That's a great site. I was on there earlier today. I had incorrectly linked to that page a few posts up, but I just fixed it.

A lot of people complain about the noisless pups except if they have a Clapton because of the tbx and mid boost or a Beck because there hotter well I have both and loved the way those guitars sounded so I thought I was lucky.Well last week I picked up a tele Deluxe and they sound killer on that ax as well. I hate a guitar that is not tuned and I hate a crappy tone and I LOVE THE NOISLESS PUPS once I get them adjusted right I have zero tone problems and can pluck all the sounds I need with no complaints whatsoever because most of all I hate 60 cycle hum.

Have you considered Dimarzio's Area 58 & 61 pu's. I installed these in my Amer. stnd. and I'm very please with the clarity and output. Youtube has several demos of these pu's. I think they're awsesome and preserve that original Strat tone in a humbucker (dead silent).

Play On!

I recommend SCN's. A fantastic balanced pickup in my book.

Other than that look to dimarzio area series or kinman's.

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No no and no

BigJay, in my experience, the "bell tone" is produced by giving the string a lot of air (i.e., keeping your pickups down flat where Leo wanted them) and by picking very, very lightly with a sturdy pick.

Bass players know that the roundest, fattest string tone is produced by playing lightly, and that digging in actually kills the string's sustain. Same goes for your Strat. A light touch is the key.

This assumes that your Strat is set up well, sustains nicely, resonates cleanly, and has a good set of strings on it. Picking one off the wall at Guitar Center (as I did earlier today) is probably not going to produce the sound you're looking for.

No, I can't. I assume it has something to do with not overdriving the string so it wastes energy bouncing against the frets. But it's true, and really noticeable playing a big string like on a bass guitar.

My wife and I were just talking recently about how so much of actual physics is counter-intuitive.

I like the SCNs my American Deluxe came with but they were set way to high when I pulled it off the wall. After the in store setup and some fine tweaking I get a great Strat tone with them. If you still want to go in another direction I highly recommend Copperhead pickups. They're wound by a fellow in Canada and are reasonably priced. He has several different types available and will even work with you to wind you a pickup custom designed to acheive your own idea of a great Strat tone. He also has a warranty that allows you to return them (within 30 days) if you don't like the sound even if you have cut the wires.

www.copperheadpickups.com/

Russ

I've never played a guitar with the noiseless pups so I can't really compare but I put a set of Rio Grande pups in my Tele and I really like them. I put in the Muy Grandes and they had a little more "umph" to them than the standard pups. They make some nice sounding pickups

Take a look at Copperhead Pickups (http://copperheadpickups.com). He makes a variety of vintage-spec Stratocaster pickups (1954, 1959, 1962, 1967), and will adjust any wind to your tastes - RWRP, balanced output, extra hot bridge, etc.

I cannot recommend these highly enough. I have a set of the 1962s (probably the hottest/darkest @ 6.2k neck) and I absolutely love them.