I'm putting together a Strat-clone from some very nice pieces of wood (alder body, maple neck with rosewood fretboard), but I don't know which pickups to choose.
Any recommendations for a classic, ultra-clean and bell-like Strat shimmer?
My guess is that I should go with original Fender vintage style pickups, which are surprisingly reasonably priced. Do the Noiseless versions sound as good?
Would I be better off with Fralin or Duncan or Kinman or some other more costly alternative?
Anybody who has any experience from Stewart-McDonald's Golden Age pickups? They look nice on paper, and their price would be music to my ears...
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´75 Emmons p/p D10 8+4, '96 Emmons Legrande II D10 8+5, ca '72 AWH Custom D10 8+3, Peavey Nashville 1000
Best Strat pickups?
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Per Berner
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This page http://www.harmony-central.com/Guitar/Data2/00man.html
contains reviews of all the different pickps by people who use them.
Many of the reviewers are very young kids who think music was invented by Jimi Hendrix. Even so, one can get a good sense of the quality and charcteristics of the different pickups from reading the various reviews.<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Mike Perlowin on 14 February 2006 at 08:11 AM.]</p></FONT>
contains reviews of all the different pickps by people who use them.
Many of the reviewers are very young kids who think music was invented by Jimi Hendrix. Even so, one can get a good sense of the quality and charcteristics of the different pickups from reading the various reviews.<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Mike Perlowin on 14 February 2006 at 08:11 AM.]</p></FONT>
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Joseph Meditz
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This is a very tough question Per. Back in the 70's I had a great sounding Strat. So years later when I looked for a Strat pickup I sought to duplicate that sound and so bought a Fender "Summer of Love" pickup. The pickup is very responsive and tactile. A little harder pluck and a sound like the meow of a siamese cat comes out of it. I just love this pickup.
As for Fender Noiseless, some people call them Fender Toneless. But this is just from what I read and not direct experience.
I don't see how you could go wrong with the Fender '54 which are advertized as having a bell tone, or Fender '69.
http://www.fender.com/products/search.php?section=accessories&cat=pickups
Joe
As for Fender Noiseless, some people call them Fender Toneless. But this is just from what I read and not direct experience.
I don't see how you could go wrong with the Fender '54 which are advertized as having a bell tone, or Fender '69.
http://www.fender.com/products/search.php?section=accessories&cat=pickups
Joe
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David Mason
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Carlos Santana recorded his biggest hits with a stock 1968 reissue Les Paul. Hendrix favored new, stock '68 and '69 CBS Strats. Mark Knopfler recorded "Sultans of Swing" with a no-name Japanese Strat copy - quite some tone, that. If a pickup claims that it reproduces the "golden tones from the golden years", it most likely does, pretty much.
If you lined up 10 Strats made in the same factory, on the same day, fixed them up with 10 different pickup brands, and plugged them into the same amp with the same cord, smoke would curl from your ears and foam would spew from your mouth before you'd decide anything useful. Once you put some pickups in, you still have to deal with all the rest of the settings, right?
String age, amp settings, density of the fingerboard wood etc. etc. all matter too, there is no "best." I like Bill Lawrence for his no-B.S. approach, but they can't "beat" Kinmans or Duncans or Fenders or...(?) There's a reason the guitar magazines don't do one-on-one comparisons using technical data, oscilloscopes and such - the pickups sold by their advertisers all do about the same thing. There used to be more bad pickups around and certainly some new ones are better than others - Bill Lawrence had a riff about the Stew-Macs knocking off his design on his website - but it'd be hard to go very wrong with any of a dozen or so brands these days. What's the best note?
If you lined up 10 Strats made in the same factory, on the same day, fixed them up with 10 different pickup brands, and plugged them into the same amp with the same cord, smoke would curl from your ears and foam would spew from your mouth before you'd decide anything useful. Once you put some pickups in, you still have to deal with all the rest of the settings, right?
String age, amp settings, density of the fingerboard wood etc. etc. all matter too, there is no "best." I like Bill Lawrence for his no-B.S. approach, but they can't "beat" Kinmans or Duncans or Fenders or...(?) There's a reason the guitar magazines don't do one-on-one comparisons using technical data, oscilloscopes and such - the pickups sold by their advertisers all do about the same thing. There used to be more bad pickups around and certainly some new ones are better than others - Bill Lawrence had a riff about the Stew-Macs knocking off his design on his website - but it'd be hard to go very wrong with any of a dozen or so brands these days. What's the best note?
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Dave Mudgett
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Of course, there's no "correct" answer here. But perhaps my experience with lots of Strat pickups over the years may be of some use. My primary reference point for Strat pickup tone is - as played through a nice old Fender tube amp, especially 60s and early 70s models. If you play through a lot of effects and/or use a modern-design amp, you may prefer something quite different than what I like.
I have owned several sets of Fralin pickups. They were all tremendous. I always ask for the *most traditional* design, which amounts to the least-wound versions. Perhaps it sometimes make sense to have the bridge pickup wound a little hotter, but I usually prefer that all three have the same traditional design. I have A-B'd with some old Strat pickups, they were quite comparable, and sometimes even better. The only concession I make to modernity is to have the middle pickup reverse-wound so that it is hum-cancelling when used with either the neck or bridge pickup.
This may sound strange, but some of my favorite Strat pickups have been the Japanese reissue pickups from the late 80s through mid-90s. Every one I have owned had a nice, silky sound. You'd just have to find a set around - I don't think they were sold as aftermarket pickups. A nice feature is that these have the middle pickup reverse-wound.
I like late-60s and early-70s staggered magnet Strat pickups, and have a set of real '69s. A friend had a set of '69 Fender Reissue pickups put in his Strat - very nice, and interestingly fairly close in sound to my real '69 set. These ones are pretty slinky-sounding - not as much bite as older Strat pickups - but really bell-like, to my ears.
I've played and owned many sets of plain Fender American-Reissue Strat pickups, which I have generally found quite good - fairly neutral sounding and traditional Strat tone. Probably not as sweet, to my ears, as the Fralins, but still good. I think the Texas Specials sound good, but are a bit more midrangey than the traditional Strat pickups. Great through a more midrangey tweed amp, but not my preference for clean blackface-silverface sound.
I've played many Duncan Strat and Tele pickups. They make so many models, it's hard to be specific, but some of them sounded very good to me. Again, I have always preferred the designs that were strictly vintage-oriented.
Three pickups I like that are not traditional are the Lawrence L-280, the Joe Barden, and of course, the Red Rhodes Velvet Hammer. The I had a set of L-280s on a Strat some time back - they sounded very good, and were humbucking. I haven't tried Bill's more modern Strat-style pickup designs. I like Bardens a lot, but I don't think they're so easy to find now. Similarly, the Velvet Hammers are amazing, but very hard to find and expensive now. If you really want the purely traditional "bell-like" tone, these may not be the right choice anyway.
I haven't tried the Kinman or Stew-Mac pickups, so I can't intelligently comment. I don't generally trust pickup reviews, since guitar players tend to have such diverse opinions on what is "good tone" and rarely articulate specifics. You should be wary of anything anybody says about pickups, including me.
There are a lot of brands out there that intend to goose up the output by changing the magnet material or overwinding - to MY ears, most tend not to give the clear, bell-like tone.
I tend also not to care for MOST of the "noiseless" pickups like EMGs, Lace Sensors, and so on. Again, to MY ears, they sound sterile - lack harmonics and "chime" - through, let's say, an old Fender tube amp, but are good to drive a lot of effects. They may also sound better through other amps. I'm pretty much a vintage-Fender sound kinda guy.
I have owned several sets of Fralin pickups. They were all tremendous. I always ask for the *most traditional* design, which amounts to the least-wound versions. Perhaps it sometimes make sense to have the bridge pickup wound a little hotter, but I usually prefer that all three have the same traditional design. I have A-B'd with some old Strat pickups, they were quite comparable, and sometimes even better. The only concession I make to modernity is to have the middle pickup reverse-wound so that it is hum-cancelling when used with either the neck or bridge pickup.
This may sound strange, but some of my favorite Strat pickups have been the Japanese reissue pickups from the late 80s through mid-90s. Every one I have owned had a nice, silky sound. You'd just have to find a set around - I don't think they were sold as aftermarket pickups. A nice feature is that these have the middle pickup reverse-wound.
I like late-60s and early-70s staggered magnet Strat pickups, and have a set of real '69s. A friend had a set of '69 Fender Reissue pickups put in his Strat - very nice, and interestingly fairly close in sound to my real '69 set. These ones are pretty slinky-sounding - not as much bite as older Strat pickups - but really bell-like, to my ears.
I've played and owned many sets of plain Fender American-Reissue Strat pickups, which I have generally found quite good - fairly neutral sounding and traditional Strat tone. Probably not as sweet, to my ears, as the Fralins, but still good. I think the Texas Specials sound good, but are a bit more midrangey than the traditional Strat pickups. Great through a more midrangey tweed amp, but not my preference for clean blackface-silverface sound.
I've played many Duncan Strat and Tele pickups. They make so many models, it's hard to be specific, but some of them sounded very good to me. Again, I have always preferred the designs that were strictly vintage-oriented.
Three pickups I like that are not traditional are the Lawrence L-280, the Joe Barden, and of course, the Red Rhodes Velvet Hammer. The I had a set of L-280s on a Strat some time back - they sounded very good, and were humbucking. I haven't tried Bill's more modern Strat-style pickup designs. I like Bardens a lot, but I don't think they're so easy to find now. Similarly, the Velvet Hammers are amazing, but very hard to find and expensive now. If you really want the purely traditional "bell-like" tone, these may not be the right choice anyway.
I haven't tried the Kinman or Stew-Mac pickups, so I can't intelligently comment. I don't generally trust pickup reviews, since guitar players tend to have such diverse opinions on what is "good tone" and rarely articulate specifics. You should be wary of anything anybody says about pickups, including me.
There are a lot of brands out there that intend to goose up the output by changing the magnet material or overwinding - to MY ears, most tend not to give the clear, bell-like tone.
I tend also not to care for MOST of the "noiseless" pickups like EMGs, Lace Sensors, and so on. Again, to MY ears, they sound sterile - lack harmonics and "chime" - through, let's say, an old Fender tube amp, but are good to drive a lot of effects. They may also sound better through other amps. I'm pretty much a vintage-Fender sound kinda guy.
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Papa Joe Pollick
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Per,I have Fender Noiseless in one Strat and Bill Lawrence blades in another.They both sound OK, but not like stock pups.I kinda like the well balanced,warm tone of the B.L.s..If I wanted to use a Strat for trad. CW, I would use old stock pups,but I got a TELE..so there.Depends on what your after sound-wise..Good luck. PJ
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Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body,but rather to skid in broadside,thoroughly used up,totally worn out,and loudly proclaiming:"WOW,what a ride!"
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Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body,but rather to skid in broadside,thoroughly used up,totally worn out,and loudly proclaiming:"WOW,what a ride!"
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Jim Peters
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Webb Kline
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My neighbor has lace sensors in his Strat and it is the most inspiring Strat I've ever played. The neck may have something to do with it; I'm not sure. But, I love that guitar. It's one of those disgusting 80's axes with the lockdown nut. But, I simply can't play badly on it. I never liked lace sensors until I played that guitar.
I guess the best thing to do is go with your gut feeling. If it doesn't sound right to you, somebody on here or Ebay will taked them off your hands and you can keep switching until it works for you.
Another friend has a stock older issue Japanese Squire and that is a great playing and sounding guitar too.
I guess the best thing to do is go with your gut feeling. If it doesn't sound right to you, somebody on here or Ebay will taked them off your hands and you can keep switching until it works for you.
Another friend has a stock older issue Japanese Squire and that is a great playing and sounding guitar too.
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Mark Metdker
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http://www.vanzandtpu.com/
I've been using these for years. This guy rewound tele and strat pickups for years here in Dallas, then came out with his own line of stuff. Everything I've tried of his has been high quality. I have an old strat with his "Rock" pickups in them right now. Sounds great!
I've been using these for years. This guy rewound tele and strat pickups for years here in Dallas, then came out with his own line of stuff. Everything I've tried of his has been high quality. I have an old strat with his "Rock" pickups in them right now. Sounds great!
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Rich Young
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David Mason
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Did Stevie Ray really put new, highly-marketed Fender "Texas Special" pickups in his 1958 Strat (for some reason?), or is Fender marketing a set of pickups which they claim duplicate the tone of his guitar's original pickups? In reading interviews, I've noticed that people like Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton and Eric Johnson* endorse signature models that "faithfully" reproduce their favorite old guitars, but they tend to get the one or two prototype custom guitars and stick with them, and/or just keep playing the old ones. Once you get the pickups, then you can start exploring the capacities.
*(& Jimmy Page & Steve Perry & Dave Navarro & on & on - even dead guys like Hendrix and Cobain are pimping stuff, roll over Beethoven)
I think it would be very instructive to take ten identical Strats with different pickups, one player, one amp, then line up ten "pickup experts" with blindfolds on and play "name the pickup." I really doubt even Greg Kinman or Seymour Duncan or Larry DiMarzio could name ten pickup brands by the sound, even their own. The obvious thing would be to evaluate them with oscilloscopes and technical frequency analysis, but no pickup manufacturer seem in any rush to volunteer their products for this - their advertisements and endorsements must be working well enough as it is? People keep buying them, that's for sure. I know people with shoeboxes full of pickups, and their guitars still don't sound right - put one in, go brrrang, diddly, brrrang, diddly, stare at the amp, put another one in, go brrrang, diddly, brrrang, diddly, stare at the amp.... You just gotta hope these manufacturers get it together, soon....
*(& Jimmy Page & Steve Perry & Dave Navarro & on & on - even dead guys like Hendrix and Cobain are pimping stuff, roll over Beethoven)
I think it would be very instructive to take ten identical Strats with different pickups, one player, one amp, then line up ten "pickup experts" with blindfolds on and play "name the pickup." I really doubt even Greg Kinman or Seymour Duncan or Larry DiMarzio could name ten pickup brands by the sound, even their own. The obvious thing would be to evaluate them with oscilloscopes and technical frequency analysis, but no pickup manufacturer seem in any rush to volunteer their products for this - their advertisements and endorsements must be working well enough as it is? People keep buying them, that's for sure. I know people with shoeboxes full of pickups, and their guitars still don't sound right - put one in, go brrrang, diddly, brrrang, diddly, stare at the amp, put another one in, go brrrang, diddly, brrrang, diddly, stare at the amp.... You just gotta hope these manufacturers get it together, soon....
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Tony Prior
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I always carry an oscilloscope and frequency analyzer with me on all the gigs..and at least 9 or the 10 mentioned PUPS above...hopefully I find the right PUP and install it before the gig ends... 
This is kinda like asking what String is best..who gets the longest life on the 3rd string..
Please lets not go there !
The first and foremost consideration is your own ear..what exactly do you want to hear?
String gauges, picking style, amp, speakers..type of music, volume, effects..it all comes in to play.
Me, I'm a full in your face twanger, so vintage or stock PUPS are my choice..been down the Texas Special road, Noiseless road, Lace Sensor road..but always came home by the stock or vintage road...
My Strats and Tele's are stock with the exception of 1 Tele' , which has Noisless on it for specific gigs...
The bad part about this PUP hunt is that unless you can do a side by side comparison they all cost $100 a set or more..and you may not like what you get...then say hello to EBAY...
Friends come by and say Hey, I love the sound of your rig..then they play with my gear and say..How come I can't get that same sound ?
Lets not forget that the player is an equal if not MORE equal part to anyones overall tone...regardless of the PUP's used..
there's one of us , maybe two, in every crowd...we have a bag full of Monkey wrenches just to throw in the mix...
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TPrior
<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Tony Prior on 17 February 2006 at 04:26 AM.]</p></FONT>
This is kinda like asking what String is best..who gets the longest life on the 3rd string..
Please lets not go there !
The first and foremost consideration is your own ear..what exactly do you want to hear?
String gauges, picking style, amp, speakers..type of music, volume, effects..it all comes in to play.
Me, I'm a full in your face twanger, so vintage or stock PUPS are my choice..been down the Texas Special road, Noiseless road, Lace Sensor road..but always came home by the stock or vintage road...
My Strats and Tele's are stock with the exception of 1 Tele' , which has Noisless on it for specific gigs...
The bad part about this PUP hunt is that unless you can do a side by side comparison they all cost $100 a set or more..and you may not like what you get...then say hello to EBAY...
Friends come by and say Hey, I love the sound of your rig..then they play with my gear and say..How come I can't get that same sound ?
Lets not forget that the player is an equal if not MORE equal part to anyones overall tone...regardless of the PUP's used..
there's one of us , maybe two, in every crowd...we have a bag full of Monkey wrenches just to throw in the mix...
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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size="3">------------------
TPrior
<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Tony Prior on 17 February 2006 at 04:26 AM.]</p></FONT>
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Marlin Smoot
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I also have a Van Zant in my old Tele. I got it from Mr. Van Zant at his house in Garland, Texas in the early 90's.
He had a nice little "shack" in his back yard where he would wind pickups. He selected a bridge pickup for me. Truly a first class gentleman.
It was the first pickup in a Tele I ever owned that would not squeel at higher volumes. You could put the tele in front of the amp "wide open" and it would not squeel. Amazing.
I still have that pickup in the old Tele and it still sounds amazing. Since Mr. Van Zant passed away, I do not know of their quality but I understand "family" was running the business. I lot of players around Dallas at the time were speaking volumes of his work.
The Kinman is a great pickup that I choose to use in my "player" tele. It sounds great and works really well with overdrive pedals and gets an amazing clean sound too.
Good luck in the quest for tone!
He had a nice little "shack" in his back yard where he would wind pickups. He selected a bridge pickup for me. Truly a first class gentleman.
It was the first pickup in a Tele I ever owned that would not squeel at higher volumes. You could put the tele in front of the amp "wide open" and it would not squeel. Amazing.
I still have that pickup in the old Tele and it still sounds amazing. Since Mr. Van Zant passed away, I do not know of their quality but I understand "family" was running the business. I lot of players around Dallas at the time were speaking volumes of his work.
The Kinman is a great pickup that I choose to use in my "player" tele. It sounds great and works really well with overdrive pedals and gets an amazing clean sound too.
Good luck in the quest for tone!
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Rick McDuffie
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Mark Metdker
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Marlin, you are right about W.L. Van Zandt. He was a first class guy. We sure miss him down here. He created quite a following here in the Texas area. As far as I know, the Van Zandt pickups sound as good as they ever did. The only other strat style guitar that can rival the VanZandt sound is my G&L S-500.
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Les Pierce
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I used the Seymour Duncan Vintage strat pickups with the staggered pole pieces. I think they sound the same as the original early '60s pickups, (I have the origial bridge, with the middle and neck being replacements), and look origial, also. They may be part of the Antiquity stuff they sell, now.
Les
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Strat,Tele
Dekley S-10
Les
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Strat,Tele
Dekley S-10
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Geoff Brown
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