New Pickups for my Fender Stratocaster

[pisces7378]

I have a Fender Strat that was bought around 1984-85 and I am trying to fix it up after several years or sitting up and rusting.

I like the way it sounds now, even though it is rusty, it still sounds descent. But I have fallen in love with the full Earthiness of my Gibson ES-335. And all Gibson guitars for that matter seem to have this thickness that Fender Guitars don't have. Don't get me wrong... a good Fender is just as good to me as the best Gibson. They are just different and for different things and styles of songs. Well I play sort of Indi-rock mixed with vintage stuff like Dylan, The Band, Neil Young and Crazy Hourse. So I really need to have both sounds.
I already have an ES-335 and Les Paul, and I have a Telecaster and a bunch of Acoustics. But I want to beef up the sound on this old Strat. It was made in Japan which may say "Awwww" to most, but to me it is great. I bought a Japocaster on purpose because I like the neck and fret wires from those mid 80's Jap Strats. But the 3 single-coils are noisey, and well, they sound good but not GREAT! I want to somehow keep the classic strocaster crispness but have some thickness more like a Gibson. I can't really discribe what I am talking about.

I guess basically I want to ask... how are these new Noiseless pickups from Fender. I have heard so much mixed stuff about them. I am looking for sustain. I guess... If Eric Clapton wants them in his signature guitar then they can't suck. But I am not a constant solo-ing kind of guy. I am more into rhythm and riffs. I would compare myself more to Pete Townsend than Clapton or Page. But ocassionally I do rip off a chink here and there. Anyway... to anyone knowledgable out there... if you have a Strat that you wanted to re-outfit with pickups that will thinken up and beef up your sound without loosing the Strat Sound... which pickups would you get?

 

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Clapton doesn't really care what the pickups in his guitars are. He uses what they put in them. It really doesn't matter what he plays. It always sounds like him.

I personally hate the Noiseless pickups. They just sound flat to me. Myself, I would go with either Joe Bardens or Seymour Duncan Hot Rails. The Duncans are a little more the sound I would guess you are after. They still sound like a Strat, but they have a little more of the thickness and chunkiness for a Gibson. The Barden's are brighter, and usually a little more country like. However, I like the Barden's a little more. The major advantage to them both, however, is that, because they are humbuckers, they are immune to the noise you get with a single coil pickup.


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"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

 

[pennylink]

http://www.kinman.com/html/myProducts/strats.htm

I've had a Kinman AVn Blues set for over a year now, and couldn't be happier with them. They're definitely a little hotter than stock Fender pickups, yet still retain the trademark Strat sound. They're also totally noiseless, without compromise to sound quality, unlike the Lace Sensors.

Kinman makes several Strat replacement pickups, so I would visit the website, which is full of interesting information anyway if you're a Strat lover. AVn-Woodstock Regular are also worth a look, if you like the late 60's Jimi-type of Strat sound (but without the 60 cycle hum).

Although these aren't inexpensive pickups, I think they're worth every penny. Before I got these I tried Seymour Duncan Classic Stacks, but although they solved the noise issue, I found the sound quality wasn't up to par. I think DiMarzio Virtual Vintage would fall in that same category.