Another vote for the Dimarzio Area pickups. No hum, and very stratty just like the previous poster said. I had the Area pups in a previous guitar, and in my current guitar I had some Lindy Fralin Vintage Hots, but as good as they are, I got tired of the hum and got some used Area pups on ebay and wired 'em in. No hum, and while they are a little different sounding than the Fralins, they're every bit as good IMO.

I have a few. I love them all for different reasons.
1. Gold Lace Sensorsin my Clapton Strat. The versitile sounding pick ups in any guitar I own.
2. The Alnico 3 Pickups in my HWY1. They sound great over driven.
3. Number one pickups are the Texas Specials in my '62 Strat copy. They have so much in yourface tone.

_________________
1975 Sunburst Stratocaster rosewood finger board
1979 Stratocaster with roseowood finder board
2001 Candy Green Clapton Stratocaster
2007 Andy Summers Inspired Telecaster
2007 '51 P-Bass
2012 Taylor 110
2015 Mystic Ice Blue Deluxe Stratocaster Plus

The Lace Sensor Golds were fine for what they were which was an early attempt to get single coil tone without hum. They did tend to honk a bit in the neck position though. The Fender Vintage Noiseless were an improvement over the the LS Golds, IMO. I never liked the Samarium Cobalts at all. I thought it was a step backwards from the VNs. They gained a little more bite but they also gained harshness. It's always been my goal to find good single coil tone without hum. I learned of Kinman pups several years ago and I feel I have "arrived". I still haven't tried their Tele pups or their P90s but I will be doing both eventually. They sound similar to the VNs but with more chime and character and quality of overtones. Excellent bell-like tones.

_________________

Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.

I've got to say that i'm getting more and more impressed with the N3 pickups. So many sounds available

My Strat American has SD Hotrails in the bridge and stock middle neck pup's. I love how hot the SD is and the stock pickups are top of the line for that true Fender sound. I had to lose the original bridge PUP as the hum and thin sound were killing me.

+1 two Area 67 (middle and neck) and one 54 Pro (bridge) really nice!!!

I use Chevalier 1962s in my Strat.

If I were building another one, I'd give his '67s or '54s a try.

i like texas special in combi with a sd sh-4 and cs 69.

cheers

_________________
It's the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting - paulo coelho

They have a really nice STRAT sound without noise and have a good response for most styles of music. Really dinamic pups.

Hope you like them.

The chevaliers 62/s are really intresting.

I really enjoy Custom 50's (not to be confused with Fat 50's). All the vintage tone you want and a bag of potato chips.

My fat 50 s are growing on me. Quite low output so you can get the amp power stage working! I still find them a bit thin sounding sometimes.

I have kinman avn blues too- silent and good tone, but less character than single coils.

I like my lace sensors in my Ultra, very under-rated I think and very versatile.

My favourite strat pickups though are the Eric Johnson ones- slightly higher output, bags of character and a full sound.

Very happy with my Don Mare pickups! Very balanced and vintage sounding, clean or with a tube screamer.

Is it just me or do we never hear about Bill Lawerence pups anymore?

_________________

Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.

Well, they do have noise. They're single coils. But they're not any more noisy than any other true single coil.

I love them. Sounds like a Strat with good, solid mids. Firmly vintage, but ready to rock.

CS '54. You only need to hear this sound to understand why...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VNPItI5ixY (from 0:21 onwards)