Strat lover pickup question

Sutton Reid · Post by **Sutton Reid** » 6 Oct 2000 1:37 pm

I've finally come to the conclusion that the best tone extracted out of a Strat is with "vintage" style pickups. There are gillians of makes and models, for dirt cheap and an arm and a leg.

I keep hearing good things about Bill Lawrence pickups. What do you think? Course I keep hearing good things about Bill, too.

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Why fret? Just let it slide...

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 6 Oct 2000 4:43 pm

I have a friend that has the Blue Lace Sensors on his Strat. Killer tone.

ajm · Post by **ajm** » 7 Oct 2000 8:01 am

Everyone in the "regular" guitar world seems to lean towards Seymour Duncan. He makes a zillion different models and would probably be a good person to talk to. DiMarzio also makes several strat pickups that have gotten good reviews. I knew a guy several years ago that had a set of Bill Lawrence pickups in his strat and he really liked them. Guitar Player magazine had a "shoot-out" of pickups a few years back and liked almost all of them, but if I remember right they REALLY liked the Rio Grandes and the Lindy Fralins. You might try looking at the reviews on the Harmony Central website.

I guess I haven't really been much help, have I?

If you ask a hundred different people you'll probably get two hundred different opinions on this subject. Let us know what you decide.

Jude James Shiels · Post by **Jude James Shiels** » 7 Oct 2000 9:19 am

A fellow called Kent Armstrong in Wales makes great Strat pickups, they are reasonably priced too. I believe he has a website but I couldn't find it when I searched, but there are plenty of favourable reviews online. He is a real quick shipper too.

From my experience Seymour Duncans and Di Marzio's are lacking real natural tone when plugged straight into an amp. They are way overpriced and seem to be aimed at effects rack afficionadoes.

Olli Haavisto · Post by **Olli Haavisto** » 7 Oct 2000 11:52 am

I have a Rio Grande lead pick up on my Tele and if the Strat models are as good they`re really great.I remember the Guitar Player test and the Rio Grandes did really well.Thet are not expensive either;a strat set from Elderly is about 140 if I`m not mistaken.

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Olli Haavisto
Polar steeler
Finland

Sutton Reid · Post by **Sutton Reid** » 7 Oct 2000 12:44 pm

Many thanks to all of you.

I've got VanZandts blues models in the neck and bridge and I think what must be a Semour Duncan in the middle. I played a little last night and you know, they aren't half bad <grin>. I guess when it comes to the real pretty tone, I'm probably better than 80% of the way there. There is a guy not too far from here, Torres Engineering that sells both the Fralin and the Rio Grandes, so at least maybe I can play a guitar of each if he has any set up. Hey! I was born in Texas, so I probably should get pickups from there, right? And everyone knows that the pickups that come from Texas are bigger...

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Why fret, when you can let it slide...

erik · Post by **erik** » 7 Oct 2000 2:42 pm

Replace them all with stacked humbuckers! Now that would be different.

RJP · Post by **RJP** » 9 Oct 2000 7:55 am

There's an Australian company called Kinman that apparently makes a really good pickup. It was so good that DiMArzio sued them under some really phony claims just to keep them out of the US. Kinman didn't have the bucks for legal fees here and just gave in. If you go to the website [url=http://www.kinman.com,]www.kinman.com,[/url] you can read up on them.

I also used the Fender Custom Shop '54 pickups in one of my Strats and they were quite smooth.

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Ron Plichta

MSA Classic S-10
Fender Stratocaster
Fender Telecaster
Paul Reed Smith CE24
Rivera R100