I have the scn's on my American Deluxe strat and I think they sound great. It doesn't have the exact strat sound when it comes brighter tones, but it has just enough sparkle and quack to serve my purposes. I can have the really warm tones like on David Gilmour's Red Strat along with the peircing strat tones of Jimi Hendrix. I tried a guitar that had vintage noiseless and I thought they were alright (I only played for a few min.) The thing is that I haven't had a lot of time to experiment with other pickups so I kind of feel like I'm jumping to conclusions and not giving other brands a chance. The SCN's sound great though, but I'm wondering what your favorite type of pickups are and why.

Thats a hard one to answer because Vintage Noiseless are made with Alnico5 Magnets and most of the brands mentioned make some of there pickups using Alnico3's, Alnico5's and even Alnico8's as well as Ceramic and Samarium Colbalt's which is Alnico with the Samarium Colbalt added to make them stronger. Its all in the windings and the type of Alnico (isotropic) 3's or (anisotropic) 5's,8's which are more powerful that make a difference as well as the pots and caps.

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

Vintage Noisless, for me.

It took me a Year to get used to 'em, and Three years to fall in love with 'em, but now I can't do without 'em.

Edit-Why? Because they have a great Bell Tone, They Get the sweet Fender Overdrive and mostly they don't pick up the Neon Lights in the Bar!!

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"Persistence Is The Father Of Invention"
-Crazy Old Man In Training

Do they really take that long to get to know? Ive a real love/hate thing going on with mine. Love the high treble, hate how they always seem harsh sounding with any ammount of treble.

One thing i do owe them is that ive greatly improved my fingerpicking since owning them. It helps tame them a bit.

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No no and no

I like Fender American pickups, and SCNs as well. I love Lace Sensors for certain things, and Seymour Duncans as well.

If I were to get another Strat and wanted some great replacement pickups, I'd probably get some custom Lindy Fralin's on it - which I just may do in the next year or so anyway.

Well its DiMarzio at the moment...just love them especially Tone Zone...be it humbucker or the S type.

Alnico needs some time getting use too....

I voted for vintage noiseless, I have a lot of pickups but I have those in the most stuff. I think they do a great job of retaining vintage strat tone without the hum. They can sound really strong too, especially on the "jeff beck noiseless" models that are a bit overwound.

STS
www.soultostrings.com

Off topic :: Checked your webpage....COOL!

I like all the Custom Shop Fender pickups. But my favorite ones are the CS69s and the Texas Specials. The stock pickups for the 08 Am. Std. sound really nice too.

Yeah it did! I played with my Amps until I found a setting that but the highs in the right place, and pushed the gain a little more than I used to, but it was when I adjusted the Pickups a little higher on the Mid and Neck Pickup and a little lower on the Bridge Pickup (compared to Fenders Set-Up Specs) that they smoothed out and the highs settled down. It still took me a little time to get used to their "voice".

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"Persistence Is The Father Of Invention"
-Crazy Old Man In Training

EMG's my favorite.. but the other ones are nice too

For a strat, I like the SCN's or Lace Sensors. The Duncan APS-1's are great for vintage sound as well.

Vintage Noiseless for me too. I love mine. I usually play the neck or neck/middle for cleans and light to mild overdrive. I play the bridge for heavy distortion with the 2nd tone knob almost all the way down.

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2010 American Deluxe Strat Sunset Metallic - Lindy Fralin Blues Specials in the neck and middle, Dimarzio AT-1 humbucker in the bridge.
PRS Custom 22 with solid rosewood neck
Mesa/Boogie Electra Dyne 1x12 combo
DRRI

Hot Noiseless
DiMarzio HS-3
Seymour Duncan for humbucker

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The DiMarzio Virtual Vintage Area 67/58/61 series for Strat pickups; for full sized HBs, the Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates for the neck position and the Custom for the bridge position.

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You dig?