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SurfGuitar101 Forums » Gear »

Permalink Any experience with boutique Strat pickups?

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Fenders and Seymour Duncans are the extent of my experience with pickups. Have any of you tried pickups made by Lollar, Fralin, Rio Grande, Bare Knuckle, Suhr, Van Zandt, Don Mare, etc. in your Strats? I'm contemplating getting a set of one of these and putting them into one of my Strats, to see if I've been missing out on anything. Any thoughts or recommendations? Are they worth the premium compared to good Fender or SD pickups? (I'm only interested in vintage-style pickups, preferably early-to-mid-'60s specs. No interest in 'hot', noiseless, etc.)

Ivan
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I have had a couple of sets of Lindy Fralin vintage strat pckups and like them. You can call them and discuss your tastes with Lindy if you like, he will work with you to get the sound you want. I prefer the slightly underwound set which is probably closer to the vintage sound than hotter specs.

VanZandt True Vintage (1990, wound by WL) - awesome, bright, lots of mids
VanZandt Vintage Plus - not bad nothing to write home about in my guitar
Don Mare Super Sports - great early 60's woody, warm and soulful
Don Mare 50's Fromvar - bright, articulate, present
Don Mare Jr Watson - inbetween 50's Formvar and Super Sports

I currently have the 50's Formvar. I do miss the Vanzandt True Vintage set they were probably the best fit for that strat. I also tried newer true Vintage VanZandts but did not have the same mojo as the older True Vintsge set from the 90's

Hi Ivan,
you should definetely check out Jess Loureiro, Jess Loureiro website hand wound PUs from spain, very good and very reasonable prices. I don´t know strat PUs from him, but I do have a set of JM PUs and one in my P-Bass. These are great!
He even has a strat set recommended for surf: The Strat® 54 replica set.
cheers
LoeD

here comes the WEST SAMOA SURFER LEAGUE

Hi Ivan, I have a set of Lollar Vintage Blackface pickups in my MIM Strat (the standard, not the Dirty ones)

http://www.lollarguitars.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=LGP&Product_Code=209

They're full, beautiful sounding pickups but definitely a bit darker and less "chimey" than the Fat 50s in my American Standard. I don't know how much of that difference has to be attributed to the difference in quality of wiring, pots, wood etc between the 2 guitars though...

Before ordering mine through my luthier, I was in doubt as to which pickups would best suit my needs (Blackface, Blonde or Tweed) so I emailed them, and they gladly helped me make the right choice. Great company, great products.

Cheers !

Sascha

"Duck Tape is like The Force: it has a light side and a dark side and it holds the universe together"

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My Number One Strat is a 1984 Fullerton-built AVRI '62 Strat that I've had for nearly 20 years. This one is a road warrior, not a collector's piece.

The previous owner installed a set of Rio Grande Muy Grande pickups. Back in the '90's when I got the guitar I had never heard of this brand but the guitar looked uber-cool and the vendor at the local guitar show (remember those?) was only asking $700 for it.

I've probably had 20+ Strats over the years. NONE of them came close to this one tone-wise. It has a fat, full assertive sound without being over-the-top clangy Heavy Metal-ish. For me, it is perfect for powerful, edgy yet melodic instrumental music. Almost everyone who has played this Strat wants to buy it from me. That's a pretty positive endorsement.

Oh, and regarding strings - DR Pure Blues roundwound 10's. They are Da Bomb. They do make a difference and they last a long time.

Jack Booth
(aka WoodyJ)

The Mariners (1964-68, 1996-2005)
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(1978-1990)

The best kept secret in boutique pickups is Bill Lawrence Keystones. Their Strat & Tele pickups are amazing. They're very affordable too, under $100 a set. There is always a wait though as only two women wind them (Bill's wife Becky, & Shannon). They are very transparent & make a Strat sound like it should. Clean, crystal clear & articulate. They're made in southern California. Their website is here.

Otto & The Ottomans
Kennedy Custom Guitars

Another high bang-for-the-buck option is Rose Pickups. Very affordable and they sound fantastic.

Bill S._______

There seems to be quite a list of boutique pick up makers:
http://www.rig-talk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=124577

I didn't know there were so many...

I generally use Bare Knuckles - Have the 63 pickups in my main surfer - an American Standard. Great pickups, in a sea of great pickups. Certainly get 'the sound' better than the stock ones, but the stock ones weren't shoddy. I also have the Alnico III Apache set - which are nice, but to my ears 1954 style pickups do not have the 'dark' of surf era pickups (if that makes sense).

In my CIJ Jag I have some Curtis Novac pickups - I think I asked for Alnico V with heavy formvar wire. Given the Japanese pick ups aren't up to much, they were a real improvement

Last edited: Oct 31, 2015 15:08:04

I put a set of Harmonic Design 54 Specials in the neck and middle position of my American Standard Strat and an STP in the bridge. The middle is RWRP. I think the neck and middle are a bit more "open" sounding than the originals, and the bridge has a lot more bite and grind than the stock one.

https://striciizozadja.bandcamp.com/

Thanks, everybody. Though I'm afraid I'm no closer to the decision. There is just an overwhelming number of boutique pickup manufacturers, and I'm really not sure how to narrow them down. Well, it's not urgent, I'll keep doing some research and giving it some thought, and I'll let you know once I make a decision. I do greatly appreciate you sharing your own experiences, I will definitely take them into account! Thanks!

Ivan
Lords of Atlantis on Facebook
The Madeira Official Website
The Madeira on Facebook
The Blair-Pongracic Band on Facebook
The Space Cossacks on Facebook
The Madeira Channel on YouTube

IvanP wrote:

Thanks, everybody. Though I'm afraid I'm no closer to the decision. There is just an overwhelming number of boutique pickup manufacturers, and I'm really not sure how to narrow them down. Well, it's not urgent, I'll keep doing some research and giving it some thought, and I'll let you know once I make a decision. I do greatly appreciate you sharing your own experiences, I will definitely take them into account! Thanks!

"Boutique Hand Scatter Wound" It sounds very romantic creating pickups like they did years ago but it can also create inconsistencies. I wouldn't dare knock those with long standing winding experience though. Pickups are a very odd shape to wind perfectly because the ends tend to stretch the wire as it goes over and under, too much wire tension and you have "unique" pickup! So many variables such as wind count, scatter pattern layers and potting that they all contribute to overall performance. These days anyone can access good quality pickups parts and winding charts but once you've made your pickup can you replicate it consistently that's the question. Me being a total expert of course NOT! ;) I reckon the best is someone with great pickup winding knowledge with some sort of auto/semi auto scatter winding machine. I do know of one such person but it wouldn't be fair to try and influence you in his direction!

IvanP wrote:

Thanks, everybody. Though I'm afraid I'm no closer to the decision. There is just an overwhelming number of boutique pickup manufacturers, and I'm really not sure how to narrow them down. Well, it's not urgent, I'll keep doing some research and giving it some thought, and I'll let you know once I make a decision. I do greatly appreciate you sharing your own experiences, I will definitely take them into account! Thanks!

One non-boutique option is the new Fender Pure vintage pickup line. Their Pure Vintage '56, '59 and '65 strat pickups are quite good and affordable.

derekirving wrote:

One non-boutique option is the new Fender Pure vintage pickup line. Their Pure Vintage '56, '59 and '65 strat pickups are quite good and affordable.

I will heavily concur on the AV65 pickups; however, I believe Ivan's already got an AV65 Strat.

Ivan, Halloween is over - what are you looking for that would lead you to assemble disparate body parts?
Laughing

Wes
SoCal ex-pat with a snow shovel

DISCLAIMER: The above is opinion/suggestion only & should not be used for mission planning/navigation, tweaking of instruments, beverage selection, or wardrobe choices.

Can't vouch for any boutiques but I am looking for another strat to throw some PV 65's in. Yet another reason to buy strat #6!

The Kahuna Kings

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Kahuna-Kings/459752090818447

https://thekahunakings.bandcamp.com/releases

Before you pony up for Boo-teeks, do your homework. The mass market makers are capable of making some pretty good stuff these days. The Boo-teek makers can be worth the extra cash if YOU know what you're going for but they can also amount to just a lot of cash out the door if you're just experimenting. That said, I've had very good luck with TV Jones Gretsch stuff. Good luck!

mj Groovy Guitar Popcorn

mj
bent playing for benter results
Do not attempt to adjust your TV set.
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Cool

Last edited: Nov 01, 2015 22:34:32

crumble wrote:

I reckon the best is someone with great pickup winding knowledge with some sort of auto/semi auto scatter winding machine.

The guys at Rose Pickups say have a machine that can do just that:

With our 2 brains working in unison, we came up with a machine that not only winds coils, but can check many other vital stats as well. Scatter wound, Symmetrically wound, Matched coils, no problem! Even predictable patterned coils, which allows us to duplicate scatter winds.

image

Bill S._______

I've heard great things about Lollar, Van Zandt and Rio Grande pickups. I've used Slider's '59/SRV set in my Am Std strat and played them for years. I REALLY miss those pickups. I have a set of Bell-Tone pickups from Michael McConachie and love them. This set and the Slider's are the best I've heard in a strat. I have Curtis Novak pickups in my Jaguar and Jazzmaster and wouldn't change a thing. I played the jag a/b with EJ's original 62 and still love it (although I'd take his any day). I've had both the Fralin Blues Specials and the Vintage Hots. They are great pickups as well. Currently own two Suhrs and wouldn't ever consider changing the pickups in them. One of them is hum/hum, and the other h/s/h. The neck/middle on both of them is perfection. Bottom line, I'd never get a Fender Am Std and leave the pickups in it. The scatter wound guys really seem to have some secret sauce/mojo thing going on. The customer service with both Slider/McConachie are second to none. And if buy them again over any of the ones mentioned, but would LOVE to try a Lollar Blackface set. I think (IMHO) that any of the vintage/blues style pickups are interchangeable for surf, given that they all are built after a guitar from that era (59,62,65,etc...). You can't go wrong with any of them, and will find slight differences that will play better with certain amps (I'm sure you already do with your current strats). FWIW, all of my YouTube clips with Gomez Surfer/strat in the description were done with the Sliders in a 2011 Am Std. if you want to hear them through the same amp (with not nearly as good as Ivan playing Laughing ). Hope that helps.
Chris

Oh! And another one I've wanted to try is Rumplestiltskin

http://www.rumpelstiltskinpickups.com/strat_pickups.html

The demos are good enough that I'll probably get a set. And another honorable mention.. Rocketfire Custom 60's. Those pickups are incredible. I have an early model Rocketfire relic with them in it. I sold the Am Std with the Sliders the day it arrived. It's still that good. Nick sells the pickups separate IIRC.
Chris

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