Antiquity i or ii vs Fralin Vintage Hot vs Lollar Dirty Blonde

[JimmyO]

Amigos,

Looking to upgrade the pickups in my 57 reissue US strat. I feel the stock pickups could be giving a little 'more', I feel they are a bit 'meh' compared to the acoustic tone of the guitar and listening to online demos and clips. After plenty of online research and you tube watching I've narrowed my search to these sets. Would like to hear from folks who have played them, compared them and what styles and setups you use them with.
I play mostly blues and classic rock and am looking for a mostly vintage toned set with a little fuller bridge tone. My strat is alder with a maple neck, is overall well balanced acoustically with just an edge of sweet brightness. I play it through a JTM 45 clone, a Mesa Lonestar Classic and a pro junior. If possible I try to crank up the amps and use the guitar volume and tone controls a lot. I also use an 805 for overdrive and a dirty deeds for distortion when needed.

Thanks!

 

[jeremy]

Re: Antiquity i or ii vs Fralin Vintage Hot vs Lollar Dirty Blonde

all those are great pups, although i havent tried the loller S in the bridge in the dirty blonde set. the antiquity texas hots have the most mids, smokiest highs and chewiest feel of the ones you mentioned. the lollars are probably the lowest output and chimey. the vintage hots are bright and clear with a firm bottom. the surfers are a little darker than the vintage hots and to me sound like a '62 fender strat pup.

 

[JimmyO]

Re: Antiquity i or ii vs Fralin Vintage Hot vs Lollar Dirty Blonde

all those are great pups, although i havent tried the loller S in the bridge in the dirty blonde set. the antiquity texas hots have the most mids, smokiest highs and chewiest feel of the ones you mentioned. the lollars are probably the lowest output and chimey. the vintage hots are bright and clear with a firm bottom. the surfers are a little darker than the vintage hots and to me sound like a '62 fender strat pup.

Thanks for the descriptions, they all sound good!

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: Antiquity i or ii vs Fralin Vintage Hot vs Lollar Dirty Blonde

Which 2 sets are the furthest from each other?

 

[vjm]

Re: Antiquity i or ii vs Fralin Vintage Hot vs Lollar Dirty Blonde

Had the Texas Hots in Ash/Maple strat. Really liked them but I put them in an alder strat with maple/rosewood neck and they sound incredible. I too play through Mesa Lonestar Classic and get a nice Matt Schofield type tone. I have the Surfers in an alder/ maple strat and they sound really nice. I have been contemplating trying some Fralins but I have come to the conclusion that I really prefer a rosewood board on my strats. I think if you are going after a thicker strat tone that may make the biggest difference than the pickups mentioned. Maybe a neck change?

 

[JimmyO]

Re: Antiquity i or ii vs Fralin Vintage Hot vs Lollar Dirty Blonde

Had the Texas Hots in Ash/Maple strat. Really liked them but I put them in an alder strat with maple/rosewood neck and they sound incredible. I too play through Mesa Lonestar Classic and get a nice Matt Schofield type tone. I have the Surfers in an alder/ maple strat and they sound really nice. I have been contemplating trying some Fralins but I have come to the conclusion that I really prefer a rosewood board on my strats. I think if you are going after a thicker strat tone that may make the biggest difference than the pickups mentioned. Maybe a neck change?

Out of the surfers and Texas hots which do you prefer and why?

A neck change is not going to happen. I love the v profile maple neck with vintage radius, one of the main selling points for the 57 reissue, I love playing it. I have one more strat, a US standard with Fat 50s and rosewood fingerboard. I agree it sounds a little warmer and really like everything about that guitar, completely stock. It sounds more to my liking through the same amps than the 57 reissue, slightly more output, slightly thicker and also better clarity - like there is a light blanket over the reissues pickups, especially in the neck. So I guess I am looking for for a balanced pickup set with better clarity in the neck, slightly fatter bridge tone, more quack/cluck in positions 2&4 and would complement a maple necked, slightly brighter strat. And can support playing blues, overdriven classic rock and has great stratty cleans. Not asking for much huh?!

 

[zenmindbeginner]

Re: Antiquity i or ii vs Fralin Vintage Hot vs Lollar Dirty Blonde

It's going to be hard to find anyone with experience on all 4 sets... maybe even impossible.

Spec-wise - the Lollar Dirty Blondes with the special "S Bridge" is nearly identical to the Antiquity I Texas Hots

& the Fralin Vintage Hots are similar to the Antiquity II Surf pickups although he doesn't offer a hotter 43AWG bridge like Duncan does.

Specs are one thing but we are talking scatterwinding, degaussing and special materials as differences between the 4 models.

What I can tell you, is that Duncans are the benchmark for pickups... you want to start with Duncans and then expand if necessary... plus Duncans are cheaper than Fralins or Lollars.

Jason and Lindy wind great pickups... some of the best, but if anyone thinks that they know something that Seymour doesn't? I don't know what to tell them... it's not possible in this universe.

That said, you can't go wrong with any of those 4 sets. The Dirty Blondes and Vintage Hots are some of the best pickups that Fralin and Lollar have in their lines.

Good luck!

 

[JimmyO]

Re: Antiquity i or ii vs Fralin Vintage Hot vs Lollar Dirty Blonde

From you guys descriptions of the surfers, being a little darker than Fralins and sounding just like a 62' strat, and re-watching the rather excellent Steve Booke demo on YouTube, I think a surfer set may be what I'm after

 

[uOpt]

Re: Antiquity i or ii vs Fralin Vintage Hot vs Lollar Dirty Blonde

As mentioned, the choice here depends quite a bit on the particular Stratocaster in play. I like the Ant1 better most of the time, but my Blackmore build (alder, 6-point, rosewood) has Ant2 in middle and neck (Fender Texas CS in the bridge).

I love Jason Lollar's pickups but so far I have not been able to get very enthusiastic about the Stratocaster pickups he makes. Lollar pickups always have a cleanness to them that is special (and the Imperials are still residing in my #1 Les Paul), and I lose too much "power" when putting them into a Strat that admittedly I just cannot properly drive if you know what I mean. Both Antiquity Strat designs have some extra bing, sparkle and air going that I need to sound anywhere close to reasonable.

Fralin Strat pickups I didn't try. With non-Strat Fralins I wasn't quite happy so far and I ended up never owning his Strat sets.

 

[vjm]

Re: Antiquity i or ii vs Fralin Vintage Hot vs Lollar Dirty Blonde

Out of the surfers and Texas hots which do you prefer and why?

A neck change is not going to happen. I love the v profile maple neck with vintage radius, one of the main selling points for the 57 reissue, I love playing it. I have one more strat, a US standard with Fat 50s and rosewood fingerboard. I agree it sounds a little warmer and really like everything about that guitar, completely stock. It sounds more to my liking through the same amps than the 57 reissue, slightly more output, slightly thicker and also better clarity - like there is a light blanket over the reissues pickups, especially in the neck. So I guess I am looking for for a balanced pickup set with better clarity in the neck, slightly fatter bridge tone, more quack/cluck in positions 2&4 and would complement a maple necked, slightly brighter strat. And can support playing blues, overdriven classic rock and has great stratty cleans. Not asking for much huh?!

Gun to head if I had to choose. I would choose the Texas Hots..... Or could do Surfers neck & middle and Texas Hot bridge. That would give you more the stratty cleans and thicker bridge.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Antiquity i or ii vs Fralin Vintage Hot vs Lollar Dirty Blonde

Spec-wise - the Lollar Dirty Blondes with the special "S Bridge" is nearly identical to the Antiquity I Texas Hots

i havent heard all these pups in the same guitar or side by side but ive heard them all at one point or another. i dont recall what the specs were on the blondes but i dont think they sounded much like the texas hots. brighter, thinner and cleaner than the texas hots. i would have guessed they are underwound compared to the antiquitys.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Antiquity i or ii vs Fralin Vintage Hot vs Lollar Dirty Blonde

My MIM Classic Player Fifties Stratocaster has the SD Antiquity Texas Hot bridge position pickup and two Fender Tex-Mex units. DiMarzio Pro Parts volume pot, push-pull neck PU tone pot (seven sounds mod.), Fender No-Load middle/bridge PU tone pot.

 

[JimmyO]

Re: Antiquity i or ii vs Fralin Vintage Hot vs Lollar Dirty Blonde

Gun to head if I had to choose. I would choose the Texas Hots..... Or could do Surfers neck & middle and Texas Hot bridge. That would give you more the stratty cleans and thicker bridge.

Something I see on forums is folks really liking the Texas hot bridge, and also liking the Surfer middle and neck matched with a thicker bridge. (I also see a lot of love for the complete matched sets of both pickups too).

Would putting a Texas hot in the bridge and Surfers in the neck and middle give me a balanced and versatile vintage best of the 50s &60s kind of tone? Or should I stick to a complete set of either surfers or Texas hots, with each respective custom bridge. If mixing sets should I reverse the wiring on the bridge pickup to get them to play nice together? And would position 2 still be hum cancelling and get good quack?

 

[jeremy]

Re: Antiquity i or ii vs Fralin Vintage Hot vs Lollar Dirty Blonde

the surfers sound like early 60's strat pups. the texas hots dont sound like anything fender put in a guitar but they are great pups.

if you mix and match youll have to swap wires and position i believe but youll still get hum cancelling in 2 & 4 and everything will be in phase