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Swapping out pickups is one of the easiest ways to drastically change the sound of your guitar. All of my main guitars have different pickups than the stock ones.
Why? Because the stock ones always seem lackluster or just don't sound right to me. And based on the number of aftermarket pickups available, a lot of people seem to agree.
The guitar I am using for this Instructable is a brand new Hamer Sunburst Q/T (Indonesia) that had "Duncan Designed" HB103B. These pickups are supposed to be similar to Seymour Duncan SH-6 Distortion. The guitar itself is a very nice instrument - but the sound with the stock pickups really didn't do anything for me.
After a little soul-searching, I remembered I had an ESP with the Seymour Duncan SH-1 (JB) and SH-2 (Jazz) that sounded outstanding. I would have kept the ESP except it had jumbo frets and that doesn't fit with my style of playing.
So this instructable will be a simple swap of similar humbucking pickups. No modifications to the existing wiring - no coil taps, etc.
This is a very simple job. The only real skills required are the ability to solder. But the soldering is so basic, it's probably a good project to learn on.
Why? Because the stock ones always seem lackluster or just don't sound right to me. And based on the number of aftermarket pickups available, a lot of people seem to agree.
The guitar I am using for this Instructable is a brand new Hamer Sunburst Q/T (Indonesia) that had "Duncan Designed" HB103B. These pickups are supposed to be similar to Seymour Duncan SH-6 Distortion. The guitar itself is a very nice instrument - but the sound with the stock pickups really didn't do anything for me.
After a little soul-searching, I remembered I had an ESP with the Seymour Duncan SH-1 (JB) and SH-2 (Jazz) that sounded outstanding. I would have kept the ESP except it had jumbo frets and that doesn't fit with my style of playing.
So this instructable will be a simple swap of similar humbucking pickups. No modifications to the existing wiring - no coil taps, etc.
This is a very simple job. The only real skills required are the ability to solder. But the soldering is so basic, it's probably a good project to learn on.
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Signing UpStep 1Safety, materials and tools
Not a lot of things needed for this Instructable:
Safety: You will be soldering some wires, so be sure to wear safety glasses while soldering - solder can "spit" and molten metal in your eye is not a good thing.
Materials:
Tools:
Safety: You will be soldering some wires, so be sure to wear safety glasses while soldering - solder can "spit" and molten metal in your eye is not a good thing.
Materials:
- Pickups
Tools:
- Padded work surface
- Philips head screwdriver
- Wire cutter
- Wire stripper
- Soldering iron, solder and soldering stand (optional)
- Pliers or wrenches to remove potentiometer nuts
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What kind of guitar is that? Looks pretty sweet, although the pickup switch is in an interesting spot lol.
This is a Hamer SAT-QT - I think it's either Chinese or Korean. Very nice build and I really like the feel of these (I've got another one of these with P90's). Plus I like having the switch out of the way like that.
The pictures are good and the writing is specific.
Good job.