In praise of the humble SSL1 set

fenderiarhs

New member
I've played lots of guitars, and lots of pickups over the years. Tried fender 57/62, cs69, cs54, texas specials, fat50s, fralins VH, various dimarzios, and have narrowed it down to 3 strats, one with an ssl5/ssl1/ssl1 combo, one with the emg dg20 set, and one with the fralin VH set. While i loved the fralins, i could not forget how another guitar i used to own sounded with the full ssl1 set, how faithful to that 50's strat sound they were, and while the fralins were awesome strat pickups with enough quack, i had the sensation that the ssl1 set had better quack than the fralins.

Tbh, common sense dictated to stay with the fralins. I already own one guitar that has a pair of ssl1 with an ssl5 in the bridge, so why swap the fralins and go again the ssl1 route? On the other hand, while a big fan of the ssl5, it 's not the same with the full ssl1 set when you want some quack in the 2 pos.

While browsing the local adds, i came aross a californian 50's set boxed for 100€. The dices were loaded. Out go the fralins, duncans fitted to my fender classic player 60's. OMG.........THAT sound......stratiness galore, bell like tone, more treble than the fralins but nice and sweet treble, and quack quack quack and then some more quack.

If Leo lived he should impose by law the SSL1 set on all strats alive.:laugh2::laugh2::laugh2::laugh2:

So, to all strat lovers out there in search for the archetypal vintage strat sound, lost in the labyrinth of custom wound, boutique, wizard-touched pickups, there's a pickup set out there with much humbler origins, that sounds 10 times better than other pickups that cost sometimes twice as much:
Duncan ssl1s i love you!!!! :kabong::kabong::kabong::kabong::kabong::kabong::kabong::thanks::thanks::thanks::thanks:
 
Re: In praise of the humble SSL1 set

Great Strat pickups.

I use Antiquity Surfers and Fralin Vintage Hots myself, but I put SSL1’s in my buddy’s Jimmie Vaughan Strat and really, the SSL1’s hang right in there with them.

They’re not second best. They’re just a very slightly different flavor of the same greatness.
 
Re: In praise of the humble SSL1 set

I always say it, they are looked at as “just” the Duncan strat set, but they are so good!
 
Re: In praise of the humble SSL1 set

Just because they are so common, doesn't mean that they aren't worthy of praise. If you love traditional 50s Strat sounds, pretty much every other choice is a worse one.
 
Re: In praise of the humble SSL1 set

I went with Fralin vintage hot in the neck, SSL-1 mid and SSL-5 in the bridge of my 76 Strat and couldn't be happier!
 
Re: In praise of the humble SSL1 set

I have them in series in my pawn shop mustang. SSL1s in the neck and SSL4 and 5 in the bridge. It's hot skanky tone!

Pawn shop Mustang.jpg
 
Re: In praise of the humble SSL1 set

Yes, they're great pickups. Though they don't do that well with guitars with strong, dark overall tone in my experience...
 
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