out if you ask! Whenever a builder is making a new pickup, they limit the variables as they try out different combinations. In other words, they keep all the other components the same. So, if you think about it, each custom pickup model is built to sound good with a particular combination of other components (pots, caps, resistors...) If you are disappointed with your new drop in set and you haven't changed the other components, do so before you decide the pickups aren't any good.

Enjoyed this video! Always speculated about doing something like this myself but it seems too difficult. Thanks for showing the process, including your confusion and DYI optimism :) a bit different than other recent videos (saw your Instagram story) but I enjoyed this variety

I bought a LH Japanese 50s reissue back in 96 and the first thing I did was start shopping for pickups. I settled on a tapped Duncan Quarter Pound for the bridge, and a Vintage Stack for the neck. I later added a Quarter Pound RWRP Strat pickup as a centre option, then tossed the blade switch and incorporated mini toggles and pan pots to get the damn thing to do almost anything I want it to. New pickups make all the difference in the world. Hot fun.

Woops at 9:02 I think it should say 'New' pickups, I loved the little project though!

When you change the finish: it may look really cool with the natural wood with some clear code on it but a darker sunburst woul look great too.. u shoul ask the community

great job - I love when people jump head first into tasks they aren't that comfortable with and seeing everything work out just fine. It helps me to get over that initial barrier of doing it myself. Have a set of Tele pickups I'd like to install but have been putting it off for quite a while out of fear of the soldering iron ;). As for the refinish - that strat has my least favourite colour and the pickguard doesn't do it for me either. It would look great in black nitro with a mint green guard - you may need to change the dots too though as they look like they were chosen to match the existing pickguard.

I loved this! I have a Squier Strat (super cheap but it was my first guitar) that I've been contemplating slowly upgrading the components just to make it more enjoyable to play. Seeing you just kind of wing it gives me the confidence to try it. As far as the finish for your Strat, I'm a John Mayer fan so that Cypress Mica or something close would look amazing.

Paul, I hope you know how much you inspire some of us. Today, i didnt even want to play, but after watching three of your videos, im picking up my music man axis and getting down with some tunes. Sincerely, thank you for all you do for your channel and guitar nuts everywhere. Much love from Tennessee!

John Mayer would love the sound of the older custom pickups

The Emerson Blender wiring harness is a great addition to a Strat. Allows you to blend the neck and bridge pickups together in various combinations, giving you some Tele-like tones. Love it on mine. A light vintage finish would be great on that!

I purchased a used MIM Fender 50's reissue Strat for $400 with hardcase. The neck pick up was not quite flat so I took off the pick guard to see what was up and discovered that someone had replaced the pickups with Lollar Blondes! Love 'em.

The new ones are a lot brighter, i do like the dirtier sound on the old ones, but everything pops more and has a better resonance with the new pickups!

9:16 floating spider?? Besides that, lollar blondes are amazing. Have them in my nash s63 strat. Also have a strat with the blackface pickups which are also great. The blondes would be my say all end all though.

I have a set of Dirty Blondes and they are terrific. Quite a difference from Noiseless. I would recommend replacing pots with high quality volume and tone pot. I also use a blender pot for second tone to blend in neck. Sounds great with dirty Blondes. Just my two cents. The S1 volume pot was not the best so I replaced all three with good pots.

Paul, love your channel love your videos. Wouldnt be the player i am today without you! I watched this whole video and gave it a like to help your numbers. I saw your instagram about RU-vid's "suggestions" lol im with you bro!

1:00 Yikes! I wish I could make my Strat sound that good ... and it's not my pickups either 😆😆 Paul I'd let that finish rat out. Thinking of Rory Gallagher's and SRV's Strat's, the Peter Green / Gary Moore Les Paul, Roy Buchanan's Tele to mention just a few. We love 'em just as they are and all the miles, bars, shows, joys and tears that made them that way. Any one of us here would see that Strat of yours and recognize it immediately "Hey that's Paul David's Lollar swap Strat!"

How 'bout making a relic style finish. Your Strat has already started with it for you :D

Great video Paul I really liked your style of comparing and choices of things to play sounded great with those new pickups.... cherry sunburst sounds awesome

Very nice video! Please do more videos with this kind where you do something by yourself. Love it!

The new pick ups sound more strat to me! The old ones still sounds fine, but compared, they sound a bit muffled

As a luthier, i recommend you to pick some new pots and capacitor like Emerson custom. That is definitely needy if you want a more open sound.

Paul, enjoy your videos. I could tell the difference between the two pick-up listening on my phone yesterday. Just listen to it again using open-back headphone & desktop speaker through a cheapish S.M.S.L. DAC. As Paul said, difference isn't a HUGE, but there's clearly a noticeable difference. The difference even more noticeable in person than through RU-vid. I personally wouldn't spend that much money at this point in my guitar learning journey. I could see myself spending that much money if I get good enough. Thank you as always for your solid content, high level production quality, and just awesomeness. Cheers.

I noticed more of a difference on the #4 position than I could on the Neck or the Bridge, but I am glad to hear that you are happy with the upgrade, because after all, it's all in the ear of the guy holding the guitar.

Definitely a personal preference thing, but I preferred the warmer tones of the old pickups to the brighter tones on the new ones. But only one person's opinion on that really matters, and what's important is that it was a successful swap and that you're pleased with the results.

00:26 We see what you did there Paul! I hope that it can recover from that. :(

I love the Lollar product. Fantastic pickups! I have the F-spaced Imperials in my Am. Pro Tele Deluxe.

I felt the same way about my American Deluxe strat. I recently swapped the whole pickguard for one with a $25 set of Guitar Madness pickups and that guitar totally came alive in every way. Similar to you, it was my first strat and I was a little skeptical about going without some kind of hum cancellation, but the whole 60 cycle thing is a bit overblown. It’s definitely there, but it’s also not prohibitive. I can’t imagine how a set of Lollars would have changed things 😱.

3:51 there is so much that can go wrong in this picture.

Hey Paul, might help to have a multimeter with continuity testing when modding guitars so you can check to see if all your connections are good!

Nice ! Really impatient to see how you will manage to change body of this beauty !

I had the same experience with the lace sensors gold of my straf plus. Lifeless, no top end, one dimensional, regardless of the pick-up height. I swapped them for fender custom shop fat 50's and the strat came to life. It's a personal thing. The tinniest difference in tone can make it another instrument. Most people won't hear it but when you hear it, it's worth the money. Enjoy the lollars!

when are we getting a sequel???

Those Lollar Blondes sound rather bright compared to the ones that came out. I have the Lollar Blackface set in my 2008 standard Strat which are a tad fuller sounding (to me), but that's what I was looking for in my case. Long as you like what you got, that's all that matters. It's all good!

Wow, thank you for the vid! This opened up new possibilities for me

Awesome video man, I really enjoyed it

Paul Davids is perhaps the coolest musician on RU-vid! (btw please don't shout at me! So is Adam Neely)

Remove those fancy potentiometers! Go full vintage, simple wiring and old fender style schematics. No capacitors for noise bleed either. Just let this thing rough as it can be. As for the painting, just superglue that stuff. Never try to hide the damages of years.

Yes! more videos about guitar inner anatomy! Maybe a video about the virtues of shielding, or star point grounding?

6:58 I think that’s the moost excited i’ve ever see you in a video Paul Davids...!

Huge improvement. The old pickups sound bland, muzzled, sterile and plastic, The Lollars sound as true vintage strat pickups sound. More sparkly, glassy.

Noiseless pickups are more compressed and restrictive of attack and dynamics as well as having less of the punch, spank, and sparkle that a really good vintage sounding single coil has. The Lollars are a big improvement.

I've got a 2004 american deluxe and the pickup swap definitely helps. There were two things about it that prevented it from ever sounding like a traditional strat, though... the body wood (swamp ash) and the bridge (modern 2-hole mount). I ended up building an alder strat partscaster with a vintage 6-screw bridge (+ lollars and a thin nitro finish) and it nails that early 60's strat tone (re: RHCP). Pickups might get ya ~65% of the way there but there's other stuff to tweak, too.

Next step is to replace the saddles and trem block with Callaham. Probably the biggest bang for buck sound difference I made on my '96 American Standard strat. Do it, you won't regret it. Dirty blonde is a killer setup, although dirty blackface is nice as well...more mid's.

definitely wasn't as drastic as a difference as I would expect but like you said going in the right direction for sure. Maybe it has to do with the processing you're using? as far as the chip lacquer KEEP IT! you earned it on tour! it's character, just sand it down with some 320 400/600/800/0000steel wool or wet sand and compound etc. to as shiny as you like.

I like the Old pickups better !

Great video!! listening closely it does add more air and cleans up some of the muddy sound.. this is exactly what the Xotic EP boost pedal seems to do in my signal chain. I just picked up the Blackface Lollars, can’t wait to put them in!!

Finally! I have a skill barely a step above Paul!. I replaced and modded my teaching Fretlight guitar with authentic Fender Strat pickups...soldered and figured everything out. Now to put it to good use instead of watching others.....

I am actually curious, would it be more beneficial to modify an old guitar to sound new and fresh, or just all around buy a new guitar? It sounds awesome I'd say, which is why I pose the question.

It would be cool to give it a psychedelic paint job

Standard test that you have all the pickups working and correct relative to switch position before restringing is to just tap the pole pieces with a screw driver. Great improvement in sound to my ear. Just been down the same road with my "S" type guitar, taking out 30 yr old EMG's and putting in a Fender custom shop "custom 69" pickup set. So much more dynamic and lively sound, so many more tonal differences to be found within pick attack alone.

Paul - huge difference - vast improvement - well worth it