Members Rusty_Chains Posted September 21, 2010 Members Share Posted September 21, 2010 I've got an MIM, maple-necked strat and the stock alnico pups have very little character. I play in open tunings and do a lot of finger-style instrumental stuff. I play a lot of slide too. I mainly play clean with compression but I like a light tube overdrive as well and am looking for a pickup that retains clarity and definition even while overdriven. I'd like some suggestions - under $100 preferable. The best strat pups I've tried to date are the GFS 64 Staggers but I'd like to try something different - considering the Boston Blues. Opinions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members diceman1000 Posted September 21, 2010 Members Share Posted September 21, 2010 under $100... Rose Pickups/thread http://www.rosepickups.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Rusty_Chains Posted September 21, 2010 Author Members Share Posted September 21, 2010 Ahh..I just read something on them recently. They are out of stock until October. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members diceman1000 Posted September 21, 2010 Members Share Posted September 21, 2010 Ahh..I just read something on them recently. They are out of stock until October. that's not too far off though, and Ken is a great guy to work with... just a suggestion though bud... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Rusty_Chains Posted September 21, 2010 Author Members Share Posted September 21, 2010 Do you have experience with both the $59 and $29 sets? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members diceman1000 Posted September 21, 2010 Members Share Posted September 21, 2010 Do you have experience with both the $59 and $29 sets? i have a set of Meriposas in a Cort Strat copy... (excuse my poor playing:facepalm:) [YOUTUBE]w0rofclMUmU[/YOUTUBE] and i have a set of Buff Beauities coming for my MIM Strat... Ken has clips on his website... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members diceman1000 Posted September 21, 2010 Members Share Posted September 21, 2010 i'll also add that my Meriposas are the first gen with plastic bobbins and rubber insulated wire. the new versions are supposed to be even better because of the fiber bobbin and they have cloth braided wires... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members D Carroll Posted September 21, 2010 Members Share Posted September 21, 2010 What about fender tex mex? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Alecto Posted September 21, 2010 Members Share Posted September 21, 2010 Save up a bit more and go for the BG V60's. I really like the cleans on those pickups and Bryan's a pleasure to deal with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DaleH Posted September 21, 2010 Members Share Posted September 21, 2010 Bill Lawerence Keystone pickups are about $75 a set wound in the US. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Rusty_Chains Posted September 21, 2010 Author Members Share Posted September 21, 2010 The keystones look like all of the other Lawrence pickups though right? The black rail style? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DaleH Posted September 21, 2010 Members Share Posted September 21, 2010 The keystones look like all of the other Lawrence pickups though right? The black rail style? No there just regular pickups not noisless but very quiet for single coils.http://wildepickups.com/Wilde_Bill_s_Keystones.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bsman Posted September 21, 2010 Members Share Posted September 21, 2010 According to the Rose and BG armies, there seems to be no genre for which they AREN'T the best, which makes me think.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members scuzzo Posted September 21, 2010 Members Share Posted September 21, 2010 mho you should be ok with some sorta alnico at a lower resistance. any thing around 5 or 6 even 7k.. i would not want any kinda over wound for thumb style or finger picking playing.. too much mush... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members prolog Posted September 21, 2010 Members Share Posted September 21, 2010 Any 6k-ish Strat pickup will be nice - balanced tone, on the warmer side of vintage. Truthfully, Strat pickups aren't rocket science, and they're easy to do well. The GFS ones (Alnico II or Premium V) are just fine, and best of all, they're cheap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members metallica_00 Posted September 22, 2010 Members Share Posted September 22, 2010 What about fender tex mex? I wouldn't go with those. They're more of poor man's Texas Special type pickup, more about having more "balls" and less about crystal clarity. In the price range I don't have a ton of advice to offer you, other than the fact that stock MIM Strat pickups definitely stink and just about anything should be an upgrade. My experience with GFS pickups (in my case, the Mean 90) is that they are a significant upgrade over cheap stock pickups and very cost-effective. I'd just go with something nice and low output. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Rusty_Chains Posted September 22, 2010 Author Members Share Posted September 22, 2010 The GFS 64 Staggers were a huge improvement to a Squier I once had. The GFS alnico tele pups were great in my MIM Tele as well. I'm really leaning toward the Rose pickups at this point. Whatever I get won't be overwound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Irish_Punk Posted September 22, 2010 Members Share Posted September 22, 2010 I find Lace sensors to be pretty good for that. I played a duosonic with laces, and it sounded really nice. The only thing I disliked about it was the gold in the neck. Sounded a little too clean for my tastes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members chqtarzan Posted September 22, 2010 Members Share Posted September 22, 2010 [YOUTUBE]_oCNGHYA-SA[/YOUTUBE] that's texas special Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Alecto Posted September 22, 2010 Members Share Posted September 22, 2010 If you could score a used set of the Fender 57/62's, those would be great pickups for clean fingerstyle playing. I'm actually really surprised that they didn't end up in the Mark Knopfler sig Strat; they'd be a perfect match for that style. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DaleH Posted September 22, 2010 Members Share Posted September 22, 2010 If you could score a used set of the Fender 57/62's, those would be great pickups for clean fingerstyle playing. I'm actually really surprised that they didn't end up in the Mark Knopfler sig Strat; they'd be a perfect match for that style. Ya what's with that he got texas specials Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Wyatt Posted September 22, 2010 Members Share Posted September 22, 2010 Ya what's with that he got texas specials Don't know, but he has been using them pretty religiously since his Sig came out and he still sounds like MK. He plays a Sig model for most of his live shows and then every couple of shows auctions it off for charity and moves on to the next Sig. But then he was using EMG in his Pensa Suhrs. And he's been using higher-gain amps since the early '90's...SLO, Komet, Reinhardt's take on the JCM800. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Wyatt Posted September 22, 2010 Members Share Posted September 22, 2010 I wouldn't go with those. They're more of poor man's Texas Special type pickup, more about having more "balls" and less about crystal clarity.In the price range I don't have a ton of advice to offer you, other than the fact that stock MIM Strat pickups definitely stink and just about anything should be an upgrade.My experience with GFS pickups (in my case, the Mean 90) is that they are a significant upgrade over cheap stock pickups and very cost-effective. I'd just go with something nice and low output. Tex Mex, IMHO, is a much, much better PU than the Texas Special. It's not as overwound. I would say they are more Fralin Vintage Hot/Fender Fat '50's than Texas Special. They can definitely do the clean or slightly-breaking-up Strat thing. I think they may be the best non-CS Strat PU Fender makes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DaleH Posted September 22, 2010 Members Share Posted September 22, 2010 Really liked my Tex Mex pups when I had them in a MIM strat. Now I have them in a warmouth build but the neck radius is to flat for the stagger on them and they just don't sound that good.Wouldn't put them with anything less than 9.5 radius neck again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Ratae Corieltauvorum Posted September 22, 2010 Moderators Share Posted September 22, 2010 If you could score a used set of the Fender 57/62's, those would be great pickups for clean fingerstyle playing. I'm actually really surprised that they didn't end up in the Mark Knopfler sig Strat; they'd be a perfect match for that style. 57/62s are a great pickup, and for not a lot of cash, I'm guessing that you could pick up a used st in the US pretty easily. I keep a constant search on Ebay for used sets of boutiques, van Zandts, Suhrs, Fralins, Lollars, Harmonic design etc, and get lucky a few times a year. These days I'd sooner have a great set of pickups for average money than an average set for less money. All of my Casters now have "boutique" pickups and all picked up at less than or the same as some economical builders that inhabit this forum:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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