Hello. I have a 1973 (I think) Strat. It is by far my favorite guitar in the way it feels, especially the neck. However, whenever I play with a live band, the sound of the guitar gets "lost in the mix." It sounds very transparent, no presence. I have tried many different amps. I feel the problem might be the pickups. Does anyone here have any suggestions on the best replacement pickups to get? I am looking at the Vintage "Noiseless" Strat® Pickups - Does anyone have these? How are they? (I am playing 60's 70's ) rock stuff Thanks.

IF money isn't a major issue i would suggest using Suhr V60's..These are hand wound high end pickups that are just amazing..IMHO if you want a great vintage blues rock tone they just can't be beat..I got turned onto them about 6 months ago and all i can say is wow..I always thought that my Strat ultra with the Lace Sensor had great tone then i installed these pups in a MIM Strat and it brought my tone into a whole new dimension..
If you do this hold onto your original pickups ..I have a 71 that is a great player also but it has the same problem..I have never replaced the pups for fear of ruing the collector value..It now stays at home and doesn't get brought out much because my other strats have much higher output..
If you don't have the $240 dollars for a set of John Suhr v60's my next suggestion would be a set of lace Sensor Hot Golds which are perfect for the type music your describing...These also will have no problem cutting threw the mix..They run about $140 to $160 for a set..

I have the noiseless in a MIM strat. I like them. I was a bit worried because I have read mixed reviews. At 1st the higher notes seemed a bit...piercing when amped with a lot of gain, so I thought they sounded shrill...I ended up swapping out the 500K volume pot for a 250k, and for whatever reason after a little while the tone really grew on me, esp on clean. Not sure if this would help you with the classic rock stuff.

I got to A/B them for a little while with a MIA standard through the same amp as mine (Delta Blues) and I would choose the noiseless again, at least over the standard pups. Good tone, good range, some nice fender quack, no hum. And honestly I dig the "Noiseless" script on the covers!

Don't know how they compare to Texas Specials, which seem real popular and are I think supposed to be a bit hotter, and darker. I was after classic strat tone though, not a bluesy one this time. They do make a 'hot vintage noisless' too if you think you might need even more volume.


I rigged mine with a 250K volume & 1meg tone pots. .022uf tone cap and a 680uf/220K treble bleed. There is some room to mess with the tone depending on the parts you end up using. Some don't like using the treb bleed but I kept it in. YMMV!

I would first check the amp for the number of inputs. Some amps have 2 inputs; one for single coils (generally #1) and one for humbuckers (generally #2). They're wired internally to keep the input from being too high. Humbuckers have a higher output, so #2 input is set up to lower the input so the amp's output is advertised. Single coils won't sound as loud when the guitar is plugged in to the #2 input. Check the manual that came for the amp. If this is not the case, you may need a higher wattage amp or head. Pick ups of a different make may sound louder but not by much. They just change the sound personality of the guitar. My observation has been that guitar players tent to be deaf when playing in a band. They can never hear themselves playing (myself included) so we are always turning the volume up even if it's all the way to start. If you use a soundman (weather your band has one or use the club's) he sits away from the band to hear the band from the audience perspective. Also band members don't always have amps close to being the same, like one may max out at 100 watts, the other max out at 30 to 60 watts.
As you can see many factors come into play. My advise is to do some detective work and you can then spend your money more wisely.

+1 on the Suhr's. I haven't tried the V60's, but have heard great things about them. I have Suhr F/L's (std) installed on my strat, and to me, they sound better than anything else. The standard versions are wound just a bit hot, and the classic version is, more classic, lower output. Suhr's are a little more money than some other pickups though, but still not the most expensive I've seen. You can buy each pickup individually too, instead of being forced to buy a whole set at once. There's are some videos on youtube and clips on some forums. Here's a link to some comparisons between the V60's and F/L's: http://www.hugeracksinc.com/forum/viewt ... highlight=

I have three strats that have three differant sets of noiseless pups. I love them all but you might want to check out the Hot noiseless that come in a Jeff Beck Strat as tonally they are my favorite and because they say hot they still dont have as big an output that you would think. So if you think you are getting near humbucker tone not at all but hot in a Strat sense. Great pups

I used to have Vintage Noiseless Pickups in my MIM Strat, but I ended up taking them out. They were way too bright for me, and the tone knobs didn't do much to help. I think that if I had one of those Clapton mid-boosts installed than it would have sounded better, but I didn't want to spend an extra $50 on something that I wasn't sure about. Plus I wouldn't hated having to worry about the batteries.

I have Texas Specials in my Squier, and they sound great. They're warmer than other Strat pickups, they don't sound thin and they have a lot of mid range punch. But if you're after classic Strat tone they may not be the thing for you.

If you want a set of pickups that will sound still sound like a classic Strat, but is a little hotter and will cut through the mix than my best recommendation would be that you try out some Tex-Mex pickups. I'm going to get a set for my MIM Strat hopefully sometime around Christmas. I've played a lot of guitars equipped with them and my impression is that they have a more vintage sound than Texas Specials and even though they're bright with more treble you can easily use the tone knobs to cut down on it when you need to. But they really can cut through the mix, and I need that in my band too. Plus they're probably the best bang for the buck that Fender makes.

And whatever you end up getting, I'd suggest you think about wiring the bridge pickup to one of the tone knobs. I used to never use the bridge pickup until my guitar tech suggested that I try using the tone knob to control it and now I use it regularly on both of my Strats.

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I have the lace sensor hot gold series on my guitar and I would definitely recommend them

Ok, whatever you do, KEEP YOUR OLD PICKUPS. The 70's Strats are becoming collector's items and more valuable now. When you start hacking them apart, they become less valuable. If you have the original pickups and pots, I would suggest breaking the sodder at the input jack, and removing the entire pickguard assembly (pickups, pots, switch) as a complete unit. Keep the original unit intact, and use a new pickguard, pickups and pots if you want to modify. An original 70's pickup assembly can fetch alot of money these days.

As to your original question, I am running the vintage noiseless with a Fender active pre-amp system in my '74. I bought it off of Ebay, and thought it was a clapton circuit, but it is not. I don['t know exactly what it is, but it sounds good. The VN's have a real nice sound, and when I go active, I can get the humbucker sounds that are pretty close to my Les Paul Custom.

IMHO, if I owed a 197? Stratocaster, I would not do anything to it. Especially if it was in good condition. I would just buy a new Stratocaster and customize it to my taste/wants.

I am usually the first person to tell someone to make their guitar what they want, but that guitar is a classic. I do not touch (mod) any guitar that is older than 20 years old.

RK

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RK

2007 Fender Highway 1
2012 American Deluxe
2015 MIM Dave Murray HHH
2010 Fender Blacktop
1987 Fender Avalon Acoustic
2012 Marshall DSL 15 watt head

That's probably the best thing to do. You could get a MIM Fender for around $300 (used) and spend the money you saved on some nice pickups.

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Guys, I agree with you about keeping things original. But you also have to realize that there was a time when the 1970's guitars weren't considered 'vintage'. They were considered junk. That happens to be the time I got mine. Both the Les Paul and the Strat are 1974's, which happens to be the year I was born and that's why I even bought them in the first place. Both of them are not really 'collector's pieces'. The Les Paul came with 80's Dimarzios, Fender tuners, a scalloped fretboard (ala Yngwie), and plugged holes in the body where someone decided to put toggle switches in. The Strat is a 'partsocaster' and the only original things on them are the neck, body, tuners, and bridge. I have been trying to find the original parts (Pickups, pots) to put them back to original, but the prices on the parts are ridiculous these days.

I do believe that if you are going to modify a guitar, do it on the non collector's pieces. These days, I have really gotten into building them from parts rather than modifying a $300 MIM strat. Tomorrow I will post pics of the 1962 Reissue strat that I built for $133.

Well to start with check pickups out and see what you like. Then make a pickup assemby "preload pickguard" or buy one and leave yours alone. That way it can all go back to original. I have made these for people and they were glad to keep the early parts virgin.

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thanks for all the posts. the issue of not chnaging a vintage guitar is not an issue in this case as i do not think the pickups are the originals - i bought this used and it had already been modified in several ways.

the thing about this guitar is the neck - it is perfectly suited to my hand size and i have never found another like it. i guess i need to research the fender neck history.