Neeed a Good Vintage Style PUP!!!

[Quencho092]

I recently purchased a 50th Anniversary Deluxe Strat ($1000+ at Guitar Center) It plays great, but i figured that if i was going to have a high end guitar, i might as well make it sound as good as possible. I play in a classic metal cover band(early Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Ozzy, Early Metallica etc.) but do not want to buy EMG's or some other one trick pony pickup. I just need something that sounds incredible clean,and could handle distortion but maintain its tone. Sort of like the glazed leads of early Iron Maiden and Killers that aren't that saturated, but shine through a light amont of distortion. I don't want hum cancellation, as tone is more important to me than a little inconvenience that could be solved by a good star grounding job. Which PUP in the Seymour Duncan line up matches up to these needs? I want the best pickup possible. Clean is more important to me than distortion as im getting into more blues and jazz.

 

[Quencho092]

Re: Neeed a Good Vintage Style PUP!!!

Oh and by the way, no noise cancellation stuff or double coils. I prefer the pure Strat tone than humbucker wanna be tone. If I wanted the tone of a Humbucker I would have purchased an LP.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Neeed a Good Vintage Style PUP!!!

SSL-1, or even better, Antiquity II Surfers. Lew

 

[theodie]

Re: Neeed a Good Vintage Style PUP!!!

I know you said you do not want hum canceling. You also want a very versitle pickup.
As far as I am concerened the Bill Lawrence L-280s (Billlawrence.com) set is the best thing going. I know they are not Duncans but, They will do everything and do it very well. Better than most if not all single coil sized pickups. They are stacked humbuckers though. They have a strat sound though. That is when you want it. It can also pull off classic rock very well. Humbucker type stuff, and sound very authentic doing it. Go to harmonycentral.com and check it out.

 

[Maggot]

Re: Neeed a Good Vintage Style PUP!!!

Give the Bill Lawrence-designed pickups that are on the guitar a try before you decide to replace. They're supposed to be great. They are hum-cancelling, but certainly not humbucker sounding.

If you're going replace, I'd go for Lindy Fralin high-output strat pickups. They're not as high output as the name would suggest - just a good strong neck and middle strat pickup with a slightly middier bridge pickup. They sounded very clear and rocking. I have a clip of them up on "Tips and Clips."

I'm sure the SDs are also great but I haven't tried any of the models you mentioned. The Quarter Pounders are also supposed to sound pretty stratty, but do metal sounds well.

 

[theodie]

Re: Neeed a Good Vintage Style PUP!!!

Quencho092, If you are looking to replace the pickups in your 50th anniversary I would like to get those pickups off of you.

 

[59paul]

Re: Neeed a Good Vintage Style PUP!!!

Another vote for the SSL-1's or Antiquity's.......................

 

[Quencho092]

Re: Neeed a Good Vintage Style PUP!!!

well the pickups on the guitar are called samarium cobalt noiseless and they sound pretty good, but I was looking for a more raw open single coil sound. The SCN's are nice, but like i said, i hate noiseless. And Theodie, i may take you up on that offer.

 

[Quencho092]

Re: Neeed a Good Vintage Style PUP!!!

Are the Antiquities really good bang for the buck? i hear theyre pricey

 

[italic zero]

Re: Neeed a Good Vintage Style PUP!!!

They're about $70 a piece but I've never heard anything bad about them. Hell, I've never heard anyone say anything besides outstanding.

 

[59paul]

Re: Neeed a Good Vintage Style PUP!!!

Well...according to Lew, Stratdeluxer97, Midnite-Man, Curly, Texasguitarslinger, and most of the other Strat -masters on the Forum, ...yeah !!!

Don't take my word for it, I'm just a Les Paul guy that kills every Strat he touches lol. :smack:

The guys to ask are the one's mentioned above, and a whole bunch more on here. .................

 

[Quencho092]

Re: Neeed a Good Vintage Style PUP!!!

i was recommended the nashville ssl-52's by Seymour Duncan. I received an e-mail from them, and they suggested that the 52's were exactly the tone i was looking for. They are also the most expensive single coil non-cancelling pickups Seymour has to offer. All i know about them is that they have 3 poles with alnico 5 and 3 poles with alnico 2 magnets. I presume alnico 2's are softer, smoother sounding, 5's being brighter? Anyone tried these before?
'

 

[Quencho092]

Re: Neeed a Good Vintage Style PUP!!!

believe it or not, i am an LP/ Humbucker convert. I owned a semi cheap Epiphone LesPaul and fitted it with gibson 498T and 496R Humbuckers. I also owned an Ibanez GAX 70 (2 humbuckers) and used that as my super heavy rock guitar- gibson 500T humbucker in the bridge. I eventually got tired of the humbucker tone- i guess it wasn't open and expressive enough. On clean, my other guitars sounded a tad generic and too bassy, not enough definition. Finally after saving over 1000 bucks, i just went all the way and bought the Deluxe american 50th Ann strat. Heck if yngwie could use a strat for metal, then strats could be used for anything with the proper pickups. Now my musical tastes have matured so to speak, and i prefer a refined tone that has that strat quack to play blues and classic rock riffs instead of shred solos.

 

[Curly]

Re: Neeed a Good Vintage Style PUP!!!

Quench,
welcome to the forum ...
we certainly hope you can quench your thirst for good tone here!

anyway, there's a lot of good info in the Vintage strat pickup reviews over in the vault

that should give you a really good idea of the best choices from players' perspectives

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: Neeed a Good Vintage Style PUP!!!

Well...according to Lew, Stratdeluxer97, Midnite-Man, Curly, Texasguitarslinger, and most of the other Strat -masters on the Forum, ...yeah !!!

Don't take my word for it, I'm just a Les Paul guy that kills every Strat he touches lol. :smack:

The guys to ask are the one's mentioned above, and a whole bunch more on here. .................

In this order...The Antiquity Texas Hots(Haven't tryed the other Antiquity yet)

SSL1 or SSL2s
APS1 or APS2s...

I'm with brother 59Paul on this topic.. :wink:

John

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Neeed a Good Vintage Style PUP!!!

Someone else here has got to try the Antiquity II Surfers!

They are my favorite Strat pickups I have ever owned, including the pickups in my '63 Strat that I have owned for almost 30 years now. Get some!

Lew

 

[Quencho092]

Re: Neeed a Good Vintage Style PUP!!!

i hear the Surfers get alot of hum, so much that you cant play with high gain. Would a good shielding and star grounding job reduce this enough, or is it just a lost cause. They are my top pick as of now, im taking lew's advice here. They are advertised as 60's pickups, and thats what im looking for- a good vintage/classic rock tone. But they gotta be able to handle a little gain to play some metal styles. Ill be doing the grounding job at www.guitarnuts.com the quieting the beast article. Its 20 steps, but everyone says it well worth it. By the way, are the surfers as smooth as
SSL-1's? Would an Surfers be good in neck, with Surfers in mid, and a texas custom in bridge? Thats my current picture of what I would want to get based on my tone and everyones' advice.