Your videos over the years have literally saved me thousands. With patience, I managed to get the best tone I've ever gotten simply by using 2 mics and taking the time to place them strategically.
Yeah - so much of the online music community revolves around what you "have" to buy to get a better sound. No doubt it does help to have different guitars/pedals/amps, etc to try out new things. It might even inspire you to write better music in some cases. But you really don't ever "need" more than the basics of a few reliable (affordable) tools.
I've been following you for a couple of years now and this is by far my favourite video you've done. Guitarists really need to see this. I can't believe how much effort goes into endless discussions about this pickup vs that pickup being essential for the ultimate chugging sound. Last year I bought an aftermarket pickup for the very first time and put it into my Jackson guitar, I was surprised by how little difference it actually made to the tone. People must be really kidding themselves once they've spent all that money
Got a challenge for you: Have the pickup and tone wood discussion live with Adam (Nolly) Getgood, Paul Reed Smith and Tim Mills (Bare Knuckle Pickups). These three guys have built significant careers on chasing the things that you're attempting to debunk. I'm interested to hear how they respond to your points.
Idk why I watch SMGs videos. its fine that you can make your stock pickup sound good, but some aftermarket pickups actually make a difference. Always need a bag of salt when Glenn tries to demistify stuff with a semi serious tone, unlike his "ProTools, the best DAW" type of video.
not so sure about nolly. he built his career on the v30 - and his signature sound is exactly that. you can almost certainly recognize nolly-mixes by the guitar sound. people pay him for that: so that their mixes sound like nolly mixed them. afaik he is not too big on tone wood and pickups himself. just my two cents: i had 2 guitarists come in for a guitar recording session, we used 4 different guitars with 4 different pickups. after reamping, noone remembered what guitar was used for what and could definitely tell no difference in tone at all.
@@mohitrahaman I think the point is that pickup differences are SOOOO small and irrelevant for hi-gain stuff, that it's not worth worrying about. Any difference you think you may get from another pickup... you can simply get with your existing pickup. Just tweak mic placement, and there is always EQ in the DAW too. PS: People watch SMG videos because Glen is the Mythbusters of home recording.
For anyone interested in pickup comparison videos, this is a great source: m.youtube.com/@mikestamper Clean chanel is where the differences are obvious. But yeah... with cranked distortion, not so much.
I think it would be cool to see you do a comparison of High to Low output pickups with similar characteristics, then get 2 pickups that are around the same output but are supposed to have very different characteristics and see which has the biggest difference, all from the same manufacturer. Dimarzio has ratings for EQ and Output for all their pickups.
There is a good demonstration video of one pickup with under-, normal-, and over-wound taps going to a switch, so the ONLY variable is the number of turns, iow coil resistance: 5.81K, 6.93K and 8.52K. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-mMjfqGJy5bI.html
@@sparella That's not a good demo, as he has each pickup in a different position on the guitar, which makes a big difference in tone in and of itself. If he was comparing them all in just the bridge or neck position, that would be valid.
@@gnarlantlers70 Depending on the guitar and the volume pot you have it that may or may not work, some cheap pots roll off tons of high end when you roll the volume down. But that's why we test, we could all speculate on that working or low and high output pickups being a bigger difference in how it reacts to an amp or pedals, that's what we do tests for, i think it would be a cool test to do.
The pickups do sound different but it's very subtle compared to the other differences in speaker and mic placement. I think the pickups accentuate one specific detail in one's playing style. Definitely the speaker, cab, and mic/mic placement are by far the biggest effect on tone. Great vid!
@@6stringstorulethemall967 you wouldn’t, but I suppose subtle differences can positively effect your practice. Really does just come down to the player and what they want, I’d love to see a video on bass pickups through a D.I. but Idk if that’s Glenn’s market as much lol
Yeah, differences are there, but nothing beyond what can be achieved with EQ. I decided long ago to not worry about the pickups in any of my guitars and get a good EQ pedal, something most players forget to (or procrastinate on) adding to their board. Saves a ton of cash and worry to use one pedal to rule them all. That said, I like the Alnico, if I had to pick one. Edit: I want to be more clear: an EQ pedal at the front of the pedal board, before most other pedals, shapes the sound of the guitar early in your signal chain, effectively compensating for any issues your pickups might be causing. It’s more practical than buying replacement pickups. My EQ pedal is also Midi switchable with 128 presets, so I can have custom tones for every song (or different tones within a song). You can’t do that by swapping pickups.
@@6stringstorulethemall967 ding ding ding! So many guitarists evaluate things based on their "bedroom tone"; when the in the mix tone will be completely different!
The main message I took away is that unless your pickups are busted, there are a few other things you should be checking that would have a bigger effect on your tone
Exactly. It seems to me the only real change is when you have absolute junk and replace it with something decent at least and then it's mostly clarity IMO.
Well, he didn't have to change the pickups at over $100. Stronger or longer springs $2 + shipping if you don't know you can find wall anchors to take them from for under $1 each at any hardware store if they don't have just the right ones in their spring selection for even less! Foam from any old packaging would have done the trick too, although some types of foam hold their strength better than others over time.
@@chrisparker5278 "Read and understand"! It's not up to interpretation, and all words are used to their correct definitions! Sorry, I can't teach you how to read and understand in a few replies, you need to get that education elsewhere, like a school.
@@Bob-of-Zoid Perhaps you could clarify exactly which spring(s) you're referring to? Sometimes undereducated plebians like myself require additional context.
I’ve found that I can affect my tone much more with a relatively cheap EQ pedal. My cheap EQ pedal also has an output level adjustment with a WAY wider range than anything I’ve ever experienced swapping out humbuckers.
In my pedalboard, all 3 distortion pedals have their own eq pedal, but they share the same overdrive pedal that is placed in front. The signal flow becomes: od > distortion > eq
Too many people sleep on an EQ pedal. One amp, a good boost, a 10 band EQ, and a couple of cabs/speakers/IR will get you in the ballpark of a lot of your favorite tones.
@@mcinen67 why? I mean, od + distortion... Can't you get the same result using only distortion+eq? (yep, I may sound like a noob, but I'm not afraid to ask... 🙂)
I noticed a massive difference in chord clarity and tightness/note definition between my old set of Air Norton/Tone Zone vs. a Bareknuckle Juggernaut set. It was definitely worth the investment for me, but you're right, sometimes the differences between them are minuscule and proper EQing can help out!
i have noticed an improvement in clarity in my sound (and also playing, because we react to what we hear, playing wise) even by learning to tweak a low cut EQ on my raw signal before the effects chain (i play guitar via Reaper, with plug-ins); if the slight difference you hear made you react different to it, and you fine tuned your technique around that, on the fly, then maybe that's what you're actually perceiving, a bigger change that is the result of what you started with a small change.. to me, some of those small flavor nuances count quite alot.
@@fernandolopes2544 it's true! I have the Juggernaut and Ragnarok sets. My one gripe is that I have to get a DI box for my Rag equipped guitar because it overloads basically everything! Haha
I think the question is could that difference have just been down to a preferred default EQ? Like, was it actually impossible to get a sound you liked out of the other pickups, or did the new ones just sound more to your preference out of the box on your particular setup. Pickups can sound different to be sure, different output levels and EQ, but when actually tested- particularly with gain -it seems like you can ultimately get most humbuckers to sound pretty similar with EQ and gain adjustments. So like yeah, if you just drop in new pickups you'll get a new sound, but when you bring distortion into the mix and start turning knobs it seems like the question becomes pretty muddy. It's just I've listened to a lot of A/B testing and it just seems like picking out an objectively inferior pickup is tough. The reason I'm dubious is most people swapping out their pickups aren't A/B testing and trying to get pickups to sound close to eachother, they're dropping in new pickups and saying "do I like this?". Which is valid, but not accurate as to how different the quality between pickups actually it.
I would actually love to see this detail with a few more pickups (Seymours ofc), and for cleanish tones too. I get that "this is a metal channel", but there are plenty of clean/pseudo clean sections interspersed through the world of metal songs. In general though, as long as your pickup isn't doing something weird you can always EQ it
in my opinion the differences are so minimal the only reason i could see for swapping pickups is if a pickup doesn’t work or is a cheap microphonic pickup. this video actually definitely helped me actualize how to achieve certain tones without having the prospect of new gear that wont change anything shoved down my throat. definitely going to start investing in better speakers and microphones now! thx glen, this video was super helpful as usual
I recommend auditioning pickups using direct pre-amp in on reference speakers, or studio headphones. The major difference is going to be the harmonic content, and the resonance at the low pass knee. Having more extended harmonics is going to give you more flexibility with your clean tones.
Active pickups tone shape using the active circit so there is a 100% difference there is no point in this. the biggest issue you hear with them is the compression fron the circit which has or can be overcome.
Thing is there's so many variables - a passive just drives a pot and a length of cable - an active depends on the electronics, which can be inside and outside the PU - a fair bit of EQ etc can happen there .. People use the term "compressed" about actives, particularly EMG's .. Wonder if we could x-ray one to see if theres actual compression in the circuitry?
Great video! I have to say that changing pickups on one of my guitar really made a huge difference, but of course, I don't do a ton of power chords with distortion in my playing, so that difference would maybe not come across here.
This is why when a RU-vidr compares pickups, I want to hear clean tones rather than distorted. Stressing that he is referring to heavy metal distortion, when saying pickups don't affect tone, might be an important factor going forward.
@@BoltRM If you run a clean tone, no compression, outside of a mix, in a quiet environment you will hear all sorts of things. Warmoth even did a video comparing steel to nickel frets and you could hear a difference. But who plays like that? So it only really matters what you can hear with the gain, effects, and whatever else, in a mix. Only thing I want to see is the pickups put on a scope and see the graph.
Everybody can hear a huge difference when swapping pickups. It didn't cross your mind that for the last test he's using the same pickup to prove he was right. Changing the eq of the amp, a very little bit, to make you hear a very small difference. Everybody that did swap pickups know this test is fake, and the guy too.
I don't fucking know, Glenn. I have several guitars with different pickups made with the same basic wood combinations and construction methods in the same tunings, and they all sound different to my ears. They're two LTD EC1000s, one with 18v EMG 81/60s, one with Bare Knuckle Riff Raffs (PAF'esque), an LTD MH1000 with Bare Knuckle Nailbomb/VHII pickups, and I think they sound noticeably different through the same amp and cab in the room, same settings and all that. The Nailbomb has a lot of lower mids, a kind of thick low end and smooth highs. The Riff Raff has a lot of bite and less low end, but more clarity. The EMGs have great mids and the highs are less shrill at 18v, while the lows are just right. All in drop C. Scale length is a little different. I don't know what to believe, man. Comparably my Ibanez FRIX6 with Bare Knuckle Holydiver/Emerald pickups in drop B with a bolt-on neck has a lot of upper mids, lots of treble presence (attack?) and punchy lows, and the guitar it self has a lot of clarity. Works great for that slightly lower tuning. I don't what makes these instruments sound different through the same setup, if not the pickups - I'm not really buying into the tonewood thing either.
What about the feel and inspiration in the player. People say that can't hear the difference or it does not matter in the mix, but as a musician. you react and play differently, when changes "small or large" happen. Such as the feel of an amp, when it is at lower distortions; compared to having higher gain. Same with the pickups. The Duchess had a single coil bite to it. More of a open twang or harsher top compared to the crossfire alnico. That extra twang that you're not use to hearing, can lead you down a different musical and playing path. maybe it inspires more pull offs or finger picking.
I can hear significant differences between the ceramic and the PAF, the Duchess just sounds like a hot single coil, no doubt. The ceramic has a lot more high end, scooped mid range. PAF's have a huge bottom end, and are more pushed in the lower mids. Blindfold me, and smack me in the head with a bat, and I promise I could still pick these out in a muffled room. Granted, changing speaker, or mic if you're recording is going to make a bigger difference, but I'm not going to act like pickup choice isn't a major component in the final tone. All I know, is that all of this shit still matters more than tonewood.
So my comment got deleted or something, so I'll just drop this video of Keith Merrow testing a ton of pickups here, instead of only four that Glenn tested: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-KbRlcdNHYDM.html And also, EQ before distortion is NOT the same as EQ after distortion, so pickups do make a difference in how the amp reacts to your playing.
I offered Glenn two extremely different sounding humbuckers for free no strings attached but he refused, he's just click baiting! Pickups make a huge difference IF you turn the gain down...notice he didn't do a clean demo?
@@murrayguitarpickups9545 incase you haven't noticed this isn't a channel about clean tones and all that we are solely based around metal and heavy music not pop 👍
@@6NZTrucking So why doesn't Glenn just say this only applies to metal? .....because this test is absolutely useless for comparing the dynamics of each pickup which is where the real tone difference is! No...just drown everything in gain till it all sounds the same! This is why people think metalheads are morons
@@murrayguitarpickups9545 People think metal heads are morons ? when i was in school it was the smartest kids that were metalheads. Why does Glenn have to SAY something about his channel that has been apparent for years ?
@@murrayguitarpickups9545 because it doesn't matter what genre it is clean or wirh gain the biggest influence on tone is the speakers/cab or impulse responses. You can argue all you like but pickups and amps play a minute role in the whole picture.. no one thinks metal heads are morons besides boomers and close minded people such as yourself 🤣
As someone who plays clean 90% of the time, and rarely plays with heavy distortion this is really helpful. I am shopping for a guitar to keep in drop C and it makes it much easier to not have to worry about pickups so much.
Having blades instead of pole pieces on a pickup does make a difference though, especially when you're doing bends. Makes the magnetic field more even so large bends get picked up better, especially on the neck pickup.
I've said it before, Metal stands out as a genre where dynamics are pretty much eliminated. Which is where you hear the most differences from any instrument, of any kind. Turn up the gain and crank a keytar or accordion and you'll get there too.
When I was a kid, I had drums but no guitar yet. I recorded a cover of We Will Rock You, and for the solo, I ran a mic through a Boss HM-2 and recorded me playing an approximation of the guitar solo on a small, old organ. It sounded so good - very similar to a guitar. I was surprised how close I got to the real solo, considering I didn't know how to play organ, either. lol Edit: wow, I am feeling my age - my memory is not quite what it used to be... I must not have used an HM-2 because I didn't actually get one until I had a guitar. I must've just placed the mic right inside the organ to overload the capsule to create the distorted effect.
I love everyone in the comments huffing on glue and screaming "NO MY PICKUPS HAVE TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE, I PAID 200$ FOR A DIMEBUCKER IT HAS TO MAKE ME A BETTER PLAYER"
How dare you. I upgraded my pickups to DiseymourMG Model 100 Advanced Extra Pro++ and they made it easier to learn Smoke on the Water, so I know what I'm talking about
Meanwhile I'm just happy I finally have a humbucker to install single coils and metal are uh tricky. Especially cheaply made single coils. (See near microphonic)
I finally got to hear how little the pickups don't really matter. I think the only thing that really matters is clarity, and whether they feedback or bit.
I hate the argument that people use too much gain. You NEED transients, the more the better. clean tones won't do shite. Try this test, play with a phaser and then play with a clean channel. Youll not hear much cos the pedal doesnt have much to "grab on to" then play a crunch tone with the phase. see how much more you hear the phaser? dirty and heavy tones will show more difference then clean. don't be stupid
I have an honest question. How come all humbucker guitars don't sound the same? If tonewood doesn't matter, if pickups don't matter, then why in the world does a Strat with a Humbucker sound different than a Les Paul with a humbucker. Scale length? Ok, ok, maybe. Then why does an SG sound different than a Les Paul? Pickup placement? Maybe, I've never measured them, so maybe the pickup is in a different spot. Then why don't all Les Pauls sound pretty much the same? I'm not disagreeing with your conclusion that speakers are the best investment for sound change, but I've played several Les Pauls and some of them sound pretty different through the same amp.
Keep in mind each guitar is using different pots and other components in the wiring along with the pickups. Each of these have a similar measured rating but might not be the same as another guitar. The only way you can truly test what you are describing is to have a setup wired with some kind of quick disconnect for pickups that is entirely contained outside the guitar body. That way you can test the pickups with the identical wiring in each guitar. I have not seen anyone do this yet and have contemplated trying it myself.
I never changed a pickup for a “massive tone difference”. They DO make a slight difference. It’s more for fine tuning your tone instead of using it as a building block. I knew Glenn was up to his normal fuckery in the first 3 tests. 😂. Because I never heard that kind of tone shift from a pickup change. That’s up to my amp (no…not the power tubes) and even more, the speaker. But what it does do for me (I can only speak from my own experience and no one else’s) is the feel of the guitar through the amp. And yes…..feel is a thing.
Yeah I don’t know where he’s getting the whole “massive” emphasis from. When I commented on a video weeks ago, I said actives vs passives have subtle but obvious differences. He replied and asked if I had any evidence to back that up. And that’s where I suggested he do a video about pickups. But yet he didn’t incorporate into the element what I asked. He just compared different passive humbuckers, which to me I already knew didn’t sound much different as if you compared it to an active humbucker (again like I said an EMG).
@@martyshwaartz971 so he should stick to recording and not trying to prove professional guitar players wrong by saying wood, pickups, and a players had has no influence on tone. He’s f’d up.
probably would be a good idea to rank all the pieces in a signal chain based on how much they do or don't affect the tone, from "tonewood", strings, picks, pickups, cable, amp/tubes, speaker, cab, mic and whatever else I missed alongside what kinds of changes can be expected and a demonstration for each for us to see/hear how the changes play out.
The problem is that there are way to many variables for a standardized testing process. Even comparing strings in the same guitar is absolutely useless because A. you don't always strum the strings in the same way and B. about 0.0000000% of people will have the exact gear in the same exact room as you do while doing the test so it would only prove that there IS maybe a difference but not to which extend.
For me consistency and reliability are the most important for me. I have guitars with pickups that sound beautiful clean or even with light gain, but sound weak and not great with high gain and vice-versa. It's usually why I stink with EMGs. They sound consistent and sound good both clean and dirty. While I can hear slight differences in most pickups, it's not the end of the world if an 85 in the bridge sounds different then an 81 in the bridge to me if they sound good. Although one thing that I always wanted to know is if pickup covers change the tone ever so slightly. Great vid Glenn!
I’ve always noticed small not noticeably different tones with pickup swaps. Especially in the mid gain and cleaner tones. Sometimes it’s worth it, sometimes it’s not. Biggest difference I found was when I swapped the burstbuckers out of my Les Paul…sounded very trebly and then I put a 59/custom hybrid and it had way more balls and a thicker and more aggressive sound.
Me: Changes pickups, notices the differences in frequency responce and appreciates the difference in sound. Glenn: "No you didn't, you're stupid" Me: Ight then 🫤
I agree but disclosure, I don't do ENTIRE sessions with full distortion. I turn it back in *areas to make the rest stand out more (Kinda like Metallica used to do) And I'm no expert in mixing. I have less time for setup or anywhere near the equipment and options. Or remember exactly what effect every move will have, like GF does. I just take advantage of the things I'm confident in. (Light V dark pickups or which works with MY speakers. Even which PU's still cut thru better once other instruments are added. Dylan TT explained why that happens in a vid. It was true in *my situation. Some PU's have frequencies that just disappear in *MY setup)
Changing pickups doesn't get that massive shift, no, but it does make a difference for sure. Comes down to what sounds and feels good for the player. I don't want my guitar to fight me, I just want it to hit the amp the way I want, and pushes certain frequencies the way I want. Fuzz can also be really picky about the kind of pickups. My last large pickup shootout I made sure to let everyone know the differences won't be massive, that it comes much more down to the amp, cab, speakers and mics. I also showed clean, crunch and high gain to show how it pushes the amps. Never would I ever say pickups are going to be a massive make or break for tones.
More of an 80's metal and classic rock type here... tried Duncan Invader and DiMarzio Super Distortion back in the 80's in a 1973 Gibson Flying V. The definitely sounded different and played different. Seemed too dark and dead for me. Went back to the factory originals. But... the SuperDistortion actually sounded great through a friend's Carvin stack... so at least in the days before metal meant 100 square waves... the pickups frequency response parlayed against the rest of the rig made a difference. But no doubt, as one gets more and more clipped... the end result gets more and more the same. But I would say, it's probably more noticable to the player than the listener. So... it's a matter of personal choice I would say. These days... with potentially all digital signal chain and doing it all in-the-box... one can probably force any pickup to sound close to any other. Dynamic EQ like Fab Filter Pro Q3 or TDR Nova seem to me to have huge potential for do that.
Thank you so much Glenn, you just debunked the BS that we always need to "upgrade" pick-ups for a better tone which is actually not noticable. You're video made me stop upgrading...already got Seymours, then bought EMG's, then the hype is calling me to buy some Fish*an and BareKn*ckle, which according to "experts" sound waaay better. But you prove it otherwise. Its all in the Amp and effects. Thanks for enlightening us with all those pickup marketing BS hype. 😆Cheers Glenn.🤘
I think the biggest problem fo a hell of a lot of people is the way they hear things, heard most people try and sing, It's nauseating. I'm an ear player, I have friends that are taught players, great players, that struggle to tune a guitar without a tuner, I've NEVER used a tuner, I hear chords as a group of notes, not a whole sound, my point is, a lot of people listening to this video won't pick up the differences in sound between the pickups, I thought the differences, when Glen finally stopped fucking around, were quite big....
@@MickH60 Yep, and also notice how similar the pickups are besides the P90, he’s playing all low notes and power chords and doesn’t turn the gain down or experiment with fuzzes or EQ
You pretty much brought up the same difference that I heard. When you mentioned that one pickup had some more twang. Transient response is the biggest thing I noticed there, along with of course how hard it was pushing the amp.
Yeah, the one that he said had twang...was the Duchess. It's actually a P-90 single coil, or a P-94 to be precise. The P-94 fits humbucker routing, the P-90 doesn't. I guess he didn't realize it.
@@DerSilvano The 1st clue was the pole pieces down the middle instead of offset like regular humbuckers. It wont let me post a link, so see if this works.A company called Cream T. They got magical string amplifiers called Duchess P90. They reverse engineered 1963 335 ES pickups and made Duchess. But not a typical P-90. It's made to fit into a regular humbucker routing. Technically, that makes it a P-94. A regular P-90 is longer than a humbucker routing. The reason I say is because Gibson made the 1st P-94's a few years back, being more economical to have 1 less routing setup. But Cream T calls it P-90, prolly because it wants to avoid confusion or maybe copyright, trademark, or Gibson thuggery. But to be sure, it _is_ a single coil. EDIT: It wasn't a 1963 ES 335. It was the pickups from a 1961 ES 330 they reverse engineered.
Tone isn't the only reason to change pickups, though (mind you, having a neck humbucker that's slightly single-coil-y even under gain, like the SD '59, is actually my preference). Pickup output levels _do_ matter - especially in a live context, where you may find that pickup with higher output gets you to the level of distortion on a maxed rhythm channel and you don't want yet another pedal to tap-dance on. That's often the case with Soldano-style amps, for example. If you really want an eye-opener, try Lace Sensor Duallies like the Red/Blue. With both coils on, it's a humbucker. With just Red, it's a different-sounding humbucker (really). With just Blue, you'd swear you were playing a high-output Strat.
@skratchrapture agreed, the 59 is a favorite neck position pup. That Dave Murray lead solo sound ! But ol loud mouth here will tell you it does nothing for your tone. His inexperience as a player has really been shining lately as he believes he has become a scientist lol
And, of course, there are other reasons - for example, high-output pickups often involve stronger magnets, which pull harder on the strings and often result in reduced sustain. Cheap ceramic and neodymium pickups are sods for this, so pickups with weaker magnets but more windings in the coil can combat this to a large extent, but they're usually more expensive. Conversely, if you want the high output but your pickups have to be too close to the strings to get there, pickups with stronger magnets that can sit further away might be a good solution. Too many people focus on "tone" as the only reason to change pickups. The reality is that there are a whole host of practical reasons to do so, and not all of them involve "tone" (and "tone" doesn't even just mean "EQ", as seems to be the assumption here).
I could hear a difference and its the reactance and feeling playing the instrument that changes too. Mind you, smashing out power chords with f*ck tons of distortion means you could be playing anything - Look at Rob Scallon playing a one stringed shovel!
Couldn't agree more. I go for the more expensive versions rather than the cheaper "M" series, as they just - when it comes to single coil strat style guitars - have, for want of a better word, better definition . I also love the Vintage range of guitars and Trev Wilkinson's hardware is ace and so cheap while always being good value and quality.
Of course you won't hear differences between a PAF copy and another PAF copy, or a Super Distortion and something similar. But you can definitely hear a difference between some completely different types of pickups, like a Seymour Duncan Invader (really high output, very low resonant peak) and a Fishman Fluence Modern Ceramic (really high output and "pre-shaped" tone because of an active preamp). The Fishman has significantly less low end. Some pickups can also have a big impact on the response to your playing, compare an EMG 81 to a Lundgren Black heaven and you'll notice that the EMG will always kinda have the same output level while the Lundgren will get much much quieter if you play with less force.
@@SpectreSoundStudios I could make that video on response/dynamics, my plan would be getting a cheap guitar and wiring the pickups straight to the output, because actives and passives would need different electronics. It will take some explaining why I need another guitar and a few weeks or months because I currently have a lot to do though.
@@SpectreSoundStudios Yeah, the one you referenced in the beginning of the video. Keith Merrow in the description of his video "As before, I used the same guitar, same amp tone, same mix, and same riffs. All of these pickups would most likely sound great if I were to dial in the amp according to how the pickup reacts to the guitar. But, for the sake of consistency, the amp settings are exactly the same on every clip so you can hear the tonal variations between them IN THIS GUITAR." Sonic Drive Studio also did a high gain pickup shootout ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-BpudhuzqOX0.html Are the differences worth spending $80 on a new bridge pickup for a metal player? Yeah if the guitar's proprietary pickup sounds muddy or doesn't have enough output, sure. But if a guitar comes stock with a good sounding pickup already then no probably not. It's definitely possible for pickups to sound like shit though; shoutout to Jackson's "duncan designed" and CVR2 pups. Luckily most dont.
@@JanXD Doing that would be a good contribution for sure. Remember to be very precise with pickup placement - as Jim Lill's air guitar video showed, even small differences in pickup distance from the strings has huge effects on sound.
I would love to see active/passive comparison. For some reason I am always disappointed with actives when i try them and eventually change them to passives.
Back in the day Actives were supposed to give you better clarity and more punch since the powered preamp would hit the front of your amp harder. I don't think that's the case anymore with a lot of new passive pickups with more consistent wiring methods and modern amp technology. I think It's just down to preference. I've never liked the way actives felt to me. I hate words like this but passives feel more organic and a little more real.
I made the mistake of saying something similar a couple years ago in a comment and I was deluged with butthurt comments. I had people actually arguing with me over what sounds I liked. They tried to tell me that I didn’t really like what I liked. It was hilarious
To counter my habbit of complaining about things I didn't like/enjoy/approve, Here's a video request: I want a shootout of different pickup types: - humbucker - hotrail - single-coil - singcoil-sized humbucker - P90 etc.. (yes, I am commenting this on two videos to help this comment gain attention) Also Fuck you Glen
Thats very interesting. Im a newbie and this blew me away! I really thought there was a big difference until your big reveal. Thank you for this. This is a perfect example of why experience matters knowing how things work and why a great sound guy is essential.
@@SpectreSoundStudios I refuse to be your Butthurt of the Week bid (altbough I do find them funny) and your miniwar with Gibson is sorta dead on and funny too, but my 2019 Les Paul classic is pretty awesome.
@@SpectreSoundStudios How about a video about dialing in guitar EQ for Mixing/Mastering? I am having a hard time deciding how much low and high to cut, and what makes for some good compression settings :) How bout some tips on things look for?
Hey Glenn, just thought I'd mention that there are noticeable differences in output and clarity when pickups are wired differently (i.e. serial, parallel). For an experiment, I rewired a humbucker (which are normally in series) to parallel, which made the sound a lot twangier and the output became a lot lower, somewhat akin to a single coil. But regardless, finding a good set of speakers is still the most important key to your overall sound.
Loved this video, especially when you basically showed all the ways big name manufacturers might change the tone of the pickups in their own shootouts. I think it's been mentioned but I'd be interested to see the difference in active pickups vs. passive. Will active pickups give you more clarity or is the only benefit the added maintenance of swapping a 9 volt every 6 months. We now see that passive pickups won't make a significant difference in tone, but will active?
The audible difference between same type pickups is the measurement of its impedence. A properly wound pickup does not have a distinction between materials if it has the same level of impedence. This is the amplitude difference Glen was speaking about. Electronic pickups are almost a centuries old technology that hasn't changed very much. The absolute difference between cheap and expensive pickups is quality control. People love to rave about old gibson pickups as being the holy grail of sound but in reality most paf pickups had terrible quality control as all 50's, 60's, and 70's models ran at different impedences with imperfections in the coil winding. Most pickups today are made in the same factories in Korea, China and Indonesia so the $150 seymore Duncan is actually just a $13 musiclily pickup with a more expensive housing. The best way to change your tone on your electric guitar is to impliment wireing hacks like parrallel and series switching or by changing the capacitor on the tone pot itself.
There is definitely a difference between the P90 and the rest of them. It's a single coil, obviously, and has that nasty high end pick thing with a high gain tone. But between the humbuckers, the difference is unremarkable. There is a slight difference, but can we be sure it's not just due to Glenn playing slightly differently each time? Or that the different outputs influence the way the amp colors the tone, and that they wouldn't sound identical with the output matched? I don't know. What I would really like is a shootout between some of those "classic" pickups. Seymour Duncan JB, Dimarzio Super Distortion, Gibson PAF and whatever else kind of stuff there is. Maybe even throw in a hot rails pickup or something and do a blind test including some cheap no-name pickup. I have a Dimarzio Super Distortion in a Jackson of mine, and for whatever reason it just sounds different. But I don't know if it's just the pickup. What you could do is record the DI signals of a riff, and then level match them in your DAW before reamping them through an amp or plugin. Of course, with a plugin, all the snobs are gonna be crying about how you can only hear these subtle differences with a "real" amp.
Although the differences in the pickups are small and different mic techniques could probably achieve the same results, I did feel that the alnico pickups have more clarity to the ceramic ones, which in my opinion does change the tone.
I’d love to see a video on bass pickups, even something budget friendly like the Ibanez soundgear series has a three band eq and a boost and it would be really interesting to see a breakdown of how it actually works
I had been thinking about this. I could totally be wrong, but there is a substantial difference between a Dingwall Combustion and my Yamaha 5-string. I had considered buying the pickups from the Dingwall because I am a hardcore Nolly fan, but looking at this video, it might not be worth it!
@@JaredNash13 that Dingwall tone is awesome, but I believe it's a combination of the extra long scale length combined with the fact that Nolly mostly uses the two pickups in series, which gives it that signature bite. I don't think it's easily achievable with something like a J bass.
This is really interesting but I still would like to see the difference in cheap pickups something from an entry point squier or epiphone going up to a seymour duncan or dimarzio. This is really good at showing if you already have a nice guitar with boutique pickups that you need to change other parts of your rig before you swap pickups but I think the difference between cheap and expensive pickups would be interesting to see. Also if you found a a way to test a set of actives vs passives would be interesting that's always a discussion for higher gain genres.
This test proves nothing!!! Now that I've got your attention... I've always felt there's not a major difference between pickups other than between low-med-high output. What I would really like to see is if there is a difference in big-name brands vs cheaper brands of the same output and advertised tonal characteristics. Like, say DiMarzio and Seymour Duncan vs Wilkinson, Roswell or and/or Fleor. I have a feeling there wont be much difference and there would be no justification in spending $70+ more dollars on the brand name. Rock on Glenn!
One problem I see here is the pickups all came from the same place / company, it would help to compare different brands. Also it seems like the differences become more apparent with ERG’s the lower you go. I’m really picky but I also understand that most people who hear something I’ve recorded probably won’t notice or give a flying fuck… when it comes to pickups that’s MOSTLY for ME. Despite that, I’m willing to bet if you compared a 7 or 8 string version of the pickups shown here with a BareKnuckle Aftermath that the latter would stand out at least a bit… gotta make sure the OD and amp are properly configured for it though, some configurations can nullify the audible difference. Aftermaths are known for their clarity as well as their naturally nasally stringy sound with a tight low end, for ME those things are important. 😊
From 30 years experience in producing and mixing metal music. I can confirm that everything on this channel is true. When it comes down to metal, it does not not matter: guitar woods, pickups, tubes, amplifier etc. It's just variants of noise and most bands sucks anyways... With other music genres, it's a different story, of course... 😄
Yeah you've definitely spent that ammount of time and effort mixing and recording a genre you hate. We all believe you, dude. You definitely didn't just leave this comment because you hate metal or anything...
So, this does confirm a long time suspicion of mine that there isn't much difference in voicing within a range from XYZ brand...just different output and gain characteristics. Would definitely be interested in seeing a shootout between a similar flagship passive pickup from different manufacturers (ie: Duncan TB1 vs EMG H3 vs DiMarzio PAF Pro). Thanks for everything you do for us, Glen. And have a happy New Year!
Yes, I came to ask the same thing. If the pickups, wood, strings, etc don't do much to change the tone, what would vary the tone between models and brands? The way the electronics are wired?
@@Asmogrim honestly, there really isn't much to a pickup beyond a copper wire wound around a magnet. Obviously, there are variables that can be manipulated here, hence my curiosity. But, I've found that the material composition of a $1 capacitor on your tone potentiometer has more bearing on your overall tone than your wood, strings, and pickups combined.
I've noticed a bigger difference between active and passive, but with the active you influence the signal with some amplification. Great video as always. I have to listen to random people play guitar all day, people's fingers sound more different than anything else.
@@benjaminaristotleboes3157 I don't think I would say debunked, we are talking about talented players. Sometimes when you try to eliminate too many variables you can skew your results. He does prove the point which is you don't need to spend a ton of money on gear to sound great.
I love ya Glen but I feel all this video proved was that 4 similar passive humbuckers from the same company all sound similar. Even then, I felt they each definitely had a slightly different flavour to them. Your point about the speaker, mic and placement being more impactful is certainly spot on, but you also confirm that having pickups that improve clarity and output is important. I think the only way forward is a better test involving a wider variety of pickups. Maybe EMG v SD v Fishman v Bareknuckle v Cheapies. However I'm aware of the logistical and financial issues surrounding that test. On a personal level, I replaced the cheap stock pickups on an Ibanez for EMGs and it's a much better instrument for the switch.
I wonder how Keith Merrow got all those pickups sounding more different from one another than all of my guitars do, with different pickups, woods, scale lengths and strings gauges.
@@saflex1613 pretty sure he claimed to have used the same amp settings for all the pickups. Must have a setup that massively amplifies tiny differences.
Cool video. Would be interesting if you made a video on trying to get an EMG 81 to sound like a single coil pickup with just EQ and maybe some other processing if its even possible. Would really like to use the same type of pickup for everything to keep things simple, not to mention I have that pickup in a few different guitars. Feeling that might be great for clean parts
So I'm listening to this on my Adam Audio T7V and I notice a difference between 2 pick ups or so but it's not enough to make a sizable difference. Cabs, mics and mic placement make a huge difference for sure. great work.
There are some key words and phrases in this video. Do pickups make any "significant" tone changes? That's an important distinction. As well, at no point was it said different pickups make no difference; it's a matter of do they make enough of a difference to justify the cost for you. First example--- I chuckled. Second example --- I lol. Third example --- this is getting old...wait, oh he's making a point. There are other means of tweaking tone that are far more impactful (and potentially cheaper) than pickup swapping. As a guitarist I admit, I can probably be too finicky with tone but for me, all the little ingredients add up to a tone that is inspiring. The cost is justified for my situation. I realize Glenn is an adult who can hold his own but I felt the need to recognize the points made in this video.
Different pickups do sound subtly different to me but as guitarists we need to ask ourselves why so many guitarists swap or "upgrade" their pickups but so few have an EQ pedal first in the chain on their pedalboard. Grab a Boss GE-7 and you get "hotter" pickups if you want, or more "articulation" or more "warmth" - your signature pickup sound is at your fingertips - no soldering required.
Gleeennnnnn! I really want to hear this test with clean sounds. Not arguing anything at all; just appreciate what you’re doing and wondering how much it applies to different situations. Thanks for the great work and happy fucking New Year!
Pickups definitely make a difference, but they're to refine the last 5% or so of your tone. Many are similar in spec too, but I hear a huge difference between a vintage PAF and an EMG. If you're building your tone from scratch, worry about the more important stuff first
I can hear a pretty substantial difference in pick ups. I'd love to feed into what Glenn says but I think I'm missing something...? When I swapped out a J90c for a Dimarzio x2n in my Model 2 the difference was massive. So what am I hearing if its not the pick ups?
@@2hi2dye New strings, different strings, output/volume changes, different amp settings, or maybe nothing at all since by the time you switched it you had no recorded reference of what it sounded like before. Next time record a riff in your DAW and use the same signal chain on both pickup sets - probably won't hear that difference you think you remembered. Source: I have an $800 pickup set in my guitar and I don't think they sound "better" - they actually sound worse than the cheap stock pickups I replaced.
I only mess with passive pickups, so I can only speak to that, but they can absolutely sound different from each other. Does it make you play better? No. Does it completely transform your guitar? No. But it still remains a fact. Just like WHERE the pickup placement is on a guitar makes a difference.
@@milamber319 Just because I don’t have a video for it doesn’t me make it untrue. I don’t have a video that shows I breathe, nor will I make one, so am I wrong when I say I do? If you think that there is ZERO tonal effect between different pickups nor where they’re located in the body then you’re either new to guitar or you’re beyond help.
@@brutesmagootes3996 Where they're located is easy to demonstrate massive changes. No one will dispute that, so nice red herring. Whether or not different pickups will make a significant difference on how your guitar sounds is much more debatable. 'Can' is the most important word you used. Yes, they can make a difference, whether or not most people will notice is another question. Odds are, they won't. Whether or not the average player will notice seems to be inconsistent. Many of us won't necessarily notice if a blind test is conducted.
@@brutesmagootes3996 well Glen has a vid showing what you just said is untrue. So who am I going to believe. The vid showing its untrue with evidence or the anecdotal comment of someone saying it is true? If you want someone else to believe you you need evidence. And as Glen showed. Single and humbuckers are different. Where they are located are different. Noise rejection are different. Tone changes between the same type? Nope.
So, pickups are essentially modifying gain staging? Wouldn’t that mean you could essentially get a heavier sound with a hot pickup, running into something like my Fender Hotrod Deville, than a milder pickup? Essentially like having a boost pedal that is always engaged? For example, I can get a great metal tone out of my Seymour Duncan Invader > Blues Driver (only volume, no gain) > Deville (cranked pre amp with a volume pedal in the fx loop working as an attenuator). I rarely use the distortion channel on the anp, because I get a better sound with the aforementioned setup blasting the tubes on the clean channel. I prefer to keep my signal chain simple and change my sound using different guitars and gain staging.
I think it really comes down to quality of the pickup. If your guitar has really cheap chinesium pickups, a basic quality brand pickup will sounds way better. I've gone though a few pickups and didn't notice much of a difference until I had a really cheap guitar that I put a good pickup in and it really made the tone a lot clearer even distorted.
Yep, also passive/active are pretty different in my experience. At least EMGs are very flat and stale compared to a passive Seymour Duncan, maybe Seymour Duncan's active pickups are better though. But I doubt you could swap same brand passive humbuckers of the same output level and get a bigger difference than just tweaking an overdrive a bit.
I found your channel by doing my general music and recording tricks research. I am not your standard metal enthousiast (I love some hard rock, nightwish, viking metal here and there) but your content is so valuable. Thank you for being so honest and taking the time to make these videos!
The type of magnet also usually dictate the number of wire turns, which I believe has more effect to the frequency response than the magnets. Off the shelf pickups rarely stray away from that. Therefore, the only way to have a significant change in tone is to have a pickup custom made. But then, there is very limited (physical) space to play around with the number of windings. So unless you actually change the physical size or shape of the pickup, a custom wound pickup would still be not too different from off the shelf pickups.
Custom pickups if you’ve got money to burn have at it. You can buy over wound and under wound pickups. As for space they can use a different gauge wire if they want to fit more turns in the same space. The differences in tone is limited and you can shape your tone with pedals an EQ pedal which will be more potent then any pickup. The biggest change is between types so single coil, P90 and humbucker. Try a P90 a proper one like a dog ear shape or soap bar shape they help with really heavy tones.
Well then, using a cheap 30$ knockoff chinese pickup shouldn't make a difference, right? Also if you use only modeling, the only thing you should care for good tone is having a good IR?
Hey dude, it was awesome to see you investigate this one.... although if i could offer some constructive criticism, i think you may have tested the least important variables inherent to pickups. ultimately the only thing the magnet is responsible for is field strength (which should only affect output) the material it is made of is electrically irrelevant, like people arguing pointlessly over paper/oil caps vs mica etc. I think some more interesting variables would be: number of windings, winding radius, pole piece spacing, pole piece size, covered vs uncovered. And while it may still turn out to make too small a difference to be important it also may not as the impedance of a pickup (as with a speaker or any other kind of inductor) is a frequency dependant complex value (complex as in x+iy not as in complicated), on a seperate note; given that active pickups have small preamps in them there could also (potentially) be eq circuits tacked on and by extension larger differences between different active pickups (or not who knows). in any event thanks Glen its always good to get people questioning their assumptions about what is important.
I have a guitar with custom pickups from Peg City Pickups. One thing that's different from any other guitar I own Is the higher strings are hotter than the lower ones. This helps lead parts cut through when playing a combination of rhythm and lead. It's a great sounding guitar.
You sure the side of the pickup under the treble strings is not closer than the side under the bass strings? A tilt like this will result in exactly what you describe with any pickups.
I did hear the difference in every single test. I knew already that it's not gonna be huge and all about the fine details, and that to me is worth it. For the big difference I'd change the speaker, but if I found my favorite speaker and the perfect settings and something is still not right I'd get new pickups, especially if I'm looking for a different output. What is for sure is two things. 1. The placement of the pickup is more important than the pickup itself. Even a few millimetres can do a real shift in the tone and that's especially important when choosing which coils to use in splits. 2. The Dutchess did sound different, but that's because it's a P90 in a humbucker housing, therefore a single coil.
Hey Glenn, you should check out the Seymour Duncan P-Rails, it’s not so much about tone but about versatility (Single coil, P90 and Humbucker on one pickup) Also, would be cool to see a video on Fishman Fluence vs EMGs
I suggested the same a few wk ago. I plan on getting a set. They seem totally different than any other pickup how you can run them in series or parallel, or split them. Kind of a swiss army knife of the p.u. world i think!
@@leviathan_is_me look up Gary Heibner's review of them, it's really good. He's using a push pull method...looks complicated, but that's how i'd want it i think.
There's a bigger difference between the p90 and the humbuckers. But there are audible differences between them all. Is it as drastic as a speaker or a mic change? No. But the Duchess picked up a lot more highs and pick noise transients.
In my experience, I can make most pickups sound pretty much the same under high gain. Even my Tele can do metal if I hit it hard enough. It's in the cleaner tones where I find to be more difference between pickups. Sure, mic/placement and speakers make more difference but it's the sum of parts. As small as some parts can be. Edit: Your playing has become sick, Glenn! It does inspire me to me practice more. Cheers!
Once again, almost everybody can hear the big differences. Not many can hear the more subtle stuff, that’s why it makes a bigger difference to those who have a better ear.
@@DerSilvano It depends on what you’re using in your situation. Of course people aren’t gonna hear the subtle difference between pickups when you compress the signal with a shit-ton of gain. Get a DI, or a tone with low-ish gain, compare a single coil or a p90 to a humbucker with both neck and bridge, you’ve got your tone shift, put a shit ton of gain on it through the same chain, and they sound the same.
@@DerSilvano if the person chooses to because it makes a difference to him yes. If it doesn’t make a difference don’t spend the money. The only one who it will make a difference to is to the musician who notices the difference or not. I don’t condemn either way. It’s just that to say you don’t hear a difference is one thing, to say that it doesn’t make a difference is just arrogance. Because you are saying you have the same ears as the best musicians and if you don’t hear it, nobody else does. Going back to the pickups, if you wanna spend because it makes a difference to you, go ahead. If it doesn’t make a difference to you, don’t spend the money, I bet it’ll sound good too.
@@DerSilvano I'm talking about metal too, there is tone shifts with pickups changes with high gain too. Instead of using just tube amp gain to compare pickups, especially single coils p90s and humbuckers, try using a fuzz pedal instead or sometimes solid state mid/high gain tones and you'll get much different results interchanging those pickups. Especially if you’re playing more than power chords. Tone is just the overall sound, whether it clean or muddy. Different pickups make tone more versatile. Many metal guitar players/engineers record at lower gain than you might think they do.
@@DerSilvano evidence shows it matters, to a lesser percentage. And that is what I am saying, those more sensitive and with better ears that small percentage makes a big difference. Just because you or I don’t hear it doesn’t mean others don’t. And that’s OK
Changing pickups isn’t only to change your recorded tone, it’s also a feel thing. Amount of compression, string separation, etc. Oh and obviously they’ll be great tone differences not at high gain :).
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. People love changing pickups because you can see them. People don’t change speakers as much because they’re hidden behind that grill cloth.
There have been so many channels that I've unsubscribed from because I felt like I've "grown out" of their content. But this is one channel I always find myself coming back to 👌🏻😂!! Keep doing what you do Glenn!!! Cheers! This is coming from a bass guitar/blues/rock electric guitar player.
This is my favorite video you’ve done. I had no idea that just moving the mic position alone would make such a big difference in tone, let alone all the other things you did. You just saved me potentially thousands of dollars on pickups and a ton of time soldering. I hate soldering.
That was freaking awesome and I can hear the meltdowns! After seeing how you can change your tone, do you have any recommendations for mic and speaker combos? I'm a drummer that dabbles in guitar, so please excuse my ignorance. Keep on making these outstanding videos!
If you have a shitty guitar made in the 90's, a good pickup will be good. My Aria 7 string sounded like super ass. I swapped out for a bare buckle. It sounded like a serious guitar. But that's against the shittest rusty "picked-out-of-a-skip" pickups ever.
I think the spectrum of what an engineer is thinking of sound wise is very different than what a guitarist thinks of. There is still a sound difference with different pickups, and the guitarist is going to think of their sound in the room. Anything after that is studio magic a lot of them take for granted. Whereas an engineer is going to look at the end result of the recorded sound and aren’t as fixated on the minutia of the different steps to get there when they can get more significant results from a basic EQ, let alone all the stuff they’re actually going to do to get to the final product.
After 45 years of guitar playing and searching for my signature sound this video has blown my mind thanks so much for debunking the myths and keep up the stirling work
I do play with pickups. I do not buy big money named brands because the high cost for some magnets, wire, plastic and some wax a variation in the number of turns of wire doesn’t justify the cost. What does make a difference Single coils True P90’s dog ear or soap bar not the type Glen was using in the video although you will notice a difference with that one. For humbuckers over wound vs low output is a difference. Magnet’s might make a slight difference in output but not necessarily. Active pickups that need a battery noise cancelling definitely and being able to push a clean JCM 800 to breakup yes but a pedal will do a better job. Tone wise nothing to write home about. Wiring harness in your guitar this will make a difference. Out of phase in the middle position is twangy for the blues guys. Wiring in series and parallel is a small difference series will be preferable for metal guys Then there’s coil splitting/tapping of humbuckers which is a bit meh 🫤 PRS does it best but I don’t use it. If you want to try all those options you can do what is called the Jimmy Page mod where you get a guitar with four control knobs and they will be replaced with push pull or if you’re buy a fully loaded BC Rich mockingbird will come with those and a veritone switch as well 😎
The only time I’ve ever changed pickups is when they either die completely or they get noisy as hell. Before I do that I check the wires and other electronics. A bad tone pot and no shielding adds to bad sound. I’ve gotten great pickups from venders like Guitar Fetish and spent half as much money.
This channel have proven so many times to me now that the price tag on the guitar dosent mean that its worse or better as long as the qualety is good. And now that pickups dosent give the great change as i have heard. aspechaly as a guy that play moastly mettal and have always been liking the emg's but have thought that i need other pickups to play other types of music. Thanks Glenn
Your hypothesis is solid but with this test, you are only showing little difference on THIS particular brand of pickups (CTP). For a truly comprehensive test, you should use iconic and distinctive-sounding pickups such as Dimarzio, Seymour Duncan and EMG. If you swap D-Activators for Nazgul and you don't hear a difference you better check your hearing. Of course, it may not be a massive difference after the signal goes through the chain (pickup->cable->amp->cab->Microphone->cable->AudioInterface->DAW->RU-vidCompression->to finally arrive to ... Our Speakers).
Here's the stupid comment you've been waiting for: this is missing the point. Getting "different pickups/good pickups" refers to (at least in my experience) replacing cheap/entry-level pickups with quality pickups. good pickups capture a way broader tonal spectrum than the cheap pickups used in squiers or low-tier guitars, hence there being a huge improvement in "quality" of instruments past the 500-ish dollar mark (they have decent pickups) That being said, I don't think there's that much of a difference if you're using a PAF or a Pearly Gates, an EMG or a Blackout, a Super Distortion or a JB-4, etc. I probably couldn't even tell the difference between an 81 or an 85. BUT: Swapping cheap pickups for decent pickups WILL definitely make a huge difference. And one more thing: If it makes you enjoy your instrument more and in turn lead to more time spent on the instrument, then it doesn't really matter, no matter how stupid it may be. If you play more on your alder tele than you do on your basswood tele, then alder the better choice, no matter what anybody else says. If you get a hard on after installing a 200 Dollar NOS 1957 orange drop capacitor, you're an idiot. But if you now play your instrument more often that's still a win in my book (as long as you're spending YOUR money and not mine)
