Lindy Fralin pups

[Bird]

Okay, so im talkin' to this guy, and he is all like,"them noiseless on that strat of yours sucks," and i agree with him. So he says to me,"Lindy Fralins"; so now i have my eye on some. Could i get some reviews. I admire the styles of Hendrix and SRV. my strat has three single coil noiseless pups on right now. he also mentioned texas specials, but it sound like he liked the fralins better.
so please, i would like to get some opinions on them first, before i purchase them.

[fusion101]

Re: Lindy Fralin pups

Man i've tried those fralin's and there are'nt anything compared to the woodstock kinmans or the blues set kinmans.

[Marinblues]

Re: Lindy Fralin pups

Man i've tried those fralin's and there are'nt anything compared to the woodstock kinmans or the blues set kinmans.

good. I'll keep my Kinmans then.

[Bludave]

Re: Lindy Fralin pups

I am not a big fan of changing pups unless they really need to be changed. If they are broken or if they simply sound awful. If they sounded awful I probably wouldn't have bought the guitar in the first place. That being said I work in a custom repair facility. I have had the opurtunity to play many great pups over the years. IMHO Fralin single coils are the best I have heard. I just ordered a set of the Blues specials for a Telecaster. I have not recieved them yet, but from what I have heard in the past I will be very happy with them. The negative side of this particular Pup is the neck pup looks more like a strat, then a Tel, but I don't care about this it is not a vintage guitar. The current pups are very microphonic and rather than pot them I have elected to replace them. Fralin does make vintage or correct looking pups. I just felt the BS were more what I was looking for.
As far as Humbucking PUPS go, Its pretty hard to beat a Seth Lover, or Antiquity. I also like the Pearly gates a lot. Tom Holmes HB are pretty amazing also.

[jpage]

Re: Lindy Fralin pups

As far as single coils go, Lindy is the master. I have a set of Vintage hots and a blues special set. My favorites are the vintage hots. Too many people think that you need an overwound pickup to get a good texas blues tone. When you overwind a pickup you lose too much high end, in my opinion. The vintage hot set with the baseplate on the bridge is the ultimate tone gift for any strat. Unless your amp tone is really distorted, you don't notice any hum (does anyone really use a strat for heavy distortion stuff?) and you get the most beautiful, clear, bell-like tone to die for. "Lenny" and "Riviera Paradise" ooze out of these babies. Put a TS-808 in your chain, crank it up and try those "Texas Flood" licks out. The bridge with the plate is actually a very useable tone which is not sharp or shrill like most all other Strat bridge p/u's. That said, I still am going to replace one of my Strat's bridges with a humbucker of some sort but that's just for versatility. Never heard the Kinman's but there is absolutely no way to improve on the Lindy tone. I've never heard anything better, and I've played alot of them.

[Norman_T]

Re: Lindy Fralin pups

I have got Lindy Fralin Hot Vintage pups on my '57 Re-Issue (JV strat). This was put together by Lewguitar and he mounted the whole thing on a pickguard and wired everything together and included a bleed cap as well as a pup blend on one of the tone controls which brings in the neck or middle pup in position 2 & 4. So you have at least a couple more tonal options

These pups are fantastic and have very little noise and are beautiful and chimey and really bring those vintage sounds that was missing on the pups that were in there originally. They are fantastic with the quack sounds and also beautiful clean with glassy tones. With some overdrive they even sound better and believe me they can cut through as well. They do not squeak or sound shrill and all positions are useable. I thoroughly recommend them and although not cheap they should be used a set because this will bring out the best. My problem is that I am now seriously having to think about putting another set of Fralins in my US Highway1 strat that I have just got. A picture of the back of the pickguard is below.

[fusion101]

Re: Lindy Fralin pups

wow i think its funny that every body here atomatically assumes that the kinmans arent as good as the fralin's even though they havent tried the kinmans. Dont u think its a little unfair to suggest that a pup isnt that great even when u havent tried it yet.

[Norman_T]

Re: Lindy Fralin pups

wow i think its funny that every body here atomatically assumes that the kinmans arent as good as the fralin's even though they havent tried the kinmans. Dont u think its a little unfair to suggest that a pup isnt that great even when u havent tried it yet.

I think you'll find that I never mentioned anything about the kinmans in my post. As I don't know anything about them I would not make any comment on them, so don't assume that everybody automatically thinks the kinmans are'nt as good and I was knocking them.

I was giving an appraisal of what I have got insofar that the thread is about Fralin pups. So far Lew, Stradeluxer and myself so far have these pups.

Peace

[jpage]

Re: Lindy Fralin pups

wow i think its funny that every body here atomatically assumes that the kinmans arent as good as the fralin's even though they havent tried the kinmans. Dont u think its a little unfair to suggest that a pup isnt that great even when u havent tried it yet.

All I was saying is that the Fralins are perfect "Stratocaster" pickups. By this I mean p/u's that sound like those songs I described in my post. I honestly do not believe that it is humanly possible to build a single coil "Stratocaster" pickup that sounds better to my ears than the vintage hots that are in my guitar. That being said I also want more versatility out of one of my Strats so I am taking out the brigde Fralin and putting in a h/b. This new h/b may sound better to my ears but in no way will I call this a "Stratocaster" pickup.
I'm thinking about building a HSS guitar from Warmoth parts and I definitely want to try out the Kinmans. I don't really want that perfect "Stratocaster" tone out of this guitar, I already have that. I want something that sounds great, though and it sounds like Kinmans will fit the bill.

And Zappa rules.

[slimjw]

Re: Lindy Fralin pups

I have some of the Fralin vintage hots in my Strat and they sound pretty great to me. This whole pickup thing is pretty subjective and I don't doubt that there aren't other great pickups out there, but these work for me. Previously the guitar had Rio Grande vintage tallboys and a muy grande in the bridge and I didn't like them so much. Too dark for me and way too much midrange on the bridge PUP. Then tried some Duncan SSL-1's. They sounded more stratty and stuff, but were still missing something. Put in the Fralins and I like them enough that they're staying put. I don't think they're made of magic dust or anything, but they do what they're supposed to and that's good enough for me. Lots of fidelity, ballsy without being too middy or woofy and good quack in the middle positions. Say what you will, but Lindy makes some good stuff. I think since he was one of the original boutique winders to get a lot of attention he takes more than his share of heat on the subject of tone. He may not make the "best" PUPS, but his stuff is quality, whether it's your cup of tea or not. My 2 cents - Jason

[hacker]

Re: Lindy Fralin pups

I like Fralins, but in my opinion, they are overpriced. For any of the songs or styles listed in this thread, Fender makes a pickup that will nail those tones.

The stock fender pickups in the MIM Robert Cray model nail the classic strat quack tones like no other pickup I've heard. The Custom Shop 69s nail the Hendrix vibe (and they do stevie well too). The 57/62s and the fat 50s are great too.

Remember, all these guys mentioned above played stock fender guitars with fender pickups. Why pay $300 for a set of pickups that do not sound any better than $120 fender custom shop models?

If you want noiseless, you will have to spend a little more, but that's understandable. The Kinmans are the best noiseless pickups I've heard-far better than lace sensors or fender vintage noiseless.

The only person who has the right to charge big bucks for his single coils is John Suhr-his Fat T tele pickups are awesome, much more 3-dimensional than any other true single coil I've heard.

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: Lindy Fralin pups

I like Fralins, but in my opinion, they are overpriced. For any of the songs or styles listed in this thread, Fender makes a pickup that will nail those tones.

The stock fender pickups in the MIM Robert Cray model nail the classic strat quack tones like no other pickup I've heard. The Custom Shop 69s nail the Hendrix vibe (and they do stevie well too). The 57/62s and the fat 50s are great too.

Remember, all these guys mentioned above played stock fender guitars with fender pickups. Why pay $300 for a set of pickups that do not sound any better than $120 fender custom shop models?

If you want noiseless, you will have to spend a little more, but that's understandable. The Kinmans are the best noiseless pickups I've heard-far better than lace sensors or fender vintage noiseless.

The only person who has the right to charge big bucks for his single coils is John Suhr-his Fat T tele pickups are awesome, much more 3-dimensional than any other true single coil I've heard.

Hacker....You're right buddy and everyone actually copies what Fender has been doing since 1954 or so,however,I have used and still use the Fat 50s and the 54s and they do work great...I've also found that the Duncans and this new Fralin cover some other areas not covered by the CS Fender stuff...I guess I keep trying different pickups until I find the right pickup for the particular guitar...Maybe we've just gotten so spoiled by actually having too many choices of pickups from many different manufacturers? Fender does make a great product though buddy and their prices are very reasonable...As I said,I do use the Fat 50s and the the 54s but I also use Duncan Antiquity Texas Hots,The SSL series,the APS series and now a Fralin pickup that Lew sent me...They don't all sound or react the same way...I have many strats and have tryed many pickups,but far from all of them buddy!

John