I'm really thinking about getting one of these pickups in the neck position for my '89. I'm looking for that really mellow, bell-like sound and it seems like these might fit the bill. Does anyone on here have the Antiquity II's? How will they compare to the regular American Standard pickups in mine? Are there any other options I should consider as well? Thanks!

I put Antiquity I's in my Road Worn '50's Strat and am very happy with them. I've never used the Antiquity II's but I knew a guy who had them in a reissue Strat......maybe a AVRI '62. He characterized them as "really thin" but he liked them for a vintage type sound.

I may go with Antiquity II's next time I need some new Strat pickups.

Hmm... One thing I'm confused about is the whole nomenclature thing. Are the Antiquity Is the "Texas Hots"? How would you say the Antiquity Is were different from the original pickups?

I guess a lot of people would characterize the vintage pickup sound as "thin", but that doesn't bother me. It's like when people who are only used to brickwalled new CDs complain about how older masters are too quiet - then just up the damn volume!

I have the pickups on my guitars pretty low, and am generally really happy with the way it sounds. But now that it has a good "fundamental" tone, I'm thinking these pickups could push it over the top into total Vintage Strat tone-bliss.

Well the Antiquity I's are known as the "Texas Hots" which is a really strange thing to me. It's odd to call a vintage style pickup "hot" because generally they're low output. You can also get a specifically over-wound version of the Antiquity I bridge pickup which is hotter than the normal ones. I called Seymour Duncan (the company) though before I bought mine and enquired about the pickups and was told that the Antiquity I "Texas Hots" were their version of a '50's Strat pickup. Likewise, the Antiquity II's were their version of '60's Strat pickups. I'm not sure what pickups exactly are in your '89 American Standard but in general, "modern" pickups tend to have a higher out put. I had Tex-mex pickups in my Road Worn '50's Strat and I like the Antiquity's much better. They're more responsive, more clear, better note definition. The Tex-mex pickups weren't bad, but I thought they got kind of muddy (not in a good way) when I pushed the gain on my amp.

I've been really happy with the Antiquity's. I don't know what the differences are in the I's and II's but based on my experience and my desire for vintage Strat tone, I'd buy the Antiquity II's. But that's just me. As most folks on this board (and else where) will tell you, it's all subjective anyway.

Cool! Yeah, the "Texas Hot" moniker made me think of your typical super-hot, "instant-SRV-in-a-box" tone thing, which is not at all what I'm interested in. It sounds like the name is kind of misleading. I actually just played a buddy's guitar; he has an Antiquity II in the neck and 57/62s in the other two positions. I was amazed at how different it sounded than mine. Of course, there were a lot of other factors at work - his guitar had a rosewood board, jumbo frets, heavier strings, higher action, and his pickups were quite a bit higher than mine. But the neck pickup sounded surprisingly "beefy". It definitely had more of a mellow, brooding sound than mine - hard to describe. But definitely seemed right at home playing some Hendrixian rhythm stuff, so I pulled the trigger and got it. I can't wait to hear how it sounds on my axe, I'll let you guys know.

Cool.......yeah I agree, the "Texas Hot" name doesn't make much sense. They weren't called "Texas Hot"s in the beginning, but rather just Antiquity I's. The name made me think "Texas Specials" which are rather hot and nearly turned me off from buying them. My dealer (who by the way had never actually used those pickups) told me that they were like Duncan's version of Texas Specials so I was leary about buying them until I called SD's customer service and were told that they were indeed the Antiquity line's '50's replica.

Those '57/'62's are nice pickups too.

Update time: Well, like most things I do unfortunately, this turned out to be a case of "one step forward, two steps back." I only ordered the neck pickup, and it showed up today. Whoo hoo! I just got it in the guitar, and it sounds amazing! Definitely everything I hoped for. The packaging and attention to all the little details was incredible, and the pickup sounds as good as it looked.

However....

It is now the only pickup on my guitar that sounds good. The #2 position is really thin, and I didn't find out until after the fact that the Duncans and most Fender pickups are magnetically opposite... D'oh!

The other thing I noticed that backs up my observation from playing my friend's guitar was that his SD Antiquity seemed to actually have higher output than my American Standard pickups, and that is definitely the case here. The neck pickup drives my little Champion 600 a lot harder, and it is way louder than the mid and bridge pickups, which I find funny since the Antiquity II's are supposed to be low-output. Maybe my original 23-year-old pickups are prematurely demagnetized?

Oh well. This is a little frustrating, but either way, I guess it's an excuse to just do it right and install 2 more of these awesome pickups in my guitar.

That is a bit odd. Nice looking guitar BTW. Love that white finish with a maple board. I would expect modern American Standard pickups to be of a higher output than the Antiquity's but I don't know anything about standard pickups that are in your guitar. Maybe they've gotten weaker over the years. I'm sure others know alot more about it than me. But I think you can't go wrong going with the Antiquity's.