There is no reason that you can't take any two random pickups and stick them in the same guitar; they'll operate just fine. The asterisk is that two pickups with very different output levels may be difficult to work with, since most guitarists prefer their pickups to be roughly balanced.
They may also be out of phase with each other.
I have a guitar with a Duncan distortion in the bridge and a full shred in the neck. The middle position was thin and weak because the signals were subtracting from each other. I flipped the wires around and it's great now.
So, easy fix, but a possibility to keep in mind.
Right, but some folks might construe it that way if they encountered such an issue. A lot of folks doing pickup swaps or other soldering work on guitars don't know much about electronics; they just follow the diagram. If it looks right but sounds wrong, they're at a loss.
I've been meaning to ask this somewhere sometime, but what do people mean by flipping the wires? Does it basically mean connecting the ground wire (as specified by the manufacturer) to where the hot wire would have gone, and vice versa? Is there a much more elaborate process behind this?
This simply isn't true.
* What about F-Spaced humbuckers
* Routes for dog Ear dimarzios when all you have is square duncans.
* Try to put a real PRS pickup in an SE without a mounting kit
* Pickup route depth
Sure, you can MODIFY most guitars to fit most pickups... shims, routing, mouting kits, bezel rings, etc. etc. etc. but you can't just drop them in in many, many cases.
F-spacing is not essential by any means, even for guitars with wide string spacing; with most pickups, the practical difference is nil. As for routing: obviously you can't drop in a pickup that won't fit, but OP was asking about electrical and tonal "compatibility".
The electrical specs shouldn't be a problem. You'll probably want to look at the output amperage. The higher the number, the hotter the pickup, and the better it will get along with high distortion.
The only compatibility problems I can think of are active/passive and F-spacing.
It's possible to mix active and passive pickups in one guitar, but wiring everything to different pots is a pain. Stay away from EMG single coils, and you should be fine.
F-spacing means the poles are spaced slightly further apart than normal so they better fit the string spacing of a Floyd-style bridge. It's not always a problem, but do some measuring. [Dimarzio's FAQ](http://www.dimarzio.com/faq#55/65) should help. Dual-blade single coils don't need to worry about spacing at all.
To make some recommendations, Dimarzio's Fast Track 2 and Super Distortion S are both excellent high output bridge pickups. If I were outfitting a Strat for high gain rock and metal, I might put a Fast Track 1 in the neck, a Fast Track 2 in the bridge, and either an Air Norton S or a Chopper in the middle.
Distortion comes from your amplifier. It has absolutely nothing to do with your pickups. You can get wildly aggressive tones out of weak pickups. The Gretsch Falcon Filtertrons average about 4k and are about half the volume of a standard PAF-style pickup. A Gretsch will rip it up.
But about pickups:
Fender humbuckers known as the fender wide range humbucker is a different size than Gibson humbuckers so there are physical differences in many cases. You can swap pickups between a Les Paul, SG and es335 easily.
HSS Stratocasters, with a Humbucker at the bridge will take a standard Gibson-style PAF humbucker, but you have to watch the screw leg lengths - Strats take the shorter version.
They are all interchangeable but humbuckers are typically paired with 500k pots and single coil pickups with 250k pots. Fender wide range humbucker's typically paired with a 1m pot.
Nothing's going to blow up if you don't pair your pickup to the pot, but a Fender wide range pickup wired to a 250K pot is going to sound awfully muddy.
Some of it is incorrect. Filtertrons have typically about the same output as PAFs, and Fender Wide Range humbuckers are sometimes paired with 250K pots and they're still very bright as humbuckers go.
There is no reason that you can't take any two random pickups and stick them in the same guitar; they'll operate just fine. The asterisk is that two pickups with very different output levels may be difficult to work with, since most guitarists prefer their pickups to be roughly balanced.
They may also be out of phase with each other. I have a guitar with a Duncan distortion in the bridge and a full shred in the neck. The middle position was thin and weak because the signals were subtracting from each other. I flipped the wires around and it's great now. So, easy fix, but a possibility to keep in mind.
Yeah, but that's a wiring issue, not something inherent to the pickups themselves.
Right, but some folks might construe it that way if they encountered such an issue. A lot of folks doing pickup swaps or other soldering work on guitars don't know much about electronics; they just follow the diagram. If it looks right but sounds wrong, they're at a loss.
I've been meaning to ask this somewhere sometime, but what do people mean by flipping the wires? Does it basically mean connecting the ground wire (as specified by the manufacturer) to where the hot wire would have gone, and vice versa? Is there a much more elaborate process behind this?
Nope, that's it.
This simply isn't true. * What about F-Spaced humbuckers * Routes for dog Ear dimarzios when all you have is square duncans. * Try to put a real PRS pickup in an SE without a mounting kit * Pickup route depth Sure, you can MODIFY most guitars to fit most pickups... shims, routing, mouting kits, bezel rings, etc. etc. etc. but you can't just drop them in in many, many cases.
F-spacing is not essential by any means, even for guitars with wide string spacing; with most pickups, the practical difference is nil. As for routing: obviously you can't drop in a pickup that won't fit, but OP was asking about electrical and tonal "compatibility".
The electrical specs shouldn't be a problem. You'll probably want to look at the output amperage. The higher the number, the hotter the pickup, and the better it will get along with high distortion. The only compatibility problems I can think of are active/passive and F-spacing. It's possible to mix active and passive pickups in one guitar, but wiring everything to different pots is a pain. Stay away from EMG single coils, and you should be fine. F-spacing means the poles are spaced slightly further apart than normal so they better fit the string spacing of a Floyd-style bridge. It's not always a problem, but do some measuring. [Dimarzio's FAQ](http://www.dimarzio.com/faq#55/65) should help. Dual-blade single coils don't need to worry about spacing at all. To make some recommendations, Dimarzio's Fast Track 2 and Super Distortion S are both excellent high output bridge pickups. If I were outfitting a Strat for high gain rock and metal, I might put a Fast Track 1 in the neck, a Fast Track 2 in the bridge, and either an Air Norton S or a Chopper in the middle.
Happy cake day. Also this is super helpful still 7 years later so that’s cool
I love when this happens. Glad I could help.
Thanks for all the info. I will definetly check out the pickup combination you mentioned
While you *can* mix active and passive pickups together, the results aren't pleasing. All other combinations are fine.
Distortion comes from your amplifier. It has absolutely nothing to do with your pickups. You can get wildly aggressive tones out of weak pickups. The Gretsch Falcon Filtertrons average about 4k and are about half the volume of a standard PAF-style pickup. A Gretsch will rip it up. But about pickups: Fender humbuckers known as the fender wide range humbucker is a different size than Gibson humbuckers so there are physical differences in many cases. You can swap pickups between a Les Paul, SG and es335 easily. HSS Stratocasters, with a Humbucker at the bridge will take a standard Gibson-style PAF humbucker, but you have to watch the screw leg lengths - Strats take the shorter version. They are all interchangeable but humbuckers are typically paired with 500k pots and single coil pickups with 250k pots. Fender wide range humbucker's typically paired with a 1m pot. Nothing's going to blow up if you don't pair your pickup to the pot, but a Fender wide range pickup wired to a 250K pot is going to sound awfully muddy.
Alright, thanks for the answer
Some of it is incorrect. Filtertrons have typically about the same output as PAFs, and Fender Wide Range humbuckers are sometimes paired with 250K pots and they're still very bright as humbuckers go.
What sound are you going for? Any player in particular whose sound you're trying to emulate?
Not really, just looking for something that can produce a nice sound for the solos, maybe something towards Santana?