A couple of questions

[Coustfan'01]

Hi

I'm looking to change pickups on my guitar (a prs ce-24 ), and have a good setup done at the same time. I have somes questions though

1 Does anyone know a good guitar tech in montreal ? I don't want to pay for a job I could do just as good myself.

2 Is it worth it to pay for expensive pickups like bareknuckles or should I just by sd's or dimarzios?

3 There seems to be a faulty ground wire on my guitar(when I don't touch any metal part , it hums a lot) Is tat easy to fix ? Will it get fixed if I bring it for a full setup and pickup change?

Thanks a lot

[iaresee]

2 Is it worth it to pay for expensive pickups like bareknuckles or should I just by sd's or dimarzios?
Pickups are a picky thing. You might find exactly what you like in a GHS, a Duncan, a Fralin, a Bareknuckles PU...it...depends. I know that's a lame answer but it's too hard to make a blanket "you should buy these because they're better" statement when it comes to pickups. All of the three you mentioned above make good, but different, pickups.

What guitar are you putting these in? What wood is it made of? Set neck? Bolt neck? Fixed bridge? Floating trem? Old school trem? Floyd? What kind of sound are you after?

Edit: I just saw your note about having a PRS CE-24. My favourite PRS combo is Duncan JB in the bridge (hot as hell, high output, splits beautifully, just a great rock pickup) and a PRS Dragon II (round, clear tone, bell-like, weaker when split though) in the neck position. I arrived at that combo after some experimenting on my PRS, but I have a Standard which has a mahogany neck so you might find those too bright with the maple neck on your CE.

3 There seems to be a faulty ground wire on my guitar(when I don't touch any metal part , it hums a lot) Is tat easy to fix ? Will it get fixed if I bring it for a full setup and pickup change?
It can take some time to troubleshoot where the break in your ground network is, but once it's found it's easy to fix. It is unlikely this is covered in a "setup". A setup is usually a fret dressing and leveling (but only minor fret work), clean the board, truss rod adjustment, check the tuning machines, tighten any loose bolts, check the bridge, adjust string height, intonate, quick polish, new strings.

[dwagar]

a lot of ground buzz problems are actually caused by external sources, you might not ever make it go away.

[gibsonlp04]

I would say put a tremonti pickup in the bridge. really hot pickups and they sound great.

just my 2¢

[bagpipe]

Get some custom pickups made - JS Moore on this forum will wind you whatever you want. I had him make me a pair of PAF like pickups for my CE-22 and I love them. You'll be pleasantly surprised by the price, especially as you are already considering Duncans, or even more expensive options.

[GibsonTay37]

i personally love EMG Pickups in my guitars but it depends on what type of music you play

my 2:smilie_flagge17:Pennies eh

:DevilGuitar:Taylor

[Budda]

what amp do you have?

take it to steves music in MTL, they do a great setup. i had my squier set up at steves in ottawa, it was a great job.

[zdogma]

Agree about Jon Moore for pickups, he'll steer you in the right direction, and his prices are reasonable.

About the noise, there tends to be a bit of noise with any guitar that will get quieter when you touch the strings/metal parts, my Les Paul buzzes like crazy in the basement of my old house, especially with higher gain, but its fine when I take it out.

[pattste]

I will PM you the name and address of a couple of good luthiers / techs, one in Montreal and the one who works on my guitars in Laval.

I totally disagree with whoever suggested that you bring your guitar to a large store. I have heard countless stories over the years of people who had store techs work on their guitar, paid $75 for a setup and didn't see any difference whatsoever or didn't feel like they got anywhere near there money's worth.

[Budda]

nobody should be paying $75 for a setup in the first place. mine was $40 and it was good, the local tech here in london charges $40 but i havent taken anything in yet.

[Coustfan'01]

what amp do you have?

take it to steves music in MTL, they do a great setup. i had my squier set up at steves in ottawa, it was a great job.

I have a line 6 vetta 2, so it pretty much does anything I want. I mostly play ska and punk though if that was the underlying question.

I had bad experiences with big stores , with Steve among other( very poor customer service) , so that's why I'm asking here .

Thanks a lot for all the answers guys :)

And I wouldn't mind paying 100$ for a setup if the job is good. I'm just tired of paying 50$ with a set of strings and seeing no difference except having a shiny guitar.

[Budda]

sounds like pat is your best bet then :)

[bagpipe]

sounds like pat is your best bet then :)

Who's pat ?