I just replaced the pickups on my Stratocaster and it all went quite well. The guitar was originally a Hot-Rodded American Fat Strat Texas Special. It suited my needs in 2001 when I bought it new But I grew to dislike the sound of it. It had two Texas Specials at the neck and middle, and a Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates at the bridge. But everything sounded too hot, especially the humbucker

After a lot of research I bought a set of Kinmans - the traditional set. You can get them with a no-soldering harness that has all the pots and a two position switch that gives you basically nine pickup combinations.

I managed to not mess up the installation and I must say that everything sounds the way I want it. These pickups are very sensitive to height adjustment. When I put them in I set them at the same height as the old pickups and I was getting wolf tones on the lower strings. Everything cleaned up nicely when I set them a little lower.

So everything is crystal clear, and no noise either.

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James Burton Upgrade Telecaster
Hot Rodded Am Fat Strat Texas Special (now featuring Kinman Traditional II pickups)
Fender Blues Jr.
SWR California Blonde
Pedals Pedals Pedals

Congrats and see my signature below!

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You dig?

Congrats soggycrow!

Any chance you still have that Pearly Gates around? I'm looking for one for an upgrade...specifically one that was taken out of a Strat because the mounting holes are different on the facotry installed PG and PG Plus. New ones don't match up with the Fender HSS pickguards (2 holes on bass side, 1 on treble side).

Thanks.
HD