Pickups that gives a run for your money part 1

Every now and then, I enjoy surfing the net looking for cheaper alternative replacements to the higher end parts. One of such parts are the pickups of the electric guitar. Let's admit it. Not everyone is able to afford Dimarzios, Seymour duncans or Bareknukles for all our guitars. Precisely for such reasons, I look for alternative pickups choices.

One such instance which i come across is Dragonfire pickups. I've recently gotten myself a pair of these for $29.90 and installed them in my Frankenstien. These pickups are definitely by far better than the stock pickups that come with the newer Ibanez models. Even compared to the older Ibanez V series, this pickup probably surpass in terms of tone.

The pickup doesn't go muddy when gain levels are cranked up high while the pickup remained highly define with responsive pick attack. These pickups also gives a hot, fat and creamy kind of tone without the harshness while leaning more towards on the bass side of the curve. The best part about these pickups is it comes with 5 wire allowing you to split the pickups giving you the option of single coil tone. This is a huge advantage compared to cheap or most stock pickups. For more information regarding the pickups, please click here.

My only qualms about these are that they lean too much on the bassy side to my liking. However, for people looking to replace their crappy stock pickups, these pickups are highly recommended. As a matter of fact, these pickups are even comparable to their higher priced counterparts of other brands such as Dimarzio and Seymour Duncans.

These pickups are made in Korea by Artec. Artec has been producing pickups for cheaper and lower end guitars for a long while and has since broke into the pickup market with their own line of pickups, going by the name of Artec Giovanni. Artec has also produced custom spec pickups for companies such as Guitarheads and Guitar Fetish.

Brand Concious Syndrome Part 1

There are many times when we decide to buy a piece of gear, the first thing that comes to our mind is probably the brand name of a product that we usually associate the product with. This is hardly a surprise and this is pretty evident in especially in Singapore. When I started changing the pickups of my first guitar, i wanted the best pickups with the amount of money I have. I bought a pair of Dimarzio Evolutions and don't take this in a wrong way. Dimarzio Evolutions are really good and probably still is my favourite pickup up till today. However, contrary to my believe at that time, installing Dimarzio Evolutions didn't make me sound or play anywhere closer to Steve Vai, as much as I would have liked.

However, there are many times when we make our decision relying too much on the brand image that we are being conditioned with and we make our decisions picking up those costly "branded product" without giving other lesser brands a chance. Guitar pickups are definitely one of those that are always being overlooked.

Thanks to a few local shops (namely Tymc and SVguitars), they have provide our market an alternative voice in the choice of lesser priced pickups; namely Tesla and Artec Giovanni. I personally believe that products of lesser brands should be given a chance instead of being bash and shove aside due to it's lesser known brand name and country of origin.

Next time, before anyone of us decide to buy any product be it pedals, pickups or tunners, do our necessary research on what's available to us and what exactly are we looking out for, before we make our final decision. We might just pick up a golden egg while saving a lot more money in the progress.

Rusty Pickups Affect Tone

I remember when I was just starting out playing the guitar, after changing my pickups to Dimarzios and shortly after, the pole pieces on the pickups started rusting. I panicked and was wondering if I could do anything to stop it. So I went around asking the "Guitar Gurus" if the rust does anything bad to my pickups and especially the sound.

Well, good news for all you paranoid people such as I. It doesn't affect the tone at all. First of all, we have to understand that a pickup is actually a piece of electro magnet and magnet loses it's magnetic properties over time. The losing of the magnetic properties does alter the tone a little bit and chances are, the magnet will lose that magnetic properties before your pickup loses it's tone to rust.

That being said, please also bear in mind that pickups will also settle down to a stagnant state where it doesn't lose any more of it's magnetic properties (Unless you do something drastic to it). This is also the main reason why there are people out there trying to prematurely age the pickup, to settle for that broken in tone.

Changing of Pickups or Changing of Amps

Many times, in a guitar related forum, beginners will tend to ask this question. "Should I spend $X on pickup swap or a new amp"? Usually, the reply will always be another question of what amp he/she is currently using.

Most of us like individuality and want by all means to make our instrument "OUR" instrument. By doing minor things like pickup swap or slight modifications, we can better justify the instrument to be uniquely ours or trying to improve the sound of the guitar by changing the pickups to the ones used by our Idols. I am no difference from the love of doing this.

However, do keep in mind that if the current amp you is a really small one and has pretty much a bad sound (Or what you think is bad), chances are, after a pickup swap, you probably still get a bad sound. This is no surprise as the amp plays a major component in the overall tone of all your gears. So the next time you think of changing the pickups of your guitar (Or any other modifications on your instrument for that matter), do keep in mind that the amp plays an important part of improving your overall tone.

Fake Dimarzio Pickups?

Today is another day of random window surfing and I chance upon these on Ebay. The first thing that struck my mind is, are these real? Well, after researching a bit on Jemsite, these are 100% fake Dimarzio. Even thought these should only come with the Ibanez prestige guitars, this seller (From Hong Kong) somehow manage to acquire stocks for these and they all seem to be damaged at the bobbins.

A search on google confirms that the ones above are fake. Compared to the real ones, noticed that the DiMarzio fonts are somewhat different?

Cheap Guitars for modding recomendation part 1

Recently, I've written about how getting a cheaper guitar for the sake of modding can not only get you an instrument with quality but at the same time also a very rewarding experience. You can read about it here

If I were to presented with the question what guitars I will recommend for this, the first that will come to mind is the Fender Squier Stratocaster series. It doesn't matter which version of the Squier Stratocaster but most of them are generally decent for it's price. For example, the Squier Affinity series is a good platform to start with. Even though it may be a beginner's guitar, the QC of the instrument is generally decent (looking in terms of only the neck and the body). The parts are easy to replace and guarantees a very positive end product.

The neck has a C shape narrow neck, measuring 41mm at the nut with a radius of of 241mm. This sound radius although doesn't allow for low action, it however allows easier chord works (think Jazz Chords).

The body although Basswood is however deemed usually an "inferior" wood, I can assure to all my readers that Basswood in by no means inferior and in fact basswood is tonally similar between different pieces. Basswood has also been used by many well known artist such as Joe Satriani, Paul Gilbert, John Petrucci and Steve Vai.

The main problem with the guitar however is the inferior tremolo bridge that it comes installed with. This is usually one of the main things that kills off the tone of the guitar, considering the strings go through the Tremolo block, which is anchored on the body of the guitar. However, the good news is, the tremolo is easily replaceable and in fact, Guitar Fetish actually made a custom Brass Block Tremolo that is a direct drop into Asian or Mexican made Stratocaster.

The pickups however are below par which is expected of guitars of that price range. It is thin sounding and has too low an output for Rock lovers out there. However, as per majority of the guitars, all of the electronic hardware can be easily swapped out and in our age of the guitar parts that are available to us, we can easily replace the stock pickups with more than satisfying substitutions. Guitar Fetish once again has more than satisfying pickups in the price range that won't leave a hole in your pocket. For the tone purist, you can also consider Dimarzios or Seymour Duncans into the guitar. These branded pickups can definitely leave it's listener contemplating on the quality of the instrument.

Lastly, although the radius of the neck leaves the guitar unable to achieve that low and sick action, however that can be easily rectified by flattening the radius of the frets from 13 onwards. This is known as compound radius. It may seem daunting for first timers but I assure you it isn't as hard as it sounds.

For aspiring DIY-ers or just players who wants a hand in customizing and modifying guitars, do consider the Fender Squier Affinity Stratocaster as a starting platform and a gateway to a guitar you call your own.

Dragonfire screamers

I've finally got around to swapping out my stock Ibanez V1 and V2 pickups to try the Dragonfire screamers. On first try, they are actually pretty decent pickups for it's price.

These pick ups were tested out with a Marshall Mini Stack using only Amp distortion with max gain, all EQ set at flat. I put them into my Frankenstein and it seems to handle the Mahogany body pretty well. Starting with the neck pickup, which is to me my most important pickup of all position, even at max gain, the pickups still retains the clarity I need when doing fast runs. The pickups also has a thick and fat bottom end spectrum that doesn't mud out even at max gain. The pickup also has a very nice after tone to it, responding well to picking. Most important of all, it has that warmth to it, making it very pleasant to the ear.

The bridge pick up, even though at the bright side, has a lot of crunch and bite to it. Again, it doesn't mud out with max gain while retaining that clarity when doing rhythm work. Similar to the Dimarzio Evolutions that I so love, overwound at 16.9k it also has tons of harmonic overtones, making pinch harmonics really easy. If you are a fan of Steve Vai or Joe Satriani's Squeeling, these pick ups are really easy for that kind of stuff.

All and all, these pickups are really hot. Lots of dynamics. Another plus point of these pickups is, the pick ups come in 5 connectors and you can choose to coil split the pickup if you want to.

I've also did a unfair comparison to the Dimarzio Evolutions, which are fitted in my RG550, a basswood guitar. Even comparing to a Mid Bass dominant wood with Mid bass overdose pick ups, the Dragonfire Screamers are a tad too bassy and less clear compared to the Evolutions. However, at the price that they are going for, they are worth every cent. I would definitely recommend it to anyone out there who wishes to swap out that crap stock pickup for something nicer to the ear.

Dragon Fire!

Yesterday, I received my weapons, forge from old steel, with DRAGONFIRES! Legend has it that these weapons are the only one, capable of slaying the others, that lives beyond the wall.

Actually, they are just Pickups and Tremolos. There are good reviews on the net regarding the Dragonfire screamers and so, i decided to get one and try. Check back later for more news.

On first glance, the tremolo looks like any ordinary tremolo out there. However, it isn't. This is specially produced by Dragonfire to sport a solid steel Tremolo block while the baseplate has the measurements of the Mexican/Asian Strat. This is going into "Malmsteen".

The difference in Pickups Magnets

During my quest in searching for a cheaper alternatives to big names or boutique pick ups, I started reading up the specs of the pick ups, not that I understood any of it other than the tonal chart. However, there are a few certain things that I see are consistence in differences and that is magnet. Scrolling through different big names pick up maker's website, i noticed that the consistent differences other than the numbers are the magnets. There are Ceramic, Alnico II and Alnico V. So my research begins.



Ceramic: Ceramics has the highest output among all magnets used and is able to produce a more driven and hotter sound while allowing the player to achieve better harmonics with the Ceramics. Ceramics are usually being used in pick ups with high output.



Alnico II: Alnico II is the softest and most compressed sounding. It gives a mellower, warmer, more transparent and vintage sound. Think along the lines of Gibson PAFs. Slash himself uses a Seymour Duncan pick up utilizing Alnico Pro II magnets.



Alnico V: Alnico V is the strongest and most bright and powerful of both the Alnicos. It has higher output compared to Alnico II but isn't as high compared to Ceramic. This gives an edgier kind of sound, A.K.A higher bass and treble.



That all being said, the stronger the magnet, the more pull it has which also equates to less sustain. So technically, more magnetic force doesn't equate to better tone. The number of copper windings and the thickness of the wire used will of course affect the tonal characteristics of the pick up. According to Bill Lawrence, there is no such thing as Ceramic magnets sounding harsh while Alnico magnets sound sweet. There are harsh-sounding pickups with alnico magnets and sweet-sounding pickups with ceramic magnets and vice-versa. I hope this post can serve as a reference or guide to prospective buyer in search of the tone they like and makes their pick ups selection process a lot easier. In the end of the day, it is still up to the player to try it out for themselves for the tone that they are searching for.