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Post subject: Re: strat pickups
Posted: Wed Dec 31, 2014 5:14 pm
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OP The other 50% of your question is what are you playing thru for amp ?

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Post subject: Re: strat pickups
Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2015 9:49 am
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I love my fat 50's
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Post subject: Re: strat pickups
Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2015 11:23 am
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I know the OP's question is over a month old now, but as long as I'm sitting here with little else to do...

To the OP (or anyone interested in this for posterity), as I'm sure you've gathered by now, pickups are as individual as the choice of guitar itself and are as subjective as the individual's personal taste. Personally, as a person who plays mostly classic rock and blues with a bit of Southern rock, as a general starting point, I prefer Duncans and EMG's over anything that Fender makes. That said, it's been my experience that how good a particular brand/model of pickup sounds depends largely on the guitar itself.

Guitars, being made of wood...and in Fender's case, often various types of wood...by their very nature tend to have different sonic characteristics. Even 2 guitars from the exact same model line and same year (Fender or otherwise) may have different tonal characteristics. Since pickups also tend to have different "sound" from model to model, one given brand/model may sound completely different on two otherwise similar instruments. For example, many years back I tried to put a set of Fender Vintage Noiseless in my '96 MIM Standard and while they were a marginal improvement over the stock pickups (similar tone to stock, but more responsive), they didn't really knock my socks off either...that guitar finally got a set of Duncans. The VN's ended up going in an '87 Squier E-series Strat and in that guitar, they sound really great...far better than they sounded in the '96.

Further, it's worth remembering that your "guitar" is also a collection of parts...changing the trem block on a Strat for example, can effect the sound nearly as much as changing pickups will. How all of these parts work together is what forms the instrument's invididual sound. Again using my '96 as a comparison, I also have an '03 MIM with the exact same Duncan's as the '96, but the sound of that particular guitar, while decent, is still a bit lacking in comparison. Both guitars have poplar bodies and maple necks but in this case, the '96 also has a Callaham trem block where as the '03 has a steel GFS block...and yea, you can hear the difference. For further comparison, I also have a '93 MIM that has a steel GFS block, but in this case it also has a set of rather generic GF "over-wound" pickups...I snagged them as a special purchase for around $15 for the set. This particular guitar now has a tremendous "surf tone"...crank up the reverb and she's really got that whole Pipeline thing just nailed! I also have a '95 MIM (nearly identical to the '96, but a bit more worn) that still has the original stock pickups, which I've rigged up for use with my Roland guitar synth...in that specific guitar, the original pickups have a very nice balance and decent responsiveness that the '96 never really had with the original pickups.

Sooooooo....my suggestion would be to simply play the guitar for a while FIRST before you make any decision on new pickups. As someone else already said, the stock pickups may very well be suited to your own tastes. You may even wish to play with how they're setup on the guitar a bit...try raising them or lowering them and see how that effects your tone (you may be surprised). After you're a bit more familiar with the instrument, then start looking at what you really want/need to do with it. If she sounds a bit dull and flat, maybe look at those Fat 50's for a bit more sparkle. If you're into stuff like Pink Floyd, then perhaps a set of EMG's may be more to your liking. If you lean a bit more towards classic metal, then perhaps consider a set of DiMazio's instead. If you're into blues or some country spank, you may want to look at a set of Texas Specials or even look for some older/used/vintage pickups instead. You may very well need to go thru a couple sets of pickups before you really settle in on the "right" tone for you and your specific instrument :-)

Last but not least, beyond pickups, tone woods, pieces/parts and even pedals and amps, remember this; the single greatest contributing factor to your instrument's tone is -you-. As I've said sooooo many times over the years, Eric Clapton sounds like Eric Clapton because he IS Eric Clapton. Even if you had access to all of his personal gear, you are still going to sound like YOU.

As always, just my own personal $.02 worth...


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Post subject: Re: strat pickups
Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2015 6:59 pm
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Very well put lomitus.

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