Denoising strat - shameless request for recommendations

tysonlt

tysonlt

Power User
I played a gig with my vintera strat last night and the downlights at the venue necessitated staying on position 2.

Time to address the noise question. There are so many options for noiseless pickups - any body else have strong opinions?

I’ve seen Kingman come up a lot, and the illitch pick guard. Shipping to Aus can be pricey just to try these things out.

I like the strat chime sound but I’m not super-religious about it. I find the current pups a bit bright and bitey so would be happy to ‘lose’ a little bit of strat quack if that’s the trade-off, but still want that basic strat sound.
 
I have tried a good handful of different “noiseless” and humbucking “single coil” pickups and gave up. There’s a difference in the fidelity of a true single-coil and the others that is significant enough that I keep a variety of “single-coilish” guitars that I grab for different reasons, based on my understanding of the evening.

I have my true single-coil Strat, with ‘59 based pickups, then some variations of SSH, and some PRS that make serious Strat sounds.

On all, and even on my only-humbucker guitars, noise can be a problem, and I’ll grab whichever switch position I can find to reduce the noise. But, honestly, I’m happiest with the true single-coils and positions 2 and 4 when it gets really noisy. Those positions do a wonderful job killing noise, and the positions work really well for rock or blues so I’ll park there.

“Bright and bitey” could be tied to the pot resistance. Balancing the needs of two single coil pickups and a humbucker, if you’re using SSH, is tough, and both of my “real” SSH have pretty bright neck and middle pickups, but they are covered up nicely when the amp is distorting and the guitar is on 10. My favorite of the two uses neck and middle pickups based on 60’s sound, so they’re a bit more midrange “forward”, which balances well with a humbucker.

I’d recommend listening to @Burgs videos. Lately he’s made some demos of JJ’s pickups, and they’re sounding great.
 
Last edited:
Thanks Greg, good insight that confirms a few suspicions. It’s SSS and the noise was almost as loud as the actual guitar signal. It’s not so bad in better venues but I figured I should try to harden it as much as possible.

Of the unsatisfactory options you tried, which did you find the least unsatisfactory? 😁
 
tysonlt said:
I played a gig with my vintera strat last night and the downlights at the venue necessitated staying on position 2.

Time to address the noise question. There are so many options for noiseless pickups - any body else have strong opinions?

I’ve seen Kingman come up a lot, and the illitch pick guard. Shipping to Aus can be pricey just to try these things out.

I like the strat chime sound but I’m not super-religious about it. I find the current pups a bit bright and bitey so would be happy to ‘lose’ a little bit of strat quack if that’s the trade-off, but still want that basic strat sound.
Click to expand...

My #1 Strat has Fralin Split Rails. I got the "High Output" for neck and bridge, and a "Vintage Output" for the middle. Quacks like a Strat should in the #2 and #4 positions, and the singles all sound good alone. Heck, the neck one is the fat, bluesy-but-clear Strat neck pickup sound I've been trying to get since SRV hit in '84 or so. You might also try their Split Steel Pole Strat in the bridge spot, if you want a hair more midrange grunt there in the bridge spot, as they have a fair bit of P90 growl added in....

If taxes/duties/shipping/whatnot are too much, Kinman's stuff is extremely well regarded, and a bit more local. @Burgs has a couple videos where he's playing a Kinman-equipped Strat, if memory serves. Might get those for my CS Strat if the hum gets on my nerves, even though the CS pickups in it sound fantastic. Might also consider the Illitch thing, too.
 
Last edited:
Hi Tysonit,
I’m also of the opinion that going noiseless means you lose too much.
Have you already lined the pick guard and body cavities with earthed copper tape? That seems to help a little.

Thanks
Pauly

tysonlt said:
I played a gig with my vintera strat last night and the downlights at the venue necessitated staying on position 2.

Time to address the noise question. There are so many options for noiseless pickups - any body else have strong opinions?

I’ve seen Kingman come up a lot, and the illitch pick guard. Shipping to Aus can be pricey just to try these things out.

I like the strat chime sound but I’m not super-religious about it. I find the current pups a bit bright and bitey so would be happy to ‘lose’ a little bit of strat quack if that’s the trade-off, but still want that basic strat sound.
Click to expand...
 
Greg Ferguson said:
“Bright and bitey” could be tied to the pot resistance. Balancing the needs of two single coil pickups and a humbucker, if you’re using SSH, is tough, and both of my “real” SSH have pretty bright neck and middle pickups, but they are covered up nicely when the amp is distorting and the guitar is on 10. My favorite of the two uses neck and middle pickups based on 60’s sound, so they’re a bit more midrange “forward”, which balances well with a humbucker.
Click to expand...

If you have 500k pots to help the bridge 'bucker sound right and your singles are doing the shrill/bitey thing, you can get the singles to sound better by stringing a 470k - 560k resistor from hot to ground only when just the singles are on. It requires a little extra in the 5-way switch department (4 pole super switch works great), but it really works nicely to get everybody happy.

I did it in my Gecko Thinline for the bridge pickup (Lawrence L298TL) to allow the 500k pots that make the Fralin 5% underwound hum-cancelling P90 at the neck shine. It is only connected to the hot line when the bridge pickup is on by itself.
 
Mine are all singles. I usually have the tone knob at around 7. I’ve always been a Les Paul player, but since getting the axe I’ve bought a few guitars and have just gotten stuck on the vintera strat, I love it but I’m not used to the quirks (noise, tuning etc).

I have not done anything to the cavity yet. I painted my Les Paul ages ago so I could do that again.

I’m not sure how (if?) the Illitch stuff works- anybody tried it?
 
tysonlt said:
Mine are all singles. I usually have the tone knob at around 7. I’ve always been a Les Paul player, but since getting the axe I’ve bought a few guitars and have just gotten stuck on the vintera strat, I love it but I’m not used to the quirks (noise, tuning etc).

I have not done anything to the cavity yet. I painted my Les Paul ages ago so I could do that again.

I’m not sure how (if?) the Illitch stuff works- anybody tried it?
Click to expand...

Here's the relevant link for the Ilitch thing: https://www.ilitchelectronics.com/product/bpncs-fender-stratocaster/

The hum reduction seems pretty good in the videos. In one, the guy in the video starts off with the Ilitch system's trimpots PCB hanging out from under the pickguard and its pots zeroed out to negate the hum cancelling, and it's your typical Strat that doesn't know the bloody words - hum city. Then he takes out the little screwdriver and tunes the two trimpots, and the hum is gone, just like that. The other guy uses a pair of Strats - one equipped and one not - to demo the hum reduction. There's also a quartet of Soundcloud samples that are rather eye-opening. The lack of hum masking the strings' sound as they fade gives the impression of increased sustain, though really it's just there's no HUMMMMMMMM to block you from hearing the sustain ring and fade. Effectively, you have more note to play with as the guitar strings fade back to silence....

I am giving it some serious consideration for my CS Strat, since I really like the pickups' tones. I can stick the original backplate in the case. :)
 
Last edited:
If you find true singles to be a little shrill, then you might really like lower output Kinmans (there are several to choose from). Or if you don't mind moving a small notch in the HB sound direction (while still sounding 90% - 95% single coil) you might be satisfied with DiMarzio Area pickups. Just stay with the lower output selections such as the Area 58 or Area 67. For the bridge position I personally liked the DiMarzio Heavy Blues 2 pickup for just a little more girth while still sounding mostly singe coil. All of these sound close to true singles. The quietest noiseless singles I have ever tried are Bill Lawrence Wilde pickups. They didn't even buzz near a computer, but I found them to be a tad sterile sounding. But many swear by them. Personally I use all Kinmans, but with they can be pricey.
 
Randall d said:
If you find true singles to be a little shrill, then you might really like lower output Kinmans (there are several to choose from). Or if you don't mind moving a small notch in the HB sound direction (while still sounding 90% - 95% single coil) you might be satisfied with DiMarzio Area pickups. Just stay with the lower output selections such as the Area 58 or Area 67. For the bridge position I personally liked the DiMarzio Heavy Blues 2 pickup for just a little more girth while still sounding mostly singe coil. All of these sound close to true singles. The quietest noiseless singles I have ever tried are Bill Lawrence Wilde pickups. They didn't even buzz near a computer, but I found them to be a tad sterile sounding. But many swear by them. Personally I use all Kinmans, but with they can be pricey.
Click to expand...
I wouldn’t call myself a single-coil purist, so 90-95% sounds like a win. I’ll check those out, thanks!
 
Check out Zexcoil pickups. They have awesome noiseless strat style pickups. I have their signature set with push/pull pots so I have both noiseless single coil sounds and humbucker sounds. They are pricey (especially for non US people) and don't quite look like traditional single coils.
 
Joe Bfstplk said:
Here's the relevant link for the Ilitch thing: https://www.ilitchelectronics.com/product/bpncs-fender-stratocaster/

The hum reduction seems pretty good in the videos. In one, the guy in the video starts off with the Ilitch system's trimpots PCB hanging out from under the pickguard and its pots zeroed out to negate the hum cancelling, and it's your typical Strat that doesn't know the bloody words - hum city. Then he takes out the little screwdriver and tunes the two trimpots, and the hum is gone, just like that. The other guy uses a pair of Strats - one equipped and one not - to demo the hum reduction. There's also a quartet of Soundcloud samples that are rather eye-opening. The lack of hum masking the strings' sound as they fade gives the impression of increased sustain, though really it's just there's no HUMMMMMMMM to block you from hearing the sustain ring and fade. Effectively, you have more note to play with as the guitar strings fade back to silence....

I am giving it some serious consideration for my CS Strat, since I really like the pickups' tones. I can stick the original backplate in the case. :)
Click to expand...
This is a specialized Dummy Coil, works quite well, though you can do something similar with any old pup coil if you're on a budget (I've used single coils with the magnet(s) removed from old Fender Japan stuff).

They all take away a little top end, but for my usage it was welcome, and again if you put it on a pot and use a master tone on your Strat, you can use only as much as desired in real time, depending on environmental noise and tone considerations.

Dummy coils work well with all SC pups, though IME better with Fenders than P90's (have one in my 65 Strat, and another in my LP Junior clone, plus Stacked SC's with Dan Armstrong wiring in the rest of the Strats, and all work well for me (clean through pushed mid-gain).
 
Last edited:
tysonlt said:
I played a gig with my vintera strat last night and the downlights at the venue necessitated staying on position 2.

Time to address the noise question. There are so many options for noiseless pickups - any body else have strong opinions?

I’ve seen Kingman come up a lot, and the illitch pick guard. Shipping to Aus can be pricey just to try these things out.

I like the strat chime sound but I’m not super-religious about it. I find the current pups a bit bright and bitey so would be happy to ‘lose’ a little bit of strat quack if that’s the trade-off, but still want that basic strat sound.
Click to expand...
Lots of very good noiseless options available, just depends upon how much you want to spend.

I've been impressed with Dimarzio Virtual Vintage noiseless. I have a Virtual Solo, VV '54 Pro and Heavy Blues. All have great strat tones, the Virtual Solo and '54 Pros actually have a decent position 2 and 4 quack. I want to try the Heavy Blues in the bridge position, was too muddy in the neck or middle.

I've heard good things about the Dimarzio Area Strat pickups but had an Area Hot T and didn't care as much for it. I realize it's a Tele pickup but there was too much compression that made it sound more like a weak humbucker. I will say that I'm a fan of Lincoln Brewster's tone, he uses Area pickups in his signature strat so they're still on my radar.

Kinmans are great pickups, I have the Blues set in a strat and they are very good sounding. Output is a bit low but on par with the single coils they sound most like to me which are the Fender CS '54. It's what I play if wanting my quintessential strat tone.

Fralin Split Blades are on the short list for a future strat, I have a set of high output Tele pickups that sound remarkably similar to Fender's CS Nocaster pickups.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom