The Greatest Strat pickups EVER??

[Gearjoneser]

Re: The Greatest Strat pickups EVER??

Just a note to the guys that asked about SRV tone Vs. Hendrix tone.

Texas Specials DON'T sound like SRV, but the Fender CS Fat 50's do. I like'em.

The Surfers into an EL-34 amp will get you as close to Hendrix as your fingers will allow.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: The Greatest Strat pickups EVER??

One is an alder MIM with Kinman Traditionals which are quite outstanding.

Another is an American Deluxe also in alder with the stock Vintage Noiseless. Many people knock these pickups, but they work for me.

The third Strat is a CIJ in natural ash that has become something of a project Strat to find the right pup combo. Right now it has a set of Delta Tones from a MIA Strat. OK, but nothing special.

How does an ash body affect the recommendations made in the preceding posts?

Keep the Kinmans for sure!

I'd sell the vintage noiseless in the Am Deluxe, and use that strat as the guitar for your new Ant II Surfers.

Ash tends to be bright and lacks midrange, so I think I'd turn that strat into your H-S-S strat, using a CC or C-5 tremspaced bridge and either AP-1's or Texas Hots for your neck and middle. Try to counterbalance the brightness with a humbucker and woodier sounding singles.

 

[iDunnoMang]

Re: The Greatest Strat pickups EVER??

Fralin Vintage Hots


Fralin! they are THE best, hands down, in my honest opinion. You want tone, you want Fralin. These are going on my new strat sometime. maybe blues fralins.

 

[That90'sGuy]

Re: The Greatest Strat pickups EVER??

Seymour Duncans are great pickups, I've always like the Antiquities and I like some of their humbuckers, like the JB.

With that said, by far the BEST pickups I have EVER played for a strat are Wagner Custom Rewinds "SR" single coils. I love them so much I have them in both my G&L and Grosh. There's nothing that has ever come close. Not Kinman, not Fralin (tried both vintage hots and blues specials, neither had that "alive" response or bloom), not G&L, or Fender's stuff (although one of those rare Abby masterwound sets look amazing), or Dimarzio (tried the virtual vintage series and disliked them) or Duncan.

They are just the epitome of what I can imagine a great vintage strat pickup sounding like. It's got a little more power/output than a vintage pickup. Woodiness, chime, jangle, rich sustain, "flutey" type tones... it's all in there. The pickups are insanely versatile. The bridge growls like a p90 and with the tone rolled back a bit, it replicates a humbucker pretty well. Jimi and SRV are nailed flawlessly. Dire Straits, Big Star... it's all there and more...

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: The Greatest Strat pickups EVER??

I've seen those Wagners and also the Lollars, as well as Voodoo and Suhr "low peak" 60's pickups. Even though very few have the money to audition all those brands, I'm sure they're all pretty much in the same ballpark with Surfers. There's only so much that can be different in their tone, if they're all made basically the same with similar values. It would be so great to have 15 identical strats, all loaded with the best offering from every company and hear all the timbres and nuances between them.

 

[ZxCv]

Re: The Greatest Strat pickups EVER??

http://www.kinman.com/
The only thing you need for your strat.

 

[Imp]

Re: The Greatest Strat pickups EVER??

lol i dunno about the only thing... i love SD's singlecoils..

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: The Greatest Strat pickups EVER??

Everybody has thier favorites.

My favorites are:

Antiquity Surfers
Antiquity Surfer with Texas Hot Bridge pickup
Fralin Vintage Hots with Fralin Steel Pole 43 bridge pickup

That's it. Those three are my three favorite sets of Strat pickups I have ever owned and that includes the pickups in my original '54, '57 and '63 Strats.

As far as what set sounds the most like the pickups in my original '63, that would be a toss-up between the Van Zandt True Vintage, Duncan SSL-1's and Fralin 3% underwound Vintage Hots set. The Surfers should be included here too, but they seem just a little stronger than the others.

I'm a big fan of the SSL-1's...used them for years with a JB JR bridge pickup.

Lew

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: The Greatest Strat pickups EVER??

Everybody has thier favorites.

My favorites are:

Antiquity Surfers
Antiquity Surfer with Texas Hot Bridge pickup
Fralin Vintage Hots with Fralin Steel Pole 43 bridge pickup

That's it. Those three are my three favorite sets of Strat pickups I have ever owned and that includes the pickups in my original '54, '57 and '63 Strats.

As far as what set sounds the most like the pickups in my original '63, that would be a toss-up between the Van Zandt True Vintage, Duncan SSL-1's and Fralin 3% underwound Vintage Hots set. The Surfers should be included here too, but they seem just a little stronger than the others.

I'm a big fan of the SSL-1's...used them for years with a JB JR bridge pickup.

Lew

Absolute ditto on what Lew states....It's because of Lew that these pickups he mentions are all of my current favorites also...I own em all.... :dance:

 

[TheArchitect]

Re: The Greatest Strat pickups EVER??

The Fat 50's are pretty darn good. I use them in my MIA Maple board strat for snappier clean strat tones. I have the Antiq texas hots / Antiq custom in my Highway 1 Strat for the Darker bluesier tones and a Set of '59's and a Duncan vintage stack in the middle on a MIA RW board strat for the Scott Henderson vibe. Pretty much covers every base. Of course they must get in line behind the PRS' which are my numbers 1-4.

 

[Dangerine49]

Re: The Greatest Strat pickups EVER??

Ash tends to be bright and lacks midrange, so I think I'd turn that strat into your H-S-S strat, using a CC or C-5 tremspaced bridge and either AP-1's or Texas Hots for your neck and middle. Try to counterbalance the brightness with a humbucker and woodier sounding singles.

One minor detail: The ash Strat is routed S-S-S, so a full sized humbucker won't work for that Strat. Lil '59 or JB Jr. ?

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: The Greatest Strat pickups EVER??

One minor detail: The ash Strat is routed S-S-S, so a full sized humbucker won't work for that Strat. Lil '59 or JB Jr. ?

How about a Fralin Steel Pole 43 instead?

John

 

[stratobastard]

Re: The Greatest Strat pickups EVER??

bridge: lil screamin demon
middle: stock.........will eventually put a jbjr, little59, or duckbucker..or????
neck: dimarzio hs-3

say all the bad things you want about dimarzio, but this hs-3 sounds awesome in the neck position....high quality pots make a big difference also

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: The Greatest Strat pickups EVER??

Why is more said about Fralin Vintage Hots than the Blues Specials? Blues Specials are supposed to be hotter and warmer, so are we to suggest that Fralin Vintage Hots are closer to Duncan Surfers, while the Fralin Blues Specials are closer to Duncan Texas Hots?

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: The Greatest Strat pickups EVER??

Why is more said about Fralin Vintage Hots than the Blues Specials? Blues Specials are supposed to be hotter and warmer, so are we to suggest that Fralin Vintage Hots are closer to Duncan Surfers, while the Fralin Blues Specials are closer to Duncan Texas Hots?

I've used them all in the same Strat! Vintage Hots, Vintage Hots -3% underwound, Blues Specials, Blues Specials +3% overwound (with a JB humbucker bridge) and Texas Hots and Surfers.

My white Strat is my test bed Strat and the one that is always sitting out on a guitar stand and getting played.

Of the Fralins, I prefer the 3% underwound Vintage Hots (the Vintage Not So Hots? :laugh2: ) with a strong bridge pickup like the Fralin SP-43. I plan to try this set with a Duncan Texas Hot Custom bridge pickup very soon.

The Blues Specials use 42 ga wire with a thinner insulation so Lindy can get more turns of wire around the coils. They are not as glassy bright as the Vintage Hots and have more mids and bass.

But the Blues Specials are still full strength alnico 5 pickups and don't sound like the alnico 2 Antiquity Texas Hots. The mids are very differant, IMO.

The Texas Hots have very pronounced and plucky mids...kind of chewy like a caramel. The mids really stand out in a certain way that must be experienced to really know. It's not just MORE MIDS...they have a pluckier, chewier, "nurkier" sort of personality with the Texas Hots that's just really cool!

I thought the +3% overwound Blues Specials I used with a JB bridge humbucker were one of the best combos in a S/S/H Strat I've ever used...but that combo just isn't for me, and that guitar now has a full set of Antiquity Surfers in it and that's the best that Strat has ever sounded. I'm just not a big fan of S/S/H Strats...

Lew

 

[brinton]

Re: The Greatest Strat pickups EVER??

ok dudesies, what are the differences between the ssl-1's, surfers, and fralin vhots.

 

[flank]

Re: The Greatest Strat pickups EVER??

probably not a whole lot i would guess.......maybe different winding techniques, possibly different types of wire


this all seems like a vast amount of sounds and pickups.........but when it comes down to it, all these vintage styled strat pickup from duncan,fralin,fender are not THAT different from eachother......i found the CS69 to sound almost the same as the Duncan surfer.....and that doesnt mean the surfer is better, it was just a tad different sounding..........unfortunately neither was the sound im looking for

i guess im just sayin that these are all flavors of the same general pickup (vintage strat pickup, whether its A2 or A5 or w/e).........and with all the different setups,guitars,strings, picks that we all use, these opinions and findings are much less important and i guess in a sense "valid" than actually playing any of these pickups......you just gotta try one and see how it is i guess

theres only so much you can read

 

[BlueSnMettle]

Re: The Greatest Strat pickups EVER??

It's not just MORE MIDS...they have a pluckier, chewier, "nurkier" sort of personality with the Texas Hots that's just really cool!


Lew

LOL! :laugh2: :laugh2: :laugh2: . Couldn't find "nurkier" in my dictionary, Lew. :laugh2: :laugh2: :laugh2: I think that's why I like you, buddy. You're just plain out "nurky" yourself. And you know I mean that in a loving way :bigok:

Peace,

Darrin

 

[Falstaff]

Re: The Greatest Strat pickups EVER??

With that said, by far the BEST pickups I have EVER played for a strat are Wagner Custom Rewinds "SR" single coils. .

Wow, Chris, that's quite a review! I haven't read much about those PUs from people I didn't think had some sort of agenda, so thanks for posting that.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: The Greatest Strat pickups EVER??

LOL! :laugh2: :laugh2: :laugh2: . Couldn't find "nurkier" in my dictionary, Lew. :laugh2: :laugh2: :laugh2: I think that's why I like you, buddy. You're just plain out "nurky" yourself. And you know I mean that in a loving way :bigok:

Peace,

Darrin

Well..."nurky" is one of those descriptions where it helps to see the expression on the face of the guy doing the describing. :laugh2:

Kind of a "nurky" look...

My brother Bruce describes some speakers as sounding "thumby"...I know just what he means! It's kind of like "tubby" but not as...tubby.