Hi! I could really need some help here. I have a few American Deluxe Stratocasters (HSS), but one is my number one "go to" guitar. I need to figure out what pickups it has, so I can get rid of the N3 pickups on my newer guitars. The guitar is made in 2003, and the serielnumber is DZ 31 12026. Has this guitar Vintage noiseless pickups or Samarium cobalt pickups?
Kind regards
Roger

On 2003 Fender Frontlime magazine they write about the Deluxe hss;

2 tex-mex S.C. 1 tex-mex HB

Thank you for your answer, but I don't think the American Deluxe Stratocaster has had tex mex pickups.

Here is from Wikipedia: The American Deluxe Series Stratocasters came with a variety of high-end options such as a Fender DH-1 humbucker in the bridge position and an American two-point synchronized vibrato bridge with LSR Roller Nut, locking tuners on certain models and Samarium Cobalt Noiseless pickups with S-1 switching.[15][16] Guitars produced before 2004 featured Vintage Noiseless pickups and 4-bolt neck fixing. The contoured neck heel feature on these Stratocasters was added in 2002. The American Deluxe Stratocaster HSS (also known as American Deluxe Fat Strat) is the same guitar except for the addition of a Fender DH-1 humbucker in the bridge position and two Hot SCN pickups for a proper balance with the humbucking pickup.

Mine guitar came right before the upgrade or after. That is my "problem"

The covers should read "Vintage Noiseless" on them I believe. If not, you possibly have the SCN's

The Standard Fender HSS came with the Diamond Back HB and 2 Custom Staggered Tex-Mex pickups. Which don't sound anything like the real Tex-Mex pickups Fender sells.

IMO Fender ( frontline ) know better their product than anybody else , include Wiki.

Bill Lawrence designed the SCN' for Fender and were original equipment from 2004. At the time, they were touted as the closest thing to the classic Fender single coils. I would hold with Fender Frontline as the answer to your query. As for swapping out pickups, IMHO it becomes a matter of choice and I suppose you can go anywhere with that.

_________________
"Another day in paradise!"

Why don't you just open the goddamm thing up and look?

SCN pickups will each have three leads (red, green, black) and be clearly marked on the bobbin as to their intended mounting position.

I cannot fathom anyone who would take Wikipedia's word over what Fender themselves say about their products in their own literature.

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

I see them in 2003 Fender Frontline so they were built before .....

+100

True, but I think you pulled the info for the wrong guitar - I think you pulled the info for the MIM Deluxe HSS Strat, not the American Deluxe HSS Strat. American Deluxes have always had some form of noiseless pickup - Vintage Noiseless, SCN, and now N3. That's one of the hallmark features of that line

rogerpedersen - some 2004-spec Amercan Deluxes wound up with DZ3xxxxxx serial numbers - if Fender is going to introduce a new model at the January NAMM show they typically will start doing production runs of the new models in October, November, or December so they have product to fulfill orders. Further Fender doesn't necessarily stop using the previous year's serial number decals on their first day back in production in January of a new year.

2004 was the year that the American Deluxe series got an update. If your guitar is a version 1 spec (1998-2003) it will have Fender's Vintage Noiseless stacked single coils and the Fender DH-1 humbucker and it will not have the S-1 switch. As others have said Vintage Noiseless pickups have the word "Noiseless" written in silver script on the pickup covers - but that writing was prone to wearing off.

If it is a version 2 (2004-2009) then it will have 2 SCN stacked single coils and the DH-1 humbucker and it will have the S-1 pushbutton switch in the volume knob. SCNs have raised letters "SCN" embossed on the pickup covers.

I did have a 2004-spec American Vintage V-neck Strat that was from the first production runs done in late 2003 - it had the "DZ3xxxxxx" serial number and it had the regular "Fender Corona California" script on the neck plate instead of the "50th Anniversary of the Stratocaster" logo on the neck plate. It was clearly a "2004 model" as the V-neck wasn't inroduced until the January 2004 NAMM show and it had SCNs and the S-1 switch. I got it in early March 2004; it was the very first of the V-neck American Deluxes to hit the shelves in Louisville, KY that year.

No, I believe that would be the 2004 Frontline; since it was preprinted for distribution in January 2004 it would have a 2003 copywrite date on it. American Deluxes with SCNs were not released for purchase until after the NAMM show in mid-January.

@John C

Fender changed the name of the DH-1 humbucker to Atomic though the product description mentions DH-1 as the humbucking bridge pickup and not Atomic as expected.

Good point - I never much cared for American Deluxe HSS models so I didn't pay attention to the name change since it's the same pickup.

You are right JohnC ,
I do a mistake when reading Deluxe was'nt in American Deluxe serie. I never tought Mexican have Deluxe Series.

So in American Deluxe I read as you write . " vintage Noiseless" . And on the pickups photos the word "noiseless" are write on each single coil pickups. Not on the humbucker.
Sorry for the mistake.

The FSR TBX Boost HSS has the same pickups found on the early American Deluxes except for the addition of Eric Clapton active electronics and zebra bobbins for the DH-1.