Strat Replacement Pups- Going Back To The Beginning, Hope To Understand This Better

[stevieb]

Okay. Taking a big breath, here, and making an attempt to understand the Strat replacement pickup world better. I would like to replace the pups in the Squire Strat. Would like to keep cost under $100, or even $70 if possible. I will do the install, myself. I own a Les Paul with Burstbucker Pro's, so I am fine with HB tones, thus I don't want to put any HB's in this guitar, unless there is a really compelling reason. I play mostly blues and rock, usually thru a Fender Super Champ XD or a vintage Deluxe Reverb.

Here's what I have at my disposal:

A set of Fender Texas Specials. Bridge 7.5K ohms, Mid DEAD, Neck 6.5K. Fender says the bridge should test out about 1K lower than that, so I am assuming these are particularly hot TS's. Mid is reverse wound, but so what? It's dead. Currently installed in the Squire strat- when I go to switch pos. 2 or 4, treble is noticably cut, but output is hardly changed otherwise. This seems strange to me, but maybe there is something about the circuit that I am missing.

A set of Epiphone OBL single coils. Installed on the strat copy I traded for the TS's and some cash. Other party wants to un-do the deal, I am not sure about that, but I have that option.

The original SC's that came in the 2001 Squire Stratocaster, test out in the mid 4.xK ohm range. Mid is reverse wound.

Here are my questions, so far:

I know (at least, I think I do) that as DC resistance goes up, the pup gets hotter- stronger signal going to the amp. But what are the drawbacks of this? I am seeing Guitar Fetish pups with DC resistance as high as 8.7K...

Looking at the GF Texas pups, they say "It's a great balance- the bridge pickup is cranked up to 8.7K- Mid Pickup is 5.5K, neck pickup is 5.3K- so they're full, warm and VERY crunchy..." Which makes me think I could just re-install the Squire's original mid (about 4.5K, as I recall) and be fine. Opinions?

I don't understand the "noiseless" thing. How does it work? What does it do, really? I was under the impression you had either single coils or humbuckers- but noiseless seem to be a totally different animal. What are the drawbacks of noiseless single coils?

A guy near here wants to sell a set of Fender Lace Golds, new in the box, for $100. Good deal? Good for me? I have heard Lace's have drawbacks, too (doesn't everything?)- what are those drawbacks? What are the benefits?

Thanks.

 

[ggunn]

A set of Epiphone OBL single coils. Installed on the strat copy I traded for the TS's and some cash. Other party wants to un-do the deal, I am not sure about that, but I have that option.

My opinion on this one is that a deal's a deal, and there's no "undo". You can make a new deal that is the reverse of the old one, but only if it's what both sides want.

 

[ermghoti]

A guy near here wants to sell a set of Fender Lace Golds, new in the box, for $100. Good deal? Good for me? I have heard Lace's have drawbacks, too (doesn't everything?)- what are those drawbacks? What are the benefits?

Thanks.

The Laces are a noiseless design, they do not operate like conventional coil/magnet designs. IIRC, the Gold are the good ones, one or two of the other lines are not well regarded, and people often dismiss the lot of 'em. These have been Clapton's pickups for years.

That's only about $30 off the set new, so the price is OK if they're dead mint. You could probably get a GFS single in 4.5-5.5 or so. That'd be about the cheapest way out, and it's not a bad pickup.

 

[ch2os7]

squire pups

Just last week I installed a set of GF overwounds in a MIJ Squire Strat and so far I am pleased with the results. I used aluminum tape and shielded the cavities using instructions I found on this board. Practically no hum. The middle pup is reverse wound. The only glitch I had was that my pickup screws were too small for the mounting holes in the pickups. It would have been worth it to go on and spring for a set of screws. By the way, the ones I bought were on the clearance page and they were so inexpensive that I thought why not? I was buying some other stuff anyhow (for a bass I was working on). I figured if I hated them it wouldn't be a big loss but instead, I like 'em a lot!

 

[Lt. Bob]

Just last week I installed a set of GF overwounds in a MIJ Squire Strat and so far I am pleased with the results. I used aluminum tape and shielded the cavities using instructions I found on this board. Practically no hum. The middle pup is reverse wound. The only glitch I had was that my pickup screws were too small for the mounting holes in the pickups. It would have been worth it to go on and spring for a set of screws. By the way, the ones I bought were on the clearance page and they were so inexpensive that I thought why not? I was buying some other stuff anyhow (for a bass I was working on). I figured if I hated them it wouldn't be a big loss but instead, I like 'em a lot!

I have a set of GF overwounds on one of my strats and I like them a LOT.
I have about 14 gits and the Strat with the GF's has become my primary gigging ax specifically because I like the sound. I gig 4-7 nights a week so I don't base this on a single gig or two.
For the money I think they're impossible to beat however, as ch2os7 mentioned, you need to make sure you get the git shielded well because since they're traditional single coils .... they can be noisy.
My strat's shielded with copper tape and I have no noise issues at all.

 

[marshallpk89]

im a big fan of the red lace sensors, there fairly hot and have a nice tone, the golds are pretty clean and sound nice as well, there about 60-70 dollars for a humbucker normally but you can split one of the humbuckers into 2 pickups

100 dollars is a pretty good price for the golds, their normally about 150 more for a loaded pickguard

 

[Light]

Okay. Taking a big breath, here, and making an attempt to understand the Strat replacement pickup world better. I would like to replace the pups in the Squire Strat. Would like to keep cost under $100, or even $70 if possible.

If you like the Texas Specials you have, get another middle pickup, or else don't bother. You are not going to be getting pickups which are worth the bother for $70, or even for $100. If you skimp on this stuff, you may as well just use what you have. The new ones won't be much different. Cheap pickups are always going to be cheap pickups.

Here are my questions, so far:

I know (at least, I think I do) that as DC resistance goes up, the pup gets hotter- stronger signal going to the amp. But what are the drawbacks of this? I am seeing Guitar Fetish pups with DC resistance as high as 8.7K...

As the output goes up, the sound gets "scooped" - i.e., the mids disappear, and the lows and highs get hyped. This is, of course, a generalization, but it works well enough for most practical purposes.

I don't understand the "noiseless" thing. How does it work? What does it do, really? I was under the impression you had either single coils or humbuckers- but noiseless seem to be a totally different animal. What are the drawbacks of noiseless single coils?

Noiseless pickups are just stacked humbuckers - i.e., the coils of a humbucker stacked vertically, instead of next to one another. In the past, this was done to try and recreate a humbucker sound, but it never really worked all that well. The thing that Kinman started doing, and which Fender and Seymour Duncan have copied, is to voice them to sound more like single coil pickups. Kinman does it very well indeed, as does Seymour Duncan. Fender does it reasonably well, but not as well as Kinman and Duncan. Kinman's may sound a bit better, but the Duncans allow you to tap the coils so that you can have REAL single coils in your in-between positions which are still noise canceling (Kinman may do this, I don't remember, but I've never done it for a customer - I've done it for myself with the Duncan's, though, and it is well worth the effort).

A guy near here wants to sell a set of Fender Lace Golds, new in the box, for $100. Good deal? Good for me? I have heard Lace's have drawbacks, too (doesn't everything?)- what are those drawbacks? What are the benefits?

Thanks.

God, I hate Lace Sensors. Their attack is just weird. The best way I've ever been able to describe their sound (to my ear) is that, instead of going directly through the note, they go around two sides, and join back up on the other side of the note. I KNOW it doesn't make any sense, but that's what I hear. Reference the quote that got me and Muttley arguing about Frank Zappa vs. Elvis Costello (by the way, Muttley, did Frank Zappa ever get Chet Baker to play on any of HIS records? Huh? Did Chet Baker ever cover Crew Slut? Huh?).



Light

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

 

[mattdee1]

The Lace pickups tend to be a love-it-or-hate-it kind of product, but I for one can tell you that I'm extremely happy with mine.

A few weeks ago I replaced the stock pickups on my '94 MIM Strat with Lace Sensors:

- Red (bridge)
- Silver (middle)
- Blue (neck)

I'm very happy with the way it sounds now; so much fatter, warmer, and quieter than the crappy stock pieces. I also changed the pots from 500k to 250k which might have played a role in this change. I play a lot of grungy music but also a lot of bluesy and mellow music and I find that my new pickups offer a nice range of sounds that work in all sorts of situations.

 

[soundchaser59]

I made the mistake of getting the Hot Noiseless pups, but if I had the regular vintage noiseless with the alnico cores I would be quite happy with my Strat. But I got an Ibanez with low output PAF pups to do all the other humbucked sounds that the Strat doesn't do.