Can you give me advice in changing guitar pickup?

Question

This is the guitar I bought:
http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:MyibfnEEuH1iLM:http://images.music123.com/products/original/Baja/228731.jpg
as you can see I don't have lot of money.

I want some pickups that give it the rock sound like an Ibanez, or PRS. the guitar i have, when using a good amp, doesn't give me that sound. when i pick a note, it doesn't ring for as long as i want it.

this is what i was thinking.

i want to buy this pickguard:
http://www.guitarpartsresource.com/0055435000.jpg
so that it can fit this pickup:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Duncan-Ibanez-HB103B-Bridge-Pickup-Mint-Great-Sound_W0QQitemZ150135649753QQihZ005QQcategoryZ64423QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
so it can look something like this:
http://www.woodsys.com/files/pics/FenSilverSis.jpg

Will this give me want I need? Any advice would be good. I'm new to the electric guitar.
I wanna thank you for even reading up to here. Cheers.

here is a clearer picture of the guitar i bought.
http://images.music123.com/products/original/Baja/228731.jpg

Answer 1

Hi,

You can do that. It's hard to see your guitar, but it looks like a Fullerton package with single coils. If you put that humbucker in the bridge position, you will have a better sound. Expensive single coils can sound good under the right circumstances with the right expensive amplifier.

I have put humbucker pickups in a few of my guitars. The one you are looking at would be OK for your apparent newness.

You might have to route out the wood under the pickguard to make the larger dual coil pickup fit.

A double coil humbucker pickup will give a fuller bassier sound to overdriven rock guitar power chords. Also, the hum will be eliminated.

When soldering, don't get the kind of solder with the flux inside the solder. Get separate flux. Also, get a clip stand to hold the wires.

You can get help at the electric guitar forum at WWW.harmony-central.com

Good luck.

*

Answer 2

Well, the m10 is a starter model. It would probably be beneficial to just buy another guitar rather than working on one that was never that good to begin with. But let's say you're attached to this guitar and want to improve the sound. EMGs will give a decent metal tone, and sound the same in almost any guitar you put them in, from basswood to mahogany to acrylic. However, I think the tone from them is pretty lifeless and sound terrible on clean. I would go to a guitar center and try out a guitar with EMGs to see if you like them. Finally, if you like them, installing them might require some woodwork and routing since they are active pickups and need to be hooked up to a battery, where the M10 comes with passive pickups. If you don't like EMGs, I prefer Dimarzio pickups. Most of them are also passive, so installing them will be easy. I can't recommend specifics because I don't know what sound you are going for, but dimarzio pickups are versatile and they will have a pickup to serve your purpose. Seymour Duncan also makes good, passive pickups. Once you obtain your pickups, I would recommend having someone else install them unless you're comfortable with soldering. If you are, their are plenty of videos on YouTube to help with that. But, consider that the M10 is a poorly made guitar and will probably start to fall apart. If you are happy with the way your ESP feels, I would just upgrade to a better M model rather than replace te pickups.

Answer 3

Before you do that, take it to a music store and have a proper setup done on it, with new strings. Then you'll be able to tell if you truly need to rip the pickups out. Unless you're terribly good with a soldering iron and good at reading diagrams, I would NOT recommend experimenting with the pickups at this stage of the game. You need to worry more about learning how to play. And I'll be truthful: no matter WHAT kind of pickups you put in it, a Fullerton is NEVER going to sound like a PRS or high-end Ibanez.