Fralin Vintage Hot Vs Real 54's? (for strat)

[JayLock]

Right now I'm stuck between buying the Lindy Fralin Vintage Hot's vs the Real 54's. I've read through all the stuff on his site about pickups. But my question is which do you prefer? I play mostly Rock, Blues, Funk. Right now my pickups (fender SCN noiseless) simply sound like ass. But which of the two do you prefer?

[Lespaulsignature 74]

I have Vintage Hots on my Strat and they do it for me. I changed the bridge pickup to his SP43 because I thought the Vintage Hot bridge PU was too bright..even with the base plate installed. I play blues and classic rock and IMHO they cover that ground well.

[RvChevron]

I prefer Alnico V's (used in vintage hots) magnet for all strat pickups.

Alnico 3's (used in Real 54's) just make the tone a tad too soft (preferred by some vintage tone seekers) and sometimes, depends on the guitar, the wound strings are less defined and kinda muffled, compared to A5 magents. A5's are more
punchy, robust and bold.

I had both sets on the same maple neck/alder strat. The VH's were not too bright at all.

I would say go with vintage hot as they are more well rounded tone wise, according to your needs.

If you're not dead set on Fralins, go check out Lollar Blackface sets, Callaham S'RV sets and Don Mare's.