Budget Guitar & Boutique Pickups? Is it worth the upgrade?

It was so awesome to work with you on this video!!

As a lefty, this is incredibly common for me. The lack of options means we poor southpaws need to be creative and sometimes skillful with the soldering iron

It always blows my mind how quickly so many people decide to change out their pickups. It’s a legit choice for many players. It’s “just the thing to do” for many MORE players because they hear so many YouTubers saying it. As a novice, I just tweak the knobs on my guitar and make a couple amp adjustments. Good ‘nuff!

I did the same thing with my PRS Zach Myers years ago. I got it on sale for $600 and upgraded the pickups. Still one of my go to guitars to this day.

I put CTS pots, new wiring with switch craft everything, a custom bone nut and Seymour Duncan Whole Lotta Humbuckers in my $425 Epiphone Standard Les Paul. The difference was pretty significant. It was worth it as I plan to keep that guitar. It was the one fate chose for me and I bought it from my former guitar instructor when that shop was still open. Plus, I used the guitar on my first album with my garage band. Keep your guitars with sentimental value guys. Fix em up and play em as well.

Keith, you've got quite a team. This was excellent - concept, camera, audio, script and editing. Thanks to all at FWW.

I've been doing this for many, many years. I shake my head at how many YouTubers "upgrade" their guitar with new pickups, but leave the crappy pots, caps, wires,..... I always change out the harness before changing out the pickups. Yes, I regularly change out pickups as well, but I have a few budget guitars and basses with stock pickups , due to the fact they sound great and gained so much clarity when improving the other electronic components. And yes, I have a 7 lb 2oz, Les Paul!

Honestly, this pathway would be the perfect path for a person FINALLY able to afford a good guitar. Buy the PRS SE and play it stock. It sounds really good that way. When you have saved up some more money, do the pots and wiring upgrade. Play it until you earn the money to buy the new pickups. Unlike a lot of "upgrade cheap guitars" videos, every step of this build gives you a fine instrument that can be played and enjoyed that way until you're ready and able to move on to the next step.

I did a similar project with a Clasic Vibe Jazzmaster. I did a full upgrade. AVRI vibe, Staytrem bridge, Lollar pickups, CTS pots, Switchcraft switches, and (sorry) an Orange Drop cap. But the key upgrade was the Storm Guitar pick guard from South Korea! About $1k total. My dream guitar (for the moment).

I found Kinman Strat and Tele pickups while looking for "noiseless" single coil replacements. About the same time Phil McKnight reviewed EART guitars, as in a $270 guitar from Amazon, but with a fantastic neck and fretwork. I now have 4 EART Strats with various combinations of Kinman pickups, and they all sound better than any Fender Strat I ever played, including a vintage 1965 hard tail.

I have a Marlin guitar that I bought from a UK mail order catalogue in 1986 for around £100; it was a guitar for poor people. 10 years later I changed the bridge and replaced the pickups with good 90s Seymour Duncan humbuckers; one being a PAF equivalent and the other a high output bridge pickup. To this day the guitar is one of my best sounding instruments and I own multiple Strandbergs, Fenders, Gibsons and many more.

I've been playing 50 years, I was a professional for a decade. I play the hell out of a $200 single-cut with a pair of Warman P-90s in it, it looks, sounds and feels glorious. I play it far more often than the thousand dollar Gretsch over there in its case. Every guitar is an individual and you don't have to spend thousands to find a great one. In fact I'm not even sure the odds improve that much.

I bought a Zach Myers PRS once. Loved the way it felt to play , loved the way it looked, did not love the way it sounded. I wasn't in a position to swing the extra money for new pickups and, knew I wouldn't be for a while, so I disappointingly returned it. This video has made me consider getting another one and upgrading the pickups now that I'm stronger financially. Thanks five, what world for making me want more gear... ❤😂

The 2020 Epiphone LP Special is a great value at under $500, but it absolutely shines with two Kinman noiseless p90s, and the total is under a grand. Absolutely worth it.

Those Zack Myers’s PRS SEs play so nice for the money! Great video Keith. Got my new 5WW shirt yesterday, guess I should wear it to the gig today 😊

Thanks for the video Keith! A few years back I thought that I would finally buy the guitar I've been meaning to get and learn to play. I've always been a Telecaster fan ever since I'd spent a few years touring with a band doing sound mixing and stage lighting in the late 1970s. I had just enough money to get a 10 year old second-hand MiM Player series. It cost me NZ$1,000. It was a lot of money for me but I figured that, if I ended up not being able to play very well I could sell it and get my money back. I didn't notice when I picked it up but the frets were in need of levelling and, not being able to afford the services of a luthier I decided to learn how to fix it myself. I read and watched and bought a few bits and pieces but by then I'd not exactly become a 'guitar player' and I didn't want to risk damaging my investment. When I saw a second-hand Tele copy for NZ$100 I figured I could practice my skills on that neck before risking the Fender. Well I got that neck set up really well, the frets were perfect and the action was really low with no buzzing even when bending notes. However I still couldn't play worth a damn. So I sold the Fender and got back what I paid for it. The cheapie didn't sound so good and when I was researching some basic luthier skills I'd discovered a guy who winds his own pickups here in New Zealand (Mr. Glyn, he has a website) and sells them at a very good price. Most of the successful local bands here use his pickups. I like to support local manufacturers so I bought a set of his pickups (his 'Cruel Mistress' set). I also had heard of a NZ company (Obsidian Wire) who made replacement control electronics for Teles with a 4-way switch, treble-bleed and high quality pots so I ordered that as well. Then I became unhappy with the tuning stability so bought a set of Fender staggered tuners to replace the cheap things that were on the guitar and also bought a modern Fender 6 saddle bridge for good measure. By now I'd spent about half of what the Fender Tele had cost me originally but have ended up with a guitar that sounds sooo much better than that MIM guitar. Unfortunately I still can't play very well but hey, I really enjoy learning about guitars!

A 2016 Epi LP STD with SD59s has been my main guitar for about 5 years, nothing comes close - Sounds fantastic and plays very well indeed, all for 400€.

Great question and discussion! I own a few high end guitars, starting with the 1968 Gibson LP Custom I bought 2nd hand in the early 70's, a Sadowsky NYC S Style in 1992 and a couple of others. These last few years I have seen (and heard) the proliferation of interesting boutique pick-ups / rigs and the Get Back film prompted me to buy a new Epiphone Casino. My guitar tech here in HK completely reworked it - Bone Nut, new PU selector, 50's wiring, Lollar P90's. It went from a nice guitar to something quite special for relatively little cost - well worth it IMO (and way less than the US made Casino Gibson are offering). I have since bought an Epi Cantrell Wino (aiming for similar mods w Monty's Bethnal Green PUs) and an oldish Epi Blonde DC (same deal but most likely Lollar Underspun Imperials). For me if the actual guitar is solid and feels right then why not upgrade and tailor the electronics to the sound you're after?

This is without a doubt the most helpful and effective guitar channel on YouTube, love it

Wow, really fun and informative video. Five Watt World almost never disappoints. Due to my skill level, I typically buy the lowest tier made in US or Mexico guitars. I have replaced pickups and pots in some of these guitars with Seymour Duncan, Suhr and Dylan Talks Tone P90s (amazing!). In most cases, the pickups and pots have totally transformed the guitars and was worth the additional money (which as Keith pointed out, you will likely never get back).