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NOISELESS PICKUPS SUCK


poppytater

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i got a 2018 Fender Deluxe strat with noiseless pups that sound nothing like a Fender.I got it to play surf music mainly plus a little blues. Any replacement pups opinions? Plus anybody else dislike the noiseless?

 

I have noiseless on a tele and while they do give me nice sound they're just not the same as true single coils.

Volume wise the single coils on my strat blow it away .

I like the guitar for certain things so I keep it as it is

 

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i got a 2018 Fender Deluxe strat with noiseless pups that sound nothing like a Fender.I got it to play surf music mainly plus a little blues. Any replacement pups opinions? Plus anybody else dislike the noiseless?

 

What sucks for you is what others love. I think strats in general suck, but I love the 2 and 4 position, so I have one JUST for that sound.

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What sucks for you is what others love. I think strats in general suck, but I love the 2 and 4 position, so I have one JUST for that sound.

 

And the nice thing about positions 2 / 4 is that if the middle pickup is RWRP, it kills the noise in those positions too. :)

 

 

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What sucks for you is what others love. I think strats in general suck, but I love the 2 and 4 position, so I have one JUST for that sound.

 

I bought a Strat for the neck pickup. It took me a little while to really appreciate the 2 and 4 pos. .Now they're all I want to use

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but especially in 2 and 4 positions is where noisless pickups suck most, because the double canceling ("humbucker" in parallel with another "humbucker") affects the frequency response much more than just having just two single coils canceling the hum.

this is where noiseless pu lose their chime and jangle sound in a strat

 

if really its the main reason using 2 / 4 position, just use normal singlecoils, e.g. texas special or just stock std pu's and you have all a strat magic you ever wanted... yes there will be hum in 1, 3 or 5... but so what?

 

ps i have a strat with kinmans and i have one with stock std pu's, i thought i would also put kinmans in the later one when i put it together but first started with the old stock pu i had at home.

and i tested it out, and really they have more jangle and twang than the kinmans,so a kept them to have both options and pick the one which most suited for my playing situation.

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but especially in 2 and 4 positions is where noisless pickups suck most, because the double canceling ("humbucker" in parallel with another "humbucker") affects the frequency response much more than just having just two single coils canceling the hum.

this is where noiseless pu lose their chime and jangle sound in a strat

 

if really its the main reason using 2 / 4 position, just use normal singlecoils, e.g. texas special or just stock std pu's and you have all a strat magic you ever wanted... yes there will be hum in 1, 3 or 5... but so what?.

 

My thoughts exactly,.well almost because mine has a bridge bucker.and I never use 3 . So the neck has hum ,so what. It's actually a well made guitar and even the neck doesn't hum that much No problem

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I bought a Strat for the neck pickup. It took me a little while to really appreciate the 2 and 4 pos. .Now they're all I want to use

 

The 2, 4 and then N + B, all coils sounds are what got my attention but I grew into bluesy neck, and bluesy bridge; trebly driven neck/ dark flugelhorn ish bridge.

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The issue with positions 2 and 4 is that they're lower output' date=' so if you don't turn the amp up a bit they sound meh compared to the individual pickups. Once you turn up the magic is there. [/quote']

 

This is why it took me a while to appreciate the 2 and 4 pos.

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but especially in 2 and 4 positions is where noisless pickups suck most, because the double canceling ("humbucker" in parallel with another "humbucker") affects the frequency response much more than just having just two single coils canceling the hum.

this is where noiseless pu lose their chime and jangle sound in a strat

 

if really its the main reason using 2 / 4 position, just use normal singlecoils, e.g. texas special or just stock std pu's and you have all a strat magic you ever wanted... yes there will be hum in 1, 3 or 5... but so what?

 

ps i have a strat with kinmans and i have one with stock std pu's, i thought i would also put kinmans in the later one when i put it together but first started with the old stock pu i had at home.

and i tested it out, and really they have more jangle and twang than the kinmans,so a kept them to have both options and pick the one which most suited for my playing situation.

 

I love the Texas Specials, but a few years later I got some Fender Custom Shop " 69 " pick ups .... Not to be getting racy, when it comes to Strat tone nothing beats 69's !!!!

 

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I love the Texas Specials, but a few years later I got some Fender Custom Shop " 69 " pick ups .... Not to be getting racy, when it comes to Strat tone nothing beats 69's !!!!

 

Those were originally wound by Abby, and now Josephina winds them. Really nice pickups IMHO. I’ve got a set of Abby-wound Strat pickups in my Duo Sonic II.

 

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What I do with less expensive single coil pickups is to replace the single wires with shielded wires. This virtually eliminates "most" of the hum and makes them noiseless without changing the sound of the pickup. For expensive single coil pickups I either shield the cavity or add shielding mesh over both wires so the original wiring remains intact and keeps the value. It also allows the use of series and phase reversal wiring.

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What I do with less expensive single coil pickups is to replace the single wires with shielded wires. This virtually eliminates "most" of the hum and makes them noiseless without changing the sound of the pickup. For expensive single coil pickups I either shield the cavity or add shielding mesh over both wires so the original wiring remains intact and keeps the value. It also allows the use of series and phase reversal wiring.

 

Excellent suggestions - shielding can make a world of difference...

 

 

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Excellent suggestions - shielding can make a world of difference...

 

 

The only thing you need to be careful of is making sure the shielded wire goes to the outside wrap and the hot wire goes to the inside of the coil. This helps to minimize the amount of hum produced by the coil itself. If you run the hot wire to the outside of the coil the hum levels can be dramatically higher unless you shield the pickup cover by applying copper foil to the inside of the plastic cover then adding a ground wire.

Once those are added its a good time to pot the pickup too. (Keeps the added wire and shielding in place).

 

The other problem you have with many single coil guitars is one pickup will have a reverse coil and reverse magnet for humbucking.

Of course the signals output remains in phase with other pickups its just the noise unique to one coil that gets eliminated by phase cancelling.

 

As far as adding shielded wiring simply follow the original wiring color codes. If the white wires are hot black is ground, connect the core wire to the white wire pickup eyelet and the grounds to the black eyelet. you can even solder the new wires in place before you clip the old wires off. The old wires will help to heat sink the connection. I wouldn't advise using a solder sucker. The coil wires are as thick as human hair and about the same in strength. I'd avoid any disturbance inside the eyelet when soldering new wires on. Use that good Gibson pushback wire too. Its great for guitars because the inner wire is waxed cloth and once you bend it into place it stays where you put it and the wire is thick so it conducts well.

 

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I've had Fender Noiseless pickups for many years on my Strat. I recently picked up another strat with Seymour Duncan SSL-1 and I couldn't be happier. There is something about the noiseless pickups that sound stale. I like that crisp sound of single coils and it wasn't doing anything for me. I would recommend SSL-1, or Texas Specials. There is a hum but the tone is so much better I think than Fender Noiseless pickups. 

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21 hours ago, mister natural said:

I like my Beck signature noiseless strat set - a lot. It's all the spank and snarl that I need

my Tele has the "vintage" noiseless in the neck and that's also a monster

dunno where all the noiseless shade comes from

People that read spec sheets.

I've got Area '67s in the middle and neck of my orange Strat and an Area '61 in the bridge of my oooooold black Strat (not to be confused with my Black Strat) and I'm pretty damn happy with them.

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