Strat Pickup Upgrade - Need Help

[Fretz]

Hey Guys

I've been considering upgrading one of my 2 strats for a while now. My mind was made up recently when I realised that my American Standard Strat simply can't compete against my KWS strat. But as usual the tricky part is deciding on what pups to use.

I'd like to go after the Clapton tone this time...I think the KWS gets good Texas blues tones. I know Clapton has used Gold Lace and more recently the Vintage Noiseless pups. But there are so many other options out there it's really hard to know what to go for. And if I go for the Clapton pups will I need the mid boost also?

I'd appreciate any advice guys.

 

[Fretz]

Considering some Dimarzio's also. The 58,62, 67 and the Virtual Vintage Blues all look pretty interesting.

Any ideas on these?

 

[marnold]

Considering some Dimarzio's also. The 58,62, 67 and the Virtual Vintage Blues all look pretty interesting.

Any ideas on these?

I used to have some Area 61s (which is what I assume you mean by "62") in an HSS guitar I sold. I liked them quite a bit. I don't know if I'd consider them to be "vintage" sounding. They sounded great with any level of gain. They were also dead quiet, so much so that I thought that I screwed up installing them initially. If I had to do it over, I'd look at the Area 67s as they seem to be a good combination of what the 58s and 61s have to offer.

I posted clips of the 61s. The Sweet Jane clips came after adjusting the pickup height which I think made them sound better. Here's some more. Actually, after listening to those clips again, I forgot how much I liked those pups . . .

 

[Duffy]

Pickups

You can install the Fender Hot Vintage Noiseless pickups and use your existing electronics, including the 250k pots. This will help the pickups sound better than if you put in 500k pots, based upon testing done by others. They just solder right in where the old ones came off.

You do not need to install the boost circuit like Clapton did, expecially if you leave in the existing 250k pots.

Another interesting option is the EMG SA pickup set that Vince Gill has on his black strat with tortoise shell pickguard, as seen in the latest available "Crossroads" blues festival DVD. He has the EMG tone control instead of two tone controls, and this lets him dial in some almost full sized humbucker tone. This EMG tone shaping circuit is optional. You can just install the EMG SA active single coil pickups. I believe they have preamps built right into the individual pickups. If Vince Gill likes them I would reckon to guess that they sound like stratocaster pickups, at least in some way, and they are completely noiseless. Also about seventy dollars more than the Fender Hot Noiseless pickups that are on sale for about 115 US at most of the big onling places. And if they are not all at that price, they do 110 percent price matching. I'm considering a set of Fender Hot Noiseless and see what I think. Supposedly they are not all that hot anyway and retain a nice strat sound. I played them in a Deluxe Stratocaster and liked them a lot.

 

[Fretz]

You can install the Fender Hot Vintage Noiseless pickups and use your existing electronics, including the 250k pots. This will help the pickups sound better than if you put in 500k pots, based upon testing done by others. They just solder right in where the old ones came off.

You do not need to install the boost circuit like Clapton did, expecially if you leave in the existing 250k pots.

Another interesting option is the EMG SA pickup set that Vince Gill has on his black strat with tortoise shell pickguard, as seen in the latest available "Crossroads" blues festival DVD. He has the EMG tone control instead of two tone controls, and this lets him dial in some almost full sized humbucker tone. This EMG tone shaping circuit is optional. You can just install the EMG SA active single coil pickups. I believe they have preamps built right into the individual pickups. If Vince Gill likes them I would reckon to guess that they sound like stratocaster pickups, at least in some way, and they are completely noiseless. Also about seventy dollars more than the Fender Hot Noiseless pickups that are on sale for about 115 US at most of the big onling places. And if they are not all at that price, they do 110 percent price matching. I'm considering a set of Fender Hot Noiseless and see what I think. Supposedly they are not all that hot anyway and retain a nice strat sound. I played them in a Deluxe Stratocaster and liked them a lot.

Thanks Dufyy
At the moment I'm leaning towards the Area 67s. Have you considered those, or any of the area pickups for your upgrade?

 

[Duffy]

Pickups

No. Tell me about them, if you have the time, please.

Do I need to install new pots, etc.?

 

[Fretz]

No. Tell me about them, if you have the time, please.

Do I need to install new pots, etc.?

I'm not sure aobut the pot situation yet. At the moment I'm just trying to get the right pickup that sounds good for me and will worry about pots and stuff after that. But, there are so many options out there, it's proving to be a very difficult decision.

Dimarzio do a loaded pickguard, with one of each area pickup. 58,61,67. But not sure if that's what I want.

Check out their site:
http://www.dimarzio.com/site/#/pickups/

There are some vids on youtube also...I think a lot more for the 58 than the 67.

What sort of style/sound are you going after duffy?

 

[marnold]

They say that the Area series is designed to be used with 250K pots. I used my 61s with a single 500K volume pot. That worked fine for me. I was concerned that the others might be too bright in that kind of situation. The loaded pickguard sounds like an interesting idea. From what I saw it's got the 61 at the bridge, 67 in the middle, and 58 at the neck. I might want to reverse the 58 and the 67, but that probably would be easy enough to do on your own--assuming they leave a little bit of slack in the leads.

 

[Duffy]

Pups

Fretz, I'm going after a "noiseless" sound. Even if I get some good regular pickups that have a RWRP pickup in them I could escape the noise by switching to the middle position.

I would like to retain a traditional telecaster type sound and stay away from the dual rail single coil sized humbuckers.

I have a line on a new single bridge Fender Vintage Noiseless tele pickup for 55 US. This is no extravagant deal, but I could pick up the neck pup next month and at least have a bridge pickup that is noiseless. I would be close to half way there, presuming it sounds any good.

The noise on my '09 MIM standard tele is irritating at any kind of volume. You can even hear it when playing loud, while playing, if you really concentrate on it, which is impossible to avoid doing at this point.

The pickups sound great though. Really crisp and clear. Great tone hot ceramic pickups.

What do you do? Just get used to the noise until you forget about focusing on it?

 

[marnold]

Duffy,

A friend of mine has a Dimarzio Virtual Hot T in the bridge of his Tele that I thought sounded great. It has since been replaced in Dimarzio's lineup by the Area Hot T.

 

[Duffy]

Tele pups

I appreciate that input Marnold. I will check those out.

Some are suggesting that the noise is inherent in the traditional telecaster sound that many players have come to know and love, so maybe I should just try to adapt to the noise. Use other guitars for high gain applications, etc.

The thing is these hot ceramic pickups sound great when overdriven, and that, of course, produces more noise.

I'm going to play the guitar more frequently and see if I can live with the noise.

Another aspect of this situation is that I now have some very high gain amps and pedals. Traditional Fender tele pickups were not designed, I don't think, with this type of very high gain amp in mind. I'm not sure how high gain the amps were back then. It is possible though, that some of those old amps were capable of developing some seriously high gain.

Listening to a Neil Young documentary the other night, with lots of full jam session type Crazy Horse songs, a LOT of noise was evident between songs and things like that where you would hear the background noise. He uses some REAL old equipment in Crazy Horse evidently, and he gets some great sounds out of it. He was playing that black LP with the bigsby and had the Deluxe amp with that mystery box. Very noisy.

It is possible that noise is sometimes my friend and I just don't know it.

 

[Fretz]

I appreciate that input Marnold. I will check those out.

Some are suggesting that the noise is inherent in the traditional telecaster sound that many players have come to know and love, so maybe I should just try to adapt to the noise. Use other guitars for high gain applications, etc.

The thing is these hot ceramic pickups sound great when overdriven, and that, of course, produces more noise.

I'm going to play the guitar more frequently and see if I can live with the noise.

Another aspect of this situation is that I now have some very high gain amps and pedals. Traditional Fender tele pickups were not designed, I don't think, with this type of very high gain amp in mind. I'm not sure how high gain the amps were back then. It is possible though, that some of those old amps were capable of developing some seriously high gain.

Listening to a Neil Young documentary the other night, with lots of full jam session type Crazy Horse songs, a LOT of noise was evident between songs and things like that where you would hear the background noise. He uses some REAL old equipment in Crazy Horse evidently, and he gets some great sounds out of it. He was playing that black LP with the bigsby and had the Deluxe amp with that mystery box. Very noisy.

It is possible that noise is sometimes my friend and I just don't know it.

Hi Duffy

Here is some info/review on the area pups.

http://iheartguitarblog.com/2010/07/dimarziosolderlessarea.html

 

[marnold]

Here is some info/review on the area pups.

http://iheartguitarblog.com/2010/07/dimarziosolderlessarea.html

Judging from those pics, you wouldn't be able to swap the neck and middle pickups. I'd bet they'd make one for you like that though. That's a great, easy way to swap pups.

I really have to stop taking part in this conversation before I want a Strat.

 

[Fretz]

Judging from those pics, you wouldn't be able to swap the neck and middle pickups. I'd bet they'd make one for you like that though. That's a great, easy way to swap pups.

I really have to stop taking part in this conversation before I want a Strat.

Haha...sure treat yourself! It is Friday after all

So what setup would you say would be best for mostly blues/blues rock tones?
I was leaning towards 3 area 67s but I see a lot of people but a 61 in the bridge. And also a lot of people seem to like the 58.

 

[marnold]

The only one I have personal experience with is the 61. If I were to get an SSS setup, I'd probably go 61 in the bridge and 67s in the middle and neck. The 67s seem to be ballsier than the 58s, but the 58s sound more vintage.

 

[MAXIFUNK]

I am about to put a set of these in my No pick guard Black Fender Strat SSS.
Black pick up covers These sound great and no hum but they are not cheap!

http://www.lacemusic.com/electric_pickups/holy_grail/holy_grail_specs.php

http://accessories.musiciansfriend.com/product/Lace-Holy-Grail-Noiseless-Pickup-3Pack?sku=305413&src=3WFRWXX&ZYXSEM=0&CAWELAID=32720347

May I also suggest these if you want a more modern tone very hot pups.
http://www.lacemusic.com/electric_pickups/hot_gold/hot_gold_specs.php

 

[Fretz]

I am about to put a set of these in my No pick guard Black Fender Strat SSS.
Black pick up covers These sound great and no hum but they are not cheap!

http://www.lacemusic.com/electric_pickups/holy_grail/holy_grail_specs.php

http://accessories.musiciansfriend.com/product/Lace-Holy-Grail-Noiseless-Pickup-3Pack?sku=305413&src=3WFRWXX&ZYXSEM=0&CAWELAID=32720347

May I also suggest these if you want a more modern tone very hot pups.
http://www.lacemusic.com/electric_pickups/hot_gold/hot_gold_specs.php

Oh, the holy grails look interesting too! Another one on the list....decisions, decisions!

 

[Fretz]

Some more info on "Best Noiseless Strat Guitar Pickup"
http://www.bestcovery.com/best-noiseless-strat-guitar-pickup

 

[otaypanky]

You can install the Fender Hot Vintage Noiseless pickups and use your existing electronics, including the 250k pots. This will help the pickups sound better than if you put in 500k pots, based upon testing done by others. They just solder right in where the old ones came off.

You do not need to install the boost circuit like Clapton did, expecially if you leave in the existing 250k pots.

Another interesting option is the EMG SA pickup set that Vince Gill has on his black strat with tortoise shell pickguard, as seen in the latest available "Crossroads" blues festival DVD. He has the EMG tone control instead of two tone controls, and this lets him dial in some almost full sized humbucker tone. This EMG tone shaping circuit is optional. You can just install the EMG SA active single coil pickups. I believe they have preamps built right into the individual pickups. If Vince Gill likes them I would reckon to guess that they sound like stratocaster pickups, at least in some way, and they are completely noiseless. Also about seventy dollars more than the Fender Hot Noiseless pickups that are on sale for about 115 US at most of the big onling places. And if they are not all at that price, they do 110 percent price matching. I'm considering a set of Fender Hot Noiseless and see what I think. Supposedly they are not all that hot anyway and retain a nice strat sound. I played them in a Deluxe Stratocaster and liked them a lot.

I had 2 Strats with EMG active pick ups and the midboost EQ control. The EQ control really made the guitar quite versatile. I know that 'EQ control' is not the name that EMG uses for it. But they were great sounding pups, noiseless, and with the EQ you could go from a clean spanky Fender sound to some real hefty tones with a spin of the pot
I sold one set loaded in a pickguard to a fellow Fretter. Maybe he'll find the thread and say how he likes them.

 

[Duffy]

Strat pickups

The last two days and nights I have been playing my new black with maple board Blacktop strat, and my White Pearl Metallic Squier Deluxe strat.

I really like the Squier Deluxe strat and the duncan designed single coils are very quiet and have really great tone. I put a new set of pure nickel strings on the Deluxe and it really brings out a deep full mellow tone, without a hint of muddiness. It has some chime and a woodiness to the sound that is very satisfying.

A lot of praise is going the way of the Classic Vibes, but the Deluxe has a nice quarter sawn neck and is a high value guitar; so is my Epi Faded SG. Both of these guitars stand up well to the Classic Vibe I own and they both seem to get overlooked and are probably underestimated.

Anyway, both are great guitars and have good pickups on them, stock.

 

[mapka]

You may want to check these out also
http://wildepickups.com/Wilde_Bill_s_NF_Singles.html I have a set of Bill's Keystones I put in my 1988 Telie. What a difference they made! Lots of tone and much more volume then the Fender pups had. I also installed a 4 way switch and capacitor at the same time. The Keystones are not noiseless but the link above will take you to his noiseless pups. Bill has been doing pups for a long time (started out in house with Framus during the sixties). Here is a clip of my Telie and Custom shop Strat playing through a Fender Blues Deluxe amp. I am not a great player but you can get a sense of the sound of the Telie. Mostly neck pickup on this clip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y23ZwNPt7Yc