Replacing Electronics - How Difficult?

[JackB1]

I noticed a lot of folks in here replace the stock electronics in their guitars with aftermarket choices like the K&K Pure Mini and others. This brings up a few questions....
1) Are most stock pickups that bad that they need upgrading?
2) How hard is it to change these out yourself or is it best left to a professional?
3) What is the typical cost to do this procedure?
4) What are some of the best choices out there?

[Rodger Knox]

Those sound like simple questions, but by themselves they don't have answers.
1. Some factory electronics are better than others. Some people will believe they need to upgrade, some will not. Without knowing which factory electronics and how you will be using them, any answer is a wild guess.

2. That also depends which factory electronics and what would be replacing them. Could be quite simple, or difficult enough that a professional would be a better idea. This also depends on your tools and capabilities.

3. Also depends on the factory electronics and what would be replacing them, could be anywhere from $100 to $1000 or more.

4. I don't have any recent experience with electronics, so I don't know what is currently the better choices. K&K gets high recommendations here. A dual source is usually desirable, and USTs (under saddle transducers) are usually not desirable.

I quit putting electronics in the guitars I build because the technology is advancing quickly enough that whatever is used will be outdated in 5 years and obsolete in 10.

[jonfields45]

Originally Posted by JackB1

I noticed a lot of folks in here replace the stock electronics in their guitars with aftermarket choices like the K&K Pure Mini and others. This brings up a few questions....
1) Are most stock pickups that bad that they need upgrading?
2) How hard is it to change these out yourself or is it best left to a professional?
3) What is the typical cost to do this procedure?
4) What are some of the best choices out there?

This forum is dominated by people who like to modify their guitars and talk about it. I would not consider the banter in the amplification section indicative of anything wrong with stock pickups. Your ES2 Taylor has one of the better systems available and I doubt a K&K will sound as good or be as bullet proof plugged in to the wide range of impedances from amps to mixers.

Given the love for systems that are fairly different sounding (say magnetic to sound board piezo) it is a personal choice. I don't like sound hole mag pickups but very much enjoy seeing Leo Kottke perform with one (though lately he seems to talk as much as play...).

I've tried a ToneDexter out in-person and it is quite an impressive tool for people obsessed with getting a mic like sound out of a pickup. From the many reports it seems to work well with almost any UST or SBT (including your ES2). For my usage I decided it was not something my audience would notice (mostly noisy restaurants and large events).

1) Most stock pickups are good enough.
2) If you have to ask better get a pro to do it.
3) Price of the pickup plus $100 more or less.
4) ES2, K&K Mini (or JJB 330) plus a preamp, Trance, Dazzo plus a preamp, Tonedextor plus any Fishman or Baggs UST

A lot of people find tinkering a lot of fun. I'm one of them. If you are too then by all means experiment away!

[mirwa]

Some are simple to fit some are difficult.

One of the most difficult ones I had to fit was to a Taylor - I had to remove the bridge from the body, route a hole in the top, machine 6 pockets into the base of the bridge up to the saddle slot and then refit the bridge, then cut a hole into the side of the guitar to fit the pre-amp, that is on the extreme side of fitment.

People like to have items they own modified, be that for whatever reason.

Steve

[jonfields45]

One more thing to consider, many of the YouTube pickup bake-offs are direct from the pickup to the recording device. When you play your guitar the sound bounces off the various hard surfaces and that is a big part of what you consider the tone of your guitar. A pickup will sound dramatically more like a guitar if you give it the same benefit of a speaker in a room and distance mic to demonstrate what it sounds like. Many of those pickup bake-offs make some of the options sound pretty bad when in reality, if you placed your guitar in an anechoic chamber it wouldn't sound that great either.