Upgrading pickups on Starfire 3; any suggestions?

[Guildtarzan]

I love the way my starfire 3 looks & plays, but I have to admit to always feeling the sound is considerably lacking. I play mostly classic country. Any suggestions on what pickups might be best, especially without having to drill new holes for installation? Any other hazards to beware of for a "virgin" pickup replacer? Many thanks in advance!

 

[Dreamlander]

What year is your Starfire III, and what pickups are in it now? I guess I am just curious. If they are the newer fender (Guild) pickups you may want some vintage Guild pickups, other than that I don't know what else could help you. Usually the Guild pickups are my favorite part of the guitar. :mrgreen:

 

[Default]

What sound are you looking for? Brighter? Bassier?

 

[Guildtarzan]

As near as I can tell from the serial # (AG302526), it must be early 2000s', inside tag saying Westerly Rhode Island. Stock pickups, I believe. Something resembling the old Gretsch sound would be great, or maybe the USA made DeArmond 2Ks. The bridge pickup has been lifted as high as it can go without touching the strings. I'm also wondering what effect raising or lowering the height of the pickups has.

 

[danerectal]

If the pickup is adjusted too high, your tone will take on a muddy or roaring tone. I don't really know if there's any way to put the DeArmond 2k or 2000 or Dynasonic pickups in where an HB-1 left its footprint. You might try to hide a coil-tap switch or two in the f-holes. That way you don't need to drill holes in the top or do any other irreversible modifications, but you can get a sharper, single-coil type sound out of the humbuckers you have. If the pickups are the Fender Designed Guild, you'll be able to do a four-conductor setup which is great for coil tapping.

 

[dklsplace]

You might try to hide a coil-tap switch or two in the f-holes. That way you don't need to drill holes in the top or do any other irreversible modifications, but you can get a sharper, single-coil type sound out of the humbuckers you have.

You can do coil taps with push/pull pots & no need for any physical modifications. I did a coil tap on the neck pickup (HB-1) of my X-150D & it's interesting, but not earth shattering as far as how much difference it makes.

Several companies make P90 pickups in a standard humbucker size so you could also try those without making any physical changes to the instrument. Kent Armstrong, & GFS are the first that come to mind.

My $.02

 

[matsickma]

I once rewired a Guild humbucker with both of the coils in parallel. I though it had a great single coil tone. It was much fuller than a coil tap and brighter than a humbucker.Need to try that again one of these days..

M