Open to noiseless Strat P.U. Suggestions.

[SamBooka]

Not for me.. for my boss.
Just looking for middle of the road noiseless strat pickups.
He doesnt play hi gain or anything. just a blues rocker.

Not looking for anything active. I have been keeping an eye out for Samarium Fenders, or maybe even gold Lace PUs.

Any other suggestions?

Thanks

Drew

[Sweetfinger]

You're on the right track. Whatever comes along that fits the budget. Maybe stick with something "Fender" because it says "Fender" on it. If the budget is there, send for the Kinmans. Some people who have minimal knowledge about their belongings DO know one thing, and that is you are rarely disappointed that you bought the very best...and can point to it!

[Bob Pollock]

Originally Posted by SamBooka

Not for me.. for my boss.
Just looking for middle of the road noiseless strat pickups.
He doesnt play hi gain or anything. just a blues rocker.

Not looking for anything active. I have been keeping an eye out for Samarium Fenders, or maybe even gold Lace PUs.

Any other suggestions?

Thanks

Drew

I have the Lace Golds and SCN's installed in Strats currently, but I'd recommend either Fender Hot Noiseless (not that "hot"), or the Lace Holy Grails (I've got these in guitars currently too) over the other two. The Lace Golds aren't truly noiseless, but they are relatively quiet. The SCN's I've had seemed a bit thin and somewhat lifeless. All 4 of them are good pickups, but of the 4, I prefer the tones of the Hot Noiseless and Holy Grails. I've also heard many favorable reviews of the Dimarzio Area series pickups. YMMV.

[brianr0131]

Dimarzio Area pickups are really nice. 58/58/61 is a nice combo for what you are saying also 58/67/61

[LReese]

If you go for Lace, get the Hot Gold.

Otherwise, I thought Duncan Vintage Rails sounded good or go for (Bill Lawrence) L-45. Wilde L-200, I thought had no bottom end but had excellent quack. Need to revisit those as the no bottom end might actually be an wiring issue.

One thing that has been suggested with the Seymour Stacks is to order a set with an RWRP middle and defeat the noise cancelling coils when in the combo positions. I think this is also possible with Dimarzio Areas

An excellent solution is the Suhr BPSSC - Noiseless pickups are quieter, but this retains the tone of the single coils since you use your choice of single coils. Only issue is you don't want to use RWRP.

[SamBooka]

Thanks .. I think the key here is that we are looking for something signifigantly quieter than the stock strat pickups (1986 MIJ Strat.. middle and neck are not even RWRP). I guess there is a balance between how quiet it is and how much it still sounds like a strat pickup.

He missed out on a set of Samariums last month (on ebay but a 10 min drive from here.. 100$ for the set, used twice and back in the box).

I dont remember being blown away by Laces in the Strat plus but that was in 1995..

While money is an object this will probably be the last set of PUs he will buy for this guitar so might as well get something that makes his ears happy and to hell with his wallet LOL.

Will look up your suggestions.. thanks.

[walterw]

The dimarzio areas are gonna smoke anything from fender in terms of tone, while being dead-silent.

[Prattacaster]

I really like Bill Lawrence's L-280's. They are quiet and have a decent strat sound, very affordable at about $45 a piece. Bill is the guy who invented the SCN pickups for Fender. Go to billlawrence.com.

[kstrat62]

I'll second(or third) the DiMarzio area's. Very good tones. I'm not into the noiseless very much, but I got these for playing at church and they sound as good as any of my other strats! I have the 58/58/61 combo.

[small axe]

i like the lace sensors

[jspax7]

Dimarzio Areas. For Blues/Rock, I really like the 61 in the neck. I can cover SRV or Santana and still have stratty tones when I want them.

[fumbler]

+1 for the DiMarzio Areas. I just installed my second set (58/67/61)

[9fingers]

All of the above are good suggestions. A couple of other worthy considerations at opposite ends of the price spectrum are the outstanding Barden S-Deluxes (High $$) & GFS Little Killers, pretty darn good & real cheap.

[Rkin1]

Originally Posted by fumbler

+1 for the DiMarzio Areas. I just installed my second set (58/67/61)

[Sensible Musician]

the suhr dummy coil thing is about 3 evolutionary steps ahead of anything else as far as getting the real strat sound w/o noise - b/c you use real strat pickups of your choice and the dummy coil cancels the RF and whatnot