Fender question single coils multiple part question

[JUjuHound]

Is there a consensus about the best or most iconic neck and middle pups between the 50s and 60s eras? Speaking pre CBS. No winds being consistent of equal. is there a place to put a flag. Say this is the best example of neck 60s or 50s and and same the middle. or is there just one set of a particular production year that stands above all?

[Securb]

There is so much to consider: the music style and the player's technique. Wayne Kramer replaced his Strat middle pickup with a Gibson humbucker. It would be easier if you told us what you were trying to achieve sonically, and we could work back from there. What style of music are you playing? Who are some of the guitar players with whom you dig their sound?

[Mincer]

Welcome to the forum!

Certainly no consensus. Current production pickups like the SSL-1 and the Antiquity Surfer tend to 'plant the flag' as good as anywhere- they get the sound I think of when I think of 50s and early 60s Strat sounds. What recorded sounds are your touchstones?

[jeremy]

the surfers are an early 60s sound to me, and i love em. there was a lot of variation and inconsistency even in the same year until around '65 when they went to machine wound.. you could have a '58 pup with 8400 turns and another '58 pup with 7900, they could even be in the same guitar.

[beaubrummels]

Welcome to the forum

From the Duncan line, the Hendrix Set, Scooped Strat, Antiquity II Surfer, and the plain old SSL-1 cover the 1950's to 1960's Strat pickups accurately. Surprisingly, the Hendrix set might be closer to what the 1950's pickups were; Formvar wire, A5, all the same wind and output, no RWRP.

There's an 'average' spec chart that's circulated the internet, based on disassembling/repairing old Fender pickups, that might provide some insight for a recipe to look for based on the year you are targeting.

All 42 gauge Formvar wire until 1964 then plain enamel started to be used.
All winds were top left, top going.
Magnet polarity changed from North to South in 1960
Magnets were Alnico 3 until somewhere between mid 1955 to late 1956 (depending on your source) then became Alnico 5

1954 5.76k 7956 turns
1955 5.89k 7844 turns
1956 5.98k 8012 turns
1957 6.02k 8105 turns
1958 6.20k 8350 turns
1959 5.95k 7925 turns
1960 6.33k 8293 turns
1961 6.19k 8119 turns
1962 6.22k 8220 turns
1963 6.37k 8319 turns
1964 6.25k 7980 turns

[JUjuHound]

Thank for the welcomes. I appreciate the information. Its definitely given me a good place to do some more research and make an informed decision(S)

[Chistopher]

To me there have always been two types of Strat pickups. Hotter wound A2 pickups with emphasis on the midrange, and lower wound A5 pickups with emphasis on the bass and treble. Antiquity Texas is an ideal version of the former, Antiquity Surfer is an ideal version of the latter. These are not the only two examples, but the vast majority of Strat single coils will fall into one of these two camps

[beaubrummels]

Interestingly, the first Duncan pickups I ever bought were the Antiquity Texas Hot strat set. I put the bridge in my 1966 Strat, which had the original neck pickup and a period-correct middle pickup, and the Texas Hot bridge matched the sound perfectly such that throwing the switch was just like slightly turning a tone knob to 3 presets of the same sound. So despite being the 'incorrect recipe', they sounded a perfect match in an actual vintage Strat.

[freefrog]

Is there a consensus about the best or most iconic neck and middle pups between the 50s and 60s eras? Speaking pre CBS. No winds being consistent of equal. is there a place to put a flag. Say this is the best example of neck 60s or 50s and and same the middle. or is there just one set of a particular production year that stands above all?

The question has been answered by fellow members but if I can add a couple of side notes...

-where I live, not so long ago, there was still a tropism about "L Series" pickups (end of 1962-1965) because these last formvar transducers were often beefier* than before and after, as shown in the data shared in post 5.
[*Beefier? Well, in fact and as mentioned by jeremy, they can vary a lot: a 1962 Strat that I've periodically in maintenance has a muscular mid pickup and an underwound neck one... but average DCR was apparently higher in the L Series era than during other years.]
To me, Duncan SSL1's and Surfers perpetuate this recipe of almost overwound SC's : 6.5k for SSL1's and for neck/mid Surfers is in the high range of measured DCR and higher than any of the average values evoked in post 5.

-IME/IMO, there's no consensus partly because the "best" pickups are not necessarily the same in various guitars... The SSL1's that I've bought in 1983 keep sounding glorious in the maple neck Strat copy hosting it. I absolutely LOVE these pickups in this guitar. But my Strats number 1 and 2 don't host SSL1's: I've put noiseless PU's in n°1 and n°2 has a set of PE "1969" style single coils because that's what this guitar wants: I've tried a set of SSL1's in it before and it didn't work well (the acoustic resonance of the instrument required thinner sounding transducers).

FWIW. Good luck in your choice... :-)