Fender Fat 50's PUPs

[sweet_lou]

What can you tell me about them? I just picked up a set and I am thinking of putting them in my hardtail strat.
What can I expect from them?

[Jeff_H]

Re: Fender Fat 50's PUPs

Lou -

Those are supposed to be some of the best pups for vintage tone with a little extra low end you can get. I believe GJ uses them in his strats. I have the Custom Shop 54's, and I believe the tone is similar, but again, with more beef in the Fat 50's.

You can expect really sweet blues tones from the middle and neck, and nice quack in the notch positions. SRV tones ala Lenny and Texas Flood should be no problem. The bridge pos is usually the week spot, but the 50's are supposed to be better. Vintage tone for sure....which I think is right down your alley. I think they'll rock in your guitar.

[sweet_lou]

Re: Fender Fat 50's PUPs

Lou -

Those are supposed to be some of the best pups for vintage tone with a little extra low end you can get. I believe GJ uses them in his strats. I have the Custom Shop 54's, and I believe the tone is similar, but again, with more beef in the Fat 50's.

You can expect really sweet blues tones from the middle and neck, and nice quack in the notch positions. SRV tones ala Lenny and Texas Flood should be no problem. The bridge pos is usually the week spot, but the 50's are supposed to be better. Vintage tone for sure....which I think is right down your alley. I think they'll rock in your guitar.

I just bought them from the Gear HO I was thinking of putting in there with that Demarizio/ Fender PAF style HB. The one I got with that loaded Pickguard. I don't know if it will be too hot for the Fat 50's

[Jeff_H]

Re: Fender Fat 50's PUPs

Forget the Dimarzio. Take the CC out of your son's LP, give him the JB or take my DD Distortion for him. Put the CC in the bridge with the Fat 50's in the neck and mid and I promise you you won't leave your apartment for a week....even for something like my avitar.

[Farkus]

Re: Fender Fat 50's PUPs

I've got the Fat 50's in my '75 strat...they're quite good, actually. I've found them to be excellent for clean and some semi-overdirven work. They certainly have personality as the bass is pretty prominent in the overall tone. The bridge pickup is, without a doubt, the weak end of the setup. I have considered maybe getting an Antiquity II bridge or a twangbanger for the bridge of the strat, but I'm concerned about the humcanceling bridge/middle combo, phase issues, etc.

The fat 50's destroy my original '75 and '76 pickups in terms of fullness of tone. The fat 50's bridge is still too brittle for me though.

Farkus

[sweet_lou]

Re: Fender Fat 50's PUPs

Forget the Dimarzio. Take the CC out of your son's LP, give him the JB or take my DD Distortion for him. Put the CC in the bridge with the Fat 50's in the neck and mid and I promise you you won't leave your apartment for a week....even for something like my avitar.

I have my own CC so we will do dat. I am going to bed now all worn out making these decisions

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Fender Fat 50's PUPs

The only thing to be aware of is that Duncans have reverse polarity from Fenders.
Does anyone know if Dimarzio's are wound the same as Duncans or reverse? If it's reverse from Duncans, I'm sure the DiMarzio would jive nicely. Out of any single coil pickups, the Fat 50's sit the best next to a humbucker, which is why Fender always uses them in conjunction with their humbuckers in the Showmaster guitars.
I'm very hesitant to sell this set, since they really do sound great. I'm just looking to experiment with some others, plus I had 1 set too many of the Fat 50's.

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Fender Fat 50's PUPs

Another thing....if you're looking for the Stevie Ray sound, forget the Texas Specials, go straight to the Fat 50's. SRV LIVES in the Fat 50's neck pickup.

[Benjy_26]

Re: Fender Fat 50's PUPs

Dimarzio's are wound to the same polarity as Fender singles.

[Buckeyedog]

Re: Fender Fat 50's PUPs

GJ, I've put the Fat 50's in my SRV axe, but the shop still has it to do some fretwork (choking out on the high e-string). So I haven't got a chance to play them yet. As far as the brittle bridge, I'm not sure how it will work yet, but I got a blender pot from Lew and also am using "tone 2" as a master tone for all pickups so not only can I tone the bridge down, I can mix in a little neck pickup too. Hopefully that will take away some of that brittleness. I'll report back in a few days.

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Fender Fat 50's PUPs

The brige pickup isn't really that brittle, although on my strat, I kept the bridge's tone backed off to 8. The whole set is pretty balanced. The Fat 50's neck pickup is pure joy, tho. It has that nice grindy Texas growl that gives me shivers plugged into a blackface or Matchless.

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: Fender Fat 50's PUPs

Lou...The Fat 50's middle and neck are really great,but I don't care for the Fat 50 bridge,as I feel it's still thin and too toppy...I'm currently using the Fat 50 middle and neck with a Fralin SP 43 Hot bridge single coil that Lew sold me...If you try to mate the Fat 50s with a bridge Duncan,you will(in fact)run into phase problems..I did..The fix was to have Scott at Duncan make my bridge Duncan SSL6 have "S" magnet polarity..The phase problems were from magnet polarity issues and not electrical phase problems...I then moved the Fat 50 middle to the neck and the neck Fat 50 to the middle and this gave me hum cancelling again in both the 2nd and 4th positions...I've since replaced the SSL6 with the Fralin pickup though and it's worlds better for my styles....I need the bridge pickup to have balls and not thin tinny crap but still have some top in it's presentation...That's where I'm at..The Twangbanger is very cool in the bridge spot also..

John

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: Fender Fat 50's PUPs

Lou...Here's a picture of my Highway 1 Saphire Blue Alder body strat...
Twangbanger in the bridge
Surfer neck and middle
Fralin Blender Pot
80s 12" radius American Standard maple neck
50s style headstock logo..
White Pearl S/S/S Pickguard...

Love this guitar!

[Jeffrec]

Re: Fender Fat 50's PUPs

I've had Fat '50's in my '95 Am Stndrd Strat for years and love them. The bridge can be a tad bright, but I just roll off the tone on that pup a bit. Aside from using SD Custom Antiquity's & Texas Hots (which I plan to do in the future), the Fender F-'50's are great. I liked them much better than the Texas Specials or Noiseless.

Jeff

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: Fender Fat 50's PUPs

I've had Fat '50's in my '95 Am Stndrd Strat for years and love them. The bridge can be a tad bright, but I just roll off the tone on that pup a bit. Aside from using SD Custom Antiquity's & Texas Hots (which I plan to do in the future), the Fender F-'50's are great. I liked them much better than the Texas Specials or Noiseless.

Jeff

Jeff...We have alot in common buddy...I dislike the Texas Specials and the original early Noiseless pickups also...Can't comment on the newer cobalt Noiseless though?

John