How are the standard pickups on the Mexican Strats? Are they any good, or should they be scrapped for some Lace-Sensor pickups?

Try one out and decide for yourself. I used to think the stock MIM pickups were terrible, but I put them back in my Strat recently and they aren't near as bad as I thought they were. I'm still going to change them out someday, but I'm in no hurry.

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The stock pickups that come with a Mexican Strat are not in the same league as say Lindy Fralin or Dimarzio. Even on YouTube you can hear some people playing their Strats with Lindy Fralin pickups in them and the sound is awesome. If I was going to play single-coil I would go with Fralins.

But I usually use vertical humbuckers so I go with Dimarzio.

They are not bad. Try them for a while and see if you like they sound after adjusting the height.

caca de toro!!!! i swapped mine out as soon as i got the guitar it is now a real strat.....

Lace pickups sound very different (you may also want to try alumitones).

The mexi-pickups are not bad. But honestly they are better off replaced with either alnico pickups, or some higher end ones.

I would not recommend dimazario. Honestly if you have money go get proper botique pickups (Fralin, Brass Knuckles, or Lollars) or just go for fenders higher end pickups.

Ahem...I've got Dimarzio Area 67's and a Virtual Vintage 54 Pro in my Malmsteen Strat and the sound is heaven. Quiet and very good tone. Dimarzio makes very good pickups and if you can't stand the single-coil hum then a vertical humbucker is the answer.

Dimarzio the pickup company every other pickup company wants to be like.

Who owns the name PAF? (no its not gibson)
Who invented the super distortion pickup?
Which replacement pickup company is the oldest and most successful and pretty much pioneered the replacement pickup industry?

For the record i like standard MIM ceramic's. With the correct use they sound perfectly good enough.

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For newer MIM strats, I found the pickups to be hotter than the previous years, and slightly better. (I am comparing 2003 vs. 2008, upgraded models). With that said, many players feel that ceramic pickups are the true strat sound, so they stick with the MIM stock pups. I disagree, however, and recommend alnico pickups. You can get decent used alnico single coils on Ebay, so check it out.

I have a '91 MIM and liked the stock ceramics for awhile, but then I heard these Texas Specials, swapped 'em out and never looked back.

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MIM Strats were upgraded in 2006, and included hotter ceramic pickups, right?

I don't believe so. A pickup change was not part of the "2006 upgrades". That being said, the MIM Std pups are pretty good. I had them in my '04 for years before I changed them out.

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As you can see asking people about pickups is like asking what ice cream is their favorite.

Really from the standpoint of a guy who buys and sells a few strats a month (so were talking about guitars that I have no personal connection to), I have to say the last few years (2006 and up) the MIM pups in both the Teles and strats have had a HUGE !!! improvement in sound.

Really don't think I would swap them at all, I find them to have a very nice stratty tone selection across the whole selector switch range.

having said that my favorite Fender pups are C/S 54's

A good amp contributes about 70% of your tone anyway !!!

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Keepn' the Blues Alive

2004 50th Ann. Limited edition AMSE Stratocaster
2017 50's Baja Telecaster BSB

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Visual Sound Route 66
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Just because pickups are made in mexico does not mean they are inferior anymore. The hot alnico III pickups that come standard on the highway one strats are pretty good, along with the tex mex pickups found in the jimmy vaughan strats and road worns.

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http://www.youtube.com/user/gmlasam

Bill Lawrence has a good few things to say on ceramic magnets in pickups.
http://www.billlawrence.com/Pages/Pickupology/magnets.htm

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