Pickup question

[outlawten5]

Is it stupid to put the same pups in all your guitars? I really like the JB/Jazz combo and recently bought 2 relatively cheaper guitars that need better pups. I do have a model 5 with Custom/Distortion and a Model 2 with a EMG so there will be some variety although I think the Duncan Distortion is a lil too hot.

[pianoguyy]

Depends on you and what you do.

I typically use the stock pickups. And if they need changed, I usually just go with the same pickups in everything. With the exception of a few 'purpose' guitars.
Some people play in one band and need one sound. Why would you use different pickups?
Other people play in different bands and need a country guitar and a rock guitar and a metal guitar.
Some people get tone from the fx. Therefore, if the stock pickups gotta go, it is better to have all pickups the same so that the baseline is always the same.

[outlawten5]

I typically play metal and hard rock from Aerosmith to metallica. The pups I am replacing are Duncan Designed and a EMG 81/89 set. I like the EMG in my model 2 but the 81/89 set sounds terrible. Tons of feedback and squeal and very thin sounding. Thinking they might not be wired correctly and looking into that.

[P I K A]

81/60? Shouldnt have feedback or squeal as a matter of fact should be quite silent. Check your ground.

[outlawten5]

81/89 My mistake sorry. Definitely going to have it checked.

[outlawten5]

This is on a Hamer V. Should be 2 volumes and 1 tone with a 3-way toggle. 1st knob is volume and controls both pups. 2nd knob is push/pull and has no effect on sound or tone. 3rd knob is a 5 position rotary dial and only slightly alters the tone. Something is definitely funky here. I'll have my guy take a look before I replace them.

[paranoid]

I typically play metal and hard rock from Aerosmith to metallica. The pups I am replacing are Duncan Designed and a EMG 81/89 set. I like the EMG in my model 2 but the 81/89 set sounds terrible. Tons of feedback and squeal and very thin sounding. Thinking they might not be wired correctly and looking into that.

Are you sure the 81/89 set are emg. I have tons of emg pickups in charvel guitars and they are not thin and do not squeal. I bought a guitar once that did squeal so I called emg to see what was up, after a few emails and some close up pictures we determined the emgs were fakes!

[outlawten5]

Good question. I haven't pulled them out to look. They sound much worse than the Duncan Designed pups in the other guitar.

[AdRock]

I used to always want to try different pickups but I have pretty much figures out that the JB/Jazz combo is what I like best. I switched all my guitars to this setup. It pretty cool to hear the difference in tone from one guitar to another with the body wood being the only difference.

[MartinBarre]

I used to think it mattered. Now I don't. You'll sound like you no matter which pickups you use. And if you're gigging, there's not many people in an audience will be able to tell whether you're using a JB or a Distortion.
I tend to just scour ebay for the best deal I can find on a Duncan or Dimarzio when I need a new pickup and go with whatever I can find that's hotter than a PAF for the bridge and, well, a PAF for the neck!

[Nightbat]

Is it stupid to put the same pups in all your guitars? I really like the JB/Jazz combo and recently bought 2 relatively cheaper guitars that need better pups. I do have a model 5 with Custom/Distortion and a Model 2 with a EMG so there will be some variety although I think the Duncan Distortion is a lil too hot.

No it isn't stupid, unless you keep that configuration in a guitar that sounds like ass, just because "it works in my other guitars"
(case in point: DiMarzio Super Distortion, loved it so far in any other guitars, but sounded like a hollow mess in a fusion)

But personally, I also like some experimentation, and when I'm pulling p'ups out of a guitar, why not try something different
(who knows, maybe you run into your "holy grail" Tone one day )

[outlawten5]

Thanks for all the replies.

[Axewielder]

I'd experiment with different pups. I don't think anybody's tone is so utterly perfect and magnificent that they can't branch out a little.

Well, except for Yngwie.

[sytharnia1560]

when it comes to single coil I run the same 2 pick ups in all my guitars, either duncan quarter pounders or dimarzio sds 1's. Am thinking about branching out and getting some texas specials. With humbuckers I tend to try lots of different ones so most of my guitars have different things. I find the most important thing to "get right" is finding the right amp for you, once you have that the rest is just like having sprinkles on top of the icing

[artonsafari]

I've got multiple guitars for a reason, and they all sound different with different amps, pedals, set-ups, etc...

Things need to get tweaked to get a sound I'm happy with depending on what I'm playing. That said, if I ever get around to swapping out the pickups in my Model 6, I'm putting in STK-4s to replace the singles because I put them in my SDK-075. I wasn't unhappy with the stock ones, I was unhappy with the noise from the stock singles. That's the main reason I'd swap them out.

My Les Paul sounds good with it's stock pickups, is it gonna magically be transformed by spending a lot of money for a BareKnuckle? Not enough to justify swapping.

To the original question, if you like a certain brand/combo and have the $$ screw it, set them all up the same.