Pickup Replacement fornT386

[Shane1713]

Not a big fan of the Kent Armstrong Korean humbuckers. Primarily Rock, Blues and some pop player.

[Zeiss]

I second that , I didn't like them at all . I had a set of Gibson 57's lying around that I didn't like in the gifts and I came out of. Wow they sound great in the 386 . You probably won't go wrong with Seymour Duncan 59's and can be found at good discount usually

[JRB]

Hi, I purchased a used like new 386 recently & I’m thinking of swapping out the pups with 57 classic & 57 classic plus and was wondering how much of a job it is? I’ve done it on several other guitars LP, Strat, just not a thin line hollow body, I’m not liking the pots either so they need to go also…is this a major undertaking working thru f-holes, looks pretty tight? By the way this guitar build wise is unbelievably perfect, frets a bit rough but an easy fix…pickups just don’t sound how I’d like.

[Zeiss]

It's not that bad , take your time and make sure you use enough wire to make it easy to move things around and fish throw the holes .
On my 386 I changed out everything also. It made a tremendous difference in tone

[JRB]

Thanks, I’m gonna go for it.

[Zeiss]

I was playing the 386 yesterday , great sounding . I'm so glad i changed out everting . The Les Paul that the 57's came out of just didn't sound all that aspiring. In the 386 it's made it one of my best sounding guitars .
Maybe Watch a few videos on how to do it before you start .

[dantheman1017]

I put some Lambertones "The Crema" humbuckers in my 386.  Very low output, very versatile pickups.  I've always had an issue with neck humbuckers... too "wooly" for me.  The Crema in the neck position is incredible... almost like a single coil sound but not quite.  Definitely worth checking out!

[chwillie]

I'm not beyond swapping pickups when a guitar comes with really bad ones. It used to be that when I bought anything Epiphone, I'd swap out the pups.  Now, Epiphone's got it going.

The longer I've played, however, I've learned that tweaking the eq of an amp will show you that your pickups are fine.  Granted, there are still some shitty pups out there.

I don't know what Kent Armstrong is in my 2005 810CE, but I'm going to spend a little while dialing it into the amp before I make a swap. 

I'm not saying you shouldn't swap pups, but I am saying that folks get crazy on forums about pup swaps, and sometimes, we're just throwing pennies around when we don't need to.

[Zeiss]

For me it comes down to clarity of the sound. I agree and have to EQ from one guitar to the next and of course same guitar different amplifiers different EQ settings a lot of the time . Then the room has you start all over again , hard walls , soft walls (draperies) and plants . But EQ never gets a dull pickup to clarity. It brightens and darkens but never compensates for the lack of life in a pickup . I find volume is the same way. You can keep turning it up driving your distortion but it doesn't make it sound better just louder. Now the right pickup and clarity , definition all the nuances come out .
I was playing last night and my sb59 was just killer . It's not stock , has a Gibson neck and a magnet swap in the bridge. But the guitar sings acoustically and with the little pickup help now sings amplified like it does acoustically.
I say wood matters in a electric guitar just as pickups do .
I had Gibson Les Paul with 57/57+ it didn't sound good acoustically or amplified, adequate yes but great no . I swap pickups electronics capacitors finally sold the guitar. I had a 386 that sounded great acoustically , nothing special amplified. I installed the wiring harness and the pickups from the Les Paul in the 386 . Amazing the sound quality amplified . And to think it's the same pickups and electronics that sounded terrible in the LP are magic in the 386.
I have two collings 290 /p90's and 360 / mini's . I plugged them in and thought these need nothing . The marriage of wood , construction and electronics work .
Sounds cliche but follow your heart . If your guitar works the way it is and as your playing it sounds and feels magical why change it. But if it leaves you wanting and uninspired ? Could a simple pickup change be the solution?

[chwillie]

I agree with you.  Sometimes pickups are dogs and need to be tossed.  I have two Strats. One has Fenders 57/62 pickups and the other has a set of the Dave Gilmour-ish Duncans, and I have a Tele I fit with hot rails--I don't play a lot of distorted stuff, but these pups sound more full, and they are clean and clean up well.

However, when I got my first American Strat, I wanted to sound like Clapton through the huge Soldano.  I couldn't sound like him--it's his phrasing and the physics of how he plays as much as his equipment.  So I swapped pups 3 times and finally sold the Strat.  Years later, I was listening to a recording, and I realized that the guitar could have kept iits original pups and would have sounded fantastic. It's a Strat I should never have sold.  

Forums sell more gear than ads do.  We get on sites and everyone's spending on new pups, new hardware, the latest little attachments or whatever.  We urge each other on.  

BTW, Mike Rutherford of Genesis prefers Squier Bullet Strats for the current tour.  Bet he makes those cheap things sound like a custom shop beauty.  

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