Finding out what’s in my guitars

July 8, 2021 11:27 AM

I had a time period where I was having a lot of surgeries and to pass the time I put together a few guitars piece by piece (body from this guitar, these pickups, that wood neck, etc). Due to my state of mind and the amount of anesthesia I had at the time, I have forgotten some of what I did. Like which pickups I put in which guitar.

How might I go about finding out? Can I take them to a shop and have someone take them apart and tell me what’s in there?

posted by jitterbug perfume to Media & Arts (8 answers total)

Unless it's someone really knowledgable at a shop, they might not know. A local guitar repair person might, but pickups generally all look alike.There may be some identifying stickers on the bottom, though. I'd start by posting pictures here. But web forums are going to be the best place. As a bass player, I visit talkbass.com and people there can identify pretty much anything. So i'd look around for the guitar equivalent of talkbass. If they're Fender or Gibson guitars, check out forums specific to those types.
posted by jonathanhughes at 11:43 AM on July 8, 2021

I think it also depends on how much money and effort you want to put it (a shop is going to charge you to take things apart). And also, how much detail do you need? Do you need to know the year of the pickups, or just the brand and type?
posted by jonathanhughes at 11:44 AM on July 8, 2021

What would I post in a web forum? Pics of the pickups?
posted by jitterbug perfume at 11:58 AM on July 8, 2021

Do you know where you got the parts? If so, that can help you narrow the options down so that it's a multiple choice question instead of an open-ended one.
posted by kevinbelt at 12:27 PM on July 8, 2021

Building on what kevinbelt said, if you purchased them from a retailer do you have the receipts? Or could you get a copy from wherever you bought them? That'd be my first step.
posted by downtohisturtles at 12:40 PM on July 8, 2021

"What would I post in a web forum? Pics of the pickups?"

Yeah. Or pictures of whatever parts you're trying to identify. A decent picture should be almost as good as taking it it to an expert; and you'll be open to hundreds of opinions rather than just one.

But like I said, most of the parts look alike (i.e. a Dimarzio strat pickup is going to look like a Seymour Duncan). So you're probably going to have to uninstall it enough (not de-solder it) to get a picture of the bottom, where there may be some identifying features. Some may use cloth-covered wiring, some maybe have slightly different shells (Nordstrand pickups have rounded edges which makes them easier to identify). Necks often have a stamp on the heel. Fender puts a date stamp there. I think Warmoth burns in their logo.

But aside from tracking down receipts, if you just swapped parts between guitars, knowing what all the guitars involved are would definitely help.
posted by jonathanhughes at 1:40 PM on July 8, 2021

Make a reasonable guess compared to internet images of similar pick-ups. Then post them for sale online, and someone will soon tell you if you're wrong.
posted by ovvl at 6:26 PM on July 8, 2021

+1 on posting to other guitar sites. For Fenders, the folks at tdpri.com are very helpful.

Building partscasters is fun and, since you built them, you can certainly take them apart. But, if the guitar plays great and sounds good, play music. That’s what all the building is about.
posted by sudogeek at 6:43 AM on July 9, 2021