The Samarium Cobalts in my Strat must die

[che_guitarra]

I made a very silly decision a few years ago. I have a '92 American Standard Strat i've owned since new, and it is THE guitar by which I judge all others.

Anyway - I got the idea that I needed to go noiseless (for recording purposes), so I ditched the factory pickups and installed some Fender Samarium Cobalts. While they aren't bad pickups by any measure, the sound has never really pushed my buttons. Sure, they're noise free, but the tone is a bit sterile and lacking that indefinable mojo it once had.

I'm into SRV, Dick Dale, Danny Gatton, Chet Atkins, Brian Setzer, Jimi Hendrix among countless others... I guess you could say I like my strats with a nice surfy jangle, but it's also gotta hold it's own when I blast out rockabilly, texas blues or bit of Jimi.

I've never been disappointed with GFS pickups, so i'm leaning toward some GFS 64' grey bottoms... but i'm open to suggestions. I'd prefer to find non-staggered options to suit my guitar's flatter radius.

At the end of the day i'm not fussy about pickup brands or price or where they're made - tone is tone, and I just want the magic back in my #1 guitar.

Any suggestions?

 

[marcello252]

Re: The Samarium Cobalts in my Strat must die

SD SSL2 would be my first choice if you want to stay tight on budget still you want an excellent product, if you like GFS I'd choose the 70s greybottom, I have a set and they're good.

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: The Samarium Cobalts in my Strat must die

I had the first series noiseless(I called them Toneless)pickups in my 99 American Deluxe and I hated them! Your series is supposed to be better..I replaced them with Antiquity Surfers...I just don't care for "noiseless" type pickups,in that they seem to hi fi sounding to my ears.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: The Samarium Cobalts in my Strat must die

My preferred solution is traditional single coils for the tone and a single-ended noise reduction pedal to deal with the interference.

 

[che_guitarra]

Re: The Samarium Cobalts in my Strat must die

It was my own fault - I bought the SCN's on Ebay on the back of great reviews at the time. I've given myself 5 years to warm to them, but the noiseless gimmick has never really been of benefit, so i'm on a quest to get my old chime and jangle back. My #1 needs a sound as pretty as it looks:

Has anyone ever tried the GFS '59 or '63 Strat pickups? I can't lie - i'm most interested in GFS pickups. I've tried all the main p/u makers over the years, but my two favourite tone weapons have GFS p/u's installed (Flying V with Mean 90s, Fender Strat with Crunchy PAT and Dream 180)... add a good-to-go 60s Strat sound and i'll be in heaven.

Here's a quick shot of my GFS Strat p/u's - my V is in pieces as i've killed off a volume pot and waiting for a custom pickguard to arrive off Ebay:

 

[marcello252]

Re: The Samarium Cobalts in my Strat must die

I have good experience with gfs too, but if you want the non staggered version I think you have to choose the 70s grey, they're the only one. In my opinion the best sounding gfs pickup are the single coil, I think with the 64 set you can't be wrong. Due to the fact you have a maple neck I'd choose a little warmer pickups, the texas set for example

 

[LtKojak]

Re: The Samarium Cobalts in my Strat must die

The difference between the asian and the american SCs is smaller than with humbuckers; you can actually get some nice sounding p'ups for almost next to nothing.

I don't have as much experience with SCs as I have with Hbs, but I've never had any complaints using StewMac's Golden Age Single Coil series.

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Electro.../Golden_Age_Alnico_5_Single-coil_Pickups.html

The #5425 set sounds stellar, considering the price.

HTH,

 

[marcello252]

Re: The Samarium Cobalts in my Strat must die

Che_guitarra, I see you took out your tone control too, so I'm not the only one doing this thing

http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l169/marcello252/Chitarre/2012-02-04161057.jpg

 

[loudriver23]

Re: The Samarium Cobalts in my Strat must die

My preferred solution is traditional single coils for the tone and a single-ended noise reduction pedal to deal with the interference.

I've had good luck with this approach.

 

[che_guitarra]

Re: The Samarium Cobalts in my Strat must die

Yeah Marcello - I hated the volume control so close to the e-string, and I prefer 1 x tone 1 x volume in general I've just converted my flying V to this layout too.

 

[marcello252]

Re: The Samarium Cobalts in my Strat must die

same for me, I always hit the volume pot in standard strat position, I've notice the best place for the vol is along the line of original pots at the height of the bridge humbucker backside

 

[che_guitarra]

Re: The Samarium Cobalts in my Strat must die

I've ended up going with the 63 Pro Series GFS pickups. I guess time will tell if i've made the right choice.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: The Samarium Cobalts in my Strat must die

Regarding the positioning of the volume control on a Stratocaster.

Try playing fingerstyle on a Telecaster with the vintage style, stamped steel bridge. A couple of fingernail impacts against the raised steel lip and you will soon learn to control your hand movements.

 

[marcello252]

Re: The Samarium Cobalts in my Strat must die

Try playing fingerstyle on a Telecaster with the vintage style, stamped steel bridge. A couple of fingernail impacts against the raised steel lip and you will soon learn to control your hand movements.

That's one of the reasons why I don't use telecaster vintage bridge, even in my telecaster (I switched to the plain six saddles version)

 

[MisterE]

Re: The Samarium Cobalts in my Strat must die

I have the GFS 64 grey bottom staggers in my bullet and I love them. IMO the bridge pup is very usable compared to the 57/62.

And cheap to boot, they're staying there.