Pickups

[bburch88]

I am looking into changing out the pickups on my Fender Stratocaster. So far I am impressed with the sound and quietness of the Kinman pickups. I know there are those of you that have experience out there and can share with me regarding Kinman's, Duncan's, Lace, etc., please give me some ideas and places to look, sounds to review, opinions from actual users.

BB

 

[boingoman]

My experience is limited to Fender and Duncan, mostly.
I have a mid-90s American Standard strat. The stock pickups sounded good, but a friend offered to replace them with a set of Fender 50's reissues. The difference was night and day. It sounded like a real strat, boingy and poppy and snappy.
Lace sensors are pretty sterile, IMO. You may like the sound, but they do not sound like a strat. And beyond that, I just think they sound like butt. No character. If you are looking for a classic strat sound, keep away from things like lace sensors, Duncan hotrails, stacked humbuckers, etc.
Seymour Duncan makes great pickups. I have a set of Antiquities P-90s which I really like. Their strat pickups all pretty much sound as advertised, and they have a bunch of different flavors. They make the Pearly Gates and JB humbuckers, some of the best out there. They also let you return pickups within a limited time, letting you essentially demo pickups until you are happy.
Sound demos are hard, pickups sound a bit different in each guitar, not to mention each amp and player also come into the equation.
I've never tried any of the smaller guys, like Fralin or Barden.
Have fun!

 

[Phyl]

I put the Kinman Woodstock set in my strat and absolutely love the sound. They are dead quiet and still have great strat tone. Plenty of quack and chime in positions 2 and 4, and the bridge pickup is actually suitable for lead work now, whereas it used to sound like an icepick.

Chris Kinman's web site has a plethora of information related to how each of his pickup sets sound and how to install them for optimal performance.

I also did a wiring mod he suggested in which your strat's second tone knob becomes a 'mixer' control which blends the neck pickup with whatever pickup selection you have the 5 position switch set for. I like to blend a little neck pickup in with the bridge pickup - very cool.