Haywire Custom Shop
Guitar Pickup Replacement
So, You Want Guitar Pickup Replacement ?
No Problem, we’ll put them in for you-$35 per pickup labor. We’ll add any pickups that you want! We’ve got them-all-Bartolini, EMG, Lollar, DiMarzio, Fender, Duncan, Bare Knuckle, TV Jones, Fishman, Frahlin and many more including our own Haywire Custom Shop-Simulated Retro Vintage Style (SRV) pickup. Whatever you want or we can suggest something!
What is a Guitar Pickup?
A guitar pickup is a transducer that converts the mechanical vibrations of metal strings into an electrical signal, which is then sent to an amplifier to create sound. It works using magnets wrapped in coils of wire; when strings vibrate, they disturb the magnetic field, inducing a weak electrical current in the wire that mirrors the string’s movement and is amplified into the recognizable electric guitar tone.
Guitar pickups are simply microphones that “pick up” or “sense” the vibrations of the strings of your electric guitar. They convert the vibrations into sound that can be boosted with an amplifier. The “quality” of the sound produced depends on how well they are made.
Why are there so many pickup makers?
The reason we have more than one guitar “Pickup Manufacturer” is because each one claims to be able to do it better. Some do and some don’t.
How Does it Work?
A guitar pickup contains one or more magnets inserted into a bobbin which is the engine of the pickup. The bobbin is made of magnetic poles, cutout paper stand-offs and wound with conductive wire. The device is able to transform the mechanical energy (string vibrations over each magnetic pole-piece) into electrical energy. The energy goes through the selector switch, the volume control then out to your amp. A guitar amp transforms the electrical energy back into mechanical energy and sends the newly transformed signal through your speaker as sound waves.
Sometimes, a vehicle’s engine is visible on the outside, and sometimes it is hidden inside, either front or back. But no matter how it is mounted, the engine is what powers the vehicle. The same is true for electric guitar pickups. They are entirely designed and built around one very specific component that you may not even be able to see: the magnet.
Ceramic Pickups
Ceramic pickups are sometimes marginalized by some alnico users. However, ceramic magnets are just as important for tone-seekers as any alnico magnet version . Metal, prog-rock, hard-rock, blues and other players will often choose the DiMarzio Super Distortion for example.
Just about all of EMG‘s active pickups utilize high-output ceramic magnets in the circuit. Ceramic magnet pickups provide a great punchy bass response, loud solid mid-range, and a very hot output. The next step up would be active. So play your ceramic pickups with pride and don’t be swayed by anyone else.
Design, build, repair, customize
We not only sell guitars, but we also design them, build them, repair, customize, modify and test them. Instead of traveling from store to store looking for just the right combination of features for your ideal guitar pickup replacement, it makes sense to let the experts take all of your favorite features of all of your favorite custom guitar and combine them all into the instrument that you’ve always dreamed of having. Always ready to perform guitar repairs, guitar builds and modifications. Simply put, it’s the best place for a serious guitarist to buy or have their instrument setup and repaired.
At Haywire Custom Guitars Inc. we combine the best technology from the past mixed down and tempered with quality parts, knowledge, experience, skill and innovative custom guitar building techniques of the present. We then condense and distill it into a pure guitar. We believe that there is always room at the top for a great playing, great feeling, high quality, reasonably priced guitar for all professional guitarists around the world.
Haywire Custom Guitars special SRV guitar pickups,”they hear you”
SRV Pickups
Our own proprietary SRV ceramic pickups (Simulated Vintage Retro) provide excellent mid-range and punchy bass notes with noiseless clarity and a great signal to your amp. SRV’s deliver vintage tone, optimum output, balanced string response, and microphonic suppression. They’re specially voiced select custom guitar pickups that deliver masterful tone, overdrive, clarity, dynamics, transparency, versatility & a balanced tonal response. These come standard with our guitars and loaded bodies at no extra charge. So, you get to try a free set of some of the best sounding pickups you’ll ever experience available only at Haywire Custom Guitars in a re-build or new build. They are brighter, punchier and more focused compared to other single coils. The top end is smooth, and bottom end a perfect match. Excellent on funk, disco, soul, and R&B tracks, these SRV single-coil pickups are ideal. You will love them for soloing. They have been used successfully by players for their power, tone, and clear gritty response on guitars for the last 25 years. Try them!
Key characteristics are:
Warm and smooth neck tone
The mini-humbucker in the neck position provides a fuller, warmer sound with less pronounced highs compared to a standard single coil, ideal for smooth chords and lead lines with a bit more body and bass.
Bright and articulate middle tone:
The single coil in the middle position offers a clear, articulate sound with a brighter character, perfect for clean rhythm playing and adding definition to your tone. It’s a perfect reactive pickup when played simultaneously with another pickup. A combination sounding quacky and a good choice for slide playing.
Punchy and cutting bridge tone:
Our Telecaster bridge pickup delivers a snappy attack with a bright edge, ideal for cutting through the mix with strong rhythm playing and lead lines with bite.
Versatility:
- Clean tones:
- By using a mix of pickups, you can achieve a balanced, clean sound with good clarity across the frequency spectrum.
- Crunch and overdrive:
- When pushed with distortion, the combination can provide a nice blend of warmth from the neck pickup, cutting edge from the bridge, and articulation from the middle pickup.
How the pickup combination works together:
Positional versatility:
Depending on which pickup or combination of pickups you select, you can quickly switch between a warmer neck tone, a bright middle tone, or a cutting bridge tone.
Blending options: When using the middle position with all pickups selected, you can blend the characteristics of each pickup, creating a unique, balanced sound.
Note: Our electronics are added free of charge, however if you have any specific electronic requirements, please ask. As a full service custom shop, we have every and any part you’ll need.
SRV Series Mini-Humbucker Neck Pickup, middle and SRV Bridge Pickup – in combination: have a fat, rich bottom, with strong, clear mids
These pickups are great for fat clean tone or harder driving rock with more grind or Soulful Blues Neck and bridge will be equal, or bridge slightly hotter when playing single notes. SRV Neck and Bridge Pickups for Warmth with exceptional definition for any chord voicing and great presence for coming through a mix.
Our value to guitar players World-wide is that we use the best parts from the best makers. We’re not beholden to a particular company and stuck having to use their parts. We simply use everyone’s pickups as well as our own. And that is the best news for guitar players. So, whatever your parts need, let us know, and we’ll use it in your guitar! If you need it, we’ll get it.
Any pickups that you require, we’ll use for you. At Haywire Custom Shop we always want to help you be your best.
We hear you! “We’re Musicians working for Musicians”. Let us work for you!
We’ll use any brand pickups that you need to help you get the sound you’re looking for!
The real value that Haywire Custom Guitars offers you is our small-scale luthery, guitar repairs, guitar builds and modifications. With greatly individualized attention to pots, hardware, functionality, ease of use, longevity, tone and play-ability, pros can own a custom guitar packed with lots of attention and details of what they really need and want, rather than, say, settling for trying to play an unready guitar “off the rack” in a music store. A luthier (/ˈluːtiər/ LOO-ti-ər) is someone who builds or repairs string instruments generally consisting of a neck and a sound box. The word “luthier” comes from the French word luth, which means lute.
Instead of just using “one manufacturers products” in our guitars we use the best of all manufacturers including, but not limited to just our own parts. You’ll get what YOU want in your guitar.
Haywire Custom Guitar repairs, home of the “Gig-Ready” guitar!
