A question of change of pickups

[Cryptic Excretions]

Ok, my colleague in action owed me money and found himself unable to pay me off... so I took his guitar and amp. It's a 50 watt Rogue amp and that's all I know on that. My question is the guitar though. It's a BC Rich Warlock bronze series. I figure I may as well get a better sound out of it so I ask for any suggestions on affordable humbuckers that would fit in it. I'm not in love with it so I'm not shooting for top notch, just something to get a better sound.

[matteo1]

well, is their a certain tone you are after? like what kind of music do you play?

[PonyOne]

yeah, there are sooooo many pickups out there... what sound do you want out of it?

[Cryptic Excretions]

I guess I could've specified that earlier. I'm probably going to leave it in drop D tuning since I'll probably be playing this guitar as often as I use drop D. And since drop D is typically used for heavier stuff I guess a good heavy tone would work well. I mainly wish to change pickups because I make the assumption that Bronze series BC Rich stock pickups are worth replacing and for some guitar building experience. Keep in mind I'm in no mood or financial position to make this a big point of investing as it's a $150 guitar and nothing I've come to be emotionally bonded with (not yet anyway) and what with my SG and Strat near by I'm going to be more biased to pick those ones up first, but I figure I might as well make it decent and get some experience with working on a guitar.

[6strngs_2hmbkrs]

you took his guitar and amp? wow... well what should happen if he one day got the money, brought it to you, and asked for his guitar and amp back? but you'd already replaced the pickups? lol. I guess it's none of my business about that... but if money is tight, you could just replace one of the pickups, so if you want a heavy sound you could replace only the bridge pickup with a semi-expensive pickup... just a thought on a way to half your price...

[Cryptic Excretions]

you took his guitar and amp? wow... well what should happen if he one day got the money, brought it to you, and asked for his guitar and amp back? but you'd already replaced the pickups? lol. I guess it's none of my business about that... but if money is tight, you could just replace one of the pickups, so if you want a heavy sound you could replace only the bridge pickup with a semi-expensive pickup... just a thought on a way to half your price...

Well I did partially think of that, but when I considered his financial state, which is far worse than mine, he's been in the negatives in his bank account for quite a few weeks so I don't forsee him getting the money any time soon. Furthermore my priorities right now are paying off debts myself, fixing my cat and moving out so I'm not expecting to make any big changes any time soon. Just planning ahead, y'know?

[6strngs_2hmbkrs]

Well I did partially think of that, but when I considered his financial state, which is far worse than mine, he's been in the negatives in his bank account for quite a few weeks so I don't forsee him getting the money any time soon. Furthermore my priorities right now are paying off debts myself, fixing my cat and moving out so I'm not expecting to make any big changes any time soon. Just planning ahead, y'know?
I hear you, and I know what that's like, not necessarily fixing a cat or moving out, but having financial priorites, so you plan ahead... lol. like me and my marshall half stack and les paul... lol. financial priorities...

[PonyOne]

well first and foremost... if the stuff is legitimately yours and whatnot, then just sell it on www.craigslist.org or ebay or something like that. bronze series BC Rich's suck and Rogue amps suck harder, plus they use teeth. not cool. you'd be better served selling the whole rig for the cost of the guitar new and just using the money for pickups for your SG or Strat.

if you want to use the BC Rich as a guinea pig, though, i'd suggest getting a soldering iron and some solder (altogether maybe $10 at radioshack), and heading over to www.stewmac.com and getting some decent electronics (pots, switches, etc) as the ones in it right now probably are not the best things ever.

in regards to another pickup thread and a discussion on high end pots, etc, i wouldn't worry too much... i've had Stewart-MacDonald pots in my Kramer for a year and a half, my Epiphone SG for 5 years, my Aria for 4 years, my Gretsch for 4 years... and no problems from any of them.

for a pickup, you may want to consider something like a DiMarzio Super Distortion or Tone Zone; both respond well to drop D and give a nice heavy sound. But honestly the pickups deserve to be put in a way nicer guitar; maybe you could switch the bridge on your SG to a Tone Zone and try the stock Gibson p/u in the BC Rich??? A crap guitar body is not going to sound good with any pickups; I have a Duncan Buckshot in the bridge of my crap Epi SG that would be much better served in something else, except that I don't have anything to put it in...

[Cryptic Excretions]

Yeah, you prove some valid points and it makes me wonder that much more on whether or not I should just sell it. Like you said, it's not worth anything great and I can tell this when I play it. Ultimately I think the bridge and pickups are its primary downfall (not to say it doesn't have others) and if I start working on it then it's probably gonna be sacrificed to experience. It'd give me a good chance to learn how to work on guitars but I don't want to waste any quality equipment on it when it clearly doesn't deserve it. And the amp... well. what I can I say about the amp. It's 50 watts and my 30 watt marshall still blows it away. By the way, perhaps this is a dumb question, but what are "teeth"?

[PonyOne]

By the way, perhaps this is a dumb question, but what are "teeth"?
i just meant in the context of it sucking ;)

[Cryptic Excretions]

i just meant in the context of it sucking ;)

Oh...jeez... good one.

[6strngs_2hmbkrs]

i just meant in the context of it sucking ;)
ha ha ha LMAO