Upgrading parts and one's memory

jaymenon

When you change pickups on a guitar, by the time the job is completed, surely you forgotten how the old pickups used to sound/feel...?

Similarly with tremolo blocks etc...?

Funkfingers

Make recordings.

Often, the change to new strings throws out the initial auditioning of a modified instrument.

Next problem is the psychological need to convince oneself that the hundreds of Pounds of outlay was justified. (Honeymoon period.)

p90fool

jaymenon said:

When you change pickups on a guitar, by the time the job is completed, surely you forgotten how the old pickups used to sound/feel...?

Similarly with tremolo blocks etc...?

There is an element of that I guess, but only if you only own one guitar.

I have three main electric guitars on rotation for various purposes and can always use the others as a datum when changing pickups.

Similarly with tremolo blocks, the last time I experimented with them I was trying to replicate the unplugged tone of a great sounding Strat I already owned, knowing that I could fine tune with pickups very easily if the core sound of the guitar was there.

To be honest, with a lot of modding experience you don't even need another guitar in the room to compare it with, you'll often hear the elusive aspect of the sound you've been chasing immediately. 

Funkfingers

Human memory is fallible but some ideas manage to stick.

I almost made the mistake of selling an Eighties Ibanez using some DiMarzio pickups that were languishing in a drawer. My memory insisted that the guitar had sounded better with a trio of Seymour Duncan pickups. Reinstating the Duncan pickups confirmed this. I kept the guitar. 

Generally, I tend not to rely on memory. I am more interested in whether I like the tone and dynamics.

The elderly Ibanez has also been used to test drive assorted Oil City Pickups. For my tastes, the Masterwound vintage output ones sounded exactly as I hoped. The overwound single coils were of excellent quality but their tone did not suit that guitar.

FWIIW, the DiMarzio pickups are now in a Charvel Model 3, which they suit perfectly. The pickup combination is an unlikely one but it presents a bunch of sounds that I did not have before.

Dave_Mc

To a certain extent. Someone else said in a previous thread, that your auditory memory may well be seconds, but the actual memories of the experiences last longer and are more reliable. I'd tend to agree with that.

Also I was lucky enough to have a few guitars with the same pickups, so when I swapped them in the one guitar I could still try the same pickup in a different guitar, head to head. Yeah, I know, they don't sound identical in a different guitar, but it's better than nothing.

Funkfingers said:

Often, the change to new strings throws out the initial auditioning of a modified instrument.

See, I thought I was just being lazy doing a few pickup swaps while keeping the old strings, but apparently it was a great idea to make it as fair a test as possible!

Funkfingers

Dave_Mc said:
I thought I was just being lazy doing a few pickup swaps while keeping the old strings

I do this quite often - partly because I am a cheapskate and partly because I strongly suspect that the pickup swap is likely to be reversed in the near future.

andy_k

Take a photo of your amp /fx settings while you have it set in the 'zone', before you do a change of anything.
You need a datum to be able to do any comparison, the effect of a new set of strings can be a short lived enhancement to any perceived improvements, but there are plenty of people who have done any number of measured comparison videos.
I have to remind myself sometimes that Andertons, and That Pedal Show videos are all being played back through YT, the sound in the room will not be translated, and it is very hard to describe the 'feel' of a new part.

Roland

Something that affects my understanding is that play differently when I change something, almost as if I adapt my playing to emphasise or de-emphasise whatever’s has changed

Nerine

Personal testimony is one of the least reliable forms of evidence. 

Philly_Q

I think if you were very familiar with the guitar before making the change, then you will immediately notice the difference.

You may not remember exactly how it sounded in all situations, but there'll be particular sounds you either liked or disliked before, which you don't get now.  Or new sounds you definitely couldn't get before.

After that, the new sound/feel becomes more familiar and you do forget what it was like before.  And then it's a case of whether or not you're happy with the new sound and feel, based on their own merits.

Bigsby

jaymenon said:

When you change pickups on a guitar, by the time the job is completed, surely you forgotten how the old pickups used to sound/feel...?

Similarly with tremolo blocks etc...?

I suspect the unreliability of memory proves to be an advantage in most of these situations: People tend to want to know the expensive new pickups (etc.) ARE better, not discover IF they're better. It's more about confirmation of a conclusion that's already been drawn when someone clicked 'add to cart'.

Memories tend to contain relatively little information, particularly in terms of 'raw data', but instead contain the emotional responses, the 'gist' of a conversation, etc., the rest is reconstructed upon remembering; hence the impression of detailed memories, and the errors too. And every time a memory is accessed, it's likely to change. Of course, if you really do want to know, it's possible to set up stringent recording conditions, and then listen back, 'blind' to which recording relates to which condition until your conclusions have been made. But if you've spent a lot of money, that's quite risky...

kentuckyklira

jaymenon said:

When you change pickups on a guitar, by the time the job is completed, surely you forgotten how the old pickups used to sound/feel...?

Similarly with tremolo blocks etc...?

I´ve never changed a tremolo block in my 54 year old life!

Alex2678

If I change em and I feel happier after I have, that’s enough, don’t need to be able to remember the exact sound for comparison 

Rocker

Nobody changes a guitar pickup or the trem system or bits of it unless they are looking for a different sound or feel.  Parts get changed if they get broken or unreliable, always remember it is a guitar.  A guitar has tone and volume controls, as has the amp it is plugged into.  

Roland

Rocker said:

Nobody changes a guitar pickup or the trem system or bits of it unless they are looking for a different sound or feel.  Parts get changed if they get broken or unreliable, always remember it is a guitar.  A guitar has tone and volume controls, as has the amp it is plugged into.  

I don’t think that’s so. Some people change components for their looks. Apparently some people make changes because they want something which is “vintage correct”.

Dave_Mc

Funkfingers said:

Dave_Mc said:
I thought I was just being lazy doing a few pickup swaps while keeping the old strings

I do this quite often - partly because I am a cheapskate and partly because I strongly suspect that the pickup swap is likely to be reversed in the near future.

I had a few where I'd changed the strings fairly recently before the pickup swap and the strings were still "new enough". Also I'm dying to hear how the new pickups sound so anything which saves time before I get to hear the new ones is a good thing!  

Teetonetal

Does it matter? I’m only changing something if I am unhappy with the sound. If I make changes and am now now happy, whether I remember the old correctly is irrelevant.

if I’m still unhappy I may change again or get rid.

skullfunkerry

I'd never thought of this. The last pickups I changed were some stock Ibanez ones, which got replaced with a pair of high output Oil City ones. I do know that the reason I replaced them was that they were quite thin-sounding and the new ones aren't, but I'd probably struggle to give you any more detail than that tbh.

prowla

Just remember how you felt playing it and see how you feel about the new ones after a month or so.

Typically you want to replace parts after you've grown dissatisfied with the old ones, so see if you're no longer dissatisfied.

slacker

I had the 490 500 10k 16k whatever ceramic flame throwers replaced in my LP Classic for Lollar Imperials. I also had the pots changed 50s wiring and mustard caps. I noticed a huge difference and am happy. From time to time I see videos and ads for various best PAFs. I don't bother because my guess is that each change will be better and my bank balance will not. In blackjack you stick on 17. 

tanihhiavlt

Why bother with memory - does the new change inspire you to play? If so - job done, I think we use memory as "rollback point" but it isn't that reliable... we store everything... the problem is how easy is it to recall this stuff - that kinda depends on it's significance - which has lots of factors some outside our control...

I know a fair few people who seem drawn to regret, interpreting each new learning as a mistake, a tut and a sigh 

I always promise myself I'll A/B using a looper pedal - I've done it once and couldn't really tell the difference between a Seymour Duncan Jazz Neck and a Creamery Alnico 2 ... they are different but I couldn't discern it - I kept the creamery