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Thread: Best Strat pickups??

  1. #41
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    I've had Fender 57/62s, Fat 50s, TX Specials, 54s, Vintage Noiseless, Fralin Vintage Hots and Blues Specials. The ones I keep going back to regardless of the guitar are the Fralin Vintage Hots. For my taste they have he best balance of output, tone and vintage "vibe".

  2. #42
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    Best Strat pickups

    I own one Strat and one Strat only. It is a custom built 59 Strat by the one and only, Scott Lentz. I guess it would actually be a 59 Strat replica. Scott winds all pickups for their respective position in the guitar. I have owned several Strats and got rid of them all because I just could not get the handle on one. This Lentz Strat is the best playing and sounding Strat-style guitar I have ever played. It was in tune, low action, and played fantastic right out of the case. Never one hint of adjustment in over a year.

    Lentz makes the best Strat-style guitars and single coil pickups out there. I would not mix and match. If Lentz builds the guitar, let him do your pickups, too. The entire package is what it's all about.

    Thanks Scott...

  3. #43
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    I've spent a lot of money trying out different single coils. I discovered I could care less about sounding Vintage. What the hell does that mean? Why would I want to sound like Buddy Holly?

    Went through a ton and finally fell in love with the DiMarzio Virtual Vintage Blues, Heavy Blues, and Solo models from neck to bridge.

    Warm, lot's of tone, clean, but fiery and smooth with distortion or overdrive. Best of all no hum.

    I swear by these pickups and have them in all my Strats.

  4. #44
    Forum Member ShawnRT's Avatar
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    I've had:
    Van Zandt Blues
    Fralin Blues w/ Baseplate
    Fender 57/62's
    Fender Time Machines in a 60's RI
    Fender Time Machines in a 69 RI
    Fender Delta Tones
    Fender Texas Specials

    I must admit that my favorites were the Fralins. They were bright chimey and fat all at the same time. The baseplate on the bridge took away a little of the "ice-pickeyness". A close second are the Time Machine pups in my 60's Custom Shop RI. They sound amazingly good. Bridge pickup is a little "thinner" without the baseplate but thats they way the cookie crumbled in 1960 and this is a reissue, so you get what you pay for :) I don't ever see myself swapping out the time machine pups, although I may build a new project strat and put some more fralins in that one
    Last edited by ShawnRT; 07-29-2002 at 02:30 PM.

  5. #45
    Forum Member Jimi's Bolero's Avatar
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    nobody here like seymour duncan anymore?
    FIND THE HALFLINGS!! UNGH!! FIND THE HALFLINGS!!

  6. #46
    Forum Member bjm007's Avatar
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    Originally posted by ShawnRT
    ...A close second are the Time Machine pups in my 60's Custom Shop RI. They sound amazingly good. Bridge pickup is a little "thinner" without the baseplate but thats they way the cookie crumbled in 1960 and this is a reissue, so you get what you pay for :) I don't ever see myself swapping out the time machine pups, although I may build a new project strat and put some more fralins in that one

    ShawnRT,

    I agree with you on the Time Machine 60's... I actually like 'em better than the Fralins, but I'm almost always going for the vintage thing in my guitars...

    Aloha
    Don't you know that it's a fool that plays it cool...

  7. #47
    Silent_Ap0stle
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    imo best pickups...

    i really like the emg dg-20 on my american

    next project is a fender accs floyd rose pro trem
    =)

  8. #48
    Forum Member Clapton Fan's Avatar
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    my favs were the lace gold sensors, i presume now the hot golds will be, i was never a really purist of the strat tone but nowadays im digging it more.

    I also heard a guitarplayer trough a marshall jmp1?? or something cant recall it.

    Using a fender strat with duckbuckers, he had an AMAZING strat tone live.

  9. #49
    Forum Member ShawnRT's Avatar
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    bjm007,
    I was wondering if other people out there thought these TM 60's Pups were as great as I do, it looks like you and Tim C see where I'm coming from. I was ready to swap out the stock pickups for Fralins if I felt they let me down even a little bit. I have to give the guys at Fender a hand on these, they sound great! What 60's RI do you have (color? Relic, NOS or CC?)? Is it the guitar in your avatar pic?
    Last edited by ShawnRT; 08-01-2002 at 12:58 PM.

  10. #50
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    My fave set is Dimarzio Class of 55's in the neck and middle with a Dimarzio FS1 in the bridge position.

    I like the Duncan stagers also. The Dimarzio Red Velvet is another killer strat Bridge pup.

  11. #51
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    best Strat pup for the money?

    Bill Lawrence pick ups are, in my opinion. You can't beat 'em. They are noiseless, dead silent, and have a better SC sound than any original stock pup I've ever heard. They are clear all the way across the entire spectrum.

    I have several. I also have several BL HB pups too in other guitars.

    Just my opinion now mind you.

  12. #52
    Forum Member mountain blues's Avatar
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    At the present time, my favorites are the Kinman AVn Blues, and the Van Zandt V+/Blues/Blues.


    I have a Callaham Strat coming in September - looking forward to trying the Fralins he uses.
    'My art and profession is to live.' Michel de Montaigne

  13. #53
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    I've got BL 280's in one Strat, and Kinman Avn-Blues in another. I like them both for what they are, and really have not considered changing either set. A good bit of my at home playing is at the computer with a J-Station and headphones, so noiseless is a must.

    But when I play out with one or the other, I'm all the time getting comments about how great the Strat with the Kinman's sound. People come up and want to paw it, gawk at it and ask questions.

    No one has every asked about the Strat with the 280's.......

    D

  14. #54
    Forum Member bjm007's Avatar
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    Originally posted by ShawnRT
    bjm007,
    I was wondering if other people out there thought these TM 60's Pups were as great as I do, it looks like you and Tim C see where I'm coming from. I was ready to swap out the stock pickups for Fralins if I felt they let me down even a little bit. I have to give the guys at Fender a hand on these, they sound great! What 60's RI do you have (color? Relic, NOS or CC?)? Is it the guitar in your avatar pic?
    ShawnRT,

    I've tried just about every Strat pickup out there.

    I was in college during the late 70's in San Luis Obispo, CA, just north of Seymour Duncan's shop in Santa Barbara. I remember driving down there to try and find this guy and ended up spending an hour and a half with him, just hearing about his philosophy on pickups. He was a great guy - really patient, and a hell of a player. I left that day with a bunch of pups and played Duncans for years. SSL-1's, SSL-5's, Alnico II's, you name it - I played everything he made - great sounding pups...

    In the 90's I started experimenting with everything else - like I said I played 'em all.

    Recently, I've been buying a lot of Custom Shop Fender Strats... I just love the 60's CS pups. After all these years, and all the different one's I played - these are my favs, and I gonna stick with 'em for a while... :tw59
    Don't you know that it's a fool that plays it cool...

  15. #55
    My search led me back to true single coils after years with the noiseless p/u's, the difference is staggering...I didn't get to try em all but in the end it came down to Rolphs and Voodoo's.

    I opted for the Voodoo's not only in my strats but in my tele as well...these are magical and my search is over.


    Chow,
    Seegs

  16. #56
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    57/62's and whatever is in my new Am std!

  17. #57
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    Hi. I gues noone here has ever heard of Staufer Pickups. I hav ethem in my Alder/one poiece maple Strat. Staufer Guitars is a German Custom Guitar Builder who mostly builds Strats and Teles : www.staufer-guitars.de or www.stauferguitars.de - or was it .com?). He has his pickups handwound/built by Harry Häussel, Germany's no 1 pickup winder, from the finest materials available. Staufer offers the True Vintage (Alnico V)and the Blues Set (Alnico II). As you can see from the names, they are very much orientet towards VanZandts - some say they ARE VanZandts, only produced in Germany and for less money.
    I could get a custom 12" staggered Blues Set at no extra charge, try that with VanZandt...
    They do everything you expect from a great Strat pickup, only better. Every position ist distinct with unigue flavour, even the middle pickup solo has become one of my favourites. With other Strat pickups, I alway ended up favouring the neck pickup. Now I really like all positions equally. They are VERY dynamic and sweet, they can sing, scream, have enough twang - everything is there.
    If you are interested in others opionion and can read German :o) yopu may want to consult www.gitarrebass.de/talk and ask someone else... many Stratocaster players here have switched to Staufers.

    Let me point out that Staufer also offers superior shielding laquer (sth made with copper and silver particles or so - my Strat is very quiet at no cost of tone) and things the powerswitch, which replaces one tone pot and offers the additonal combination of bridge and middle pickup IN SERIES, regardless of the position of the 5-way switch. I like that, so you always some extra power. It sounds similar to a PAF with the toner rolled off. Like all HB, the snap on the wound strings is missing, but the high strings can really sing. You can get very fat Robin Trower-like tones there. Just an extra option.

    I owned Seymour Duncans and Fenders. The Staufer pickups are so good, I will definitely put them into any other Strat I will ever own. If you take a trip to Europe, take a set home with you :o)

    cu, ferdi

  18. #58
    Forum Member bluesfreak68's Avatar
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    As I already told them ;-)

    Stevie would have loved the Blues Set....

    cu
    bluesfreak

  19. #59
    Forum Member ferdi from Germany's Avatar
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    Aloha, my friend. Didn't you tell me that you degraded the Texas Specials to work in your travel Start (not even your backup guitar)? I got so tired of the Texas Specials and think that they are in no way wound in a way that you could call "vintage". I think the may makew a good complement for hot bridge humbuckers with which vintage style Strat pickups are usually degraded to rhythm work only. But they definitely don' t have the Stevie sound or anything that comes close: far to midrangey, no snap, little attack.

    I think a good yardstick to measure a Strat pickups qualities with is the tone of the middle pickup used by itself. It's hard to get a really bad sound out of a neck pickup on a good Strat, and as long as it is wound hot enough a lot of middle class bridge pickjup also produce relatively decent results. But the middle pu only often sounds dull, without character or anything. With the Staufers, I really use all five positions equally often, which is a good sign.

    cu, ferdi

  20. #60
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    Originally posted by Nigel
    When did Fender rework the 57/62's?

    I've got a set of Fralin "Woodstock '69's" that are just awesome sounding pickups. They sound equally beautiful clean or distorted.
    dunno bout the 57/62's, but i heard "Woodstocks" are merely upsidedown Vintage Hots. they were a special japanese order, that somehow got back to the US, and guys started begging for them. Lindy doesnt advertise them on his website, cause i heard he either doesnt particularly care for its tone, or is still reworking and refining to sell them en mass. but he will do it if you ask him, and if you can wait 6 weeks for them. youch!

  21. #61
    Forum Member jokerjkny's Avatar
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    Originally posted by fjs1962
    I've had Fender 57/62s, Fat 50s, TX Specials, 54s, Vintage Noiseless, Fralin Vintage Hots and Blues Specials. The ones I keep going back to regardless of the guitar are the Fralin Vintage Hots. For my taste they have he best balance of output, tone and vintage "vibe".
    same here,

    bar none, nothing is nearly as beautiful nor as ballsy as my maple neck / ash bodied '56 relic's Vintage Hots.

    if you want stevie tho, Rio Grande's Tallboys are it. jangly, but tough. not as chimey as fralin's but they've got their own vibe.

  22. #62
    Forum Member 60Strat's Avatar
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    Originally posted by bluesfreak68
    I was pretty happy with the TX Specials in my Strats but meanwhile my favorite PU´s are handwound Haeussel Blues (www.haeussel.com).
    IMHO they are close if not even better than the Van Zandt and they are easier affordable for me. :-D
    Meanwhile I replaced the PU´s in my HR TX Special and the SRV.

    cu
    bluesfreak
    Hi Bluesfreak68

    Do you know Nik Huber?
    He uses Haeussel pickups, too and they are really great!

    Where in Bavaria do you come from?

    Greetings from Würzburg!
    *********
    Achim

  23. #63
    Forum Member bluesfreak68's Avatar
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    Howdy 60Strat,


    if I would like LP Style Guitars I would buy one from Nic.
    Probably a Dolphin with P90´s. But currently it looks like my next guitar will come from Staufer (www.staufer-guitars.de):
    Telestyle, Butterscotch Swamp Ash Body, Mapleneck, P90 at the Neck and a Broadcaster Clone at the Bridge.


    cu from Regensburg

    Bluesfreak :smokin

  24. #64
    Forum Member Nigel's Avatar
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    Originally posted by jokerjkny


    dunno bout the 57/62's, but i heard "Woodstocks" are merely upsidedown Vintage Hots. they were a special japanese order, that somehow got back to the US, and guys started begging for them. Lindy doesnt advertise them on his website, cause i heard he either doesnt particularly care for its tone, or is still reworking and refining to sell them en mass. but he will do it if you ask him, and if you can wait 6 weeks for them. youch!
    I live close to Torres Engineering and went by to buy some Fralin Blues Specials. He told me at the time that the Woodstocks were upside down Blues Specials. They probably are VH's because they have more bite than a Blues Special set I've got. I think they sound pretty good whatever they are. I'd like to get a set of Vintage Hots for a '62 RI I've got but don't have $220 to blow right now.

  25. #65
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    Cool reading!

    I have an 89'-90' US standard, in 3t sunburst and a dark rosewood fingerboard. It's 100% stock, right now. I got it a few months ago, and love the neck. The PU's, IMO seem to lack "something". I'm planning on getting another white pickguard and loading it up with BL 280's in the neck and middle, and a BL 290 in the bridge, and then replacing the whole assembly. That way, If I should ever want to return it to 100% stock again, I can easily.

    I haven't tried them yet, and hope they sound as good as I think they will. I just can't justify spending about $300 on a set of pickups *if* I can get a great sounding set for $120 +shipping. Either way, I don't think I'll feel like I got taken.

    I tried a set of Kinman's through someones elses rig, and of course, that's not exactly being scientific about it... :) ...but then I plugged my guitar through the guys rig, and while I could hear the difference, I wasn't blown away buy the difference, to say the least. Maybe it would be different through my gear, but I'm willing to give Bill and Becky (Lawrence) the chance.

    LOH

  26. #66
    Forum Member Cdayhoff's Avatar
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    I like Carvin AP11's they are a more modern sounding pickup...so if your looking for the jangly of a vintage pickup they won't do..but if your looking for something smooth and loud...they work great!
    WWJD?

  27. #67
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    Fralins, CS 54s, Kinmans are my current choices. I also had a set of Chandler Super 60s that were great sounding but far too prone to moise.

  28. #68
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    Harmonic Design Vintage Plus...lot's of ooomph with no freq over emphasized. Great pups.


    -Lefty

  29. #69
    Reference total thus far for preferred Strat pickups:

    Fender: 17 votes (Including 11 for reissue pups with 5 of those being for 57/62's)

    Fralin: 6 votes

    Kinman: 5 votes

    Rio Grande: 3 votes

    Bill Lawrence: 3 votes

    Van Zandt: 2 votes

    DiMarzio: 2 votes

    Seymour Duncan and many others at 1 vote each.
    "Blue horse-shoe loves Andicott Steel"

  30. #70
    Forum Member Dangerine49's Avatar
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    Late update:

    Add one more vote for Fender - I have a 2001 MIM Standard that gives me a great classic rock tone with the stock pickups.

    AND...

    Add one more vote for Seymour Duncan - I have a 1993 CIJ '71RI Strat with SD Nashville Studio 5-2's in the neck and middle, and I just swapped the bridge 5-2 with a SD Lil '59. Sounds awesome, and noiseless too.

  31. #71
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    I like Lentz pickups.

  32. #72
    Forum Member bluesfreak68's Avatar
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    Originally posted by BluejazzMalmsteen
    Reference total thus far for preferred Strat pickups:

    Seymour Duncan and many others at 1 vote each.
    If I count it right I see at least 3 Votes for the Haeussel PU´s and since Harry also makes the PU´s for Staufer they are up to at least 4 Votes. :->

    VanZandt, Fralin´s and Kinman´s are to expensive here in Germany ( at Set approx. >300 U$ ) so I´m happy to get PU´s, handwound, with laquerpaper Bobbin and AlNiCo 2 or 5 (your Choice) Magnets, custom staggered for about 200 U$....
    But I will give Fender a Chance and will try out a Set of those 57/62 RI in one of my Strats...

    cu

    bluesfreak :smokin

  33. #73
    bluesfreak....I only counted top picks mention...not the ones where people mentioned other names after their favorite. Which reminds me...I didnt add my fave into the mix yet....Fender '69's!!:) I like them better than the originals..I've had both.
    "Blue horse-shoe loves Andicott Steel"

  34. #74
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    Another Kinman vote (AVn Blues in my Strat and AVn Broadcasters in the Tele...)

  35. #75
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    I've got Kinman AvN Blues in my strat, and I'm delighted with them :)

  36. #76
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    I have Strats with sets of Seymour Duncan APS-1's and Nashville Studios. They're both excellent.

  37. #77
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    Best Pickups

    I didnt see any mention of the "voodos" pickups by Peter Florance.
    Was it an oversight, or does anyone have any comments on these?

  38. #78
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    Originally posted by dhodgeh
    But when I play out with one or the other, I'm all the time getting comments about how great the Strat with the Kinman's sound. People come up and want to paw it, gawk at it and ask questions.D
    When I play out with my Strat I get the same reaction. Other players coming over to me and gawking at the guitar, asking to check it out, wanting to know the story on the guitar. They are usally surprised when I tell them that it's a '97 Fender US Vintage '57 Reissue... Bone Stock.

  39. #79
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    I don't actually own a Strat; but I play one on TV...:tw59

    LOL, JK...

    Actually, I do own an Ernie Ball/Music Man Albert Lee sig. guitar. It has Strat pickups. They're Seymour Duncan APS-2's and they are my favorites. The bridge pickup had a little metal strip under it to help with the Tele tone. It was very nice. I persuaded Evan Skopp, over at Seymour Duncan to send me a copper-plated baseplate from a Twangbanger, their latest Tele-sounding Strat pickup, and now the pickup is ultra fantastic.

    Bottom line - APS-2 (Alnico II Pro Flats) are my favorites.

    Cheers,

  40. #80
    Forum Member badmuddy's Avatar
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    my vote is for the wagner custom rewinds "SR's." jim's managed to combine the chime of life with the woodiness & body of the voodoo's. they're the only set i've heard at this point to manage pulling off both. the guy knows how to wind an awesome single coil; and no noise!


    ml
    "no, no, your all confused. it's not the sun that's goin' down, it's the hori-zon that's movin' up!" - firesign theatre

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