Members One-armed Alec Posted January 29, 2007 Members Share Posted January 29, 2007 You found them then eh? Yeah - only set on eBay UK . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Ratae Corieltauvorum Posted January 29, 2007 Author Moderators Share Posted January 29, 2007 Aaaaaaah - I misunderstood. You have two Strats? One home-build which you're very happy with and another Fender Strat which you're looking to stick pickups in... I get it now. My apologies for being dippy - work tomorrow, small number of remaining healthy brain cells comitting suicide as we speak... A decent musician? This is where we need someone else to join in with the thread, right? So what's in this Fender Strat now, pickup-wise? Aaaah, OK, the ash one is all custom, swamp ash body from a small dude in Tennessee, the neck is a Warmoth boatneck and the electronics were all Vintage Vibes (Pete Biltoft).The one in question is a Fender bitsa, a Jeff Beck/Deluxe body Warmoth boatneck and Fender electronics and vibrato...it was gonna have the Hot Noiseless, ala JB, but I thought I'd try the Fat 50s for that "real Strat" tone. The guitar itself is all lovely, although the Am. Series vibrato is not as good as the Wilkinson, but lovely nonetheless.....I don't build poop things:p I'll get the camera out tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Ratae Corieltauvorum Posted January 29, 2007 Author Moderators Share Posted January 29, 2007 Side note: Tim at BKP was great to deal with. Yes, I've spoken to Tim a few times and would have bought off him, until I discovered that our cousins across the ocean sell stuff as good and better for less....ultimately I'm a tight {censored} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members One-armed Alec Posted January 29, 2007 Members Share Posted January 29, 2007 I'll get the camera out tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members One-armed Alec Posted January 29, 2007 Members Share Posted January 29, 2007 Yes, I've spoken to Tim a few times and would have bought off him, until I discovered that our cousins across the ocean sell stuff as good and better for less....ultimately I'm a tight {censored}:) Hey - who doesn't love a tight {censored}? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jrockbridge Posted January 29, 2007 Members Share Posted January 29, 2007 ....I've learned my lesson after the Kinman/BKP fiasco, so I'm going to leave the pickups in that one alone..... Kinman = Noiseless Noiseless = Crap! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ibanezman06 Posted January 29, 2007 Members Share Posted January 29, 2007 Kinman = Noiseless Noiseless = Crap! i don't think noiseless Pups are crap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jrockbridge Posted January 29, 2007 Members Share Posted January 29, 2007 i don't think noiseless Pups are crap. My crack about noiseless pups being crap was tongue in cheek. I should have added an emoticon. Here is what I really think about traditional Strat pups vs noiseless Strat pups. A great set of traditional Strat pups can be very three dimensional and round with a lot of complex note bloom and sparkle. The noiseless pups that I have tried sound flat, lifeless and uninspiring by comparison. Also, noiseless pups seem to be missing the Strat quack. So, I would rather deal with the noise.But, noiseless pups obviously work for a lot of folks. I can't blame any of them for wanting to get rid of the noise. If it works for them, that works for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members csm Posted January 29, 2007 Members Share Posted January 29, 2007 A great set of traditional Strat pups can be very three dimensional and round with a lot of complex note bloom and sparkle. The noiseless pups that I have tried sound flat, lifeless and uninspiring by comparison. Also, noiseless pups seem to be missing the Strat quack. Must be the way different factors Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GarysBlues Posted January 29, 2007 Members Share Posted January 29, 2007 Got any photos of the 63? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members csm Posted January 29, 2007 Members Share Posted January 29, 2007 Got any photos of the 63? Here you go ... [ATTACH]220071[/ATTACH] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Ratae Corieltauvorum Posted January 29, 2007 Author Moderators Share Posted January 29, 2007 Must be the way different factors Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GarysBlues Posted January 29, 2007 Members Share Posted January 29, 2007 Its refinished? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GarysBlues Posted January 29, 2007 Members Share Posted January 29, 2007 Ratae....Go over to the Fender Forum in the morning for 1 minute. Ask what everyone thinks is the best bet and closest to Vintage Strat. You will hear the SAME response over and over. CS-54's or the CS-60's which you cannot get from Fender unless you buy a CS Strat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GarysBlues Posted January 29, 2007 Members Share Posted January 29, 2007 The 63 almost looks like you see white through the Black above the pick-guard. Is the Black the original finish? Those are great year Strats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Ratae Corieltauvorum Posted January 29, 2007 Author Moderators Share Posted January 29, 2007 Ratae....Go over to the Fender Forum in the morning for 1 minute. Ask what everyone thinks is the best bet and closest to Vintage Strat. You will hear the SAME response over and over. CS-54's or the CS-60's which you cannot get from Fender unless you buy a CS Strat. Garys, I don't thnk I'll go down the vintage route again as they all seem to be staggered magnets, and this guitar has a Warmoth compound neck on it. Some people are of the opinion that they are not great bedfellows. I didn't actually realise this when I bought the Fat 50s, so I'll look at unstaggered pups. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GarysBlues Posted January 29, 2007 Members Share Posted January 29, 2007 You know Kinman plays SCN's right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GarysBlues Posted January 29, 2007 Members Share Posted January 29, 2007 I really don't mind the 60 cycle hum. UNLESS I am recording or wearing headphones? So the Noiseless were my latest and LAST venture. I agree that they have come a LONG way. And the difference is SO SLIGHT now. That unless you really have been playing Vintage pick-ups, You would be kidding yourself. With that said, I really liked the SCN's but found the Noiseless with the Clapton circuit to be the closest to original fender pups. The Kinmans are very very good also. I'm not positive about him playing SCN'a either. But I have heard that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members csm Posted January 29, 2007 Members Share Posted January 29, 2007 The 63 almost looks like you see white through the Black above the pick-guard. Is the Black the original finish? Those are great year Strats. The 'white' is just a little reflection from the camera's flash. I've owned this guitar since late 1980 and it certainly wasn't refinned on my watch. I always thought it was a refin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GarysBlues Posted January 29, 2007 Members Share Posted January 29, 2007 Anything pre CBS. Not that CBS is even THAT bad. But the pre-CBS is the {censored}. I just love the early 60's necks, 60 and 61 a little more so than the 62 and 63. But man did they put them Strats together right then. I like the rear Truss-Rod adjusting necks, with the slab boards. Also happen to think they sound the best along with the late 50's.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GarysBlues Posted January 29, 2007 Members Share Posted January 29, 2007 I know many players have said that Noiseless are Generic, Lifeless, Dull, lacking the 3-dimensional Tone of Vintage etc etc etc. And you know what...my INITIAL thoughts were similiar. But I must also say. That they can seriously be dialed in. I was JUST as amazed at how versitile they really can be! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members csm Posted January 29, 2007 Members Share Posted January 29, 2007 One more point - we talk about a '63 Strat sound' as if it was consistent and specific. In fact, it isn't. My 63 used to be one of a pair (the other one was stolen, sob etc), and they sounded very different. The black one I've still got was a sharp, cut-through Strat, perfect for playing in bands with other guitarists, keyboards, horns etc because you could always hear it even when it wasn't crushingly loud. The other one (pink) was a warm, spready Strat tone: perfect for playing trio because it really 'filled out' the band sound. They were both 63 Strats (tho' the bridge PU on the pink one died and was replaced by a Seymour Alnico II - funny, no-one ever noticed. Never heard anyone tell me, 'Oi, that's not the original pickup!'), but distinctly different. Question: when someone (Fender, BK, Kinman - ANYBODY) offers a '63 Strat PU set', which would it be voiced to sound like? Or would it be voiced to match another 63 Strat which would sound different again? All these voicing descriptions are approximate ballpark guidelines. Complaining that a PU set from any manufacturer doesn't sound exactly like a specific guitar that you've owned or heard is ultimately pointless. The only valid ground for assessment is whether it works for you, or comes close to the idealised sound you hear in youur mind's ear. Edit: I also have a vague memory that, sometime in the 80s, one of the PUs in the black 63 failed and was rewound by Kent Armstrong. (Maybe I should have taken notes.) But the point remains: a lot of the finer points of tone voodoo are for our benefit, rather than anybody else's, and that even fellow players generally don't notice changes that sound incredibly obvious to us when we're tweaking our gear, setting up our sounds etc. Frankly, if someone says they like my playing and/or my sound (I'm not picky - I'll gracefully accept compliments for ANYTHING), that's all that counts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kencee Posted January 29, 2007 Members Share Posted January 29, 2007 Hey Alex, I'm not sure how you got the warm/middy tones with the BKP Apaches... I got a set of Apaches myself for my 2004 Fender 50th Anniversary US Strat that originally came with Custom Shop '54s. The CS 54's actually sounded pretty sweet, but my hands got itchy and I felt like I needed something stronger, but not like the BKP trilogy. After some consultation, I got the Apaches, installed them and found it to be extremely jing-jangly. It was way too stratty for me. I must add that my strat has a solid ash body with maple neck/fretboard, so it already innately possesses spankier tones, but it was no where near warm/middy/rolled off to me. Unless I got duds...I don't think so tho. I'm now on Dimarzio Area 61/Dimarzio Virtual 2 Middle/Dimarzio Virtual Vintage Solo(Bridge), cos I felt so jingle-jangled by the Apaches I thought I needed Humbuckers so badly... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members csm Posted January 29, 2007 Members Share Posted January 29, 2007 Those Hot Noiseless nice then? That's obviously what I was originally gonna go for. They sound fantastic in my Jeff Beck Custom Shop - but then everything else about that guitar is Grade A, so the PUs aren't the whole story. I'd recommend them to anyone who wants to make a good Strat better, but they won't save a mediocre one. (And that's no kind of diss on your instrument: just a general point about PU changges in general.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members One-armed Alec Posted January 29, 2007 Members Share Posted January 29, 2007 Hey Alex,I'm not sure how you got the warm/middy tones with the BKP Apaches...Relative to the original delta-tone pickups, they were warm and a bit more middly. I am not the only person to have found this with the Apaches. I don't regard it necessarily as a negative feature, but just not my cup of tea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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