2016/02/08 17:04:25
RD9
Depending on whether you use all three pickups or not you could change out only one (or two) of them with a Duncan, Lace or Dimarzio.  This often results in a significant difference in output if you aren't careful.   I went the easy (and more expensive) route and bought a Dimarzio Area loaded pickguard and really love it.
 
Cheers.
2016/02/08 17:09:07
Agentcalm
I didnt actually realize there could be problems by changing say just one pickup.  It was something i was considering.  You know, change a pickup now and change another in a few months when i get the money together. 
2016/02/08 17:21:38
pentimentosound
Magnetic fields are in planes and sometimes turning 45 to 90 degrees will help. That sometimes takes care of things for me, with my single coiled guitars/steels/mandolin.
     Seems like Gibson had a P100 out, meaning a P90 humbucker. I enjoyed owning/recording with a Gibson BluesHawk and Epiphone makes a pretty nice version of that.
    Mini humbuckers might be an option, too.
    I liked combining a single coil or tapped humbucker with a full humbucker sound on a Carvin DC127 (long gone unfortunately). I've wondered whether a humbucker strat in the middle position would help with the bridge and neck, in a blender set up, where the middle has it's own volume. I imagine you could blend the noise "down" with that, but have yet to explore that set up. I'm saving that for my next Tele,  a "Brent Mason" approach.
Michael
2016/02/08 17:25:19
pentimentosound
Depends on the pickup, but it's do-able and budget friendly! LOL
 
I'm hoping to try out an Area loaded Strat, but so far have only heard YouTube demos and I want to "test drive" them, if I can.
Michael
2016/02/09 00:20:55
RD9
Agentcalm
I didnt actually realize there could be problems by changing say just one pickup.  It was something i was considering.  You know, change a pickup now and change another in a few months when i get the money together. 



I wouldn't really call it a problem but just be aware that the output (volume) of different pickup designs can be different.  Usually one tries to match them but it is not a show stopper, especially if you use only one pickup at a time.  There are plenty of posts about pickup output matching elsewhere on the web. 
 
Cheers.
2016/02/09 09:58:39
michaelhanson
Also keep in mind that pick up companies wind their pickups differently.  If you are used to noise cancellation in the 2 and 4 position, make sure that the pick up you purchase is wound the same way...if cancellation matters to you.  For instance, most of Seymour Duncan's single coil pickups are wound the opposite of Fender pickups.  
 
Maybe not such a big deal for Noiseless Pickups, but for regular Single Coils, it can create issues.  
 
Do you have a link to your question at Strat Talk?
2016/02/09 10:14:38
tlw
The Fender noiseless pickups are basically single-coil sized humbuckers with side-by-side coils. The "vintage" set required using a specific set of pots which Fender hoped would allow the treble output to be something like the vintage single-coils. It wasn't. Tried a set and hated them. The distinctive Strat bell-like quality was missing and they just didn't sound like a Strat.

The later Fender noiseless sets are better, but again don't really have the vintage Strat sound and feel, especially when played clean.

The best quiet (not noiseless, but very quiet) Strat pickups for my purposes and taste are the Lace hot gold set. Single coils, only very quiet with a hotter bridge pickup which makes the bridge p/u usable on its own because the usual volume drop is gone and the tone's less brittle. The standard Lace gold set are the same, but with a vintage output bridge pickup. Good blues/surf/Hendrix sound and feel. Some people reckon they're "characterless" but I can't say I've noticed. Good for driving effects as well.

The Kinman silent Strat pickups are considered good by lots of people, but they aren't cheap.

As for Gibson P100s, everyone but everyone hated them because....reasons. Well, everyone but me, my mark 1 ES135 has them. They're a stacked humbucker with shallow wide coils. They are a bit like a low-output P90 with a big dose of the vintage low output Firebird mini-bucker. A bit low in output terms, but as for tone lots of people tell me that guitar sounds really good because "you can't beat good old P90s" <shrug>.

Gibson dropped P100s from their product line in the late 90s, you can't even get them as OEM replacement spares. The mark2 ES135 was given the Gibson standard-issue humbuckers.

Noise gates are an option to reduce hum, but they work by shutting down the signal completely so if the hum is present while notes trail off you either have to live with that level of hum and only kill it in the silences or greatly reduce the sustain available from the guitar.

About the best I've found is the Boss NS pedal. There are critical reviews around the web but often from people who aren't using it properly or tried it for 5 minutes in a shop. It works by the guitar being plugged into the detector circuit then pedals, especially noisy pedals, go in a loop. You set the gate up based on the guitar's sound and output, the loop only opening when the guitar signal is high enough to open the gate. Because you're gating the noise at source from the guitar rather than trying to gate the noise from noisy pedals then lose clean sustain, the gate can be held open longer and you're preventing noise between notes getting into the pedals. The only thing to watch is compressors might need to go before the gate if used for sustain and delay and reverb need to be after the pedal or they'll be silenced as the gate closes.
2016/02/09 10:27:19
michaelhanson
DiMarzio Area's also seem to get a lot of good review.  
 
I did not like the set of N3's I had on my Strat, as mentioned, they seemed to take away that bell like tone.  Oddly, the American Deluxe I had 10 years ago, I really liked the noiseless pickups on that one.  I'm not sure what they were, but I think Vintage Noiseless.  
2016/02/09 10:35:08
BobF
michaelhanson
DiMarzio Area's also seem to get a lot of good review.  
 
I did not like the set of N3's I had on my Strat, as mentioned, they seemed to take away that bell like tone.  Oddly, the American Deluxe I had 10 years ago, I really liked the noiseless pickups on that one.  I'm not sure what they were, but I think Vintage Noiseless.  




The Vintage Noiseless I mentioned above were the stock pups in a '98 Am Dlx.
2016/02/09 11:25:13
Cactus Music
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001DF65XM?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=od_aui_detailpages00
 
I forgot I added this to my bridge position. 
Like I said earlier in a quest for quiet I bought the complete set on Custom Shop Stat pups. Sorry I can't find the name, I threw out the box, but they were hot signal coils, not humbuckers. 
HUGE improvement over the stock Americans I had and no more noise. But I needed more overdrive. 
So the DMarzio DP189 was added and it works great along side the 2 custom shops. It has coil tap so goes signal coil too. Not the same quack as the true signal coil but good enough for me. 
So if you want to try just one for a start I highly recommend this one. 
 

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