Guitar upgrades (pickups, tuners, bridge, etc.)

  • Thread starter Thread starter Steve Henningsgard
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Steve Henningsgard

Steve Henningsgard

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I'm trying to decide how much sense it makes throwing another $400+ at my $500-600 guitar. It's a Schecter C-1 Elite (link to picture below) and I really love how it looks, and how it plays... for the most part. The pickups definitely need to be replaced with something more geared towards my style, like a set of EMG's (81/85), the tuners are OK but I'd rather have locking auto-cutting tuners (link also at bottom), and possibly a new bridge, although it might just be that the one I have needs filing or something, but the low E falls out of the saddle pretty damn easily, which is no good.

So basically, I need to weigh the benefits of upgrading this guitar with selling it and purchasing one that costs more up front but has most or all of the upgrades I'm talking about. Personally, I really like this guitar in spite of the aforementioned issues, and if it at all makes sense I'd like to keep it.

Thoughts?




http://www.musiciansbuy.com/mmMBCOM/images/schecter_C1ELITE_AMB.jpg (guitar)

http://www.planetwaves.com/ptoolsdetails.aspx?ID=5 (locking tuners)
 
Well if you can work out how much $$$ you would get if you sold it then add $500-600 on and see if you can find a guitar that does what you want for that amount you might be better off, because it would have better resale value than a guitar that has been modified, then again, sometimes you get a guitar that just feels right for you, in spite of the fact that it isn't very expensive, in which case it's worth hanging onto.
 
I have only sold one guitar and I regret it. Keep all of them forever. I think upgrading parts is not like a capital investment. It's more of a consumable like strings or changing the oil in your car.
 
steve.h said:
I'm trying to decide how much sense it makes throwing another $400+ at my $500-600 guitar. It's a Schecter C-1 Elite (link to picture below) and I really love how it looks, and how it plays... for the most part. The pickups definitely need to be replaced with something more geared towards my style, like a set of EMG's (81/85), the tuners are OK but I'd rather have locking auto-cutting tuners (link also at bottom), and possibly a new bridge, although it might just be that the one I have needs filing or something, but the low E falls out of the saddle pretty damn easily, which is no good.

So basically, I need to weigh the benefits of upgrading this guitar with selling it and purchasing one that costs more up front but has most or all of the upgrades I'm talking about. Personally, I really like this guitar in spite of the aforementioned issues, and if it at all makes sense I'd like to keep it.

Thoughts?




http://www.musiciansbuy.com/mmMBCOM/images/schecter_C1ELITE_AMB.jpg (guitar)

http://www.planetwaves.com/ptoolsdetails.aspx?ID=5 (locking tuners)
Click to expand...

A bridge, tuner and pups shouldn't run you $400.

On second thought, mail me the guitar and I'll replace those for $400... :p
 
I'm with Cephus on this one. IMHO If you love the guitar, then upgrade costs vs cost of a new guitar don't really come into the equation. For example, I love my strat. Had it for 12 years now. I would never get rid of it. If it ever needed a repair job that cost more than the value of a new guitar, I would rather pay for the repairs. It's my baby, and I know I wouldn't be happy replacing it with another. I don't think I could ever sell a guitar. I always build up too much of an attachment to them. Even the ones I don't play much.
 
apl said:
A bridge, tuner and pups shouldn't run you $400.

On second thought, mail me the guitar and I'll replace those for $400... :p
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EMG 81 & 85: ~$200
Locking, self-cutting tuners: ~$90

That's $290 right there! I've already got strap-locks (which I didn't mention but I consider them an necessary upgrade for sure).

In regards to the bridge, is it possible to file them down a little bit to make the string sit better in them? I've had the low-E fall out on more than one occasion. I'm using .11 gauge strings tuned to drop-C, so the tension seems right to me, but perhaps increasing to .12 gauge might work better?
 
Oh. The website you linked to showed the tuners for $56, and I'd get the pups off eBay for way less than that.
 
Change the Pickups, and keep everything else. It might need some adjustment, but the hardware on those things is fine. Also, I'm not wild about the Planet Waves gears. Their not bad, their just not great. I don't see them as really being an upgrade, is what I guess I'm saying.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
I love split posts. The vintage shitty kind. The high e tuner on my strat used to feel like it was gonna come off every time I changed the strings, but I think tucking the string down in the post is the coolest thing ever.

I bought wilkinson tuners and a new trem from guitar fetish. The tuners are kind of hard to turn right now, but I figure after ten years or so, they'll get broken in.
 
Really? I'd need the gold ones to match the hardware, and while the stock tuners themselves are just dandy, if you've gotta change strings as often as I do, locking tuners are a must! The planet waves ones are on my other Schecter, and I love the auto-cutting feature!
 
cephus said:
I love split posts. The vintage shitty kind. The high e tuner on my strat used to feel like it was gonna come off every time I changed the strings, but I think tucking the string down in the post is the coolest thing ever.

I bought wilkinson tuners and a new trem from guitar fetish. The tuners are kind of hard to turn right now, but I figure after ten years or so, they'll get broken in.
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Cephus, aren't your tuners adjustable for tension? You might be able to back off on 'em a bit.
 
steve.h said:
Really? I'd need the gold ones to match the hardware, and while the stock tuners themselves are just dandy, if you've gotta change strings as often as I do, locking tuners are a must! The planet waves ones are on my other Schecter, and I love the auto-cutting feature!
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Gold is $65 from their store.
 
Zaphod B said:
Cephus, aren't your tuners adjustable for tension? You might be able to back off on 'em a bit.
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I think I'd have to pry off the back to find out. And mine are purty gold ones and I ain't gonna futz them up. I'll just build up my muscles for a while till the plastic bushings hiding inside wear out :^)
 
cephus said:
I think I'd have to pry off the back to find out. And mine are purty gold ones and I ain't gonna futz them up. I'll just build up my muscles for a while till the plastic bushings hiding inside wear out :^)
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Kewl. How about the little screw that retains the tuning key itself?
 
steve.h said:
The pickups definitely need to be replaced with something more geared towards my style, like a set of EMG's (81/85)
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Based on my own uneasy experience with a particular guitar, the decision to go the 81/85 route tells me you may not like the sound of the guitar -- and I don't mean in the 'duh, that's why I want to change pickups' way, but rather in the 'I've considered a number of passive pickups of different types, but the guitar doesn't/won't sound the way I want with any of them' way. The other possibility is that you really like the 81/85 for the qualities of the pickups themselves, in which case you can disregard much of this message.

I went through this with one of the original issue Ibanez RG-550's, burning through a bunch of pickups and finally settling on the 81/85 plan (along with a "single coil" - don't remember the model). Same thing - I loved the way it played (not so much the way it looked, but whatever), but could never get the sound right. After the EMGs, it was like, OK - done, and I really like the pickups, but maybe it would have been easier to start with a guitar that has a sound that suits me, instead of force-fitting a sound on the one I've got. Since then, I've picked up a couple that do sound more the way I like, and while I still have the Ibanez with the EMGs, I find myself playing the other ones with the passive pickups a lot more.

Just my 2 cents, and possibly way off the mark - I just saw the young antichef in that story and thought I should speak up.
 
antichef said:
Based on my own uneasy experience with a particular guitar, the decision to go the 81/85 route tells me you may not like the sound of the guitar -- and I don't mean in the 'duh, that's why I want to change pickups' way, but rather in the 'I've considered a number of passive pickups of different types, but the guitar doesn't/won't sound the way I want with any of them' way. The other possibility is that you really like the 81/85 for the qualities of the pickups themselves, in which case you can disregard much of this message.

I went through this with one of the original issue Ibanez RG-550's, burning through a bunch of pickups and finally settling on the 81/85 plan (along with a "single coil" - don't remember the model). Same thing - I loved the way it played (not so much the way it looked, but whatever), but could never get the sound right. After the EMGs, it was like, OK - done, and I really like the pickups, but maybe it would have been easier to start with a guitar that has a sound that suits me, instead of force-fitting a sound on the one I've got. Since then, I've picked up a couple that do sound more the way I like, and while I still have the Ibanez with the EMGs, I find myself playing the other ones with the passive pickups a lot more.

Just my 2 cents, and possibly way off the mark - I just saw the young antichef in that story and thought I should speak up.
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Thank you for the insight! I'm always into soaking up as much info and experience as I can. In my case, I compared the sound of this guitar to another similar-model schecter with different pickups (actually, a set from an ESP Dave Mustaine model Flying-V: I upgraded my friend's guitar and he gave me the pickups for free!), and an ESP with an 81/85 combo. The other schecter has a much crunchier, meatier sound compared to the stale, under-driven sound of the stock pickups in my C1 Elite. The 81/85 combo has slightly less meat, but is way smoother than either of the two.

The reason I was thinking the 81/85 is because I don't have a heck of a lot of experience, or much money to throw around at trying 5+ different pickups, so I figured a "tried & true" solution might be the most sensible route. Perhaps moving this conversation towards pickup selection might be a good place to start!

apl said:
Gold is $65 from their store.
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Haha then I guess I should probably have looked at the prices eh? :p Stupid me!
 
steve.h said:
The other schecter has a much crunchier, meatier sound compared to the stale, under-driven sound of the stock pickups in my C1 Elite. The 81/85 combo has slightly less meat, but is way smoother than either of the two.
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Makes sense - another thing I should have mentioned is that my guitar didn't just not sound the way I wanted, it sounded bad - I think it was the wood, and maybe it was just that year or that guitar, dunno. I'd be surprised if the Schecter sounded bad. If you have a chance to, I'd still go to a Guitar Center or somewhere you can try out different stuff and get a feel for it.
 
apl said:
What's yer fave gears, Light?
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Gotoh 510's. They're the only thing I use anymore on the guitars I build, because they really are a LOT better than anything else out there.

That being said, if you want a real traditional open back gear, go for Waverlys, but that wouldn't be appropriate on this guitar.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
I had the C1 Elite

Damn sweet guitar that rivals PRS. I dropped in the 81/85 combo and changed the stock bridge & tailpiece with TonePros. It was as good as it can get at that point!!
 
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