virgin pickup maker

[jillybooty]

I have a prs tremonti se which I very much like but i thought i should change out the pickups for some hotter ones because im into more metal than jazz. Im a teenager so i dont have a large budget(unless Im real nice to my dad) and Im into the whole make it yourself thing anyway. If any of you guys could point me in the right direction for what to do and what not to do while keeping in mind that I don't have much money.

[Possum]

....

I would recommend just rewinding your current pickups hotter than starting a new set of pickups. Stewmac.com has the wire and alot of information on humbuckers and how to make them. Be warned though, that this stuff isn't a quick learn and humbuckers aren't the easiest thing to start with. You'll need some kind of winder, and if you don't know how to solder you should learn to do that correctly or everthing you do will be doomed ;-) You could build a set of buckers from scratch but go look at stewmac's prices:
http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Electron...kup_Parts.html
and you'll see that the money adds up quickly. It would be easier to take apart a set for study then rewind it hotter and you'll learn more that way in my opinion. If you want to learn to make pickups in general I wouldn't start with humbuckers, you should start with single coils, strats would be good. You should learn about coils first and single coils will teach you....

[jillybooty]

my brother has a fender squire strat mini(I think its the worst guitar fender makes). I could take out one of the pickups and play around with it until I feel confident to move on to a bucker

[Possum]

...

yeah good idea, stewmac has strat parts as well, but the best would be to rewind one of the mini strat pickups to start. Thats how I got started, my first was a tex mex tele bridge, wound it hotter and man did it sound better when I got done with it...

[HJM]

Just a word of warning - winding just a couple of pickups will probably cost more than a couple of second hand pickups from ebay, by the time you've sorted out out wire and a few tools. If you want to have a go I'd leave the tremonti pickups alone and get a couple of stewmac humbucker kits to start with - at least then you still have a working guitar!

However, if you have all the tools available then go for it - there's nothing better than playing a guitar that sounds great knowing that you made the pickup that's making it do that. It can be addictive though!

[David Schwab]

Just a word of warning - winding just a couple of pickups will probably cost more than a couple of second hand pickups from ebay

This is a good point... just a roll of magnet wire is more than a new Guitar Fetish hot humbucker.

DYI is not cheaper.

[jillybooty]

thanks for all the help but I do have one more question. If I screw up the pickup in my brother's guitar and it turns out dead after a while will the rest of the pickups in the guitar still work ok?

[greenfingers]

Yes they will, The dead pickup will just act as a kill switch when selected, and there will be no in-between tone if this happens on the pickup in question if it has a 5-way switch. If it happens just tell your brother to grow up and get man's guitar

[Possum]

another idea....

go ask your local luthier if he has any dead cheap junk humbuckers in his junk box that he doesn't want. Alternatively just search on humbuckers on Ebay and search for the lowest price, you'll often find cheap junk there no one wants for real low prices....

[Ruel]

thanks for all the help but I do have one more question. If I screw up the pickup in my brother's guitar and it turns out dead after a while will the rest of the pickups in the guitar still work ok?

Am I correct in assuming that you will get your brother's permission to tinker with his guitar's pickup?