Guitar Fetish Strat Pickups

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WhiteStrat

WhiteStrat

Don't stare at the eye.
I'm looking at prewired pickguards for my Strat, and Guitar fetish seems to have a good assortment. I'm looking at their more expensive hand wired models--not the cheapies. You can order them with most of their Strat pickups.

Anybody have any experience with any of them?

Thanks!
 
GFS P-ups are very good P-ups, I have used the single coils, the Humbuckers and the MM bass pups however I have never bought a loaded pickguard from them before.
 
If your looking at high end strat pickups, just go with Lindy Fralins. He makes the best Strat pickups on the market, hands down. Actually, he just makes some of the best pickups on the market, period. Humbuckers, single coils, whatever; they are spectacular. And I'd be very surprised if they weren't comparable, price wise, to anything you can find which is of equal quality.



Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
I had to replace the coils on a vintage strat and the closest to the original sound I got were with the Custom Shop Fat 50s. The FAT 50s have rich detail, smooth glassy highs and deep balanced lows. You might also want to check out some of Jason Lollar's custom pickups. Fralins are also musical, particularly the Vintage Hots.
 
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do yourself a favor, and get some bill lawrence keystones, or 280's
 
I have a GF Xaviere XV-850 Strat copy that is equipped with the GFS Texas Stagger set. It's a damned-good sounding set of pickups.
 
Light said:
If your looking at high end strat pickups, just go with Lindy Fralins. He makes the best Strat pickups on the market, hands down. Actually, he just makes some of the best pickups on the market, period. Humbuckers, single coils, whatever; they are spectacular. And I'd be very surprised if they weren't comparable, price wise, to anything you can find which is of equal quality.



Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
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I think Fender Custom shop 54s and Fat 50s are some of the nicest sounding single coils on the market. Jason Lollar, who's also a luthier, also makes some incredible sounding pickups, along with Bill Lawrence. Don't get me wrong, Fralin makes some terrific pickups, but to claim them as being the best hands down is simply unrealistic.
 
yep, i've got a 500L in the bridge of a strat, and L-280's in the neck and middle...

i've been able to a/b them against the Lollars, Kinmans, and most recently, the Fender SCN's...

still like the lawrences better.

everybody's different, and that's cool, but don't check the price of the lawrences against the kinmans, fralins and the like, with a mouth full of food.
 
GONZO-X said:
...but don't check the price of the lawrences against the kinmans, fralins and the like, with a mouth full of food.
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I already have--and I wasn't eating at the time. :D

I've found his site, but it's not well organized--where does one buy the pickups?

EDIT: Never mind--I found 'em. Thanks.
 
sound125 said:
I think Fender Custom shop 54s and Fat 50s are some of the nicest sounding single coils on the market. Jason Lollar, who's also a luthier, also makes some incredible sounding pickups, along with Bill Lawrence. Don't get me wrong, Fralin makes some terrific pickups, but to claim them as being the best hands down is simply unrealistic.
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Fender's pickups suck ass. I've never seen a single pickup out of them that came close to being a good pickup, though my shop manager likes the Gold Lace Sensors (which I can't stand). Bill Lawrence's stuff has always been pretty mediocre, to my ears. They just don't have the character of a really great pickup. Jason Lolar makes exceptional pickups (the only one you mentioned whose stuff I would put on par with what Lindy does), and I love his P-90s, but for Strat pickups I've got to go with Lindy's stuff. There are others in that league, like Joe Barden, or Bartolini, but they do different stuff. They aren't even trying to make a vintage style pickup (which is a good thing, because just sticking to what you know is boring and stupid).


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
Light said:
Fender's pickups suck ass.
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Perhaps, you can elaborate on the process Fralin uses that makes his strat pickups, "the best", which you claim.

Does he use machines to wind his coils?

Does he use the same formvar wire available to other pickup makers?

Does he use the same AlNiCo magnets available to other pickup makers?

Does the gauss or magnetic properties of his magnets differ substantially from those used by other pickup makers?

Does he use the same wax material used in the potting process available to other pickup makers?

Does he use the same fiber bobbins and vintage cloth insulation material available to other pickup makers? (I think Lollar makes his own bobbins).

Does he use the same number of windings which are based on Fender's vintage strats and teles from the 1950's and 1960's? Or did Fralin set the standard for this?

What specifically makes Fralin's machine wound coils and process "the best", when compared to Fender, Lollar, Lawrence, Duncan, Dimarzio and Bartolini pickups?
 
The attached pic is of a vintage 1960s refinished strat with a newer Tex Mex neck finished in nitro (the original rosewood fretboard can't take another refret). I upgraded the bridge, p/g and knobs. I intitially replaced the middle coil, but have since replaced all of the coils with CS FAT 50s, since it sounds almost identical to the originals, minus the lower output and impedance of the originals, which were all below 5.4k

While I plan on eventually rewinding the original coils and having the magnets recharged, the FAT 50s are all keepers. Interestingly, the Tex Mex maple neck has a C neck profile that is almost identical to the original rosewood neck.

If someone knows how I could load up mp3s on this forum, I'll put up a sample.
 

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sound125 said:
The attached pic is of a vintage 1960s refinished strat with a newer Tex Mex neck finished in nitro (the original rosewood fretboard can't take another refret). I upgraded the bridge, p/g and knobs. I intitially replaced the middle coil, but have since replaced all of the coils with CS FAT 50s, since it sounds almost identical to the originals, minus the lower output and impedance of the originals, which were all below 5.4k

While I plan on eventually rewinding the original coils and having the magnets recharged, the FAT 50s are all keepers. Interestingly, the Tex Mex maple neck has a C neck profile that is almost identical to the original rosewood neck.

If someone knows how I could load up mp3s on this forum, I'll put up a sample.
Click to expand...

That looks exactly my Strat (thus my moniker "WhiteStrat"). Looks like I've stirred some passions on the pickup issue. And I made my choice about an hour ago.

I'll post some opinions and samples after I get 'em in and rewire the guitar.
 
sound125 said:
It's actually a blond/cream refinish.
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Yeah the REALLY white ones are called Olympic White. I think mine was called Arctic White--but it's really about the color of egg nog. (Which makes no sense--doesn't arctic white suggest snow--white as white can be??)

Besides, "YellowedAntiqueWhitishCreamStrat" was just too long for a username. :D
 
sound125 said:
Perhaps, you can elaborate on the process Fralin uses that makes his strat pickups, "the best", which you claim.

Does he use machines to wind his coils?

Does he use the same formvar wire available to other pickup makers?

Does he use the same AlNiCo magnets available to other pickup makers?

Does the gauss or magnetic properties of his magnets differ substantially from those used by other pickup makers?

Does he use the same wax material used in the potting process available to other pickup makers?

Does he use the same fiber bobbins and vintage cloth insulation material available to other pickup makers? (I think Lollar makes his own bobbins).

Does he use the same number of windings which are based on Fender's vintage strats and teles from the 1950's and 1960's? Or did Fralin set the standard for this?

What specifically makes Fralin's machine wound coils and process "the best", when compared to Fender, Lollar, Lawrence, Duncan, Dimarzio and Bartolini pickups?
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I build guitars, not pickups. I don't know shit about making pickups (well, that's not entirely true, but all I know is basic theory, I've never wound one myself - why, when their are so many people out there who can do it so much better than I can, and my interest is building guitars).

Here's my test. I've put pickups in hundreds of guitars (at the very least). I've listened to them. I've decided which ones I think accomplish the objective of that pickup (i.e., is it supposed to be a true vintage recreation? Or maybe a high gain crush fest? How does it sound compared to other pickups of similar type? Oh, and how did my customer react to it after playing it for a while? In particular, how did my professional customers react - the guys who play their guitars for hours everyday in real world gigging situations?) And though it may be overkill to say Fender pickups suck, they are NEVER as good as the competition. So why bother? Get the good stuff. It goes without saying, this being the internet, that what I'm stating are my OBJECTIVE OPINIONS, and I have no doubt in my mind that Lindy makes the best sounding strat pickups I've heard, and in a variety of styles (though he doesn't make any really supper high output single coils, but if high output is what you want you should really probably be thinking about a humbucker anyway). His workmanship is WAY better than Fenders (I've never seen a bad pickup from Lindy, and even though I've seen far fewer of his pickups, the percentage of junkers from Fender is way out of proportion). You hold his pickups in your hand, and you can feel that they are quality parts. Hell, even the springs and screws he sends out with his pickups are better than you see from Fender. His stuff is high end boutique stuff. Now, if you like Jason's stuff more, that's cool. You are welcome to your opinion. Just like I'm welcome to mine.

In my book, if you want a high end set of Strat pickups, Lindy Fralin is the best, hands down. And I can just about guaranty I've heard more pickups than the vast majority of people on this board. It is, after all, my job.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
and for bang for the buck, the lawrences still cannot be beat.

and i've a/b'd them directly against the fralins, different sounding, but is one better than the other?
not to my ears.
they both sounded good.
 
Light said:
His workmanship is WAY better than Fenders (I've never seen a bad pickup from Lindy, and even though I've seen far fewer of his pickups, the percentage of junkers from Fender is way out of proportion). You hold his pickups in your hand, and you can feel that they are quality parts.
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Can you please expound and describe this "workmanship" in detail. My understanding is that Fender is using some very advanced pickup winding machines, which come close to duplicating the tension of the early vintage coils, which many of us guitarists have come to cherish over the years. The materials used in their Custom Shop pickups have virtually the same specs as some of the originals, right down to the windings, formvar wire, and AlNiCo polar pieces. Realistically, other pickup makers also have access to these high quality materials, including Fralin.

Hell, even the springs and screws he sends out with his pickups are better than you see from Fender.
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Not likely since Lindy uses surgical tubing (not springs) to mount his strat coils. See: http://cgi.ebay.com/STRATOCASTER-PI...ryZ22670QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
His stuff is high end boutique stuff.
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Likewise, so are the products being made from other pickup makers like Lollar, Lawrence, Duncan, Bartolini, Kinman, including the custom shop pickups made by Fender.

And I can just about guaranty I've heard more pickups than the vast majority of people on this board. It is, after all, my job.
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It's amazing that someone with your level of experience wouldn't even know that Fralin uses surgical tubing to mount his strat coils on pickguards, which goes back to vintage Fender guitars. If you have any factual premise why Fralin makes "the best" strat coils and why his workmanship and materials are "way better", I would like to hear it?
 
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