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I recently acquired a Fender Strat in a game of chance...

Ian Martin

By Ian Martin
in The Gibson Lounge

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Ian Martin

Ian Martin

Posted
Posted

...and am disgusted by how incredibly crappy the pickups sound.

 

Two single coils (I'm presuming they're just the stock Mexican ones) and a Seymour Duncan humbucker in the bridge (I have no idea what model).

 

I'm pretty sure it's a Frankenstrat of sorts, it has a '50s Reissue neck with a yellow finish I've never seen before. White pearloid pickguard and the aforementioned humbucker.

 

I have not decided what role this guitar will play in my arsenal.

 

It may just be a guitar I use for studio use, or I may incorporate it into live stuff somehow (maybe as my slide guitar). My Gibbys are my main guitars for everything and the Strat will not replace them in any way, so I'm open to it being a unique guitar from the rest of my arsenal.

 

Either way, the pickups have to go. Anybody have any recommendations for some good sounding replacements? I can't really afford any high-priced "boutique" pickups that some Joe Blow makes in his basements that are "just like the old ones." It's probably gonna be something I'm going to pick up on eBay so I can save some cash. Something not necessarily "vintage-y" for the single coils but authentic Strat-sounding and for the bridge...I dunno...mebbe retrofit it back to 3 single coils.

 

Idears???

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Dynadude

Dynadude

Posted
Posted

There's a fella on eBay named Pete Biltoff that makes pickups, for a very reasonable price. He calls them Vintage Vibe, but he will build whatever you want for a really reasonable price.

 

I bought a few sets from him. Never had a complaint with prices or quality.

 

Or, you can buy take outs on eBay, and sometimes get them for a deal.

 

edit - My bad. He has his own site now. http://www.vintagevibeguitars.com/pickups.html

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Ian Martin

Ian Martin

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Fenders do suck. Sorry. I have a strat. For one' date=' to get rid of the white noise you always here, throw in some Lace Sensors. They're noiseless pickups, and they're what Claptons original signature model strat that was released had. [/quote']

 

Well, it's not that they inherently suck per say...they have their place in the guitar universe (albeit it is a limited place for me).

 

For me, nothing rivals Gibson. I think the problem with Fender is that they seem to focus too much on entry-level guitars that have questionable quality. They also don't have much personality...you play one, you've played 'em all.

 

I don't really mind using one on the side if it's just to get a specific Fender tone. I don't even mind the 60 cycle that much (though it is a little annoying live). This one's electronics just sound like garbage to me (maybe I'm just spoiled with my Gibsons).

 

Thanks for the recommendations guys, keep 'em coming!

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Riffster

Riffster

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Based on the lacquered neck it sounds like a 50's reissue retrofitted with a perloid guard and a humbucker. Is it a V profile neck then?

 

I love my American Strat clean but if I want to add anything to the sound I have to tweak a lot, the bridge pickup is weak in my opinion, I still love this guitar though it does ring and has the most comfortable huge neck.

 

Back to your guitar, if you don't want to invest a lot of cash on it check www.guitarfetish.com, they make a bunch of different pickups for a good price. The description they have on each pickup is very accurate. They also have all sort of hardware.

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deepblue

deepblue

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Anybody have any recommendations for some good sounding replacements?

 

Stephensdesign pickups.

I cant say enough good things about them. I use the 59's in my Strat.

Heres the link...Pricey, but the best.

Tell him Patrick sent you.

 

www.sdpickups.com

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Thundergod

Thundergod

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I am risking flames and lightning bolts here man... but I think you should try fender vintage noiseless pickups. They sound very good IMO.

 

I am kind of in the hunt for a strat (american standard... nothing fancy, as Tim said a while ago: just a standard strat) and the only one that I liked so far is a friends strat that was moded with those vintage niseless pickups.

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T50

T50

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I like strats a lot. I love the playability of strats.

I have a Deluxe Strat in mahogany/rose, and it plays so easy and effortlessly.

 

I do agree that most Gibson players won't be happy with the stock pickups

on strats. I changed mine with 2 SD humbuckers along with a new pickguard.

This is another plus for Strats: easy to modify!

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L5Larry

L5Larry

Posted
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Clapton strats are very nice. Kind of the best of both worlds with the TBX boost and the Gold Lace Sensor pickups. I have a 1995 EC Strat that has a great SG sound through a good tube amp. Take a look at Gold Lace Sensors and you may really like them.

 

I have two Strats set-up with the "Clapton" electronics package, and have built a couple for other people. Three gold Lace Sensors, TBX tone control and the 25dB mid-boost. This set-up gives you an incredible array of tone and sound possibilities. To retrofit this into an existing guitar it does take some routing of the body for you have to fit a circuit board and 9v battery in there somewhere. This can all be done under the pickguard, jackplate or spring cover, so as not to affect the "look" of the guitar.

 

I used to have to buy each part separately, but it's available as a package now at a much better price. The current Clapton model uses three Fender "Vintage Noisless" pickups, and I hear these are very good sounding and quiet pickups, and also available in a three-pack at a reasonable price.

 

The Lace sensors ARE still available as a Don Lace product. Don Lace and Fender ended their licensing agreement years ago, but Don is still making and selling them last time I checked.

 

To hear the potential of this setup, go to a local Fender dealer and play a "Clapton". I think you'll be amazed.

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elessar820

elessar820

Posted
Posted
but I think you should try fender vintage noiseless pickups. They sound very good IMO.

 

Vintage Noiseless are great pickups. I have the Hot Noiseless set in my Strat. I love those, I don't find them really too hot, just louder. I don't have to raise the volume on my amp when switching guitars. The Custom '69s are great pickups too, but too weak sounding for me and noisy.

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Space Pup

Space Pup

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I have not decided what role this guitar will play in my arsenal.

 

How about as firewood? Hendrix proved that Strat's burn very well. Just kidding, I don't condone the destruction of any guitar.

 

It was mentioned before to put in noiseles pickups. A friend of mine has a Jeff Beck signature Strat with Dual-Coil Noiseless PIckups. It's the best sounding Strat I've ever heard.

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djroge1

djroge1

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Why not go for a heavy mod job? Get single coil humbuckers for all the positions and add coil taps to all pickups. I hear good things about guitarfetish which someone mentioned.

 

I have a Seymour 59 single coil in the bridge of my home built strat and I like the humbucker and tapped single coil sound. Eric Johnson uses one of the stacked DiMarzios, but cuts one of the coils for a vintage sound.

 

Personally I love the sound of strats. I love that single coil cluck in the 2nd and 4th positions. But, for now, I say go single coil size humbuckers and tap all the coils to give you something unique and versital.

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RichCI

RichCI

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Posted
...and am disgusted by how incredibly crappy the pickups sound.

 

Two single coils (I'm presuming they're just the stock Mexican ones) and a Seymour Duncan humbucker in the bridge (I have no idea what model).

 

I'm pretty sure it's a Frankenstrat of sorts' date=' it has a '50s Reissue neck with a yellow finish I've never seen before. White pearloid pickguard and the aforementioned humbucker.

 

I have not decided what role this guitar will play in my arsenal.

 

It may just be a guitar I use for studio use, or I may incorporate it into live stuff somehow (maybe as my slide guitar). My Gibbys are my main guitars for everything and the Strat will not replace them in any way, so I'm open to it being a unique guitar from the rest of my arsenal.

 

Either way, the pickups have to go. Anybody have any recommendations for some good sounding replacements? I can't really afford any high-priced "boutique" pickups that some Joe Blow makes in his basements that are "just like the old ones." It's probably gonna be something I'm going to pick up on eBay so I can save some cash. Something not necessarily "vintage-y" for the single coils but authentic Strat-sounding and for the bridge...I dunno...mebbe retrofit it back to 3 single coils.

 

Idears???[/quote']

 

First off, I recommend living with the guitar for a few weeks. When I bought my Strat, I had a lot of trouble getting used to the sound of the thing and it took a while until I decided that... it's a Strat and does not sound like a Les Paul. If I wanted another LP, I should have bought another LP and not a Strat. That said, I did end up replacing the pickups a few months later; my Strat is a 57 RI and the bridge pup was just entirely too piercing with any level of overdrive so I went and stuck a custom ordered set in it rather than replace just the bridge pup to keep it balanced sounding. That 57 RI is now the main guitar I use with my band and I love it; I've owned my LP since 1992 and it was my main guitar up until two years ago or so when I bought the Strat so I know where you're coming from being a Gibson guy.

 

Okay, so that's the 57 RI... I also have a MIM Standard that I picked up for a song a year or so after getting the 57 and the pups in that were horrible - and that was my opinion after really loving my 57 so I know it wasn't just a matter of not being used to a Strat. The MIM pups were really flat and unexciting sounding; I ended up putting the pups from my 57 RI into the MIM. While the 57 pups did not sound good with the 57 (too bright), they worked well in the duller sounding MIM Standard even if the bridge is still a little too thin sounding.

 

I would head over to Seymour Duncan's web site and listen to some sound clips and evaluate from there. When listening, really think about what your guitar sounds like now and what qualities you'd like to be different (more output? less treble? etc.). If you do a good analysis first, you'll have a much easier time at the Duncan site by finding a pup that sounds the most like what you already have in your guitar and then comparing their other pups to that one.

 

Seymour Duncan soundclips for Strat pickups

 

Text on that page:

 

These audio samples were designed with one purpose in mind: to highlight the tonal differences between various Seymour Duncan® pickups. To achieve this, we used the most unbiased scientific demonstration method available. We used the same guitar for all the Strat® replacement pickups, the same guitar for the Tele® replacements, etc. The pickups were all played through the same amps -- one for clean, one for dirty -- at the same settings, all by the same player playing the same licks. In real-life playing situations, the amps would certainly be optimized differently for Strat® tones, Tele® tones or humbuckers, as the case may be; but in this case, we used the same setting for all the various pickups to achieve the fairest comparison of pickups across broad categories. Please keep this in mind.

 

But, as I said in the beginning, I'd play with the guitar for a few weeks and see if you can come to appreciate it for what it is.

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