Fully interchangeable, modular and easily swapped out, are Organic Pickups the future for electric guitar humbuckers?

Organic Pickups has launched a series of electric guitar pickups with an innovative modular design that allows you to swap them in and out of your guitar on the fly.

Once you hooked up the baseplate to your electric guitar as you would any other humbucker, you can choose any modular pickup unit from the You series, and swap them in. 

The idea for an electric guitar with pickups that could be swapped in and out like they were cartridges on a vintage Nintendo system went mainstream with Switzerland’s Relish Guitars. Buy one and you had all these new possibilities for aftermarket pickups. Problem is, not every guitarist will necessarily want to play a Relish. That’s where Organic comes in.

Organic’s You series pickups will fit any guitar routed for a humbucker and are presently available with the choice of black, cream and purple-colored covers, and individually or as a set. Organic offers a single-pickup set that comprises one baseplate and two pickups, and a two-pickup set of two humbuckers and two base plates.

There are three different pickups in the series, each with neck or bridge variations. The Model T4 Ceramic is the hottest of the bunch, and is overwound and voiced for high-gain guitar playing, with Organic promising excellent note clarity, sustain and attack. 

The Model L2 is a vintage-voiced Alnico II design, which immediately calls to mind old-school PAF warmth that could pair nicely with a Gibson Les Paul. Somewhere in the middle you’ve got the Model NS9, an Alnico V wind that you could well imagine doing the Lord’s work as you go through the catalog of ‘80s hard rock. 

Of course, the appeal here is the ability to mix and match. The blade design and futuristic coverings might be a little modernistic for the purist, but for players amenable to change – especially those looking to mod their guitar for all seasons, sessionists et al – these could well point to a new future for the pickup. 

Time, of course, will tell. And a brushed nickel covering option sometime in the future might just get the traditionalist to pull the trigger with their credit card and pick out a couple of options from the Organic catalog.

Best of all, these pickups are not that expensive, retailing for $130 for baseplate and pickup, with each pickup module is $70. The Bridge and Neck dual-pickup set is priced $260. The single-pickup set (two ‘buckers, one mounting baseplate) will set you back $200.

For more details, head over to Organic Pickups.