Axe-FX II + Fender Tele and Strat

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Wizard9BR

Member
I have a Fender Telecaster American Standard 2012 and a Fender Stratocaster American Deluxe HSS 2008. The last one, in theory, with noise reduction pickups. Both of them are not quiet with the Axe, and I believe not quiet with any system.

Do you have any recommendations in terms of pickup sets for both? Preferably not something that will make them lose their personality (Fender tone).

Thanks!
 
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I have Lindy Fralin Vintage Hots on my 2008 USA Deluxe Strat. Great pickups. Fralin also has rel 54's and blues versions.
 
For Strats, I'm totally sold on the Zexcoil pickups. I use the Vintage set. Scott makes a Tele bridge pup, but does not have a pickup the size of the Tele neck pup - you would have to get a pickguard that accepts a Strat sized neck pickup.
 
Zexcoils, dude! They rule. They are different technology from any other pickup, and they're brilliant. Guy who runs the company is not only a genius (and an avid guitarist himself), he's also a really, really good guy who stand by his product 1000%



Wizard9BR said:
I have a Fender Telecaster American Standard 2012 and a Fender Stratocaster American Deluxe HSS 2008. The last one, in theory, with noise reduction pickups. Both of them are not quiet with the Axe, and I believe not quiet with any system.

Do you have any recommendations in terms of pickup sets for both? Preferably not something that will make them lose their personality (Fender tone).

Thanks!
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P.S.: I have NO connection to the company, I don't receive discounts, and I am WAY too strange and unknown a guitarist to ever be an artist-endorser. :lol
 
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I've used a few noiseless singles in the last several years: fenders, lawrences, kinmans, lace sensors, zexcoil.

Here's my assessment:

In my tele, the kinmans just kill it. It's one of the best sounding telecasters I've played. Once I heard them, I didn't bother looking elsewhere.

In my main strat, I've got kinman woodstocks. They're good, but I don't love them as much as the kinmans in the tele. I've tried a few other noiseless strat pups, (lawrences didn't have as much "life" to my ears, and the sensors sounded thin to me) and until i tried the zexcoils in my #2 strat, I was never totally happy. Now I'm thinking of going to the zexcoils in both strats.

I also have a p90 tele with the fralin noiseless p90s. They're lovely.

Say what you will about noiseless singles not being the real thing, but even in my well-shielded guitars, true singles are too buzzy. Maybe I just I play in places that are nightmarishly noisy. I used to have one strat that had true singles, and it was unusable; the buzz was intolerable.
 
I agree on Kinmans in the Tele - been using that for years and just no reason to look anywhere else.

Also agree on Zexcoils for the strat. Only installed last week and gigged with them once so far, but very impressed. And the "in-between" tones sound right, something I've struggled with using other types of hum-cancelling brands.
 
GM Arts said:
Like early modellers, early hum-cancelling single coils got a bad rep 'cause they didn't sound very good. We now have fantastic sounding modellers and hum-cancelling pickups.
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Hear, hear! It's actually getting tough to find a pickup that doesn't sound great. They may have differences in character, but they're all eminently useful. Better still, you don't have to spend Lollar or Kinman scale dollars to get where you need to go. Not that there's anything wrong with their offerings, just that you can get that kind of quality for substantially less. At the extreme, the GFS True-Coils are some fine parts. For what they cost, you can almost afford to throw them away if you decide you can't use them. But, chances are you will. They're really quite faithful to single coil sound while being noiseless. Bill & Becky Lawrence have some fine offerings as well that won't impact the pocketbook too heavily.
 
GM Arts said:
Like early modellers, early hum-cancelling single coils got a bad rep 'cause they didn't sound very good. We now have fantastic sounding modellers and hum-cancelling pickups.
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Interesting way to put it. Watching Scott @ Zexcoil work, he basically IS modeling his pups on classics, that's why they sound so good! He's taking the multiple characteristics (the guy's an engineer, so he knows how to measure things to get the entire picture) of classic SC pups and magically folding that into his design, which is a 6 coil (one per string) design - dunno how he does it, but it's magic. Even though it's a totally different 'platform' than a classic SC, somehow he does it by manipulating variables - wire, magnet, windings, special sauce, to get a totally classic sound out of a totally cutting-edge design. I've watched him analyze my '58 super low output Danelectro U1 pup - was fascinating! Now, if he'd just make me some!
 
Did you compare Zexcoils to EMGs? a) Are the EMGs active? I hate having to deal with batteries. b) I GUARANTEE Zexcoils are as quiet!

But enjoy your new pups!
 
funny_polymath said:
Did you compare Zexcoils to EMGs? a) Are the EMGs active? I hate having to deal with batteries. b) I GUARANTEE Zexcoils are as quiet!

But enjoy your new pups!
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Yes, they are active and both sets come with their respective solderless wiring kit.

I tend to like EMG PUs. I have a Gibson 2009 Limited Edition with two EMG's 85 and I just love the guitar! I am expecting to have the same feeling with the Strat and Tele.
 
I hear good things about Lindy Fralin split-blades. I have an HSH Ibanez with an overly-noisy single coil that I'm thinking of swapping out with one. Has anybody compared the split-blades to the Zexcoils?Lindy Fralin Split Blade Pickups.jpg
 
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