You hear about new guitars (usually low end models) that have crappy pickups, referred to as 'stock pickups'.

Now, if I buy a fender strat, the pickups are 'stock', in other words, the ones
that are originally installed.

Do these stock pu's have a brand name? Are they entry level pu's? I suppose these pu companies have a deal with guitar makers to install their pu's, correct?

If they do have a brand name, wouldn't that lower the reputation of that brandname?

Higher end guitars come with decent 'stock pickups' and those pickups are usually advertised as a selling point, correct?

The reason for this thread is the next time I hear someone say " my guitar plays well but my stock pu's suck."

I will ask him "well, what brand are those stock pu's that are in your guitar" and hopefully the guy won't reply with a "I don't know...they're stock".

__________________

With stock pickups, its the brand of whatever the guitar is.

Not always, sometimes you get like Duncan Designed or other rather lame PU's in some low end models. I have a Jackson JS30 Kelly, came with 2 Jackson CVR2 humbuckers which pretty much suck, but I'm getting new ones soon. Plays nice though.

__________________

well jackson uses emg and, on the higher end models, seymour duncan pickups for stock pickups, except the low end ones have jackson built pickups and i've heard they suck horribly.

__________________

Stock pickups are just what the factory installed. They could be active EMGs or pickups that dont even have the company name on them.

__________________

It all depends on the price/model. I got an Ibanez with completely no name from the gutter of ibanez's factory PU's, but the guitar doesn't retail for much either. Usually a mid priced guitar will have a brand of pickup.

__________________

you get what you pay for with guitars, if you buy a squire or a slammer the pick ups are basicly cheap magnets. the higher up the food chain you go the better the pick ups are. But if your going to buy a strat, ( not a squire) dont ruin it with humbuclers, besides, in 40 years it'll be worth an ass load standard.

__________________

Exactly. And depending on how much you paid for the Strat, the pickups might be better ones that came with it. Not all stock p/us suck; just the majority of them.

__________________

Stock, just means how it comes out of the box. Just like a stock stereo in 1990 ford escort is shit, the pick ups in a Squire strat are cheap pickups made by a big company whoa re under a contract from squire, they make them very cheap, shitty pickups for thier cheap shitty guitars. But on the otehr hand, the stock stereo in a 2006 Porsche is like a USA Jackson, they place high end quality Duncans or the likes.

__________________

Yeah, I already own a strat and it has the standard 'strat' sound. I suppose if you would upgrade the pu's then it would not sound like a strat as much as one with 'stocks' in it.

__________________

__________________

I was going to get Duncan livewires installed in my piece of shit jackson. Then bill told me they were active and i didn't feel like putting out the money to get them installed and putting in new batteries.

Duncan Designed are made by the company. They just base it completly off of certain Duncan models, usually this is seen with Schecter and they are a copy of the JB and '59 and they sound real real close too.

Well, my brother's 2003 Epiphone Les Paul has got weak ass humbuckers in it. I can't get a decent chug sound out of them. They just don't have any balls compared to my guitars. Those would be considered shitty stock p.u.'s then. He should look into some other pu's. He wonders why my guitar has such a heavy edge compared to his. I just don't want to get his feeling down if I say that his pu's suck.

Actually, i'm the one who bought his guitar! It was a deal man, a deal!

__________________

tell him to save for new pickups.... why would it hurt his feelings if you told him his stock pups sucked? haha

__________________