# "Stewmac Pre-Wired Pickgaurd Assembly"



## Hypno Toad (Aug 1, 2009)

So Quite a while ago, I got one of these Stewmac prewired strat pickgaurds (*not to be confused with the Golden Age pickgaurd assembly*)

I installed it on one of the guitars I made in high school. I didn't have anything much to compare it to, and that guitar at the time was a pile of crap. it's falling part at this point; so I'm not really sure it would be fair to judge them for the sound.


Has anybody here used these on a good homemade guitar? They are dirt cheap, and seemed a bit crude in terms of construction (very waxy pickups with one square ceramic magnet at the bottom) but the I've been reading a bunch of reviews that basically state that they are great pickups, especially for the price. I'm not really sure what to think of them because that guitar I used them on at the time sucked, and 50 bucks is an almost suspiciously low price. I want to make a new strat soon, but I don't have a lot of money atm, so I want to keep things cheap, but still want a good guitar. Just looking for some positive second opinions here, if anybody has used them.


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## al3d (Oct 3, 2007)

let's consider this for a minute. Fully assembled Pick-guard, 55$....

A decent good set of pups for a strat, new that is to make a faire comparaison, on average will be 150$ to 200$. a 3 ply pickguard, 25$ to 30$, 3 pots, let's say 15$, a 5 way switch, 10$...wires, 2$, time to assemble it, let's say 1hrs. 

SO...you do the math...-) can they be good pups?...huh, not on your life. like they say..a polish turd is still a turd..


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

They might be ok, and they certainly might sound good for the price paid, but I'm with Alain on this one. Great sounding pickups don't come cheap.

I have a couple of GFS pickups kicking around, and lots of people love them for their sound at a budget price, but while they sound ok, they will _never_ sound better than ok.


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## Hypno Toad (Aug 1, 2009)

I appreciate the replies, but has anybody here bought one of these and used them next to some high end pickups in a similar guitar? I'm guessing these things are cheap due to their simple and dirty construction.

I was kind of thinking the same thing as you guys, but I can find 5 reviews on them, and all of them seem very positive. Most of the time comparing them to stock fenders. Here's one of the more articulate reviews from harmony central.



> Product: Stewart MacDonald Pre-Wired Pickguard Strat
> Price Paid: USD 54.00
> Submitted 01/28/2008 at 11:30am by Alex
> 
> ...



I mean, my biggest concern would be QA, not necessarily sound or tone. As usual I fail to see what makes a pickup "good." A long as they have the correct number of winds and use a standard polepeice config, they should sound good. pickups are exploiting a very fundamental phenomenon in the universe, it's pretty hard to **** up on that. I mean, if you used _really_ crappy materials, the thing probably wouldn't work in the first place. There might be certain aspects of other pickups that have a bit more character due to their layout (extra twang, or deep lows, whatever), but that falls more into the category of preference, not really into the terms of good or bad. 

I read through an article of a guy who was posting his work progress as he was creating his own humbucker. The thing was made out of screws and cd case plastic and then dipped into wax; it sounded better than a high end DiMarzio that he compared it to (he recorded two audio clips of the different pickups). granted, that just my preference, both do what they are intended to do. but the homemade one made out of household stuff seemed a bit warmer to me, and I liked that. When it comes down to it, as long as the pickup picks up the sound of the strings (with reasonable volume and clarity), it's a good pickup, anything on top of that is just the tone of them. If I'm buying an expensive pickup, I'm buying it for the resale value and the guarantee that it won't fall apart.


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

I have the whole assembly in a different pickguard (I preferred a black mother-of-toilet-seat one) in an early '80s Korean Strat. Hands down the pickups are way better than the originals, the pots match them, the shielding is better in the Stew-Mac guard (though I added more shielding to the cavity), and the switch is sturdier. The between the pickups tones are better, the neck and middle pickups more organic/smooth sounding with more harmonic content (to these ears), and the bridge pickup not as spanky-Tele as I'd like but still acceptable. Though these are not high end custom pickups and there are better units on the market, they are not the cheap crapola suggested by the price, and Stew-Mac has done a credible job of matching the rest of the wiring and components to them. 

Peace, Mooh.


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## Hypno Toad (Aug 1, 2009)

Thanks for the second opinion, I've yet to buy a bad product from stewmac. Wasn't sure about the first set I bought because that guitar was crap.

I guess I'll buy these again.. maybe I can finish up and sell that Ibanez S thing.


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## rhh7 (Mar 14, 2008)

I respectfully disagree that great sounding pickups have to be expensive. I am seriously considering a set of strat pickups, which are $49.95 U.S. for all three!

These pickups have 42 gauge formvar wire for the neck and middle, 43 gauge formvar wire for the bridge, alnico V magnets, and vintage style beveled pole pieces, bobbins, and cloth wire...as well as bee's wax potting. The output is 6.5k ohms at the neck, 6.8k ohms at the middle, and 8.8k ohms at the bridge.


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## Hypno Toad (Aug 1, 2009)

rhh7 said:


> I respectfully disagree that great sounding pickups have to be expensive.


I don't mean to offend anybody, but I think there is a lot of bias when it comes to purchases, especially in the world of guitars. I find myself extremely skeptical of a lot of guitar part manufacturers due to the prices they charge for a lot of stuff. Am I paying for the product, or am I paying for the name? Or worst yet paying for the price?


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## rhh7 (Mar 14, 2008)

I spent about 2 hours in Guitarworks this morning, agonizing over which guitar to buy. I had $110 in gift cards & gift cash burning a hole in my pocket. I love Squiers, and I examined every one, from the Bullet, to the Affinity, to the Standard, to the Obey, to the Vintage Modified, to the Classic Vibe. I could have even stretched to a Mexican Fender, since everything was 25% off.

I finally noticed a Samick Artist DS-100 Strat. This was a used guitar in mint condition, circa 1994-1996. It had a one-piece maple neck, maple fretboard, with the Kluson vintage tuners I love. The neck was perfectly straight, and fatter than the Mexican Fenders. It was a tobacco sunburst, with 3 Duncan Designed single coil pickups. I walked out with this guitar for a total of $134.00.


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## Hypno Toad (Aug 1, 2009)

A guitar like that would be sort of play before you pay. They have potential to be well made, but there's a few things you want to watch out for with some lower price guitars.

Nonetheless, I don't think I'm ever going to buy a guitar for playing on. If I bought a lower end I'd mod the crap out of it anyways till things are to my preferences (may as well make my own), and the higher end ones are simply too expensive. I'd feel robbed ;D


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## copperhead (May 24, 2006)

one thing about those cheap pickups with all the right ingredients like GFS ,alnico magnets,formvar wire ,they get you in the right area but you cant replicate a hand-wound "scatter-wound" pickup in mass production . I've been winding my own pickups for a couple of years now mostly strat pickups & a few buckers & i have cut the wire off GFS pickups & rewound them which improved the sound a great deal


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

rhh7 said:


> I respectfully disagree that great sounding pickups have to be expensive. I am seriously considering a set of strat pickups, which are $49.95 U.S. for all three!


For sure! There's tons of decent sounding pickups out there that are relatively inexpensive, but I wouldn't qualify them as "great." Maybe great compared to nothing, but not great compared to other great pickups.

The stock pickups in my old '94 Squier are certainly inexpensive. They're also crap. Ditto the MIM Strat I have. The pickups in my CV Tele are also cheap, but they sound fantastic. Are they as good as other Tele pickups I've heard? No. But for stock pickups in a guitar I paid $299 for, I can't complain. The various GFS pickups I've tried for Strats and Teles are all serviceable pieces of gear, and maybe at stage volume with some overdrive on and through a PA, you wouldn't be able to distinguish them from the better Fender pickups, or other brands like Fralins, etc. but I certainly can tell the difference between them at home when I'm practicing or when I'm trying to record.

I currently have a GFS stacked humbucker in my CV Tele (which is now an esquire). It sounds pathetically uninviting. The stock CV bridge pickup was better than this, but it didn't have the output I was looking for. I have a Seymour Duncan BG1400 pickup on it's way to me and I'll eat my keyboard if it doesn't sound better than the GFS. It may still not be what I'm looking for, since I've never heard it, but it would be hard to not sound better than the lifeless thing in there right now.

It's hard to buy pickups, because you don't often get a chance to "try-before-you-buy," and even if you do hear them in one guitar, they most likely won't sound the same in _your_ guitar. However, I've found that paying the extra $ does often get you better pickups. Not because of any associated brand cachet, though that might arise in some super pricey pickups, but because they're just better made. Stock US Strat pickups are quite decent in their own right and are a damned sight better than GFS pickups for not all that much more dough.

YMMV


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## Hypno Toad (Aug 1, 2009)

Yeah, I'd still prefer to make my own pickups from scratch. problem is I don't really have the stuff to put together a hack winder, and pickup winders are extremely expensive despite being something that could be manufactured easily.

I don't think it would be that hard for a factory to do random vintage winding. Obviously they use some sort of pickup winder, why they can't have the axle oscillate a bit is beyond me. guess nobody makes the machines that way.


I've never been all that enthusiastic about my pickup buying. I'm more a craftsman than an electronics hobbyist or musician, and that's the main part of building solid bodies that I like, the craft aspect of it. I'd rather shapes my tone through the guitar's wood and metal materials than through the pickups. These cheap ones seem to fit the bill. Good, clean, and cheap.


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## copperhead (May 24, 2006)

pickups are only one part of a good sound .i always read in forums guys recommend these pickups or saying these were shit they didn't mention they might be using a cheap beginner amp thinking a pickup swap would make them sound like Stevie ray Vaughan .but if you got some good gear & your guitar needs something i would recommend & it the easiest way to improve your sound to replace the stock pickups in i had at least 15 gfs pickups in my guitars i have replaced all the strat singles except for one of there rail humbucker/single coil


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## copperhead (May 24, 2006)

i built my winder for about $100.00 bucks including a counter to count the number of turns


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## Hypno Toad (Aug 1, 2009)

I had an idea of just using one of those jogging counters (the ones that sense the number of steps you take) and then just attaching a thin piece of plastic to the axel, so on every rotation it just whacks the counter.

From a manual dexterity standpoint I'm good at electronics because I can do precision work, but honestly I just find designing electronics to be mind numbing. Wouldn't want to rig up a more complicated counting system.


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## copperhead (May 24, 2006)

i have seen winders using those if it works why not .hey my winder is no a pretty site .I'm now thinking about building a new one or giving her a face lift ...cheers man :smilie_flagge17::wave:


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## Hypno Toad (Aug 1, 2009)

haha

Well, a pickup winder is on my long list of to-dos 


Stewmac has a nice tutorial, it's for their pickup sets, but i guess the same thing applies to a from scratch one, too. 

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Electro...or_Strat_Pickup.html?tab=Instructions#details



I always wanted to make a neodymidium p90 pickup of some sort an try to encase it in epoxy (somehow) so all the electronics looks suspended in air.


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## al3d (Oct 3, 2007)

I respectfully disagree...always loved that one... but seriously, what makes a BMW Series 7 a MUCH better car then a Kia ?...both have an engine, 4 wheels, 4 doors!..lights, radio!....etc etc. ?


So why is one much more expensive then the other?.



rhh7 said:


> I respectfully disagree that great sounding pickups have to be expensive. I am seriously considering a set of strat pickups, which are $49.95 U.S. for all three!
> 
> These pickups have 42 gauge formvar wire for the neck and middle, 43 gauge formvar wire for the bridge, alnico V magnets, and vintage style beveled pole pieces, bobbins, and cloth wire...as well as bee's wax potting. The output is 6.5k ohms at the neck, 6.8k ohms at the middle, and 8.8k ohms at the bridge.


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## ajcoholic (Feb 5, 2006)

al3d said:


> I respectfully disagree...always loved that one... but seriously, what makes a BMW Series 7 a MUCH better car then a Kia ?...both have an engine, 4 wheels, 4 doors!..lights, radio!....etc etc. ?
> 
> 
> So why is one much more expensive then the other?.


I dont think that is a fair comparison....

Here is my take on pickups... having bought and tried a lot of them - from small boutique winders, to a lot of upper end factory stuff from Dimarzio and SD, to stuff like TV Jones and others...

Cheaper pickups are often cheaper because they are machine made, in a country like China, where people arent trying to earn $40/hour to live a decent life. Yes, parts and materials are also mass produced by cheaper methods - but in the end, there are certainly some very decent sounding "cheaply priced" (not to be confused with cheap, ie, crap) pickups.

We, as builders and players, often get caught up in the "more expensive" means "better" thing - which isnt fair.

I tend to buy expensive priced pickups, mainly due to the fact I am able to afford them, and I liek to deal with smaller builders who charge more because its their business, and they are trying to make a living here in North America. Selling a pickup that took 2 hours to make for $15 isnt going to cut it. I can understand that, being in business myself.

I say, the ONLY person who is entitled to make the descision that something sounds good or not is the guy playing the guitar... if they sound good to you, dont let me or anyone else tell you different, especially since we all tend to have a biased opinion based on cost - whether we want to admit that or not.

One oif the nicest playing Tele necks I ever bought and made a guitar around was a cheapy I got for $35 - but I never told anyone that and the person playign the guitar LOVES it. As did I... but I could never make a neck for that price, unless I lived in China and worked for a buck a day or whatever they work for.

I just paid $130 for an entry level bass (Yamaha) that has a jazz and a precision style pickup. One Fralin precision pickup would cost me more than that entire bass did. BUT - it sounds great! Compared to my American Fender Jazz bass I paid $1100 for, it doesnt sound a whole lot different, really. I know those pickups are cheap - but they arent going anywhere since to me they sound just fine.

Do I make a valid point? 

Buy what you are able to afford. Be happy if they are adequate for your needs. If not, you can always change them aftwerwards... strat pickups are easily changed in the future.

AJC


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## Hypno Toad (Aug 1, 2009)

Being the youtuber I am, I want to eventually do a social experiment to test my little theories ;P (granted I'll need the money and hardware first, namely a microphone setup)

I want to just set up a mid-range solid state amp, put a microphone in front of it, build a guitar with cheap pickups and average/low grade wood, find a friend who's great at playing guitar (because I'm certainly not) and in the youtube description claim everything is top of the line stuff, and just watch the positive comments pour in. "oh what an awesome setup, I'm so jealous" blah blah.

You'll see the three types of people in these situations, the people who don't really care (*they'll be focused on the playing), then there will be a small amount of people who will really know their stuff and be able to tell the difference, but there are just _so many_ more inexperienced people with massive clear as day biases with price, even if they don't know it or admit it, and they'll be saying how great the setup is. You could give them a $100 guitar with beefy sounding pickups, tell them it cost 2000 dollars, and it's suddenly the greatest instrument ever, yet if you told them it was 100 dollars, it would sound like crap.



ajcoholic said:


> *big post*


Yeah, that's a very down to earth way of looking at it. I would prefer to buy handwound pickups, but my main let down for that is that I'm always paranoid about botched deals with small and potentially fraudulent businesses (or individuals in that case)

I would prefer to buy cheap but good pickups, but that does tend to take the value of the build down, unfortunately, because there will always be a bit of bias towards it regardless of how it sounds. My personal belief is that cheap guitar manufacturers in asia can easily create something just as good as a high end guitar for a cheaper price. That's kind of a scary thought. I feel that when I build something it won't necessarily be better than something somebody could buy in a store due to little mistakes and nicks in the work, but part of the magic of DIY is you get to experiment, and really have passion for the designs. If I were buying a guitar, I'd want to know the builder spent a lot of time on it, and enjoyed what he did, and that's what I'd pay extra for.


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Hypno Toad said:


> Being the youtuber I am, I want to eventually do a social experiment to test my little theories ;P (granted I'll need the money and hardware first, namely a microphone setup)
> 
> I want to just set up a mid-range solid state amp, put a microphone in front of it, build a guitar with cheap pickups and average/low grade wood, find a friend who's great at playing guitar (because I'm certainly not) and in the youtube description claim everything is top of the line stuff, and just watch the positive comments pour in. "oh what an awesome setup, I'm so jealous" blah blah.
> 
> You'll see the three types of people in these situations, the people who don't really care (*they'll be focused on the playing), then there will be a small amount of people who will really know their stuff and be able to tell the difference, but there are just _so many_ more inexperienced people with massive clear as day biases with price, even if they don't know it or admit it, and they'll be saying how great the setup is. You could give them a $100 guitar with beefy sounding pickups, tell them it cost 2000 dollars, and it's suddenly the greatest instrument ever, yet if you told them it was 100 dollars, it would sound like crap.


Are you into psychology, marketing or the psychology of marketing...or all three? ....LOL

Dave


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## Hypno Toad (Aug 1, 2009)

I guess that's more of a psychology thing, haha.

The point is to make people who have biases realize they have biases. Like has been said, many people will have the bias, but won't admit it. After you tell them that everything was actually cheap gear when they thought it was high end, they'll just get stopped in their tracks.

Of course, as I said there will always be a couple of people that see through the shenanigan, but I still think the majority of people won't.


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## keeperofthegood (Apr 30, 2008)

Hypno Toad said:


> haha
> 
> Well, a pickup winder is on my long list of to-dos
> 
> ...


To build a winder, all you need are some off-cuts from Home Depot, and an old sewing maching and a 1970's tape deck. Use the pedal/motor to drive your bobbin, use the tape counter out of the tape deck to keep track of your wire either rpm's of the motor or you can work out the gearing to reflect feet used. 1000 feet of #44 wire is about what you would use though if memory serves me right.



Hypno Toad said:


> Being the youtuber I am, I want to eventually do a social experiment to test my little theories ;P (granted I'll need the money and hardware first, namely a microphone setup)
> 
> I want to just set up a mid-range solid state amp, put a microphone in front of it, build a guitar with cheap pickups and average/low grade wood, find a friend who's great at playing guitar (because I'm certainly not) and in the youtube description claim everything is top of the line stuff, and just watch the positive comments pour in. "oh what an awesome setup, I'm so jealous" blah blah.
> 
> You'll see the three types of people in these situations, the people who don't really care (*they'll be focused on the playing), then there will be a small amount of people who will really know their stuff and be able to tell the difference, but there are just _so many_ more inexperienced people with massive clear as day biases with price, even if they don't know it or admit it, and they'll be saying how great the setup is. You could give them a $100 guitar with beefy sounding pickups, tell them it cost 2000 dollars, and it's suddenly the greatest instrument ever, yet if you told them it was 100 dollars, it would sound like crap.


:rockon2: yup, that's the truth aint it! Some of the "best" players play really middle of the road gear.


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## StevieMac (Mar 4, 2006)

Hypno Toad said:


> I would prefer to buy cheap but good pickups...


My advice would be to buy GOOD pickups CHEAP...simply by watching for a used set. I've seen a full set of Texas Specials and '57/'62s go here for $25 and $50 respectively for example. Not "top-of-the-line" mind you but certainly decent and at just a fraction of new cost. In fact, I got my set of J.S. Moores here as well, brand new and in their original packaging, for less than 60% of their new cost. Deals are available if you watch for them...


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## Hypno Toad (Aug 1, 2009)

If I wanted to build a more specialized guitar that sounds like good advice, but I want to build myself a workhorse spruce strat at the moment. Don't feel that I need high end pickups because I'm not even that skilled of a player yet.


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## rhh7 (Mar 14, 2008)

I have a brand new set of JS Moore Tele pickups, which I look forward to using when I can afford to put a Tele together.

But I honestly believe the importance of expensive pickups is over rated. 

The most critical element in the equation is the skill of the player.

That point has been hammered into my brain by Ron Kirn, my favorite builder on the TDPRI forum.

The most critical mod you can make to your guitar is a professional setup. Then you practice til your fingers bleed for a year. Then...and only then...install new pickups.

Well I just got the setup from Jim Mozell, my New Year's resolution is the practice, and I get new pickups for my Squier Bullet next Christmas!


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## Hypno Toad (Aug 1, 2009)

Small world, Ron Kirn was the same guy that made me feel like building a spruce stratocaster, lol.


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## ajcoholic (Feb 5, 2006)

I have bought a lot of pickups from BG Pickups (Bryan Gunsher is the dudes name) who I first met through harmony central.

Bryan winds a mean pickup, and the thing is he will work with you to achive a tone... and offers a full exchange policy if you dont like what you have.

I have also dealt with Fralin - 3 sets, which I liked - although I like Bryan's stuff better.

The only real pickups I disliked that I bought were few - and not really determined by price at all.

There is one truth to cost vs playing ability vs gear - no matter what anyone wants to argue with me, but I have heard some amazing players play through some pretty "cheap" gear and totally blow me away. 

Likewise, a mediocre player playing a multi thousand dollar guitar, with the most expensive boutique pickups and throiugh a kick @ss boutique amp will still sound like a beginner....

AJC


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