Have HFS pickups changed over the years?

[johnny00]

I have a 1993 CU24 and a 2007 CU24 PRS, both with their stock HFS in the bridge, and the 2007 sounds more balanced where as the 1993 sounds kind of nasal. The 2007 sounds awesome, and the 93 less than awesome. So I was wondering if the HFS has been tweaked within that 14 year span, or maybe it's just the guitar itself? The true test would be to swap pickups, but that's a lot of work for me. Thanks! -johnny

 

[Boogie]

But that raises a good question: has the pickup manufacturing process changed much over the years? Obviously, improvements have been made but has enough of a process change occurred that some of the 'stinkers' that may have left the factory are no longer a problem? Or that the tolerance range has been reduced drastically? Seems logical that it would. Perhaps it would fall under Paul's category of making it more musical?

Interesting question and observation.

 

[pjdude]

I once had 2 CE24s - completely stock - and they both sounded very different from one another. Could just be the guitar.

 

[Andy80]

I have an 03 Cu24 and I agree they sound very nasal and I am going to swap them really soon.

 

[vchizzle]

I had 1 white labeled HFS and 1 gold/black labeled and they sounded slightly different, but not night/day or love/hate different. I ended up keeping the 1 I liked more(can't remember which). I think there's always a some variability in pickups, even made in close succession of each other. Probably more so if there's a large timespan in between production. Think about how wildly different all those old PAFs sounded. Some were amazing and some garbage. It's just the nature of the game to some extent. I think as time has gone on, the science/research of winding is better and made things more consistent.

 

[JRod4928]

I have a 1993 CU24 and a 2007 CU24 PRS, both with their stock HFS in the bridge, and the 2007 sounds more balanced where as the 1993 sounds kind of nasal. The 2007 sounds awesome, and the 93 less than awesome. So I was wondering if the HFS has been tweaked within that 14 year span, or maybe it's just the guitar itself? The true test would be to swap pickups, but that's a lot of work for me. Thanks! -johnny

It could be the bridge material used in 93 (I believe they didn't have the brass block that we have today, which cuts some treble and rounds out the tone). Also, the 93 CU24 may have been alder, which would affect the tone a lot too.

I now have a 97 CE24 that I'm trying to sell. I swapped the original 2 piece brass block bridge for a Mann-Made one piece bridge. The tone changed from darker, bassier, almost muddy to a more pronounced mid-range and treble, and it lost the muddiness. It's very 80's metal now. Admittedly though, the 97 has Dragon 1 pickups, and the 93 had something else, I think it was HFS/VB, i didn't verify before I sold it.

 

[HANGAR18]

Change is the only constant in the universe.

 

[Sage]

I'm sure the manufacturing process has introduced new methods and tools that make the newer pickups more consistent. I don't believe the components themselves have changed, except for the switch to squabbins these last couple years.