What's your favorite Fender single coil pickup set ?

1poorplayer

1poorplayer

Power User
I'm going to buy a strat , once and for all. I know what I want it to look like , and what I'd like it to sound like. The looks part is pretty straight forward.

Gilmour tones are probably my goal. The guitar I'm looking at has fat 50's. The reviews for them are all over the place (good and bad) Thought I'd ask here for some help.

I don't want to swap pickups. I'd look at a different model with better version single coils if I have to first.
 
I dropped this Clapton Active Set into my 2007 Strat Deluxe...Now I can get an extremely wide set of sounds from it, including Gilmore, Clapton, etc. Overdrives nicely. Note: the pickguard that came with it was kind of cheap...I just moved the hardware to my existing pickguard.
 
Gilmour's Red Strat may have had the EMG's but he barely seems to be using it any more. The Black Strat has gone through many different upgrades over the decades but the main theme seems to be a regular neck and middle pickup (probably Fat 50's nowadays) and a hot bridge pickup (Seymour Duncan SS-5). I got the Seymour Duncan in a Strat that I built and it sounds great with dirt. It wouldn't be my first choice for clean sounds, but I prefer the neck/middle pickup combo for clean sounds regardless of whatever bridge pickup is in a Strat.

Ironically I just wanted a Strat with all Fender Texas Specials pickups but I had to get something else for the bridge pickup as that one was a dud.

Interesting useless theory: The Edge's signature Strat, based on his old 70's Black Strat, also has a 2 normal/1 hot bridge pickup loadout. As it has the DiMarzio FS-1, the pickup that Gilmour had in his Black Strat during the recording of the Wall, I suspect that Edge's original Black Strat was probably a Strat modded to then David Gilmour specs by the previous owner.
 
Lindy Fralin blues specials hybrid (poles are not as exaggerated - more level in the hybrid set) or the Vintage Hots. But it seems I am the only Fralin fan here. anyway, Most have a blender pot. Bridge Pup has a bass plate.......
 
My favourite Fender sets are the Custom Shop 69 (My main/favourite guitar has a pair of them with a Custom Shop Duncan SSL-1C DG) and custom Shop 54 but I was very impressed with the 57/62 in the last strat I bought: a 2001 American Vintage Reissue. There's a couple of videos I recorded with my AX8:




But my favourite brand of Fender Style pickups is Klein. I have a set of the pre-epic 1965 pickups and are maybe the best ones I've ever tried. I've also had the 54s, epic 62s and they were wonderful as well.
 
Thanks for all the help everyone.

I ordered a standard that has the fat 50's. My decision was based on body color , pickup color , and neck shape and finish.
The fat 50's may or may not cut the mustard for me.

Since I live in no man's land , my ordered guitar will first have to pass my fit and finish evaluation before I can take tone into consideration. It should be interesting.

BTW. for anyone looking good at Fender strats, the models and special have changed recently. There was the STANDARD , ELITE , now PROFESSIONAL series.
The new PROFESSIONAL series look nice , but the neck shape is weird. Deep C , which is supposed to get THICKER as you move up the neck ?? So the neck gets wider and thicker towards the body. Sounds backwards to me......
 
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1poorplayer said:
Thanks for all the help everyone.

I ordered a standard that has the fat 50's. My decision was based on body color , pickup color , and neck shape and finish.
The fat 50's may or may not cut the mustard for me.

Since I live in no man's land , my ordered guitar will first have to pass my fit and finish evaluation before I can take tone into consideration. It should be interesting.

BTW. for anyone looking good at Fender strats, the models and special have changed recently. There was the STANDARD , ELITE , now PROFESSIONAL series.
The new PROFESSIONAL series look nice , but the neck shape is weird. Deep C , which is supposed to get THICKER as you move up the neck ?? So the neck gets wider and thicker towards the body. Sounds backwards to me......
Click to expand...

That's Great! Post a pic after you get it.............I do love Strats....... :)
 
One of my Strats is a 57 AVRI with Klein Epic 55 pickups. It absolutely nails Gilmour.

Here's me doing a bit of Gilmour-influenced improv with a Custom Shop 1963 Time Machine Strat. This has Fender CS 60s pickups. I believe they're only available with a CS guitar.



I think a lot of Gilmour's tone comes from his taste and use of vibrato.
 
1poorplayer said:
The new PROFESSIONAL series look nice , but the neck shape is weird. Deep C , which is supposed to get THICKER as you move up the neck ?? So the neck gets wider and thicker towards the body. Sounds backwards to me......
Click to expand...
All of my guitars do that.
 
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