Butch
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New Strat Pickups
Hello all, I have an American Deluxe Ash Stratocaster. I wasn't really digging the SCN pickups. The S-1 switching was bogus...yeah, it gave five new sounds...five new, unusable, crappy sounds. So I did a little reseach and decided on the DiMarzio Area pre-wired pickguard. It was a cinch to install...no soldering required. I will admit, the 11 screw holes that hold the pickguard on didn't line up very well and some screws were going in on a 45 degree angle, but it looks fine now that it's all together. How do they sound? Awesome and cool! Classic Strat tones and totally noiseless...even more so than the SCNs. I highly recommend these pickups. Good luck searching for your guitar tone nirvana!
post edited by Butch - 2010/07/25 16:06:23
Butch Let's make some art!
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fireberd
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Re:New Strat Pickups
2010/07/25 18:07:27
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Our lead guitar player's favorite Strat has Blue Lace Sensors on it. He has about 30 guitars, mostly Fender Strat and Tele's, with various pickup configurations and the one with the Blue Lace Sensors is his favorite.
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The Maillard Reaction
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Re:New Strat Pickups
2010/07/26 09:16:36
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FWIW there are 2 11 hole Strat pickguard layouts.
One is known as "Standard" the other is known as "vintage 62".
I really like Lindy Fralins pickups... those suckers pick up everything... they buzz when I get close to anything that's emitting.
All that, and they sound like it's the late 1950's... virtual time machine.
I hope you enjoy your new pickups. Strats are fun.
best regards,
mike
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Butch
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Re:New Strat Pickups
2010/07/27 08:29:29
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I was deciding between the Area PUs and a set of Lace Sensor golds. Unlike a lot of other equipment, there is no way to "try out" a set of PUs before buying them, so I just looked at manufacturer's literature, specs, and Harmony Central reviews. The reviews on HC were strongly favoring the Area PUs.
I had the right hole pattern, but a 1/16th of an inch, one way or the other, and you can't see the hole through the pickguard. Fortunately, plastic is flexable!
After a little more playing, I like them even more. Not only quiet, but so clean, and present, and a sweet attack to every pick. Awesomer!
Butch Let's make some art!
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gustabo
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Re:New Strat Pickups
2010/07/27 08:39:15
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Hey Butch, I'm in the next town over. PM me. Tried sending you one but it won't go through.
post edited by gustabo - 2010/07/27 08:41:14
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The Maillard Reaction
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Re:New Strat Pickups
2010/07/27 08:58:46
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Just for reference... here is a useful reference for the two 11 hole standards:  best regards mike
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DeeringAmps
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Re:New Strat Pickups
2010/07/27 11:13:07
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+1 on the Fralins. Single coils, Buckers, Lindy IMVHO is the only one doing it right.
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smallstonefan
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Re:New Strat Pickups
2010/07/27 11:19:54
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Another vote for Fralins. Lindy is also a very cool guy and will spend time on the phone with you helping you pick the right pickups for you and your guitar. Their Vintage Hots are AWESOME. :)
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batsbrew
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Re:New Strat Pickups
2010/07/28 11:38:16
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i use bill lawrence pickups in my strat.
my favorite pickups to date.
i've a/b'd against kinmans, duncans, dimarzios, fralins, SCN's, laces, alumitones, and GFS.
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The Maillard Reaction
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Re:New Strat Pickups
2010/07/28 13:25:00
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I get to a/b Lawrences, Duncans, Dimarzios, Fralins, SCNs, and Laces frequently... cause I own guitars with each. :-)
Strats are fun.
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DeeringAmps
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Re:New Strat Pickups
2010/07/28 14:57:59
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This is how I define "fun".  Why "struggle" with a Strat, when you can "play" a great old paul?
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The Maillard Reaction
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Re:New Strat Pickups
2010/07/28 15:34:20
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I have a few SGs and a new to me older Hamer Artist. An old neck injury makes a Les Paul a bit impractical for me. :-) But someday, just for the collection and for guests... I'd like to have a classic version of a Les Paul Standard.
post edited by mike_mccue - 2010/07/28 22:25:44
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mgreene
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Re:New Strat Pickups
2010/07/28 16:25:17
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 I went a little off the beaten path and tried some pickups off ebay called "Copperhead", made in Canadia. I decided to try them because they had one of the few really good sounding sets of online audio demo files I have ever heard. (It has always amazed me that folks making pickups and effects have such crappy online demo files to represent their products! How can you possibly tell how something sounds if all the files are heavy distortion???) Anyhow, I was not dissapointed by deez here Copperheads. I have a very nice custom strat with an ebony fingerboard that always sounded a little constipated with the stock Seymours. I choose a 50's type, non-reverse set and they make this guitar sound amazingly vintage - REAL mojo. I likes 'em a bunch. If I had another Strat, I would try his 60's set too. The maker has now changed his name to chevalierpickups.com. Mike
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the_apex
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Re:New Strat Pickups
2010/07/29 01:58:56
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Butch
Hello all,
I have an American Deluxe Ash Stratocaster. I wasn't really digging the SCN pickups. The S-1 switching was bogus...yeah, it gave five new sounds...five new, unusable, crappy sounds. So I did a little reseach and decided on the DiMarzio Area pre-wired pickguard.
It was a cinch to install...no soldering required. I will admit, the 11 screw holes that hold the pickguard on didn't line up very well and some screws were going in on a 45 degree angle, but it looks fine now that it's all together.
How do they sound? Awesome and cool! Classic Strat tones and totally noiseless...even more so than the SCNs. I highly recommend these pickups.
Good luck searching for your guitar tone nirvana!
Which Area pups did you install? And in what configuration? Does 60 cycle hum get you down? Please post some sound examples of your own for us. I for one would love to hear how they sound.
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the_apex
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Re:New Strat Pickups
2010/07/29 02:00:00
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DeeringAmps
This is how I define "fun".
Why "struggle" with a Strat, when you can "play" a great old paul?
Who's struggling?
i7 8700k, Asus Z370 Prime A, 32 gigs RAM, Focusrite Pro 40, Cakewalk, and Me.
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the_apex
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Re:New Strat Pickups
2010/07/29 02:15:24
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strat_pickup_sounds This has helped others, but not me so much. With my headphones on, they all start to sound the same. I always seem to like a more vintage tone. On a Stratocaster, the Strat-ee-yur the better. 
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Butch
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Re:New Strat Pickups
2010/07/29 06:59:34
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Butch Let's make some art!
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zungle
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Re:New Strat Pickups
2010/07/30 02:00:18
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I'd like to own a Deluxe Antigua Fender Strat one day........... For now these guys are coil tapped and get me by........... 
post edited by zungle - 2010/07/30 02:07:04
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droddey
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Re:New Strat Pickups
2010/07/30 02:17:29
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I have an American Strat. I put Fralin Vintage Hots in it. I tried them out for a long time, numerous months. Ultimately, just as a sanity check, I put the standard faceplate back on to try that again and wee what I thought, and I ended up selling the Fralin faceplate. It's not that they are bad at all, and the guy who bought them from me loved them. But I just found the stock pickups more to my style I guess. Maybe it's the style I play or the amps I use or whatever, but they just seem to have the tone I'm looking for. The Fralins seemed to have less of the Strat quacky tone, which I quite like, and I guess the hotter output made them generally fatter, where I prefer a less fat tone that will sit easily over a solid bottom end (more Floydian in nature I guess.) The stock pickups through my Vox Nighttrain, to me, is what a Strat should sound like.
post edited by droddey - 2010/07/30 02:20:19
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Butch
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Re:New Strat Pickups
2010/07/30 07:57:08
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To me, the stock SCN pickups sounded a little dull, lifeless, and un-natural. There was also this wavering/beating sound on a sustained chord that I don't seem to have with the Area PUs.
I feel that the fact that Fender has always used (for decades) AlNiCo magnets for their PUs, then they switch to Samarium Cobalt (SP?) only for a few years, then return to AlNiCo, says that there is something wrong with them.
I love working on my tone.
Butch Let's make some art!
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The Maillard Reaction
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Re:New Strat Pickups
2010/07/30 08:40:45
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There are so many factors for getting different tones.
My Fralins are the "real 54's". I play them with fat flat wound strings into an actual Fender amp. The guitar is Swamp Ash... and all the hardware is the old style stuff.
Quack, Quack, Quack.
The amount of Quack I get changes as I range from finger style thru a variety of pick thickness choices.
best regards,
mike
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the_apex
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Re:New Strat Pickups
2010/07/30 14:54:30
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In addition to the various AREA pup models, I want to hear the new N3's that Fender recently replaced the SCN's with. Anybody here heard these yet and have something to say about them.
I have John Cruz pups in my strat and LOVE the way those sound, but they are noisy. I'll soon need another backup guitar and have been interested in the noisless pups.
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hgj1357
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Re:New Strat Pickups
2010/08/07 15:50:26
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Jason Lollar for me. I have the specials, which are a little hot and the blondes. The blondes are simply outstanding. Through a Mack Skyraider and a Weber AlNiCO 12".
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