Whats the best bargain strat pickup set?

[sdgvintage]

I am not into flashy brand names.
That said, I need a good set up single coil pickups.
I am not looking for crappy ones.
I have a set of Lace Holy Grails, I really like them, they seem to be able to cut right through. I also like the fender vintage noiseless. I don't seem to care a whole lot about my tx specials much or at least how they are set up maybe.

Any ideas?

[jcoggins7]

Dimarzio. Check out the Area 61, Area 58, Virtual Vintage 54 Pro, Virtual Vintage Blues, and Cruiser pickups.

[Blue4Now]

Bill Lawrence Keystones. I think they go for about 100 bucks for the set. Super high quality and sound great.

[Casey]

www.tonerider.com

[rhinocaster]

There isn't nearly enough information here to point you in any particular direction. If you like the Lace pickups, why do you want to change? What style of music do you play? What kind of SDG amp do you play? What kind of tone are you looking for?

There are plenty of great choices out there, but we're going to need a little bit more from you to help you find pickups that will fit your needs.

[DaveG]

I love Pete Biltoft's pickups; great prices & service, and he'll wind 'em to sound however you want: www.vintagevibeguitars.com

I also have a set of Fender Hot Noiseless that I am very happy with; they come stock in the Jeff Beck Strats, and at $129 a set they're a great deal.

[sdgvintage]

Thanks for all the quick resposnses. I guess I wasn't descriptive quite enough in my original post.
I am building a new guitar, so I need to buy pickups to put in it. I don't want more lace holy grails for it since I already have them in another guitar. I guess I don't have any particular style or tone I am trying to achieve. I just mostly goof around and play whatever comes to mind.
I was sort of hoping to find a small no name type company that builds killer pickups. I will have to check out the few mentioned above.

[MartinPiana]

Originally Posted by Blue4Now

Bill Lawrence Keystones. I think they go for about 100 bucks for the set. Super high quality and sound great.

+1 on Bill Lawrence. Makes you wonder why others charge so much. Family operation near the Fender shop in Corona.

[gkoelling]

Look into BG pickups. Bryan is a member here and hand winds them for far less than others.

http://www.bg-pups.com/sc.html

at $130.00 for a strat set, they're a bargain.

I bought a set last May but STILL don't have them installed!

I will say Bryan's a great guy to do business with.

[jpervin]

Originally Posted by Blue4Now

Bill Lawrence Keystones. I think they go for about 100 bucks for the set. Super high quality and sound great.

+1 on the Keystones' quality and sound! But I bought a brand new set last year for approx. $67, including shipping. $100 seems too much, unless they've had a huge price jump since I bought mine.

[Gasp100]

I have a set of GFS pickups on the way.
http://store.guitarfetish.com/60grboovstse.html
They were cheap but highly recommended FOR THE PRICE... that's a little different than what you might be looking for I don't know. I'm getting this set to drop into a partscaster and I'm still testing my soldering skills as well. I didn't want to start out with $200+ worth of pickups and mess them up on the first go round. I've heard good things about GFS.
I have another guitar that I'm going to replace the original lace sensors with Dimarzio 58's in neck & middle, 61 in the bridge.
I have a MIM strat coming with Fender noiseless in them and it's possible I might drop the lace sensors into the MIM if the Fender noiseless are not my style.

[daddyo]

Seymour Duncan SSL or APS. They sell for around $58 each on the web. Maybe not as cheap as GFS but I've got a set of the SSts in my strat and I really like them.

[Samba]

Fender Tex Mex (good enough for Trower to put in his CS signature model) and cheap as chips. The Duncan SSL at the right price is also a worth a look. There's something great about the SSL that's only just beaten out by the Duncan Antiquity surfers.

[Bantha]

I have a set of Fender Noiseless that I took out of an 03 American deluxe Strat that I will sell you for $60.00

[Blues Jr]

www.copperheadpickups.com

Copperhead Strat pickups. I put a set of their '59 set in my Strat and for the $100 the set cost me, I was completely blown away. He scatterwinds his pickups to the original Fender specs. Read the info on his site, very informative. This guy is onto something.