I have a MIM Standard Strat from 2007 that kicks with my amp and settings... yes, I have played and owned Strats like the Classic 50's with Alnico V's...and the American Deluxe with SMC's but...have to say that even with these Strats in the same room I kept going back to this MIM...

any other actual fans of these stock ceramic pu's out there besides me?

I like them ceramic's. I really enjoy them for highgain stuff.

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No no and no

i like the pickups in my mim standard even though i have thought about changing them from time to time....

The way I went with them... the pu's not too high really more akin to vintage heights which I have seen with alnico V's... though I can see people into heavier distortion/higher gain doing differently...

and I use Fender pure nickle strings...the 150's...10's....though I may go back to 250's...I do like the pure nickle...

and yes, a fair amount of EQ with my amp.

Hey, I've played the alnico V's, very responsive, and yes, you can get that very pure Pink Floyd sound...David G...but I reached a certain point that for what I do and my style of playing inlcuding some mellow stuff and even aggressive gain-edged rhythms...these stock ceramics turned out better for me...

BTW, I have it from a few reliable sales people that there are pros that play out with these Fender Standards...

I had my ceramics in for years before upgrading eventually to Tex Mex (which are an Alnico 5 pup). I always thought the OEM ones were very good...

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Laughing out loud with fear and hope, I have a desperate plan ...

I really like the ceramics
in my Purple 2000 Affinity,
which surprises me because
i generally DESPISE Affinitys.
I just hate them altogether.

But the ceramics in my Black
Frankenstrat suck a dog's leg.

I can get some tones w/ them,
but more in the way of overdubs.
If i had to play a gig w/ just that
guitar, i'd be battling it all night,
rather than just playing guitar.

Needless to say, an upgrade's
coming soon for the Frankie.

I don't have any MIM Strat but of the two Strats do I have, I like the Alnico III pups in my Highway One over the Samarium Cobalt Noiseless pups in my American Deluxe. The noiseless pickups are just that... noiseless. But a lot of the sonics known to be "Strat" tones incorporates that very noise as a part of it's personality. Though beautiful, the SCN pups are very tame. The Alnico III pups scream bloody murder! With the Alnico IIIs I can pull off all the feedback tricks that Hendrix and SRV made an intimate part of their sounds that I couldn't to my satisfaction with the more expensive American Deluxe.

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"If I don't see you no more in this world I'll meet you on the next one and don't be late... don't be late." -Jimi Hendrix