strat pups

[heymoe]

Hey guys ..Picked up an 02 mim strat,And iam lookin to swap out the pups..I was concidering the ..vintage noiseless or the tex mex..pups .. any opinions or expirence with these pups apreciated..Also Is there any other mods that this 02 mim strat would benefit from..This is also gonna be the guitar i start trying to do all my own work on..set ups,etc...any good sites for info re "how to" apreciated thanks and sorry for the long post..................

[Don]

My recommendation is to buy used pickups, try them, then flip them if you don't like them. This way, you can try a bunch of different pickups without spending much money.

I don't recommend going with noiseless pickups and/or adding shielding unless you need to (or unless you find a set of noiseless pickups that you love for their tone).

As far as other mods, the MIM Strat is usually a pretty solid guitar. The electronics should be fine other than trying different cap values and wiring schemes.

A popular mod is to replace the die cast zinc trem block with a steel one.

[Offshore Angler]

VN's generally require a full rewire to work right. New pots, might as well change the switch, etc.

I have one Strat with VN's, sounds quite nice. Not totally traditional Strat sound but nice nonetheless.

Tex Mex are nothing like VN's. I guess the question is what are you looking for that you feel you are missing?

[refin]

Don't know much about the newer VNs,but I have two sets from the early years,and they sound really good to me.If you can try a set of the old ones,you can go from there.
Here are 2 jam tracks with the VN---
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page...songID=8400946
A little nastier---
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page...songID=5964734

[cdw2000]

I had a MIM that I put VN's in and did not like the sound at all. I prefer the SCN's for noiseless types. I haven't tried the latest Fender Noiseless - they're supposed to be an improvement on the SCN's.

+1 on replacing the trem block. Callaham makes a really nice steel one. Also GFS has steel (or brass) trem blocks that are quite a bit cheaper than the Callahams (I have not tried the GFS blocks).

IIRC, the MIMs don't have the Bridge pickup wired to the tone control, so for a wiring change, the switch can be configured to have the neck pickup on one tone control and the bridge and middle pickups both on the other tone control. It will reduce the brightness of the bridge pickup slightly, so if that bothers you, a Fender "no-load" or "Delta-tone" pot can be installed.

There are other wiring schemes as well like the blender pot that several folks on this forum seem to like, so experiment away.

Guitarelectronics.com has several wiring diagrams:

http://www.guitarelectronics.com/cat...ring_diagrams/

Fender has some good how-to's for setups etc:

http://www.fender.com/support/articl...er-setup-guide

[thegeezer]

I found that the Rio Grande Tall Boys give a clearer signal which sounds great clean or over driven.

[heymoe]

Thanks everyone for ya replies..Iam goin the callaham route..replaceing the whole bridge assembley and looking for a loaded pick gaurd,,perhaps one with texas specials... looking at putting close to 400 into a 300 guitar Thank you all for ya input....

[deepblue1963]

I am thrilled with my Lollar Blackface pups. They really fit the bill for vintage single coil tones.

[jedson01]

I went the DiMarzio Area series route on my MIM and have been very happy with the 2/4 quack and the noiselessness of the 1/3/5 positions.

[JKjunior]

Hey guys ..Picked up an 02 mim strat,And iam lookin to swap out the pups..I was concidering the ..vintage noiseless or the tex mex..pups .. any opinions or expirence with these pups apreciated..Also Is there any other mods that this 02 mim strat would benefit from..This is also gonna be the guitar i start trying to do all my own work on..set ups,etc...any good sites for info re "how to" apreciated thanks and sorry for the long post..................

Heymoe! How's your strat coming along?

[buckaroo]

My buddy has VN pickups in three different american made Fender strats. IMHO, While they do they sound like single coil pickups..... they do NOT sound like strat pickups.

Note: I am not saying they sound good or bad. I am saying they don't sound like a strat to my ears. YMMV

[photoweborama]

I'd get one of the GFS offerings myself.

[chuckocaster]

I REALLY like the Yngwie pups from DiMarzio! They are noiseless and truly sound "vintagey". I never hear of anyone else using them, and that's a shame. They are not "hot" at all, the same output as vintage type pups. And don't let the DC resistance fool you either, they're nice and bright!!! Next time I have a Strat I'm gonna use them in it since they are so organic sounding.

[mmcquain]

I have swapped out the stock pickups in a few different MIM Strats over the years and have had good luck with both the VN and the SCN pickups. Of course, I only play a Strat in positions 2 or 4 (for that chimey, Strat quack ala Sultans of Swing, etc.). Otherwise, I'm a Gibson guy for the most part. I absolutely hate traditional single coil noise so I've had no issues with the noiseless Strat pickups and prefer them over anything that may have noise problems. Anyway, IMO the noiseless are the only way to go... but like Don said, buy used and try them and then flip 'em if you don't like 'em.

Here's what the SCN pickups sound like in a Strat. Please ignore the overall poor mix, etc. of the recording... it was done with a Zoom H2 sitting in front of my amp in the orchestra pit when I played The Wizard of Oz show a couple years ago. So it mainly gets my guitar and what I had coming out of my monitor mix (mostly piano and some bass) and there is bleed over from the drummer. The sound guy didn't have the vocals in my monitor (a screw up on his part) this particular evening so the vocal you hear is actually bleed from the FOH mix. I just happened to record this night to get a reference recording for some cues I was working on... but it does give an idea of the sound of the SCN pickups in action (I think this is pos. 4 on the Strat if I remember correctly).

http://mcquain.com/lespaul/plays/Som...TheRainbow.mp3

[DanD]

If noiseless is what you crave try a set of Barden's. After trying DiMarzio Area pups (good just not that quacky) , Lace Sensors (sterile) and SCNs (ok but not as good as the DiMarzios) I found the Barden's and understand why they are as costly as they are.

If a vintage voice is what you'd like and a little noise is ok ask Jim Rolphs to wiind you a set. After going through countless pups these two sets are head and shoulders above the competition, IMO.

[buckaroo]

I have played a few strats in a local music store that have Lollar Blackface staggered pickups. My memory is they were RWRP. They sounded very god and they sounded like a strat should sound. They were on strats with Rosewood boards. Every guitar (wood) sounds different but there was a consistency to the sound that I think represented the pups. Nice vintage strat sound.

[Gravity Jim]

... they sounded like a strat should sound.

Whatever that might be.

[bluespckr]

If you're going to go the prewired "loaded" route, give Acme Guitar Works a try. They'll be in the ballpark for what you look to be spending on the upgrades. I recently ordered a pre-wired PG from them with Lindy Fralin Vintage Hots for an American Standard Strat. Recieved it about a week after I ordered (Florida to New Hampshire). They also sell Callaham parts so it's like one-stop-shopping. I would receommend the solderless option. It made installing and connecting things super easy! They have several wiring, grounding and pickup options, as well. Check them out ...

As far as what PUPs to get for a MIM Strat, wow. You will get as many suggestions as you get responses, so a lot depends on what you are shooting for. I had a MIM Robert Cray years ago and thought those pickups were exceptional. They are a special design for that guitar only, but sounded great. You might find a set of them on FleaBay. Among the other stock Fender PUPs, I didn't think the TexMex pickups were that bad. They might not be everybody's cup of tea, but I liked them. The stock Fenbder Alnico V PUPs that came with my American Standard are very good as well. Granted, I replaced the works with Fralins, but you know what? I droped the Fender assembly into a Carvin guitar I built from a kit and, man, does it sound sweet. Two guitars upgraded for the price of one. Can't beat it.

Paul