Effect of swapping pickups on my Godin for Seymour Duncans

    I'm one of those people that haven't bonded with SD pickups. I've had several different models in several different guitars and always ended up swapping them out, mostly for Anderson. The same can't be said for Anderson, TV Jones, Kinman. Unless it's confirmation bias these all sound great as soon as the heights are dialed in.

    First thing first. If you like the sound of the guitar unplugged it's just a matter of the right pickups for the guitar. Otherwise, sell the guitar. No pickup swap will do if you don't like the sound of the guitar unplugged. Yes pickups matter. But of course not that much but if only 5% makes a difference for your ears...needlessly to say more.

    Think for yourself, or others will think for you wihout thinking of you

    Henry David Thoreau

    Like 1

    hilarious video about the effect of pickups on the overall tone ;)

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    Quote from DonPetersen

    hilarious video about the effect of pickups on the overall tone ;)

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    absolutely, the electric guitar is basically a scale length and pickups. I so want to believe otherwise as I still love the romantic notion of different tones woods and construction methods being important but I can’t find any evidence.

    Thanks for all the input guys, very thought provoking! Also apologies for the length in getting back on this thread, life took over for a little while.


    It's a good question - what is 'wrong' with the current pickups. Well for a start, the single coil in the middle sounds rather thin, I never use it. It's certainly quieter although I guess this is to be expected? Perhaps this would be a candidate for raising, to get higher/thicker output?


    I actually quite like the tone of the humbuckers, especially the neck one, but when recording, there's something about the attack of string plucking that i don't like. Sounds a bit 'plasticky'/'brittle'/'cheap'. I think that's what's making me look elsewhere...


    But I totally get the view that maybe what I'd be better off thinking about is a new guitar...


    Oh and the pickups on the Godin are:

    Neck: GHN1

    Middle: S1

    Bridge GHB1


    Seen one of those on Reverb for about £25, so they're not expensive, if that makes a difference...

    Edited once, last by Mudchild ().

    Quote from Mudchild

    It's a good question - what is 'wrong' with the current pickups. Well for a start, the single coil in the middle sounds rather thin, I never use it. It's certainly quieter although I guess this is to be expected? Perhaps this would be a candidate for raising, to get higher/thicker output?

    Single coils are almost always quieter then HB. Its the nature of the beast and something to be exploited rather than feared. However, if the difference is too great then adjusting pickup height is definitely worth trying.


    It would be interesting to know the current pickup heights. Hold down the string at the last fret and measure from the top of the pole pieces to the under side of the string.