Single Coil Pickup Advice

  • So I want to restore my Yamaha Pacifica to its former Strat goodness. Being my first guitar, its seen some mods in the pickup department. It started HSS, with crap stocks, then I went to EMG 81/85, then SD Blackouts. Now I have 3 other guitars, and plenty of humbucking tones. I need some single coil love.


    This guitar would mostly be used at home to get more diverse sounds. Im not looking for anything expensive. Just a nice set of 3 single coils. Id probably prefer a fatter bluesy tone than a biting, true vintage tone. Otherwise Im fully open to suggestions. Im wanting of tones like SRV to Plini. Nice cleans and crunch, but can still do a somewhat modern lead.


    Are the noiseless singles any good, or are they just a sacrifice in tone?

  • So I want to restore my Yamaha Pacifica to its former Strat goodness. Being my first guitar, its seen some mods in the pickup department. It started HSS, with crap stocks, then I went to EMG 81/85, then SD Blackouts. Now I have 3 other guitars, and plenty of humbucking tones. I need some single coil love.


    This guitar would mostly be used at home to get more diverse sounds. Im not looking for anything expensive. Just a nice set of 3 single coils. Id probably prefer a fatter bluesy tone than a biting, true vintage tone. Otherwise Im fully open to suggestions. Im wanting of tones like SRV to Plini. Nice cleans and crunch, but can still do a somewhat modern lead.


    Are the noiseless singles any good, or are they just a sacrifice in tone?


    Noiseless = toneless? Once i tried 2 teles on Orange Rockverb amp and 1x12 Orange cab in store. American standard with standard tele pups and Deluxe witn SCN Noisless pups. Guess which one I preferred...


    You have to try (if you can). On the raw sound noiseless are compressed and flatter and blablabla (you know it's hard to describe sound using words) - when you add distortion, modulation, etc the difference is smaller or disappears. But for pure sound or amp breakup I wouldn't go noiseless. That's my opinion. If you like fatter sound - Fender Texas Specials.

  • thanks for all the excellent replies. the last time I started looking, I thought maybe the Dimarzio noiseless ones wouldn't compromise tone, but I'm not going to be able to test a bunch out in person. I'd prefer to sacrifice the noiselessness over tone - my primary usage would NOT be high gain, other than a lead here or there. Unless someone says otherwise, I'm assuming all noiseless designs will sacrifice some tone, and I am ruling those out.

  • There are so many choices out there. My current favorites are Lindy Fralin and Lollar single coils. Though if you must have noiseless I would give Kinman a serious look. I had his Woodstock set and they were stellar.

    Husband, Father, Pajama Enthusiast

  • Zap - do you have the Fender Noiseless pickups that came after the Lace Sensors went away?


    I'm not sure how they relate to the Lace Sensors. I bought these about 5 years ago, and they were referred to as Fender Hot Noiseless Jeff Beck style (if I remember correctly).

    Go for it now. The future is promised to no one. - Wayne Dyer

  • I currently have Dimarzio Area 67,58 and Heavy Blues 2. I changed out the 61 in the bridge as I thought it was too thin/trebly. I also used the Gold lace sensors for a while.

    "More Guitar in the Monitors" :thumbup:

  • I had the Texas special pick ups and still do for the middle and the neck, I love those pick ups! But the bridge pick up was much too thin and Trebly for me, I ended up switching that out for this pick up:

    Seymour Duncan Custom Staggered SSL-5 Pickup for


    http://www.amazon.com/gp/produ…=oh_aui_search_detailpage


    I've heard the neck pick up in that set is pretty good but never actually heard it. However I really like the Texas pick ups anyway. That Seymour Duncan SSL – five is much more adept at modern tones than the original.


  • I'm not sure how they relate to the Lace Sensors. I bought these about 5 years ago, and they were referred to as Fender Hot Noiseless Jeff Beck style (if I remember correctly).


    So I just researched this, and they are indeed named as I stated. After reading all the reviews on them I'm wondering if they are just sounding dull because of the strings I've been using. I bought too many packs (trying to save $) and perhaps they were too old from hanging around ...

    Go for it now. The future is promised to no one. - Wayne Dyer

  • So I just researched this, and they are indeed named as I stated. After reading all the reviews on them I'm wondering if they are just sounding dull because of the strings I've been using. I bought too many packs (trying to save $) and perhaps they were too old from hanging around ...


    You may want to compare how close to the strings the pickups are on your guitar, compared to the recommended settings - that can also have an influence on the amount of lows and highs.

  • price is also a factor. doing some research on that, and it looks like the cheapest option would be to score some used fender texas specials for middle and neck off ebay. can be found for about $20-$30 each. oozish brought up a good point about the bridge pickup. I don't want a harsh bridge pickup, but I don't want another HSS setup. So that SSL-5 sounds good, and may find one about $55. there is also the dimzario heavy blues 2 dp409 for about the same price. anyone have experience on this?


    I need to get a new pickguard too, and I wouldn't mind some fresh pots. I can solder, but it seems it might be easier to buy a pre-loaded texas special pickguard for $100-$130, swap out the bridge pickup, and sell the remaining pickup.

  • there is also the dimzario heavy blues 2 dp409 for about the same price. anyone have experience on this?


    Yes...that is why I mentioned I am currently using it. I had the area 61 in the bridge and didn't like it. I was afraid of the output in the heavy blues 2, but it ended up working very well.

    "More Guitar in the Monitors" :thumbup:

  • Premier Guitar has a brand new traditional strat pickup shoot out, complete with sound clips. (They had a previous one, with other common brands)


    For gigs, I like Lace Senors (purists don't like them, but Beck, Clapton, etc. Sounded just fine with them). I've tried EMGs, but they sounded sterile to me (but Gilmour sounds fine with them)


    I have a 90's (I think) Strat Plus with the old Gold Lace Sensor pickups in them, back when Lace was not really known. The Lace Alumas are huge with ERG (7, 8, and 9-string) players. Like @paults said, they're good enough for Beck and Clapton.


    I have noiseless in my strat and I think they sound a bit dull. I'll be replacing them ...


    That was the next point I was going to make - I think they sound great, given the right settings. But one of my friends borrowed my Tele Plus (came out around the same time at the Strat Plus, has the Red/White/Blue Lace Sensor set in them), and he thought they were dull too. He's more of a P-90 player though, and likes a really bright sound.


    That said, I love how they sound. However, if I were to put new pickups in that guitar today, I'd go for the SD Antiquity Texas Hot Rod pre-loaded pickguard, or the SD Alnico II Pro Staggered set. The Hot Rod's will be a little hotter, which may be nice, particularly if you're used to humbuckers.


    An alternative suggestion would be to get a middle and neck Hot Rod, and put a SD JB or JB Jr. in the bridge. You'd get nice SRV sounds in the neck and mid positions, and you could get really creative with the wiring for the bridge - use it as a humbucker for a slight volume boost, and do a push/pull pot to do some other split coil/parallel wiring options. You'd retain a hotter bridge pickup for when you need it, and get the nice single-coil sound for most of the playing on that guitar. The one thing about the JB Jr., though, is it uses ceramic magnets, whereas the full-size JB uses Alnico V's. There is a tonal difference, but they probably needed to cram that ceramic in there to get a hot enough output level. It would probably balance out better with the other pickups with the full size humbucker in the bridge and a coil tap/split coil setting on a push/pull knob.

    Guitars: Parker Fly Mojo Flame, Ibanez RG7620 7-string, Legator Ninja 8-string, Fender Strat & Tele, Breedlove Pro C25
    Pedalboard: Templeboards Trio 43, Mission VM-1, Morley Bad Horsie, RJM Mini Effect Gizmo, 6 Degrees FX Sally Drive, Foxpedals The City, Addrock Ol' Yeller, RJM MMGT/22, Mission RJM EP-1, Strymon Timeline + BigSky
    Stack: Furman PL-Plus C, Kemper Rack

  • Hi Bobbo, I got much love for the ones on my strat, Hot fender noiseless (Jeff Beck ones), they're full of life and really noiseless.


    The volume course is really great (with the right caps) since it keeps lots of clarity. what I love the most is that you have the traditional strat tone at volume 8/9 and a modern one at 10. Anyway, they can play everything from Lullabies & Jazz to Motorhead.


    This is the one strat I use on my recording, sounds way better than the stock fender PU I got on the American Standard I sold.

  • Not sure how much truth there is to this, but a nameless Suhr importer here in Oz told me that there was something special about the Suhr noiseless single coils. Something about feeding interference back from the body or something. Either way, he's a man of experience who's opinions I respect, and he was adamant that there's something magical about them, and that no tone was sacrificed.


    He didn't specify models, and I've no idea how many are on offer; I can only be sure they were Suhr.