Screws on pickups--got some quick questions

[75lespaul]

I know not much about these, so if the questions seem dumb, it's merely ignorance.

Is there a way you should swap screws on pickups like one at a time, or can you take them all out at once without a disaster? I have a pickup with chrome screws that I want to put gold screws from another pickup into. Plus, what do they do? Are they merely for eq'ing string volume, or do they make an audible difference in the tone. In other words, if I take the pickup screws from a cheap pickup and put them in a Duncan, is that a problem?

Thank you bros.

[ArtieToo]

It might. Somewhere, in the myriad of Seymour Q&A's, there's a statement that the metal of the screw makes a difference. It should be nickel-something-or-other. So, you might alter the sound, but whether its for the better or worse would be up to your ears.

[75lespaul]

Cool, so the coils won't fall apart inside or anything if I remove all the screws at once? Not that I would, I would probably do it one at a time, but just in case. Also, I guess it is easily reversed and there isn't really any kind of "set" heights or turns that the screws need to be? Just FYI, I would be doing this do an A2P.

[hamerfan]

Cool, so the coils won't fall apart inside or anything if I remove all the screws at once?

Its saver to change the inner 4 screws first and than the out 2. In one case i had a hard time to change the screws because the keeper bar moved a little. But that's no brainer.
The screws are availiable in different alloy. Standard PAF seems to be 1020. 1022 is a little brighter, 1018 is warmer. I have seen 1010 too, which should be very warm sounding. Look on ebay at the seller called fx-addiction.

[75lespaul]

Its saver to change the inner 4 screws first and than the out 2. In one case i had a hard time to change the screws because the keeper bar moved a little. But that's no brainer.
The screws are availiable in different alloy. Standard PAF seems to be 1020. 1022 is a little brighter, 1018 is warmer. I have seen 1010 too, which should be very warm sounding. Look on ebay at the seller called fx-addiction.

Oh yeah, thanks a lot! You just teased me with a link to UOA5 magnets on eBay in a thread from November and I ordered two. Now you guys are going to get me addicted to MAGNET swapping. How could you? How do you guys sleep? Screws, magnets, winding...you PUSHERS!

[hamerfan]

Oh yeah, thanks a lot! You just teased me with a link to UOA5 magnets on eBay in a thread from November and I ordered two. Now you guys are going to get me addicted to MAGNET swapping. How could you? How do you guys sleep? Screws, magnets, winding...you PUSHERS!

Look the other way: 4 years ago is bought a 79 Hamer Special off ebay. Cool guitar with two identical DiMarzio PAFs. Sound neck bass boomy and bridge glass breaking bright. I ditched them and swapped in countless pickups until i loved a Seth Lover neck with a A3 and a PATB3. But the SL was for another project and the the PATB3 looked like **** in that trad looking guitar.
Then i decided to mod the original DiMarzios. I changed the magnets, wound down the neck coils, rewound one Bridge coils, changed one row of screws and voila ... its sounds great and looks great in stock appearence... and that was much cheaper than a set of new pickups.