Hi there,

I posses a 06 metallic red strat USA standard. I was just wondering, I would like to adjust some stuff to my strat. The guitar is great (almost perfect) the only things that disturb me are the tuners (which are hidious) and the hum that the single coils produce. For the tuners I would like to replace them by the round grovers. a: is this possible? b: will the guitar stay in tune just as well as with the current tuners? And do you people think that noiseless pick-ups are the solution or don't they sound as good as the standard ones? Any other suggestions for pickups? (I play very different stuff from Blues to Heavy Metal.)

Thanx


T. Verdonck

ive used the vingage noiseless pups and they sounded great good vintage tone and low noise

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You can do a mod to your guitar and get the noiose way down without replacing the pickups. If you like the sound of your pickups and would like a bit more clarity out of them, then go to:

www.guitarnuts.com

Look at the chapter entitled "Quieting the Beast" It works.

As for the tuners, many in here would recommend the Schaller Locking Tuners. I have'nt used these, and can't comment on how well they work. I have used Sperzel Locking Tuners and would NOT recommend them.
I have Gotoh Vintage Retro-Fit locking tuners on my 57 RI Strat and they are the goods! It's still holds up after 16 years, and being stolen, returned, and cleaned up from being stored in a damp basement.

-Harley

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I only have two brain cells left, and I'm saving them....for this weekend!

This is all IMO, YMMV:

Grovers aren't any, "big wow". Frankly, I think the only reason they have a superior reputation is because back in the day, they were the only alternative to the original Klusons which were truly from hunger. I honestly don't think the Grovers would be any better than the ones you have on there now. Frankly, I'd go with Gotoh or even Ping, believe it or not.

Shielding a guitar with single coils is for the most part, an exercise in futility. The pickups themselves remain unshielded and are in fact, the foremost 'antenna' for pulling in and introducing noise into the circuit. Many rave about this extraneous shielding but in reality, it is by and large, a "placebo effect". Don't waste your time.

If your looking for true single coil sound in a stacked HB, the DiMarzio Virtual Vintage and Area series along with Kinman pickups are the only two manufacturers who have virtually nailed it.

OK everyone, now flame me!

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Hot noiseless could well give the heavy metal bark you want and i've gotten decent blues sounds out of ceramic magnet pickups before now. Despite some of their harshness. Other than that i'd look to dimarzio's range.

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No no and no

Martian,

I have no desire to flame you for your opinion. I was looking at the DiMarzio Area pickups but have'nt had a chance to try any of them yet. One thing I do know from my own personal experience is that the stacked humbuckers will eleiminate the hum, but none that I have now sound like a single coil pickup. Those would be the HS-2's and HS-3's. I took them out of my guitar because they just did'nt have the single coil sound IMHO.
The shielding process that I've mentioned involves more than just adding shieliding material in the guitar itself, it also includes isolating the component grounds from the shielding ground. It will quiet a noirmal Stratocaster with stock pickups significantly. As for overwound pickups, it will not do much for the hum coming from those unless you shield the pickups coils as well, but in doing that, it will alter the sound of the pickups by cutting some of the highs out with it.
The hum will not be completely gone from the shielding process either, but it will be reduced to a point at allows you to use more gain than you can with an unshielded guitar, before getting to the point where the hum is intolerable. It is a big help, but not a complete solution to the single coil hum.
I would like to try some of the Area pickups though, since they seem to be able to retain the single coil tones from what I've seem of them. My concern about those are whether or not they are like the Noiseless pickups that Fender uses, which IMHO, are the weakest things I've ever heard in my life.

-Harley

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I only have two brain cells left, and I'm saving them....for this weekend!

Harley,

I personally use the Areas (61 N, 58 M, 61 B). Definitely give them a shot. As a matter of fact, they are quieter than most full sized humbuckers. They surely blow the doors off the HSs which I think are outright generic sounding and weak, just like Fender's Noiseless which to me, sound positively anemic.

I do believe we must agree to disagree on the whole shielding thing though.

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Martian,
I appreciate the recommendation on the Area 61 and 58 models. They sounded pretty decent in the video demos DiMarzio has. Tell me if you would since I'm not clear on this, are these stacked humbuckers? I am in complete agreement with you about the noiseless, they were anemic, but the HS' that I have had a decent output, but as you say, a generic tone.

We'll agree to disagree about the shielding if you'd like. I should mention that I do have the shielding in my Surf Green Strat, and it really does make a difference. I do use a lot of gain at times, and the shielding allows that guitar to get more distorted without the amount of hiss and hum that I'm getting from the other two. My ADA preamps can crank out a lot of gain.

-Harley

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I only have two brain cells left, and I'm saving them....for this weekend!

Harley,

Yes, the Areas are stacked and have more height/depth than that of a standard single coil. Output wise, they certainly equal a single coil. They also have a 'modern' stagger polepiece configuration where the G string's polepiece is the same height as the B and high E string. Very low string pull too. I think you'll be impressed with them.

OK, I'll concede this: with extreme high gain applications, I'm sure additional shielding must make some kind of difference.

Roy

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You dig?

Thank you for the reply Roy,

I will definitely check these out as I've been bummed over the results I've gotten with the stacked humbuckers I've seen so far. Up to this point, everyone has said that there is a trade off to get that single coil pickup sound. I will stick a set of these in the Surf Green and replace the Texas Specials since these are overwound pickups, and wrapping the coil did cut the highs a bit.

-Harley

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I only have two brain cells left, and I'm saving them....for this weekend!

Anytime. Let me know your conclusions!

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You dig?