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Post subject: Forget Noiseless Because They Aren't There Yet?
Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2008 1:35 pm
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So I've checked out all the noiseless and I can't find the single-coil Strat sound. Fender's options and Dimarzio aren't bad, and I've played them all, but they don't have the same bite and detail. Everyone knows it in the guitar stores and we play it and it's different, c'mon, we know it. We'd call it creamy or bland but it just doesn't have that Fender Strat something that is soo good. They're close but just not there. So then since I do want to upgrade my Highway One pickups sometime soon to turn it into the Custom monster guitar of my dreams, I'm looking at the Custom Shop pickups that are hum-cancelling because of positions 2 and 4. Texas Specials or Fat 50s? I don't think Custom 54s have the hum cancelling but any views about them would be good to hear too. Help a brother out with some knowledge and experience?


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Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2008 1:46 pm
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You are correct, sir! Come to the same conclusion myself. To my ear (and Bonnie Raitt's as well apparently), there is nothing on Earth as sweet as the Custom 54s. Just like death and taxes comes with Life, a little hum comes with the Heaven of the Custom 54s.

I'd say Clapton uses the Noiseless for 2 reasons: He's clinically deaf, and everything he ever plays gets recorded so his producer demands the quietest source possible. And most of ECs live venues have a boatload of spurious RF and junk in the house AC. Us mortals don't have to be so concerned with any of that.


Last edited by Maruuk on Thu Mar 13, 2008 6:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2008 2:41 pm
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Now I think you're Robin Trower because he uses the 54s and I imagine he would like to point out that fellow Brit guitar great Clapton is deaf. Even if you're not, Trower's got the 54s in his Custom Shop model. Also, I suspect you're Clapton pretending not to be Clapton, because I imagine he would be self-deprecating and you've played with all the greats. Don't break the illusion. We're all imagining that you're super-famous and we're chatting with you here. Clapton's got reasons, and then he has ways to get the tone that I don't know. Also, the Vintage Noiseles do sound good. Thanks for the response.



http://www.fender.com/customshop/instru ... 0155102888


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Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2008 2:54 pm
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i think that you're right in that the noiseless won't give you that vintage type punch of regular single coils, but i have some in one of my guitars (they came stock) and they sound quite good.... they don't pack as much punch as the regulars, but with the right amp setting, it can work fine.... all a matter of preference i guess and what you want to play


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Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2008 3:29 pm
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I have had two Strats w/ noiseless pickups and I ended up trading both. The noiseless pickups don't sound Strat like to me. They were missing that cluck and chime that I associate Stratocasters with. The vintage reissue Strat pickups sound way better...


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Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2008 6:47 pm
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Hello Strat58cat,

I too have vintage noisless in my guitar and I like 'em.
But I'm also looking for another strat
because I miss that single coil thing.
Right now I'm thinking '54s or '69s If I just
buy pickups.

Cheers.


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Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2008 7:00 pm
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You said it, cluck and chime. That's where the Strat lives and the Noiseless are lacking that character.


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Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2008 7:03 pm
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I have Vintage Noisless on my Players Strat and Really Hot noisy pickups on my Buddy Guy. While the Buddy Guy has the bite and Sing of the single coils, when you record more than one track with it, the buzz begins to overlap, and if there is a Florecent light around........BZZZZZZZZZZZ

I really like the noislessness of the Players Strat, and I've discovered that the noisless sound better by themselves (1-3-5 positions on the selector switch) while the noisy's sound is better on the 2 and 4 positions.

Once I got used to the sound of the vintage noisless, which is 100% Fender sound, I prefer them, I just end up setting the Amp a little different.

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Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 11:15 am
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I'm going with Custom Shop Fat50s. Man, just try to find them. Nobody's got them. SCNs are everywhere. Every store's got them and is pushing them. SRVs are around too. GC's doing clearance on Fat50s. Call up Fender to special order and what do they say? Oh yeah those are our best. Is everyone deaf?


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Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 12:41 pm
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No, I hear just fine. I hear good tone with Noisey, but I also hear 60 cycle hum as well. I hear good tone with Vintage Noisless, perhaps not the same good tone, but good tone, and no hum.

My Deluxe Players Stratocaster Chimes and Clucks like a Stratocaster should, and it gets that David Gilmour sound better than Noisey pickups. It doesn't sound like a 50's Strat, but Fender would only need one set of pickups and have a smaller customer base if they only made vintage sounding instruments.

Your opinion is "yours", not "right".

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Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 1:51 pm
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Of course you're right and my opinion is not right - it's my opinion and what appeals to my musical taste. There's a magic in those 50s pickups imho, the chiming almost like a chorus sound that cannot be beat. My question is where's the choice? We can walk into a guitar store and buy several varieties of noiseless pickups, but we cannot walk into a store and buy Custom Shop Fat 50s in any guitar or on their own. The noiseless are swamping out the alternatives. I don't hate noiseless. I understand getting away from hum, and that's why I'm getting the reverse-wound middle pickup Fat50s. Also, with the SCNs, I think if you get the gain up there around 11 on a Blues Junior then you can hear a nice tone of a Strat being driven out of the neck pickup. What you can never get is that magic tone, imho.


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Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 2:20 pm
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Any opines on the diff between the Custom '54s and the Fat 50's? Obviously they're a little hotter, but how about tone?


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Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 2:29 pm
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Oh, I see, sorry about jumping to conclusions, I thought you were telling people who like the Noisless' to wake up. :oops:

Of course your right that they should be available. I blame marketing dorks who don't play music for that. They mistake the period of discovery fallowing a new product for genuine demand. I bet in about 5 years Noisless will be hard to get because R&D will be sure that Vintage Style pick ups are the wave of the future.

The same thing happened with Amps. DTS took over for Spring Reverb and it looked bad for Spring Tanks, you couldn't find a new Amp with a Real Reverb Tank to save your life. But demand and Fender brought back great New and Reissue Amps with the old Reverb and even tremelo.

I dare say that the same thing will happen with Pick Ups, once the demand reaches Marketing.

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Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 5:32 pm
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What's cool about the Fat 50s is they are based on an actual year in the 1950s - 1958 - when Leo Fender and company were generating the hottest pickups of that era. So, they are still a totally authentic 1950s Strat sound, but the fattest one. I suspect they will have somewhat less bell and somewhat more thick blues than Custom 50s. What's great about Fender is they kind of open the back door for their dedicated people on a budget. The Blues Junior with it's all tube signal path, and the Fat 50s that are found in several Master Built Custom Shop icons. These should be miles better than the oem in my Highway One, which aren't bad.


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Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 7:24 pm
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Yeah, fine pups are like fine wine, they need to be enjoyed at the right time in the proper setting. Glass for glasses, glass for tubes. It's all good.


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