I've been looking to do a pup swap on my 57 RI for some time, my opportunity came when Wymore guitars had their going out of business sale and I got some SD Antiquities for 30% off, so it was $54 per pup instead of $80. Aged scatter wound pups for the same price as SSL-1s, I'm putting that in the win column. Also I like gold, so I got a gold anodized pickguard and a gold AM DLX backplate. Here are the results:




About the pups, the neck and bridge have A2 mags (Antiquity I) while the mid is an A5(Antiquity II), also the bridge is wound hot at 9.76k while the others come in at 6.5ish. They also come in cool packaging signed by Seymour:

Compared to the 57/62s, there is no comparison in this specific guitar. This strat is insanely bright, it sounded brighter than my telecaster originally, so the handwiring, aging, hotter winding,etc... helped to control the highs while enhancing everything else (Increased capacitance, voodoo, etc.). It just works out great, every time I hear it I smile knowing I actually got something right. ^^

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I traded my car in for a microphone.

Schweeeeet......and a real "looker" now as well!

Rawk on!

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

Nice look Capo.How are the pickups?.......... Mike

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The blues ain't nothin but a good man feelin bad.

If you'd like to sell those 57/62's, private message/email me a price.

@cherokee747: The pickups are excellent, I feel like they were custom made just for this guitar. I'll try and be brief ^^
Compared to the 57/62s:
Neck: Louder, somewhat darker sounding with more mids. The high end is still there, and with the added midrange it really screams in a good way. A controlled but very present bass.
Middle: My favorite, if I could only have one pup this would be it. It is similar to the 57/62s in sound, which is a good thing cuz the middle position was my fave in that set too. The difference is this pup seems to have gotten singing lessons and learned how to really belt it out, it sounds much more articulate with more attack and sustain with a very balanced frequency response.
Bridge: The most improved, it no longer sounds shrill and weak. It is equal in volume to the others and still has all the qualities of a vintage strat bridge pup. Driven it has a little bit of twang to it, but still rings like a bell.
Neck/Mid: 2nd favorite position. Quacks like a duck in an opera hall.
Mid/Bridge: I think due to the fact the bridge was wound hotter, this position lacks in the bass dept. However when driven that bass is accounted for and creates a sound with a lot of character. Great for rhythm playing.

Overall, these pickups were well worth the money, because I only paid I think $180 altogether for them If I had to pay the full $240 I think I still would have bought them, but being my cheap self I wouldn't be as pleased with them I don't know what I want to do with the 57/62s, because I know they sound great in warmer-toned strats. Maybe in the near future I can get a recording up, I feel like this guitar belongs in a studio or on stage ^^

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I traded my car in for a microphone.

That one is shimmering...........

it looks SOOOOOOOOOOOO much better than it did. never liked how dark a cream those 57/62s are.

congrats!

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http://www.twitter.com/CAE_Music

Yeah, very sweet, bro! Nice face lift!

Rock on,

Your guitar looks very much to the "Christmascaster" used by Eric Clapton during his 2006/2007 tours:

Excellent choices! The SD Antiquity pickups are wonderful. You now have a custom classic.

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'78 Fender Stratocaster
Epi USA Texan '64 RI signed by Paul McCartney
'73 Fender Mustang
Gibson LP Deluxe RI '69
Fender Active Jazz Bass
Guild GADm20e Acoustic Guitar
Epi Casino RI
Gretsch Pro Jet w/Bigsby
And My Frankenstein-O-Caster