Noiseless.....the debate never ends...

Currently I have a set of CS '69 in mm Strat. I cannot stand the noise at practice or on stage. I often switch back and forth with my Heritage (think Les Paul) or my Epi Dot Deluxe on stage with the Strat. I have two different issues I want to address... Noise reduction and output....

I've been thinking of replacing my pickups in Strat with one of the following. Could you good people take these suggestions and provide you own opinion on them?

1) Fender Hot Noiseless Pickups- Retain Strat strat quack with a little spank/bite and less noise
2) Seymour Duncan Everything Set (Little JB in bridge, Duckbucker in middle, and Little 59 in neck). Gives me a noise reduction and output more like the humbucker loaded guitars I have
3) Dimarizo Area Set- Strat like tones with a reduced amount of noise and more output


I've tried the EMG Vintage Actives, I'm not impressed. Doesn't sound very good when playing clean. I've had Texas Specials and Tex Mex pups before. I rather enjoyed both, but I want more Strat tone without noise.

So what say you my fellow Fender Loungers??? My order of preference reflects cost of low to high as well. I plan on selling the AY initialed CS '69's to fund my next set of pickups....

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I personally don't care for Fender's vintage noiseless and I cannot speak for the S-D's since I've never owned any, but I have two Strats equipped with the DiMarzio's and they never disappoint. Both guitars are configured with the Virtual Vintage Solo Pro at the bridge, an Area 58 in the center, and an Area 61 at the neck. They have plenty of "strattitude" and are as quiet as a church mouse.

HTH

Arjay

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I have Texas specials im my 2006 MIM Strat and I have almost NO hum or noise of any kind. I put them in myself, made sure all solder joints were good. Seems to work for me. Good luck on finding a p/u that is good for you.

The Hot Noiseless sound somewhat brittle across the board to me. If you have any inclination toward vintagey type Strat sounds, these would not be for you.

With the Duncan set, the neck and bridge pickups will make your guitar sound nothing like a Strat. The neck is really boomy and the bridge can be quite raspy. As to the middle pickup, it is VERY weak in comparison to the other two. So much so, I'd even go as far as saying it is weaker than a 69.

The DiMarzios are leaps and bounds above anything you've mentioned. They will give you exactly as advertised. Now granted, they are louder than the 69s but don't expect it to be anything radical.

FWIW, if you like the 69s, you could always install a dummy coil to make each pickup humbucking and really close to humbucking when using positions 2 and 4.

As always, this is merely IMO where YMMV.

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I don't want to mess with pickups that have been signed by Abigail Ybrarra.... Best to leave them whole I'd suspect....

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Installing a dummy coil would go between your pickup selector switch and your volume pot. It wouldn't even come into contact with any of the Abby pickups.

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+1 on the dummy coil, I'd be interested on how it's wired.
Wouldn't that give you humcancelling in all positions?
Considering the 69s don't have a mid rwrp it would act like
The power strat that has an active system but non noiseless
Pickups.
You can also install a fat 50s in the middle, rwrp
Another fellow forumite had installed in their strat a fsr orange
Flake last year.

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oogway, kungfu panda 2008

I love the vintage noisless in my EC strat

tbazzone,
the ec strat is a nice setup.

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"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present."

oogway, kungfu panda 2008

It's very simple. I'll confine this to a Strat and keep my explanations as short as possible.

Note that a RW/RP middle pickup should NOT be used for the reason you will shortly see.

Get a single coil as close to the DC resistance of the single coils that are in the guitar. This single coil does not have to be identical in shape, etc. Remove the magnet(s) from said single coil or it will continue to 'pickup'. Upon removing the magnet(s), the now non-magnetized polepieces can be left in the coil but they will reduce highs in the overall circuit of the guitar as they still are capable of acting as RF antennas and dulling the purity of the guitar's signal. It is up to the individual whether to leave them in or not. Personally, I remove them.

This (now) dummy coil must be wired in the opposite winding direction of the way the other pickups in the guitar are wound for this is what creates the humbucking mode. For best results, the dummy coil should be facing either up or down, the same way the active coils (the pickups) are facing in the guitar as this will keep the RF signals on the same 'plain'. To find out which way the dummy coil is wound and to wire it appropriately is simple: Set the pickup selector switch on any single pickup. In other words, do not select positions 2 or 4. Disconnect the existing lead wire going from the pickup selector switch to the volume pot. Take the dummy coil and face it up or down per the above. Temporarily rig one of the dummy coil's leads to where the lead wire on the pickup selector switch was just removed and the other lead from the coil temporarily to the volume pot where the other end of the lead wire was just removed. Plug the guitar into the amp and turn it on low. If the circuit continues to give off the usual hum, shut the amp off, reverse the dummy coil's leads at the switch and pot. Obviously, you have a 50/50 chance of getting it right the first time. Turn the amp on again and test. Once you've found the direction where the circuit goes silent, turn the amp off again and solder the dummy coil's leads for permanence. Lastly, secure the dummy coil so it won't be flopping around. I usually secure it in between the volume pot and the selector switch. At this point, all three pickups when selected separately will be humbucking. When positions 2 or 4 are selected, the hum will be radically reduced but not completely humbucking for it is at these positions where the DC resistance of the two pickups on together will differ from that of the dummy coil.

If someone wants to go 'overboard' (IMO) with this whole humbucking thing to where even positions 2 and 4 are totally humbucking like the other three positions, the way to do this would require three dummy coils. One dummy coil each would have to be wired in series with each pickup.

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I will agree that the Hot Noiseless are not my favorite pickups. There was a set in a Strat that I just traded for and immediately removed them. I'm like you in that I wasn't too keen on the CS69s either. I installed a set of Klein 1969 Strat pickups with the RWRP option. These pickups have all of the great qualities and tone of the 1969s without the annoying hum. I definitely recommend those pickups.

Howdy!

I quite like my set of Hot Noiseless pickups but as others here have mentioned, they are not your traditional sounding pickup.

More importantly you won't be able to fit a set of FHN in your CP60's Strat...



Because they won't fit.



Fat buggers aren't they?


Great post Martian!

Cheers

Andy

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Pending Greatness

Why thank you!

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You dig?

Yup, excellent post
Now I would have to re read to fully understand,lol

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"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present."

oogway, kungfu panda 2008

Wow, I had no idea the vintage noiseless were so fat. But if I'm not mistaken its because Fender uses a dummy coil in them. Can't believe they won't fit though, I assumed the pickup cavities on the all Fender guitars (non-imports) would be the same depth... However, looking at the guitar you posted, that doesn't look like a factory produced Fender body with the stamp inside the pocket. Perhaps its not the same as mine?



Just so everyone knows, the '69s do not have RW/RP middle pickups...

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