David Gilmour Pickups on Clapton Strat

[theWalrus]

Hi all and Hi Seymour,

First post. I'm about to get a Clapton Strat, which I prefer for several reasons, and I'm thinking of replacing the stock noiseless pickups with David Gilmour's black strat's:

Seymour Duncan SSL-5 (Bridge)
Fender Custom Shop '69 (Middle)
Fender Custom Shop Fat '50s (Neck)

Can I just get these and ask my tech to replace the pickups (while keeping the original Clapton circuitry)? As far as I know the mid-boost knob is operational all the time in the Clapton Strat and there's a battery that runs the boost circuitry. I'm just thinking there may be compatibility issues related to a clash of active/passive pickup configurations. Is that the case?

If you happen to know if that would work, or how to make it work, please drop me a line.

 

[LReese]

Re: David Gilmour Pickups on Clapton Strat

Should work OK - Only side effect would be the pickup of 60HZ hum as would normally would occur.

If you had the scratch ($$), investing in an Ilitch backplate would cut the noise. level.

 

[jumble jumble]

Re: David Gilmour Pickups on Clapton Strat

As a big Gilmour fan I'd like to say DON'T get the Fat 50s neck. I put one in my Strat and it was on eBay the next day. Go for another CS69, it's way, way nicer and you'll get more classic Gilmour tones from it too.

 

[theWalrus]

Re: David Gilmour Pickups on Clapton Strat

Should work OK - Only side effect would be the pickup of 60HZ hum as would normally would occur.

If you had the scratch ($$), investing in an Ilitch backplate would cut the noise. level.

Hi, thanks for the reply.

A similar option seems to be these: Suhr BPSSC pickup system. Found it 4 cents cheaper. But I don't know if this is all worth the money. The alternative option seems to be a noise suppressor pedal, like the Rocktron Hush Pedal (video demo).

Best regards

 

[Miget Kotla]

Re: David Gilmour Pickups on Clapton Strat

I jam with a guy who also has the EC signature guitar and noticed a big change in his tone after he spent about a month of full time playing and going through all the possibilities. Huge improvement in tone and sounds like a different guitar. Since you are getting the EC signature, I'd give it a shot for a while and then decide later whether you want to make the change. We play some Gilmore tunes and the EC does very well.

 

[theWalrus]

Re: David Gilmour Pickups on Clapton Strat

As a big Gilmour fan I'd like to say DON'T get the Fat 50s neck. I put one in my Strat and it was on eBay the next day. Go for another CS69, it's way, way nicer and you'll get more classic Gilmour tones from it too.

The signature Clapton strat has this neck spec: Soft "V" shape with 9.5-inch radius. What's the radius of a fat 50's neck? I'm not sure this and the 50's neck profile you're referring to are the same.

I also play a Gibson ES-355 and a J200. I love the Gibson fat necks. Not sure how it's going to work out with this Fender guitar.

 

[theWalrus]

Re: David Gilmour Pickups on Clapton Strat

I jam with a guy who also has the EC signature guitar and noticed a big change in his tone after he spent about a month of full time playing and going through all the possibilities. Huge improvement in tone and sounds like a different guitar. Since you are getting the EC signature, I'd give it a shot for a while and then decide later whether you want to make the change. We play some Gilmore tunes and the EC does very well.

There's wisdom in your words. Circumventing the hum may not be worth the investment. Probably worth to try the stock noiseless ones for a while and let the ears tell me if they are good enough for the tone I'm seeking.

 

[Grenade]

Re: David Gilmour Pickups on Clapton Strat

You could play Sunshine on your Moon.:18:

 

[theWalrus]

Re: David Gilmour Pickups on Clapton Strat

The signature Clapton strat has this neck spec: Soft "V" shape with 9.5-inch radius. What's the radius of a fat 50's neck? I'm not sure this and the 50's neck profile you're referring to are the same.

I also play a Gibson ES-355 and a J200. I love the Gibson fat necks. Not sure how it's going to work out with this Fender guitar.

Haha. Completely misunderstood you. You're talking about the neck pickups.

 

[theWalrus]

Re: David Gilmour Pickups on Clapton Strat

You could play Sunshine on your Moon.:18:

Good idea. They are among my favorite players.

The guitar model choice is because it's thousands cheaper, has a non-sticky satin neck, blocked tremolo for best sustain, it's made in the US, and it's lighter.

I love about Gilmour's tone, so the pickups would help, but I don't want the hum. I already have the Hiwatt and the pedals, so it will probably be close.

 

[Scatterwound]

Re: David Gilmour Pickups on Clapton Strat

Technically it will work....How will it sound that's another thing....My strat has evolved over the years...

Originally - 3 gold lace sensor pickups (no active circuitry at all)

Then installed the - EC midboost kit

Then had Original Paralell Axis (bridge); Cool Rails (mid); 59 humbucker (neck) - With the EC circuitry. I could not get a "clean" sound out of it...Had to roll the vol. down to get it clean. But the sound did work...When distorted it gave a monsterous powerful sound...Not strat like...But no real issues at all..

Then got rid of PA/CR/59 and installed Fender Noiseless and that is where I am now...

 

[theWalrus]

Re: David Gilmour Pickups on Clapton Strat

I could not get a "clean" sound out of it...Had to roll the vol. down to get it clean. But the sound did work...When distorted it gave a monsterous powerful sound...Not strat like...But no real issues at all..

Then got rid of PA/CR/59 and installed Fender Noiseless and that is where I am now...

The distortion control has a lot to do with amp choice: not sure what kind of amp you use. If it's a Fender, you can get some breakup with the 25dB boost from EC circuitry.

My personal tone preference is a "cranked" Hiwatt with guitar volume at only 3. And I say "cranked", because if you really crank it, 3 is already loud... with humbuckers. Let's see how it will work out with the strat.

How do you like your Fender Noiseless pickups?

 

[jumble jumble]

Re: David Gilmour Pickups on Clapton Strat

Good idea. They are among my favorite players.

The guitar model choice is because it's thousands cheaper, has a non-sticky satin neck, blocked tremolo for best sustain, it's made in the US, and it's lighter.

I love about Gilmour's tone, so the pickups would help, but I don't want the hum. I already have the Hiwatt and the pedals, so it will probably be close.

Well, in my black Gilmour-ripoff Strat, I have two STK-S4s and an STK-S6. The S4's are the classic stack plus, similar in tone to an SSL-1 or a CS69, and the S6 is the custom, very similar to the famous SSL-5. They are hum-free and I can still totally nail the Gilmour tones when I want to.

I'm just trying to find some demos I might have...





OK so I haven't spent weeks dialling in the exact tones there, and they're all with the bridge pickup. But might be useful.

 

[theWalrus]

Re: David Gilmour Pickups on Clapton Strat

Well, in my black Gilmour-ripoff Strat, I have two STK-S4s and an STK-S6. The S4's are the classic stack plus, similar in tone to an SSL-1 or a CS69, and the S6 is the custom, very similar to the famous SSL-5. They are hum-free and I can still totally nail the Gilmour tones when I want to.

OK so I haven't spent weeks dialling in the exact tones there, and they're all with the bridge pickup. But might be useful.

Nice playing and thank you for the suggestions. From what I read above, it sounds like it's compatible with the EC mid-boost and it's a simple pickup replacement any guitar tech could do.

 

[uOpt]

Re: David Gilmour Pickups on Clapton Strat

Nice playing, man! Is any of that on the neck pickup?

 

[Scatterwound]

Re: David Gilmour Pickups on Clapton Strat

The distortion control has a lot to do with amp choice: not sure what kind of amp you use. If it's a Fender, you can get some breakup with the 25dB boost from EC circuitry.

My personal tone preference is a "cranked" Hiwatt with guitar volume at only 3. And I say "cranked", because if you really crank it, 3 is already loud... with humbuckers. Let's see how it will work out with the strat.

How do you like your Fender Noiseless pickups?

I agree that the amp has a lot to do with distortion control....I think at the time I did have a Fender amp......I got a distorted sound on the clean channel even with the midboost all the way down with my previous pickup setup...


I like the Fender noiseless....I changed back to SCs cuz I wanted my Strat to get back to sounding like a strat...And I wanted something noise cancelling...But I never cared much for the Gold Lace sensors....With the Fender Noiseless I can get good cleans and nice drive when I dial up the EC....I know Fender has 'hot' noiseless too...Mine are not the 'hot'...Read a review of a guy that put the 'hots' in his strat with the EC and it did not work well...Distorted too easily....Perhaps with the EC midboost one should not have high output pickups to being with? Just a thought not a conclusion...

 

[theWalrus]

Re: David Gilmour Pickups on Clapton Strat

Perhaps with the EC midboost one should not have high output pickups to being with? Just a thought not a conclusion...

Depends on the amp, I think. If you have a clean amp with lots of headroom, it shouldn't break up easily. With an overdrive in front, maybe yes: but it depends on the specific equipment.

I think I'm gonna go bananas and just do the old school pickup configuration and add a back-plate to cancel the hum. And if that doesn't work, I'll throw in a noise supressor pedal. Not the end of the world. End of the day I only wanna blame myself if it doesn't sound as good as I wished. Will cost me some, but if I add it all up, you can't even get a Gibson. So, it's worth a shot for a cool tone.

Thanks guys

 

[GilmourD]

Re: David Gilmour Pickups on Clapton Strat

Hi all and Hi Seymour,

First post. I'm about to get a Clapton Strat, which I prefer for several reasons, and I'm thinking of replacing the stock noiseless pickups with David Gilmour's black strat's:

Seymour Duncan SSL-5 (Bridge)
Fender Custom Shop '69 (Middle)
Fender Custom Shop Fat '50s (Neck)

Can I just get these and ask my tech to replace the pickups (while keeping the original Clapton circuitry)? As far as I know the mid-boost knob is operational all the time in the Clapton Strat and there's a battery that runs the boost circuitry. I'm just thinking there may be compatibility issues related to a clash of active/passive pickup configurations. Is that the case?

If you happen to know if that would work, or how to make it work, please drop me a line.

It'll work just fine since the pickups you'd be replacing (the Fender Vintage Noiseless) are actually passive themselves. It's the midboost that's active.

The problem you're going to run into is that the midboost will make 60Hz hum EXTRAORDINARILY loud. I put one in my old black Strat with a Fender VN in the neck, Lace Sensor Gold in the middle, and a Duncan APS-1 in the bridge. The APS-1 was fairly quiet before but now the 60Hz hum is crazy when I actually turn up the boost. I'm actually replacing it with a DiMarzio Area '61, which should ship in two days.

If I were you, I'd go with something noiseless. Duncan has a noiseless equivalent to the SSL-5.

The Vintage Noiseless probably wouldn't be very far off from the Fat '50s. You could also go with this little dealy from Duncan.

The closest noiseless pickup I can think of to the Fender CS '69 is the Dimarzio Area '67. I've got two of them in my orange Strat and love them. They sound so close to the real Fender Greybottom that I have it's ridiculous.

 

[GilmourD]

Re: David Gilmour Pickups on Clapton Strat

OK so I haven't spent weeks dialling in the exact tones there, and they're all with the bridge pickup. But might be useful.

Pretty close. I'd dial back the treble and bump the mids a tad and you'll be just about there.

This is what I got with the set of GFS Greybottom Texas Staggered pickups I put in my Gilmour Black Strat, just to give you an idea.

http://www.geargeek.net/media/gilmouresque.mp3

It's a bit sloppy, but that's because I'm finding I'm really actually not comfortable with the neck I put on it and my fingers kept getting away from me at certain points. The radius is too flat. I need to find something with a rounder fretboard and a chunkier back profile.

 

[theWalrus]

Re: David Gilmour Pickups on Clapton Strat

Pretty close. I'd dial back the treble and bump the mids a tad and you'll be just about there.

The problem you're going to run into is that the midboost will make 60Hz hum EXTRAORDINARILY loud.

Thanks man. You helped me re-think a little bit. Yes, it makes perfect sense the 25dB midboost will make the hum pretty loud. I've just ordered these:

Classic Stack Plus (STK-S4) neck
Classic Stack Plus (STK-S4) middle
Custom Stack Plus (STK-S6) bridge

Bundled the order and went hunting for coupons; got a deal. Seymour you're very welcome.