# Recommedations for a strat pickup set wanted



## 100amps (Aug 1, 2013)

I don't get many opportunities to test or compare pickups, so I'd like to draw upon your experience with them. I searched the forum here and read for hours, but didn't find anything specifically helpful. I'm getting tired of watching YouTube shootouts that may or may not be demonstrating something worthwhile -- hard to tell really. I play more in the studio and at home than live gigs.

I'm looking for a set of noiseless/hum-cancelling single-coil shaped pickups for a Strat. I want ones that sound crunchy-bright, but not thin, and maybe a bit hotter than vintage output levels particularly (or maybe only) at the bridge position. I'll probably get a loaded pickguard. I really want noiseless. Buzz annoys the hell out of me, like mosquitoes, even if it's fairly quiet.

I am familiar with recent Fender American Standard pickups (Sounds fine but picks up buzz), Fender Vintage Noiseless (sound a bit dull), Rio Grande Vintage Tallboy (sound kind of um.. bright, but a harsher, ice pick bright, not a crispy, glassy, new-strings-on-a-Strat bright), and that's about it really. Any creative descriptions or comparisons you'd like to share?

Lace Sensor Gold or Hot Gold pups??
Dimarzio Area## sets??
Fender Split 55??

Any others I missed? Thanks in advance.

..Todd


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## Guest (Aug 8, 2013)

I've got a set of Zexcoil Vintage Series singles in the mail: http://www.zexcoil.com/Singles.html

Bought them based on a review of a guy a know from another forum. Here is his video review of them:

[video=youtube;rSLIgUA1ZIE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSLIgUA1ZIE[/video]

He's got the Fat Series in there -- I wanted to keep the Strat-y highs so I went Vintage.

I haven't heard his noiseless Strat pickups, but another forumite has an absolutely killer Telecaster with Kinman noiseless pickups in that are...wow. I'd consider those too.


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## Roryfan (Apr 19, 2010)

Not sure how much help I can be as I'm pretty firmly planted in the vintage output/passive camp, but a few yrs ago I acquired an Am Std Strat that was loaded with a set of Harmonic Design pups. IIRC the neck/mid were Virtual Vintage & the bridge was a Super 90. The bridge output was a little too hot for me, but the neck/mid were better than any Lace Sensors, SCNs etc. that I'd tried from Fender. Would've liked to have given the 54 Specials a whirl but ended up selling the guitar. Based on your description it sounds like his Tele/Strat bridge hybrid might also be worth a shot.

http://www.harmonicdesign.net/allpages/strats.html

This being said, I haven't tried Kinmans.....


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## noman (Jul 24, 2006)

I am in the same camp as Roryfan, prefering the vintage tones (don't mind the hum.......that's part of the stratocaster tone!). Among my collection, I have a 1998 American Std that's my 'silent' strat as I call it.......loaded with Seymour Duncan pups. L'il 59 in the bridge and middle and neck are Duckbuckers. They sound very 'strat-like' to my ears but silent, no hum whatsoever since they're essentially humbuckers. With the wiring done so the bridge has the first tone control, the bridge position sounds great and you can dial down the highs if you want. Highly recommended.


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## fretboard (May 31, 2006)

I can't help with specific pickups - but I got one of these installed a couple weeks ago and am loving it: http://www.ilitchelectronics.com/strat-bpncs/

If you've ever played a Suhr with their silent circuit - these are the guys that make them (and also the silent backplates that Fralin offers). My strat has Custom Shop '54 pickups (non reverse wound middle) and I'd never go back to hum. No altering of the original pickup tones - the backplate contains the second coil to cancel the hum. They also now offer pickguards for strats & teles with the same hum cancelling circuit in them.

Could not be happier with the results. Unbelievable how much more the strat gets played now that I don't have to tolerate the hum.


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

I highly recommend the Fender Hot Noiseless pickups. They're a totally different animal than the Vintage Noiseless and they sound great! I have a full SSS set in one Strat and two more in the neck and middle of my HSS Strat. Big, rich tones and despite being a bit hot for Strat pickups, they still retain that great chiming quality and you get fantastic quack in positions 2 and 4.


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## Roryfan (Apr 19, 2010)

fretboard said:


> I can't help with specific pickups - but I got one of these installed a couple weeks ago and am loving it: http://www.ilitchelectronics.com/strat-bpncs/
> 
> If you've ever played a Suhr with their silent circuit - these are the guys that make them (and also the silent backplates that Fralin offers). My strat has Custom Shop '54 pickups (non reverse wound middle) and I'd never go back to hum. No altering of the original pickup tones - the backplate contains the second coil to cancel the hum. They also now offer pickguards for strats & teles with the same hum cancelling circuit in them.
> 
> Could not be happier with the results. Unbelievable how much more the strat gets played now that I don't have to tolerate the hum.


I also have a Suhr Strat that the previous owner sent back to Suhr to have the Silent System installed. I didn't like the stock V60LPs, just too "modern" or hi-fi sounding to my ear, so I also installed a set of 54s (from an '04 50th Annie Strat) and absolutely love that guitar now. I live 100m from the Ontario Hydro corridor, so everything hums. Everything. Unbelievably there is absolutely zero hum with that guitar & the Silent System does not change the tone! All the chime, quack & sparkle that you would expect from a vintage style pup. 

Did not know that you can buy this now as a pickguard/back plate, certainly better than having to route the guitar to retrofit it. IIRC the middle pup must be non RW/RP to work with the Silent System, does the same apply for the pickguard/back plate configuration?


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## zdogma (Mar 21, 2006)

Lollar dirty blonde set (blonde with hotter "special" bridge) with suhr SSC. expensive but close to perfect IMO, I still really like his pickups. I have a set of Lollar blondes in my EJ strat, Lollar black face in my 65 strat and specials in my american standard, all really nice.


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## Roryfan (Apr 19, 2010)

zdogma said:


> Lollar dirty blonde set (blonde with hotter "special" bridge) with suhr SSC. expensive but close to perfect IMO, I still really like his pickups. I have a set of Lollar blondes in my EJ strat, Lollar black face in my 65 strat and specials in my american standard, all really nice.


I actually replaced the Harmonic Design pups w/ a set of flat pole Blondes in that guitar & was underwhelmed, notably by the bridge position (too thin & ice-picky). Have you A/B'd the "dirty" bridge w/ the regular one? 

Not knocking Lollars, but maybe there was just too much hype & my expectations were unrealistic.


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## zdogma (Mar 21, 2006)

Roryfan said:


> I actually replaced the Harmonic Design pups w/ a set of flat pole Blondes in that guitar & was underwhelmed, notably by the bridge position (too thin & ice-picky). Have you A/B'd the "dirty" bridge w/ the regular one?
> 
> Not knocking Lollars, but maybe there was just too much hype & my expectations were unrealistic.


Hehe, that's what i like about them, always looking for more brightness. The EJ is my "clean and bright" strat. The special bridge is warmer, more midrange more output. Really nice pickup. I took it out because the 4 position (out of phase) was nice and clucky with all blondes. The SSC makes them a little darker as well.


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## JeremyP (Jan 10, 2012)

I just recently switched both my strats from noiseless to vintage. But for years I used he Samarian cobalt noiseless that came in the deluxe model. I thought they were a really great versatile pick-up. That being said I LOVE the VanZandt vintage plus sets I use now more than anything I have ever tried, hat may change though as I just received some lollar vintage tweeds in the mail this morning


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## georgemg (Jul 17, 2011)

I went through a search for a noiseless set of pick ups for my Strat and ended up getting a set of Seymour Duncan Classic Stack Plus pick ups. If you're looking for a more traditional sound, these might not be your thing in hum cancelling mode. You can wire them up as singles though, or get a push/pull switch and have single or hum cancelling, so the traditional sounds are there if you want them too (I didn't bother myself and went hum cancelling only). 

The thing I like about them is they don't get ice picky and handle dirt quite well. I may end up getting a hotter version for the bridge (the vintage hot) but I'm still happy with the set. I couldn't find any demos with them as true singles but Sam Vilo has one that might give you an idea of the hum cancelling sounds. Vinai Trinateepakdee has a few videos as well where he uses them in the neck and middle.


[video=youtube;iJJUzgB3I2Y]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJJUzgB3I2Y[/video]


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

iaresee said:


> I've got a set of Zexcoil Vintage Series singles in the mail: http://www.zexcoil.com/Singles.html
> 
> Bought them based on a review of a guy a know from another forum. Here is his video review of them:
> 
> ...


I checked out that video and a few more on the Zexcoil site and these sound pretty good!

Ian, did you get the 5/2/5+ set? That one seems like it would be right down my alley.

I still really like my Fender Hot Noiseless, but if I can find a Strattier-sounding set, I'd be pretty interested.


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## Guest (Aug 9, 2013)

hollowbody said:


> Ian, did you get the 5/2/5+ set? That one seems like it would be right down my alley.


I went 5/2/5 -- I wanted to keep the highs in the bridge position. I'll keep you guys posted on how they sound. I'm looking forward to losing the hum on my Strat. Love the thing, but could really do without the hum.


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## 100amps (Aug 1, 2013)

So much great information here. Keep it coming. 

The Zexcoil Vintage 5 pickups look great, perfect in fact for a vintage+noiseless product. Being an engineer type, their development approach appeals to me. But I'd like to hear some testimonials if anyone here has used them. They are, after all, pretty pricey.

After reading all this and following all the link trails, I'm beginning to doubt whether going noiseless is really _that_ much of a priority for me. Everyone raves about Lollar and Fralin pups, and I'm not sure I'd be able to ignore them just because they aren't noiseless. They also have a significant impact on the resale-ability of a guitar down the road. Zexcoil currently wouldn't offer that unless their reputation builds up a lot in the next few years. And I hope it does, they really do look like a significant innovation.

The humbucking pickguards and backplates seem like a decent solution for an expensive collector guitar, but a bit too pricey for your typical nice player guitar.

..Todd


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## Wileyone (Jul 23, 2011)

Anything from David Allen.


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## Guest (Aug 9, 2013)

100amps said:


> The Zexcoil Vintage 5 pickups look great, perfect in fact for a vintage+noiseless product. Being an engineer type, their development approach appeals to me. But I'd like to hear some testimonials if anyone here has used them. They are, after all, pretty pricey.


Compared to Kimans I thought they were a steal! 

Maybe it's because I'm in the US? The whole set cost me $300 -- about $50 more than what a decent set of Duncans would cost.


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## Wileyone (Jul 23, 2011)

100amps said:


> I'm looking for a set of noiseless/hum-cancelling single-coil shaped pickups for a Strat. I want ones that sound crunchy-bright, but not thin, and maybe a bit hotter than vintage output levels particularly (or maybe only) at the bridge position. I'll probably get a loaded pickguard. I really want noiseless. Buzz annoys the hell out of me, like mosquitoes, even if it's fairly quiet.


Noiseless in my opinion equals Toneless. You have to put up with a little Hum to get the best sounds from a Strat.

What Amp are you using?


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## 100amps (Aug 1, 2013)

Wileyone said:


> Noiseless in my opinion equals Toneless. You have to put up with a little Hum to get the best sounds from a Strat.
> 
> What Amp are you using?


I am an amp tech so I have a bunch of different things. My current offspring is something like a brownface Deluxe, sort of, if you squint. 

You are obviously not alone with your opinion, and I don't necessarily disagree, but things could have improved in the noiseless arena. There's new stuff coming out all the time. If it has improved, I'd like to hear about it. Here.

..Todd


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## noman (Jul 24, 2006)

Sounds pretty vintagey (is that a word??) in that Sam Vilo video above.............


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

Wileyone said:


> Noiseless in my opinion equals Toneless. You have to put up with a little Hum to get the best sounds from a Strat.


While there are some totally lifeless-sounding single-coils out there, there are also lots of regular single coils that don't sound great either. Both camps have some solid contenders and some real stinkers, it's just that for years, the noiseless pickups ONLY sounded bad because you either got Lace Sensors (which are pretty lifeless to my ears) or you got basically single-coil-sized humbuckers, which didn't sound like a Strat or a Les Paul, but somewhere weird in the middle.


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## GTmaker (Apr 24, 2006)

I can only suggest something I have tried and still have on my Lonestar Strat.

Its the FEnder 57/62 single coil pickup set.
THey are all ( and then some) what a Strat needs and thats what I can add to this mix.


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## georgemg (Jul 17, 2011)

noman said:


> Sounds pretty vintagey (is that a word??) in that Sam Vilo video above.............


Probably not a real word, but I'm sure we all know what you mean ;-) 

Sam Vilo typically sets his stuff up on the heavier side in his videos, but you can get these pick ups to sound more straty (probably not a real word either) with cleaner, less bassy amp settings. The Classic Stack Plus are based on SSL1s if I recall correctly and are intended to give a similar sound. The one bummer with them is it`s a sealed unit, so you can`t change the pick up cover and can only buy them in white or black (no cream or off-white). You might be able to order a custom set if you really want another colour though. I found a pretty good deal on mine through eBay ($170 new for the set, all in), so I didn't bother checking.


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## keefsdad (Feb 7, 2006)

I have Bill Lawrence L-280's in my '99 American Strat and am very happy with them. Better sounding than the stock pups, and noiseless. Very reasonably priced, too.


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## 100amps (Aug 1, 2013)

These Lindy Fralin pups sound pretty good to me; noiseless, with great tone. 

http://youtu.be/OLgX07hPB68

..Todd


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## noman (Jul 24, 2006)

100amps said:


> These Lindy Fralin pups sound pretty good to me; noiseless, with great tone.
> 
> http://youtu.be/OLgX07hPB68
> 
> ..Todd


I have a set of those but still have not installed them........


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## 100amps (Aug 1, 2013)

Send them to me. I'll take care of it.

..Todd


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