New pickups for a nice Strat - need suggestions!

  • Thread starter Thread starter thebigcheese
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thebigcheese

thebigcheese

"Hi, I'm in Delaware."
I have never bothered to change out the pickups in any of my guitars. It seems like an awful lot of hassle and a lot o money when I've already put a good amount into the initial purpose. But my Deluxe Strat with N3s is not quiiiite what I'm looking for. I got the Deluxe because of the noiseless factor and because it plays so smoothly. After a while playing it, though, I've noticed that the bridge pickup is very bright with very little bass and the neck pickup is not very bright at all. The middle position I don't use very much, but it seems fine. So I am debating swapping out at least the bridge pickup, maybe the neck pickup, possibly all three if I get a set. So far, my coworkers have suggested the Duncan Little 59 for the bridge or the Lace Blue/Silver/Red set. Thoughts? I should add that I want to stay as noise-free as possible and would like the volume levels across the pickups to be consistent. I am not opposed to having them all be louder, as I regularly switch between the Strat and a PRS and a Gibson - my main concern is just consistent volume when I switch pickups.
 
The Little '59 is a fine pickup, but why would you go to a humbucker when you already have a PRS and a Gibbie. My 2 cents says go with single coils and shield it well.

You don't say much about what kind of sound you're after so it's hard to be sure what to recommend. Anyway, I'm very fond of the Fralin Blues Specials for what it's worth.
 
When you put a noiseless pickup, or a humbucker in a stratocaster, it's not a strat anymore. Lindy Fralin makes some nice calibrated sets. Check out the Vintage Hot. The neck and middle are vintage specs, but the bridge is slightly overwound. The overwound bridge pickup tames the highs. Before you purchase any pickups though, you should try adjusting the height of your fn's. You might get better tone out of them.
 
I guess I should clarify what I am looking for. I play in a band where we mostly play rock, punk, and metal. The Gibson and PRS handle the heavier stuff, but I use the Strat for some of the punk stuff and for when I want a nice clean tone for some of our nicer stuff. So I guess what I'm saying is, I want it to still have the single-coil sound. The noiseless pickups have that sort of sound, they just aren't quite right, if that makes sense. The essential Strat-ness of the guitar is still there, just not as nice as it could be. The problem is, I absolutely despise any noise, so I can't just do regular single coils. It would drive me insane. That's why I'm looking at the Duncan or some Lace Sensors. It seems to me that SRV played mostly with his neck pickup and that sound is fannnntastic, so maybe something like the Texas Specials would be good?
 
If you're really playing punk, a noisy single is the sound you want. And really, they're only noisy when you're not doing anything. They bark and bite when you're ripping through chords though. I love single coils and only use a humbucker guitar for variety on recordings. I've always preferred my strats blaring rhythm sound to my SG's. If the noise bothers you, use a gate or get friendly with the volume knob or....man up and deal with a little hum and buzz. It adds character. To this day I still get a little rush when I hear the wraaaaaarrrrrr of Johnny Ramone turning up his guitar as Dee Dee shouted 1-2-3-4 before the Ramones blasted off into another song. That split second of noisy tension as a single coil comes to life through Marshall stacks is what wet dreams are made of.
 
For me, single coils have the best clean sound, but, especially now that I've been writing more of our songs, about half our library is metal, and there's really no beating humbuckers for that kind of sound. Unfortunately, buzz doesn't add character for me. I have completely torn apart my rig several times just to get rid of noise. I've tried gates, and they're not bad, but I like to keep my setup relatively simple and try to solve problems at the source rather than throwing a new coat of paint on it, so to speak. I don't mind riding the volume knob at times, but when I'm doing some slow, clean soloing, the buzz in between notes would kill me.
 
I have a set of Gold Lace Sensors on my EC Strat and they are noisy as hell when close to my Marshall. Stand back a few feet and they are pretty quiet. Different heights for each pickup gives me a pretty level balance. I use the TBX ? thingy a lot but you can get all the ring you want with that turned off.
 
thebigcheese said:
For me, single coils have the best clean sound, but, especially now that I've been writing more of our songs, about half our library is metal, and there's really no beating humbuckers for that kind of sound. Unfortunately, buzz doesn't add character for me. I have completely torn apart my rig several times just to get rid of noise. I've tried gates, and they're not bad, but I like to keep my setup relatively simple and try to solve problems at the source rather than throwing a new coat of paint on it, so to speak. I don't mind riding the volume knob at times, but when I'm doing some slow, clean soloing, the buzz in between notes would kill me.
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I agree humbuckers are better for metal. I don't have much experience around noiseless singles, but I used to be on the hunt for them too. I never found any that I thought sounded worth a shit.
 
Milnoque said:
GFS Noise-Free NEOVIN Pickups for Stratocaster Sets

I have no personal experience with these particular pickups. I have installed a variety of GFS pickups for others and always came away thinking they were fine pickups and a great value.
Click to expand...

Hmmm, well, I'll look into those. We have an SRV Strat at work that I'm going to A/B with mine and see how I like those Texas Specials. Greg might be right about just having to deal with a little buzz to get the right sound... It's always a struggle getting the perfect sound!
 
I am having my tech (or the store's tech, really) install the Texas Specials in - after trying out the SRV Strat, I can say for certain that I like those, whereas the others are all kind of a gamble. So you win, I guess :p
 
Hmm, Strat = single coil = (glorious) noise.
Strat + noiseless single coils = compromised strat sound.
Special noisless strat + changed quiet single coils = not what you paid for + compromised sound.
Any single coil + volume = noise.
The perfect sound/tone? Incorporate a little noise into the equation or get a tele.
I agree with Greg: I like, expect, get a sense of expectation from the standard single coil noise between events.
Clean metal - now that's a subgenre I wasn't awre of!
I reckon you should take the guitar back to the shop & swap it for what you wanted in the 1st place but couldn't quite explain.
 
rayc said:
Clean metal - now that's a subgenre I wasn't awre of!
I reckon you should take the guitar back to the shop & swap it for what you wanted in the 1st place but couldn't quite explain.
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Well, it isn't noisy metal, anyway. The Deluxe is what I want, I just want different pickups. It plays a lot nicer than the standard, in my opinion. Otherwise I would have just gotten the standard.
 
You're finding out why aftermarket makers sell so many pickups. Fender makes a great guitar, but the pickups they give you are a letdown. Seymour Duncan SSL-1's and SSL-5's are very good and true single coil. Lindy Fralin Vintage Hot and Blues Specials are outstanding and still single-coil. Dimarzio makes vertical humbuckers for Strats that sound great. I'm using the Area 58 in the neck and middle and it sounds very much like a '50s single-coil. Very little tonal compromise. The Virtual Vintage '54 Pro, Virtual Vintage Blues, and Virtual Solo are all good choices too.

Nothing wrong with putting a vertical humbucker in a Strat. Sometimes it's what's called for to tame the instrument. Vertical humbuckers are allowed.

Full-size humbuckers? Buy a Les Paul.
 
I threw some p90s in my strat and it sounds awesome for any rock and some countryish tones. I don't like humbuckers in strats at all. And I'll second the fralins for the strat. I have a set in my tele and they're awesome.

Love the noise.
 
Am I the only one that finds it odd that he wants Texas Specials for 'clean punk' (whatever that is)?
 
Milnoque said:
GFS Noise-Free NEOVIN Pickups for Stratocaster Sets

I have no personal experience with these particular pickups. I have installed a variety of GFS pickups for others and always came away thinking they were fine pickups and a great value.
Click to expand...
I don't know about their noiseless p'ups but I have a set of their alnico overwounds in my strat and they're about as good of a strat sound as I've ever had ................ and they're cheap.
 
notCardio said:
Am I the only one that finds it odd that he wants Texas Specials for 'clean punk' (whatever that is)?
Click to expand...

I see what you're saying. Maybe if I break down what I use for specific songs it will make more sense - as it stands, I just wanted the Texas Specials because I want my Strat to really sound like Strat, and I think they will do that quite nicely. I use it in one song that is a completely clean instrumental (and kind of indie), another song that is straight rock, and one punk song. Most of our heavier songs get the PRS and the down-tuned metal songs now get the Gibson. So I should clarify that the Strat is mainly for clean indie and straight rock, with occasional punk usage, depending on my mood. The Strat sound works well for that particular song, otherwise I would probably have used the Gibson (or PRS, now that I have it). Also, the punk stuff isn't at all clean. If you want to get really specific, I use it for Now That We're Home and Mistakes, though I don't think we really have my parts in either of those songs on our web site. I promise it makes sense!

I considered the Fralins, since I've only ever heard good things about them, but I'm kind of afraid to get things I haven't had a chance to actually try out. I do at least know I like the Texas Specials.
 
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