The Fender Vintage Noiseless Strat Pickup Set can breath new life into your Stratocaster. Made with Alnico V magnets, custom magnet wire, and aged white covers with gold "Noiseless" logo. The 3 pickup set comes with 3 control pots. Fender Vintage Noiseless Strat Pickups are crisp, clear, and quiet.
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OK. I've read a LOT of reviews about these Fender Vintage Noiseless Strat Pickups and most people tend to like them. However, it seems there is also a lot of people who feel they sound too much like a humbucker or they sound lifeless with zero tone. I couldn't disagree more.I rate these overall a 5. Here is why: I want my Strat to be a Strat. I love the Strat sound. These pickups deliver without the hum. They're punchy, crunchy, bluesy and cut through exactly where I want them to when I want them to. From blues to surf and everything in between these p'ups are exactly what I've been looking for. Genuine Strat sound.I have not been able to play my Strat at a show in a very long time. I don't care what anybody says, but I canNOT stand the buzz that goes along with the single coils. It was so overbearing that it made everything suck on stage. I've tried shielding and everything else but it never seemed to make any difference. Pick these up if you feel the same way. You'll be glad you did.Two more things. 1. For those who may not know, these are not metal pickups. 2. They only come in white, which is super lame, but you can find black covers for them, though its very difficult because they are not standard single coil covers. Ask me where and I will show you.Fender Vintage Noiseless Strat Pickup Set
.Having spent a couple of thousand on other p/u for strats (no exag., I have a couple of shoe boxes of them in my garage;Dimarzio,SD,etc), these suit my ears perfectly. Set-up is critical, proper pot and cap values also. Once they are dialed in, however,they make a swamp-ash/maple-neck strat speak with the voice of St.Jimi...
Fender Vintage Noiseless Strat Pickup Set
.I bought a 2012 MIM Std Stratocaster from MF... I didn't mind the stock Pups but the buzz/hum was driving me nuts... so I bought a set up for the VN Pups online, installed the new Pups, a 3 ply eggshell 3 ply pickguard and put in some shielding and EXTRA wiring for the grounds.
My views are based on playing several guitars over time and by playing my VN modded Strat through 3 different amps.
1. The neck and middle Pups are just great 100/100... the neck gives that Hendrix crunch and tone when I use some of the Hendrix presets downloaded for my Mustang II and Mustang IV (V2) amps. The middle gives a nice Telly type twang and if you roll down the tones below 5 on the higher gain models on the SS amps you will be happy as a a beaver in a creek full of trout.
2. The Bridge sounds a little weak and is very low output on mine and I tweaked with the heights of all of the Pups from the Fender settings to my own... it is still a little "light on" = 60/100
3. These are VERY LOW output Pups. On my Strat I will have my Master volume on my Mustang II amp at 7 and the Strat volume at 7 to get the same sound I can get from my PRS SE Bernie Marsden volume on 1 and the amp on 3... really they are low output... but the tones will make up for that.
4. On high gain settings I got a little fizz on the 2 and 4 positions but after some extra earthing I solved that minor issue.
5. Settings 1-3-5 are really now all in play... zero hum and some great classic Strat twang, bark, crunch and bite can be had using the right amp settings. The neck gives a perfect Hendrix pump on the right amp settings.
6. Be sure to check the correct wiring diagrams as I have seen 5 versions online and even from Fender that are incorrect. If you contact me somehow here I can send you the right one.
I play a lot of rock, blues and some psychadelic stuff.. a heap of The Who, Pearl Jam, Hendrix, Ian Moss, Cold Chisel, Glenn Campbell, Bowie, some SRV, ELO, George Harrison etc. ALL sound very nice.
The 60's tones I can get from this and the Hendrix presets on the Mustang amps are scarily good, especially that Little Wing tone and Red House Blues, Hey Joe, Pali Gap etc.
I also put in the Clapton TBX boost and removed it because I can get those sounds using my modelling amps.
I also played this for hours through a mate's Princeton tube amp and it is TRULY awesome the tone one can get... even better than using the SS amps.
Also driven through a Boss DS-1 type overdrive pedal is no problem... have also tried a black-box, green screamer (external pedals as well as Mustang IV mods)... all are good
My only major problem is that you will really need to double check the capacitors, resistors and wiring as it can be a bit tricky if you get it wrong at first. I am an electronic engineer and was befuddled how Fender could put out wrong switching set up figures.
Overall I would give them 88/100 in rating. My favorite sounding Strat Pups are those they are using in the reissue '65 Strat and the CS 69 Pups but these are very NICE for 60's tone hounds like me. Some people prefer the Hot VN Pups because of the low output issue but I think these sound a tad better and more VINTAGE (which is why we bought these in the first place.... amirite or amirite) !
Fender Vintage Noiseless Strat Pickup Set
.I recently installed a set of these on a custom build for a customer. Having played a few Strats equipped with these pups and not being that wild about the tones, I wasn't expecting to be blown away. Once installed per the Fender schematic, they were a bit bland and thin for my tastes overall. The customer agreed, but really didn't want to spend more money on a different pup set. Fortunately, a five minute internet search gave me quite a few options for wiring mods. With 500K pots and a simple "stock strat" 5-way wiring setup, they sing! All of that smooth, punchy, classic Strat tone with no hum!
I will say that after testing through several amps, these pups don't seem to like modeling/COSM amps AT ALL. They lose sparkle, punch and clarity. Give 'em some tubes to compress (even cheap little 5 watt practice amps)and they come to life.
Overall a GREAT pickup set, albeit a bit finicky as to setup and amp pairing.
Fender Vintage Noiseless Strat Pickup Set
.I have a mim strat with a hss setup, and the pups
were real noisey. I purchased these pickups and had a friend install them along with a new pickguard and I am completely blown away by not only the fact that they are quiet but the TONES!WOW! My friend also recommended I install a 400k oil capacitor instead of the stock ceramic one for true vintage tone!These pups are really transparent, they definitely make you an honest player.
Fender Vintage Noiseless Strat Pickup Set
.Until I put these babies down real low, almost level to the pick guard, did they sound like a strat should with that "woodie" Hendrix bass sound and ringing highs. I first set them to the factory heights as per the Fender website and I hated these things. I thought I got ripped off, but reading all the news-groups about them had set me straight. Keep them low and you will love them. If you record, you must have these. They are truely quiet. I record in a industral area with hi-current powerlines all around me. Texas specials, vintage, Lace sensors, and standards all hum as loud and the notes I'm playing. These quys are SUPER QUIET. Buy them and adjust them low.
Fender Vintage Noiseless Strat Pickup Set
.I've had a set installed in my MIM Strat for a long time. I used the 1 MEG pots and .022 cap supplied with the set. I was not happy with the sound and the pots provided very little change through the rotation. No tone or volume changes until the last 1/4 of the rotation. After some research and some suggestions, I installed 250K pots (Bourns) and .047 cap (Orange Drop) and the sound was much better with more control provided with the 250K pots. A very important step is to lower all the pickups to almost level with the pickguard and then raise them individually until they sound right. I didn't think that I would be able to hear the difference, but I was wrong. The differences through even very slight height changes was very easy to hear. The pickups may not be level when you finish, so don't look down if it bothers you. After the final setup, my Strat sounds great with no noise!!
Fender Vintage Noiseless Strat Pickup Set
.I bought these to replace the stock pickups in my Squier Bullet Strat, which I bought because it was the cheapest thing on Earth with 6 strings and a Fender logo on it. With the Noiseless pickups, it still sounds like a Squier, but now it's a Squier with some sweet pickups. The sound is not necessarily the most desirable, after all, Fender's Vintage Noiseless Pickups are almost the cheapest stacked single coils on the market. If you're used to playing vintage guitars, these will sound just slightly thicker than old Fender single coils, but rest assured, they don't sound like humbuckers. If, like me, you're used to mediocre (or worse) sounding pickups, these sweet things will blow your mind. Play these through a nice tube amp, and your fingers will bleed, because you just cant stop playing.Bottom line: Best noiseless pickups for the price, and depending on your taste, possibly the best pickups, PERIOD. (If you don't believe me, ask Eric Clapton.)
Fender Vintage Noiseless Strat Pickup Set
.I took a careful couple of hours to install these guys checking and double checking the included schematic against the one at the Fender site. The included directions were absolutely correct but a little difficult to see everything so the online version helped. Little things like a jumper on the volume pot and the location of the cap might be easy to miss so check out the schematic on Fender.com. Wow! When I plugged in to a blues Jr. amp it was like an entirely new guitar. The sound just sparkles and there isn't any hum. My guitar is an Indonesian Squire and I didn't have any problem fitting these into the body. I only had to sand/file the holes in my pick guard a tiny bit to let the pots glide through.
Everything you need to make your old guitar into a tone dream.
Everything is solid. Careful though, the tiny wires on the underside look pretty delicate. You could accidentally break one and ruin your day.
Yeah, for $129, or maybe less if you look around, you can make a cheap guitar sound like an expensive guitar.
Fender Vintage Noiseless Strat Pickup Set
.High Quality
If you have a Mexican Standard Srat, these pups are a must. Same pups that are in the Jeff Beck signature American Strat. I put one in the neck and middle along with the much larger volume and tone pots (1 Meg & 500Kx2). I have an SD Humbucker in the bridge (FatStrat). I used the intended bridge pup in the neck. I also replaced the cheap 5 way switch & output jack with QUALITY Fender replacements. The pups are amazing...ZERO noise even when playing high gain through the amp. The highs are ear piercing and the bass is much improved also. This set up really brought out the Strat sound I love so much, no other guitar can replicate the Strat sound. In comparison to the stock pups (junk), these are more than twice as heavy and wound much larger. The wiring diagram that came with these was satisfactory along with one I downloaded from Fender (Fat Strat).
Excellent quality not a 10 because of the previously mentioned mounting holes not tapped. Simple fix. Pup height is important, as with any.
If you are thinking these are pricey remember..you get what you pay for. You will not be disappointed especially in a similar set up as mine. For this price I now have a quality Strat just as good as the American. The wood for the body and neck in the Mexican Strats are really quite good.....the electronics are cheap. I have played many American Strats & I like the Mexican neck better, smoother, less abrasive.
Fender Vintage Noiseless Strat Pickup Set
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