Fender Elite Strat pups: Any info resources?

[Tony_H]

Hi folks,
I just got a new toy. It's a used Schecter mahogany strat-style with a Floyd Rose and the Fender Elite Stratocaster pickups in the neck and middle slots. I have no insight on the pups except for what's written in the book titled "The Fender Stratocaster" by A. R. Duchossoir, and that's pretty brief.

Do any of you know where to gain more info?

On a first impression basis, the pups are nothing spectacular. Duchossoir writes they were equipped with weaker Alnico magnets because they were intended for use with active circuitry. I replaced the neck pup with a Cool Rails but it's not what I had hoped for, so I'm going to replace the CR with a JB Jr. for a little more juice. But I'm keeping the middle pickup in. I am also going to try the neck pup in another guitar to see what it can do.

Anyway, if you can share any tips as to where to go on the net in search of more info on the Elite pups, please do.
Thanks
Tony

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: Fender Elite Strat pups: Any info resources?

I was under the impression that the Strat Elite and Tele Elite cam e with the same pickups and were wired with an active preamp. Tha't all I've heard about these.


Oh, that and that those guitars didn't sell too well. :blackeye:

 

[Tony_H]

Re: Fender Elite Strat pups: Any info resources?

I was under the impression that the Strat Elite and Tele Elite cam e with the same pickups and were wired with an active preamp. Tha't all I've heard about these.


Oh, that and that those guitars didn't sell too well. :blackeye:

That's right. I did some web search for the Elite Strat and found that Ty Tabor of King's X used an Elite Strat a lot during the band's early days, but not much info on the actual pickups.
I'm not that impressed with them, but I have to say that the one I left in the middle slot sounds better than the Cool Rails when split. I installed a push/pull pot to split the neck and bridge pups for hum-canceling combos with the mid pup, but the sound is, um, uninspiring. The mid pup alone is decent though.

 

[Skarekrough]

Re: Fender Elite Strat pups: Any info resources?

I was under the impression that the Strat Elite and Tele Elite cam e with the same pickups and were wired with an active preamp. Tha't all I've heard about these.


Oh, that and that those guitars didn't sell too well. :blackeye:

The Elite series came out in the early 80's just before Fender was sold by CBS. The "Smith" Strats (named after Dan Smith, still with Fender) were the real gems of the line and they knew that and followed the lead. Fenders basic plan from the new owners was to scale back operations as much as possible to the very basics and make very few different models but boost QC. Fender was also under very heavy fire from the Fender Japan; they were just outdoing Fender USA in QC. If the Elites didn't sell well it was due to them not being out there for terribly long and Fenders reputation at the time being pretty ugly. This era also saw the axing (no pun intended) of the Performer and the Katana; innovative guitars from the Japan line but suffered from being non-traditional.

The Elite pickups I believe were based on the Lace Sensors. The evolution of the Clapton Signature Strat began when they gave him a Strat with the guts of an Elite as a prototype. He liked the pickups enough to keep them on for the first incarnation of his Signature model. The Lace Sensors were also present on the "Plus" line of Strats, Teles and the Jeff Beck Signature model.

They're not bad pickups; I had a Performer a long while ago and currently own a Clapton Strat (Lace Sensor mdoel, not the Vintage Noiseless model). They're good for alot of different applications but suffer, in my ears, from not having that true 100% authentic sound. Ty Tabor seems to do well with them and high-gain applications are especially what they seem to be suited to (Clapton seemed to discover Soldanos around the same time as the Laces...go fig).

 

[Tony_H]

Re: Fender Elite Strat pups: Any info resources?

One of the obvious reasony why the Elite pups in my guitar don't sound like Strat pups should (or like I feel Strat pups should) is that the guitar is all made of mahogany, and that makes it respond totally differently from an alder or ash-bodied guitar with a maple neck. I seem to forgot that sometimes when a/b-ing with my testbed alder/maple+RW strat-style.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Fender Elite Strat pups: Any info resources?

About half the time I run across an Elite, the pickups have been scrapped and replaced. They have a pretty poor reputation, and were pretty ugly as well...even the knobs.

 

[Tony_H]

Re: Fender Elite Strat pups: Any info resources?

About half the time I run across an Elite, the pickups have been scrapped and replaced. They have a pretty poor reputation, and were pretty ugly as well...even the knobs.

Yes - replacing those pups was the first idea on my mind after I first played the guitar. I may try one of them on my testbed Strat-style just to see how they perform in another guitar.