Opinions on Fender's Noiseless Pickups

[eboy87]

Hi everyone. I've been working on my Strat for awhile, and I'm thinking I'm gonna replace the pickups in it. I've never been happy with the tone of the stock ones in my Mex Strat. I've been looking at both the Fender Vintage Noiseless and Hot Noiseless sets. Right now I'm leaning towards the hot set. Unfortunately, there's no way I can try 'em out before I buy them. What are your opinions on either?

I was hoping to get as close to the signature Strat sound as I can; bright and crisp, but I'm tired of the hum associated with SCs. But I'll sacrifice some of the tone to get less hum. Thanks in advance.

[mlrpa]

Fender? Noiseless?? Hah!

Just Kidding. The hot set isn't bad, but I will always prefer EMG SA series.

[sumgai]

eboy,

How's your budget? If I had my druthers, I'd skip a few weekends of beer, and buy a set of Kinmans! ;D

Short of that, I'm fairly happy with the set of SCn's that came stock on my Strat last year. Not too bad a tone, and very quiet. Plus, you may be able to find them more easily on craigslist or eBay.

HTH


sumgai

[Ripper]

eboy...

Isnt the 60 cycle hum part of the fun?....I mean its part of what makes a Stratocaster a Stratocaster. Do the reverse wound procedure, at least you get no noise in the 2nd & 4th positions.

I know the hum is a pain in the butt sometimes but id have it no other way. There are ways to calm it down a bit....other then that.....Go Humbucker and lose my respect! ;D

[eboy87]

Well deepblue, I do play an SG also ;D, and I'm looking to build my own guitar with home-made P-90's. Anyway, I do get HB in 2 & 4. And I really don't have a problem with the 60Hz, but of all the Strats I've played, mine seems to hum more than others. And Sumgai, I shan't have to worry about loosing beer, I've still got another year to go

[ccso8462]

Hey eboy!
I put a set of vintage noiseless on my mim Tele and they sound very nice...BUT not very hot. If I had it to do over I would go with the hot noiseless. That is, if you want to stay all Fender.
Otherwise, take a look at some of the options that deep, gai, and mlrpa suggested. Some of the manufacturer sites have samples to listen to so you can get a better idea of what the pups will sound like. Better yet, see if your local guitar shop has new or used axes with those pups that you can listen to, and run them through a couple of different amps. Take your time and figure out the sound you're after before you spend that hard-earned cash!
Happy hunting!

Carl

[Runewalker]

I seem to remember that Bill Lawrence had a role in designing the Fender pups you mention. I may be wrong but something in that direction is rumbling around in my mind.

If so his strat pups are noiseless and less expensive I believe.
$120 for a set, mix and match.

www.billlawrence.com/Pages/Pickup_Window/280.htm

Harmony Central has reviews. As in all HC reviews, take them with a grain of salt. You know ... "awesome man" ..... "kicks @ss, dude" .... etc.

reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Electric+Guitar+Pickup/brand/Bill+Lawrence

[ChrisK]

I seem to remember that Bill Lawrence had a role in designing the Fender pups you mention.

Yes, Willie Stitch aka Bill Lawrence did indeed have a hand (and more) in the design of the SCNs.

Guitars thus equipped have sold well.

I (unfortunately) seem to have needed a few thereof.

I have two store-bought Strats (one with a rosewood fretboard and a 2004 Anniversary model) and one TeleCopy with them.
guitarnuts2.proboards45.com/index.cgi?board=music&action=display&thread=1163644536

Apparently, I must like them or sumpthin'.


I haven't heard anything especially/consistently good about the Vintage/Hot Noiseless pickups. Jeff Beck liked them (at some point in time).

I was hoping to get as close to the signature Strat sound as I can; bright and crisp,

Hmmm, I don't think that the Hot pickups will be especially bright and crisp, more like middy and thick. I could be wrong.

The hot set isn't bad, but I will always prefer EMG SA series.

I'm resolved to finishing this build:
guitarnuts2.proboards45.com/index.cgi?board=repair&action=display&thread=1174081104

[gdgross]

I've got two strats - one SSS with bill lawrences and one ssh with kimnans in the N and M.

I like the kinmans better, but the lawrences win for bang dor the buck, that's for sure.

[newswede]

I'm looking at picking up a pair next month, along with some pots and caps. One thing that I keep reading about these pickups is the height has to be adjusted correctly. Apparently it makes a night & day difference. People who were going to rip them out of their guitars and stomp them to death suddenly were in love.

Just a thought. A few turns of a screwdriver could make $100s of dollars of difference in tone.

[frederickthe8th]

;DI got this 61 strat and it made a lot of noise.
I put a 500 K in for a v-nob and took some copper wire which connects the bridge with the underbelly of the pick guard.
The end result is great, also I put some aluminin foil under the pups, works for me. I also have another with noiseless pups.
These are quite chimmey, but when you put them up togeather the 61 wins.

[mr_sooty]

newswede said:

One thing that I keep reading about these pickups is the height has to be adjusted correctly. Apparently it makes a night & day difference. People who were going to rip them out of their guitars and stomp them to death suddenly were in love.

This is totally true. I have a US Deluxe with SCN's, and I can confirm that a bit of experimentation with pickup heights makes a big difference to the tone. They can be a bit muddy if you don't get it right, but you can get a really nice, authentic sounding single coil sound with the right heights. Having said that, I'm still not 100% happy with them. I still prefer the tone of my 57 reissue. The SCNs sound really close, and they're very nice in their own way, but to me they just seem to lack a little character and personality. But maybe that's just me.

Of course there's always the old 'Quieting the Beast' mod, which doesn't erradicate the hum completely, but it sure makes abig difference.

Here's a video I did using the SCN's. The vids about my amp, but you can hear the tone of the neck SCN at the beginning and the end:

[mlrpa]

I just installed a set of LACE SENSORS on a friend's 79 Anniversary strat. (The Blue, Silver, and Red set.) All I can say is wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.
The neck p/u (blue) has that wonderful strat "ping", and yet, has a humbucker drive. The middle (silver) is a sweet, bright tone, and the bridge (red) is hot, without that annoying brittle tone. The 2 and 4 positions have a surprising warmness, and yet maintain that traditional strat sound. And best of all, they're dead quiet!