New pickups for 2 guitars. (tele & strat)

  • Thread starter Thread starter elenore19
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elenore19

elenore19

Slowing becoming un-noob.
Hey everyone. I'm getting ready to spend some money this summer. One of the things I want to do is to get some new pickups.
I have a Reverend buckshot (tele bridge pickup, mini humbucker neck pickup) and a standard strat copy. The brand is a lotus. Looks identical to a strat in terms of pickups...


Here's what I'm looking for...
I want to replace all the :strat"'s pickups. And just the bridge pickup on my "tele".

I'd prefer to have some "noiseless" pickups. But clarity is a big deal to me. I'd say blues and rock take up most of my playing with some good amounts of gain. But clean is huge as well for me.

Any suggestions? I was looking at lace sensor for both of them, especially the "strat".

Budget...under $200 for all of the "strat" pickups, and preferable under $80 for the "tele" pickup.

EDIT!:I'm also looking for new electronics for the "strat" any suggestions for pots and switch?
 
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apl said:
Oh, and getting a Strat quiet can be accomplished with copper tape.
Click to expand...

My EC Strat has 3 Gold Lace Sensors and it has a ton of noise in my Marshall JCM900. If you stand just the right distance away it's okay though, but up close it's noticeable.
 
apl said:
I put these on Lt Bob's apl CUSTOM Guitars guitar, and he really likes them.
Click to expand...
What are they like?
I'll definitely look into them. Great price.
apl said:
Oh, and getting a Strat quiet can be accomplished with copper tape.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I've tried shielding with heavy duty tinfoil (read that that worked fine) but it didn't really help at all. It helped barely, but nothing that was worth the 2 hours of me fiddling around getting it right.
ido1957 said:
My EC Strat has 3 Gold Lace Sensors and it has a ton of noise in my Marshall JCM900. If you stand just the right distance away it's okay though, but up close it's noticeable.
Click to expand...
Dang. The lace sensors are supposed to be low noise. Well, the gold ones are the hot high output ones, right? So maybe that's why...hm.


Thanks for the suggestions so far!

-Elliot
 
apl said:
I put these on Lt Bob's apl CUSTOM Guitars guitar, and he really likes them.
Click to expand...

Those are nice pickups. I've liked all of the GFS single-coils I've tried. For noiseless, the NeoVins might be worth a whirl. I've only heard clips (try Youtube), but they seem like Serious Business.

For the tele, you could try a fatbody, but for really high gain stuff, I'd look to their Lil Puncher rail humbucker.
 
Are you looking for a humbucker in your Tele Bridge? I've installed the DiMarzio Chopper-T in 2 of my Teles and really like the sound, it's full in both single coil and humbucking modes-I have a push/pull in the tone control to keep it looking stock.
As for pots and switches, get the quality CTS type from All-Parts, stay away from the rectangular switches that come with lots of the import guitars-those switches will not last long at all.
I also love a 4 way switch with the Tele, in my Teles it will give you a series and a parallel sound, the extra sound will give the Tele a sound similar to a Gibson SG that is kickass!!!
Go to DiMarzio/Tele/Hum-Cancelling/Chopper-T-for some reason it won't link directly.
http://www.dimarzio.com/site/#/pickups/strat/chopper/

Here is a quality switch-will last a long time!!:D
http://cgi.ebay.com/FENDER-TELECAST...0|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318|301:1|293:1|294:50

Here is the low quality switch....
 

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My favorite noiseless strat pickups right now are Seymour Duncan's Classic Strat Stack Plus pickups. Killer pickups (I can't seem to put down the Strat I put them in last year). If you bought them in my shop, they would run you $255 (plus tax, of course). You could likely find them cheaper, but I'd like to encourage you to spend your money at a local retailer. With a good one, you will get better service than you will ever find on the Internet, and you will help keep your local business in business.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
elenore19 said:
What are they like?
I'll definitely look into them. Great price.
Click to expand...

Here's what they're like in Blackie, Lt. Bob's guitar. I tried searching from his review, but I can't find it. I'd say it sounds a lot like a Strat is supposed to sound.

To check if your shielding is installed properly ground one end of an ohm meter and poke around the shielding with the other end. The resistance should be low, say <3 ohms between any point on the shielding and ground. One nice thing about using copper is if you have two pieces that aren't well connected because of adhesive and stuff you can connect them with a spot of solder.
 
apl said:
I put these on Lt Bob's apl CUSTOM Guitars guitar, and he really likes them.
Click to expand...
Ya these are really nice pickups
The GF neovins are also good pickups
apl said:
Oh, and getting a Strat quiet can be accomplished with copper tape.
Click to expand...
another good way to make a Faraday cage is to use heavy gauge aluminum foil

I am in the process of making a pictorial on how to do this procedure I should have it up soon.
 
elenore19 said:
What are they like?
I'll definitely look into them. Great price.

Yeah, I've tried shielding with heavy duty tinfoil (read that that worked fine) but it didn't really help at all. It helped barely, but nothing that was worth the 2 hours of me fiddling around getting it right.

Thanks for the suggestions so far!

-Elliot
Click to expand...

I'm a complete beginner and I used regular old kitchen tinfoil on my squire and it worked. I made sure i covered every square milimeter of the cavity and pickguard. I noticed the difference right away cause it was never ever properly grounded. the only sound i get is from my old amp and the pickup that needs to be repotted but it still sounds good.
 
Shielding a guitar is a hit or miss thing. It helps, to be sure, with SOME noise problems, but even if you have it shielded perfectly, single coil pickups will still have a certain amount of hum in all situations, and in some situations a LOT of hum. After all, you by definition can not shield the pickups, as they would then be unable to pickup the strings!


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
apl said:
Sure you can, with non-magnetic conducting material.
Click to expand...

ya it is called a Faraday cage and works quite well as hum canceling shielding against RF and line interference noises
apparently he is not doing it right:)
 
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