why are aftermarket P'UPs better than stock?

[Grooveman1961]

For any given type of pickup, are aftermarket "upgrade" pickups always better, or just different? Also in the mix "vintage" versus current production.

If they are better, then why? As an example, consider a Jazz bass pickup. A bobbin, magnets wire. All jazz bass pickups basically have these same components.

Do new old fender jazz pickups sound better than ones youd get on a new fender bass?

What do the aftermarket guys do that the factory guys don't or can't, or what ever?

Is the pickup on a Squire jazz bass any different than on an american Fender jazz bass?

[KJung]

IMO and IME, for the most part, different, not better.

[Trevorus]

Construction can vary quite a bit even with the simple parts that make up a pickup. Magnet type and orientation, coil wire type, and the way it's wrapped, bobbin type, all these have contributing factors in making a pickup sound a certain way. A stock pickup in a nice bass can be just fine. Sometimes even cheaper basses like SX and Squier can have great sounding pickups.

A pickup won't make an awful bass sound great, but a crappy pickup can make a good bass sound bad.

[nightcityburn]

It is all about the sound you want from your bass. All pickups are different, and vary from model to model.

Squire pickups are different in the materials used to construct them. The difference between my Squire P to my Highway 1 stock P to the change of Quarter Pounders in the P was immense. They were much hotter, not noisey, and just provided the aggressive, high output sound I wanted

Its not that after market guys are doing it better, just filling a void that the factory didn't provide initially. Not everyone shops for tone when they buy, they shop for feel. If it feels right, people feel like they can modify it to sound "right."

This conversation goes on for days with materials, over winding, under winding, active, passive, alnico, etc. Broad questions, tons of answers.

[megadan]

They're aren't always.

When I got my Stingray it had an aftermarket pickup in it. I removed it and replaced it with the original pickup.

[morehorn]

Originally Posted by Grooveman1961

For any given type of pickup, are aftermarket "upgrade" pickups always better, or just different? Also in the mix "vintage" versus current production.

If they are better, then why? As an example, consider a Jazz bass pickup. A bobbin, magnets wire. All jazz bass pickups basically have these same components.

Do new old fender jazz pickups sound better than ones youd get on a new fender bass?

What do the aftermarket guys do that the factory guys don't or can't, or what ever?

Is the pickup on a Squire jazz bass any different than on an american Fender jazz bass?

- Q1,2,3 -- different strokes -- "better" almost never works in a musical context in my opinion. Vintage is kind of marginal with pickups -- i think old instruments (in their day) and vintage insturments now are great because the wood is old. enough companies have copied the exact make of 60's pickups and i can tell you that they aren't going to sound amazing in your average new polyurethened piece of poplar

-Q4 everyone goes for something different. different EQ points are emphasized and different companies have their own subtle character -- the same reason engineers use different mics and preamps

Q5 -- yes they are different but that is an extreme case. IMO anything in the $50+ per pickup is decent enough that you can compare pickups by "differences" as opposed to "better/worse". cheap, beginner pickups are just crap. thin, noisy, muddy, sterile, generic, or all of the above

[kraigo]

I'd probably leave a USA Fender alone. Same with a Music Man, most Skyline and higher end Ibanez and Yamaha. If I owned a boutique bass I'd probably get what I wanted in there in the first place. For my Skyline 55-01? The bass suits me very well except that I don't particularly get along with Bartolini pickups or most on board preamps. The most cost effective thing for me to do was to buy it (used) and drop in some Nordstrom DC's. If I ever replace that bass it will be with something that costs close to or over $2000.

For mid-priced basses it can be cost effective, but many of them come with good pickups already in them. For inexpensive basses it's a fun and moderately inexpensive way to get a lot of tone. For high end you shouldn't have to do it. In short, after market aren't better than stock.

KO

[RedLeg]

My friends I hate to get metaphorical on you but, bread is just water, flour, salt, and yeast. Aren't all breads just bassically the same. My point is this, better chef's and better ingredients make a better product; albeit a similar product. And let us also never forget that tastes (musically and other) are purely subjective, for one man's horrible sounding "insert low quality name here" is another man's "insert higher quality name here". Thank you.