paco, you've played strats with the fender noiseless pups

exhaustedexhausted Posts: 6,638
edited September 2005 in Musicians and Gearheads
good? bad?

the lace holy grails are not meeting my dead noiseless needs.
Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • Pacomc79Pacomc79 Posts: 9,404
    There are a few camps here.

    The ultimate best noisless pups out there currently are Kinmans.

    I dig the Fender SCN's designed by bill lawerence but they aren't the best pups ever obviously the problem is Ebay is the only way to get them since they are publically unavailable. the original noisless ones are going to be very similar to the holy grails since fender seems to have had some form of relationship with Lace for a while. (Fender Lace Sensor) funny the next generation was "noiseless" right. They are decent, but not my favorite by far, they don't have the "life" like Kinman and Suhr, speaking of which

    Also, I talked with my Suhr dealer the other day and he says John is coming out with some V60's that are noiseless or significantly reduced. Honestly, if that's the way you are going I'd look very hard at the Suhr's first (a bit cheaper and F-ing incredible) and then the Kinmans if you need noiseless, which you really do down in the basement.
    My Girlfriend said to me..."How many guitars do you need?" and I replied...."How many pairs of shoes do you need?" She got really quiet.
  • exhaustedexhausted Posts: 6,638
    yeah, it's the basement that's the issue. i may just need to go over and redo the wiring in the strat because something's not quite right the last couple days. i still love the tone though.

    i forgot that the standard fender noiseless are essentially the same as the grails.

    unfortunately, a set of left-handed kinmans with the cool switching system and everything is $390US. just too much. i don't play that well to justify it. even without the switching, it's just too much $$ for me.

    there are SCNs on ebay right now but they're from a guy that completely guts and parts out perfectly good strats and that really bugs me. but may be the most cost effective fix.

    i'll keep an eye on suhr.

    thanks.
  • Pacomc79Pacomc79 Posts: 9,404
    exhausted wrote:
    yeah, it's the basement that's the issue. i may just need to go over and redo the wiring in the strat because something's not quite right the last couple days. i still love the tone though.

    i forgot that the standard fender noiseless are essentially the same as the grails.

    unfortunately, a set of left-handed kinmans with the cool switching system and everything is $390US. just too much. i don't play that well to justify it. even without the switching, it's just too much $$ for me.

    there are SCNs on ebay right now but they're from a guy that completely guts and parts out perfectly good strats and that really bugs me. but may be the most cost effective fix.

    i'll keep an eye on suhr.

    thanks.


    you could always go with stacked duncans or dimarzio virtual vintages too in the name of cost effectiveness.

    Occasionally you see sets of Kinmans go for 150 to 160. I found a Harmonic Design set go for about 120. It just depends on the day.

    Maybe just open it up for now and re soldier everything just to be sure.


    curses, the left handedness throws a monkey wrench into the deal. Too bad there's no Leftorium on the net.
    My Girlfriend said to me..."How many guitars do you need?" and I replied...."How many pairs of shoes do you need?" She got really quiet.
  • exhaustedexhausted Posts: 6,638
    actually, the left-handedness is sort of an advantage.

    ie, i end up with reverse stagger if i put right handed pickups in and it makes for a little darker sound to my ears. the duncan stacks in my last strat were like that. i loved that sound. but it was more agressive.

    the strat i have now with the grails is a classic, low output strat sound. and i was able to install the grails "backwards" to get a proper stagger.

    i found a set of kinman woodstocks here in canada ending tomorrow. brand new so we'll see if they can be had for less than the normal retail of a set of duncan stacks. gives me a chance to see if i can sort out the grails tonight too.
  • Pacomc79Pacomc79 Posts: 9,404
    exhausted wrote:
    actually, the left-handedness is sort of an advantage.

    ie, i end up with reverse stagger if i put right handed pickups in and it makes for a little darker sound to my ears. the duncan stacks in my last strat were like that. i loved that sound. but it was more agressive.

    the strat i have now with the grails is a classic, low output strat sound. and i was able to install the grails "backwards" to get a proper stagger.

    i found a set of kinman woodstocks here in canada ending tomorrow. brand new so we'll see if they can be had for less than the normal retail of a set of duncan stacks. gives me a chance to see if i can sort out the grails tonight too.
    Sounds good.

    The woodstocks are unaged and they sound a little different. They will be the 1969 sound exactly. I would guess he did this because people wanted to sound like Hendrix. I myself just prefer the late fifties to middle 60's tone with about a 5% overwind because i like to take that shrillness out too and still get the definition. In that sense I guess the left handedness is a good thing.
    My Girlfriend said to me..."How many guitars do you need?" and I replied...."How many pairs of shoes do you need?" She got really quiet.
  • exhaustedexhausted Posts: 6,638
    i'm thinking SCNs at the neck and middle and a lil 59 at the bridge. i can get the SCNs for ~$50 a piece i think.

    i never use bridge-mid so to sort of lose that position through the dominance of the 59 wouldn't be a big deal.

    i love the 59 in my tele.
  • Pacomc79Pacomc79 Posts: 9,404
    exhausted wrote:
    i'm thinking SCNs at the neck and middle and a lil 59 at the bridge. i can get the SCNs for ~$50 a piece i think.

    i never use bridge-mid so to sort of lose that position through the dominance of the 59 wouldn't be a big deal.

    i love the 59 in my tele.

    yeah that should be excellent. The SCN's are very nice pups and obviously the 59 is sweet, the balls a strat should have without the shrillness, one thing though you will need to slightly modify (shave) the strat guard for it to fit perfect. Seems like you could get the SCN's cheaper but then again they aren't offered outside of the AD's.
    My Girlfriend said to me..."How many guitars do you need?" and I replied...."How many pairs of shoes do you need?" She got really quiet.
  • exhaustedexhausted Posts: 6,638
    i've been watching the auctions. that's about the average since they aren't available new.

    it's either those or back to the classic stacks.
  • Pacomc79Pacomc79 Posts: 9,404
    exhausted wrote:
    i've been watching the auctions. that's about the average since they aren't available new.

    it's either those or back to the classic stacks.


    They are well worth the try, they don't have quite the rounded bounce that Fralins or the like have, but they are excellent. better with the S-1 switch. You should try and see if you can't wire in an all on. It's amazing how full it sounds. Fralin has a diagram for a blender pot on the site. The ones I've tried strait through a Matchless HC-30 and a Rivera Rake head among various tweed twins and tweed bassmans have been perfectly quiet.
    My Girlfriend said to me..."How many guitars do you need?" and I replied...."How many pairs of shoes do you need?" She got really quiet.
  • exhaustedexhausted Posts: 6,638
    there is a full S1 assembly (pups and all) on fleabay right now but i've had minitoggles and stuff for different tones and i alway come back to the neck on it's own or the middle on it's own so i don't know if it's work the trouble.

    i have it wired for all on right now. master tone, master volume and a blender.

    sounds ok. i'm actually not a big user of the quack positions so three in parallel here doesn't sound that good to me.

    however, in that jazzmaster i made with the 3 P90s. it was brillliant with all three on.
  • Pacomc79Pacomc79 Posts: 9,404
    exhausted wrote:
    there is a full S1 assembly (pups and all) on fleabay right now but i've had minitoggles and stuff for different tones and i alway come back to the neck on it's own or the middle on it's own so i don't know if it's work the trouble.

    i have it wired for all on right now. master tone, master volume and a blender.

    sounds ok. i'm actually not a big user of the quack positions so three in parallel here doesn't sound that good to me.

    however, in that jazzmaster i made with the 3 P90s. it was brillliant with all three on.


    yeah, I've found that 90% of the time, I play the AD's with the switch down. It's a different whole config, if you can swing it, it's worth a try, really is excellent.

    I wonder what has become of the jazzbastard.
    My Girlfriend said to me..."How many guitars do you need?" and I replied...."How many pairs of shoes do you need?" She got really quiet.
  • exhaustedexhausted Posts: 6,638
    the guy that bought it seemed pretty happy with it. i think it's in chicago. i can't remember. maybe michigan.
  • Pacomc79Pacomc79 Posts: 9,404
    exhausted wrote:
    the guy that bought it seemed pretty happy with it. i think it's in chicago. i can't remember. maybe michigan.


    If you think about it, it's really a very nice bolt on P-90 firebird, but more attractive and less expensive.
    My Girlfriend said to me..."How many guitars do you need?" and I replied...."How many pairs of shoes do you need?" She got really quiet.
  • exhaustedexhausted Posts: 6,638
    i love firebirds thanks to tom petty. too bad i'll never see a left handed one without tokai or dillion on the headstock.
  • Pacomc79Pacomc79 Posts: 9,404
    exhausted wrote:
    i love firebirds thanks to tom petty. too bad i'll never see a left handed one without tokai or dillion on the headstock.


    Yeah I have Tom to thank for the Red Llama lust and a desire to one day own a ric. nothing, nothing else has that tone.

    That, and Wallflowers is one of the best sounding albums of all time.
    My Girlfriend said to me..."How many guitars do you need?" and I replied...."How many pairs of shoes do you need?" She got really quiet.
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