S 200 Pickup Swap??

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Hey y’all! Long time lurker...finally joined up. Just recently got an S 200 t-bird (reissue) which I’m overall loving. Has anybody had any success with pickup swapping? The pickups sound pretty decent, but it’s the mismatch that’s bothering me quite a bit. Also I desperately want to see what single coils sound like in this thing! Thinking of putting in humbucker sized single coils/P90s. Thoughts?
 

Zelja

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Cheapest options would be to get the existing pickup rewound & maybe a magnet swap. Looks stock & no other mods needed.
 
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Cheapest options would be to get the existing pickup rewound & maybe a magnet swap. Looks stock & no other mods needed.

Thanks much! I’m going to look into a rewind for sure. Looking further at dimensions, it seems the LB-1 pickup is actually smaller than a standard humbucker size so I would need to rout the holes larger. Something I’d rather not have to do. Thanks again!
 

GAD

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"Regular" humbucker-sized pickups would mean cutting into the pick guard and probably routing the body.

If the mismatch bothers you and you don't want to alter the guitar I would say buy another neck pickup from Guild and put it in the bridge position (both ~7k). Or buy another bridge pickup and put it in the neck (both ~5k). Certainly getting them rewound as Zeija states is a great option, too. Lastly you could find a set of vintage Guild Anti-Hum pickups to put in there, but those are usually around $300+ a pair.
 

matsickma

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I plan to do some pickup swapping on a black S200 TBird. I am looking at DeArmond size pickups for the swap. Still in the concept stage of the project.
M
 

DThomasC

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I've said it before, but I'll repeat it again. The various Filtertron sized pickups available from TV Jones are very close in size to MiniHums. I was almost able to get one to fit in a NS LB1 mounting ring. The length is OK, but the width is just a hair too wide. I don't know how wide the route is in the S-200 body, but if it's big enough, then shaving the inside of the LB1 mounting ring should be easy.

I've fallen out of love with Filtertron's, but I am a big fan of the T'Armond pickup, which is available with ears for height adjust screws (in contrast to the usual surface mount Dearmond / Dynasonic mount, which is probably much too tall for a solidbody like the S-200.)
 

dklsplace

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I've said it before, but I'll repeat it again. The various Filtertron sized pickups available from TV Jones are very close in size to MiniHums.

+1. I cut a new pick guard & installed a set of Filtertrons in an S-90 a few years back. I really liked them in that solid body......was never crazy about them in a big hollow body though.
 

Nuuska

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GAD

You have done all kind deep studies on Guilds ( + other things - thanks for publishing them ) - how about taking original humbucker and tapping it between the coils ? - not easy for everyone - but with knowledge, good eyes and solid soldering hand certainly possible.
 
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"Regular" humbucker-sized pickups would mean cutting into the pick guard and probably routing the body.

If the mismatch bothers you and you don't want to alter the guitar I would say buy another neck pickup from Guild and put it in the bridge position (both ~7k). Or buy another bridge pickup and put it in the neck (both ~5k). Certainly getting them rewound as Zeija states is a great option, too. Lastly you could find a set of vintage Guild Anti-Hum pickups to put in there, but those are usually around $300+ a pair.

awesome, thank so much GAD! I think I might try just getting another neck pickup and swapping out the bridge. I have a feeling I can probably find a much happier place with that setup. As much as I love a good adventure, I'm digging this guitar way too much to start slicing it up already. Thanks for the replies y'all!!
 

matsickma

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Guild was selling pickguards for TBird and TBird ST. You can customize all you want and still be able to return to stock if you desire.
M
 

Dr. Hook

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Guild was selling pickguards for TBird and TBird ST. You can customize all you want and still be able to return to stock if you desire.
M

Pickguardplanet also has a Tbird template, so if worst came to worst you could get a perfectly matched replacement.
 

GAD

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GAD

You have done all kind deep studies on Guilds ( + other things - thanks for publishing them ) - how about taking original humbucker and tapping it between the coils ? - not easy for everyone - but with knowledge, good eyes and solid soldering hand certainly possible.

It would be doable in theory, but the risk of messing up a valuable vintage HB1 may not be worth it, especially when there are 4-wire HB1s out there, tough though they are to find.

As for the modern LB1s, maybe. I haven't dismantled one of those, but the vintage AntiHums are completely encased in plastic (not wax unless it's super-high-temp stuff) and it's a practical impossibility to get to those wires without destroying the pickup (IMO). In fact, if you look at the black stuff encircling the bobbins, you'll see a line down the side (right side of pic). That line is me trying to cut through the plastic with a utility knife after trying unsuccessfully to melt the stuff with a very powerful heat gun.

Guild-AntiHum-Mini-Humbucker-Exploded.jpg


Like I said, I haven't taken apart an LB1, though I have a couple and certainly should at some point. In my experience, splitting mini-hums doesn't usually end up with pleasing results, though I've only seen it done with TV-Jones, and even he says it isn't worth doing. I do love to tinker, though. :nevreness:
 
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Nuuska

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GAD

Thanks for quick reply - so it is to look for other right sized pickups. And then the never-ending quest for "THAT" right sound . . . whatever it is . . .
 
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I've found the LB-1's to be a little lacking too and a touch too sterile. I replaced the tone capacitor (which is a very bright .0125) with a .022 orange drop and that helped JUST ENOUGH. Keep in mind, this is NOT a drastic change, but I could hear the slightest difference.

I'd prefer to have better sounding pickups, but this was a pretty easy, albeit temporary fix.
 
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I just went through the LB-1 bridge vs neck doubts with a reissue S200. I tried adjusting pickup levels, swapping the bridge and neck pickups, and finally installing a second neck pickup in the bridge position. Much has been said about how these pickups are not "matched" in a vintage correct fashion, which is no doubt the case as vintage minibucker guilds appear to have used the same pickup in both the neck and bridge position. Where I am not so much in agreement is as to whether the pickups in the newark street are "mismatched" for level in a practical manner. Undoubtedly they do have different resistances -- however I have not seen measurements (nor have I made them) of their inductance which would be the more appropriate measure of their output. I suspect they may be pretty close as my observation regarding the bridge position after installing one of the neck pickups in that position, is that the output level is pretty much the same as when using the original bridge pickup. Ie the factor impacting the level is maybe not so much pickup related but the difference in string vibration at the two positions.

The neck pickup in the bridge is a bit less bright/sharp sounding, but for level matching and for finding a good blend for the dual pickup mode, I found that the height adjustment relative neck to bridge was just about the same using a neck pickup in the bridge position or the original bridge pickup.

I did find the bridge to be maybe a bit to biting and I usually backed off the tone when using that pickup, and since the tone knobs are set for rhythm/lead switch rather than per pickup it did make switching between modes require more adjustments along the signal chain, but I'm not convinced that putting the neck pickup in the bridge position is really much of an improvement. It is different, maybe not better, and I think certainly it offers less tonal variety than the original bridge pickup.

The most important thing I found is to set the pickup heights to a position where the levels are similar for each pickup and where there is a distinct tonality for the blended two pickup selection. This means quite high bridge and rather low neck, however the position that worked for neck/bridge or neck/neck installs were close to identical.
 
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