Fender 54 pups vs 57/62 pups vs 69

[T_red7882]

Can any one compare all three pups? I've heard many great things about all, but nothing precise that would give me a reason to buy one over the other. here's what i know

54: big tone, balanced

57/62: most vintage sounding, a bit hot

69: hot hot hot, lots of bite and fullness. Hotter than texas specials?

[tazzboy]

You read the DC Resistance here
http://www.fender.com/products//sear...es&cat=pickups

Sound clips here.
http://www.acmeguitarworks.com/Strat...d_Clips_W1.cfm

my personal favorite is the custom shop 69 very clean sounding pickups. Granted at 5.8K Ohms DC Resistance they are pretty powerful once you block the guitar tremolo it sound even better.

[T_red7882]

what do you mean, "block" the tremolo?

[tazzboy]

meaning add all 5 tension springs to the tremolo bock.

[T_red7882]

how does that affect the tone? i'm a strat newbie?

[tazzboy]

It adds sustain to guitar. Eric Clapton does this well as others.

[T_red7882]

Interesting... with less of the springs hooked up does the trem act more bigsby-ish? mine already has all the springs hooked up

[aznrambo481]

strats come set up with 3 springs in the tremelo cavity. These springs counteract the string tension that would otherwise push the bridge up (like doing a dive-bomb). The equilibrium point, between string and spring pull, often pulls the back of the bridge several millimeters away from the body.

One main, noticeable problem this can cause is sustain. The floating bridge would cause less contact between the strings and the body, therefore absorbing many vibrations. However, with five springs, the bridge is flush with the body, and the sound can freely be transferred from strings to body. Many strat players find that this modification also results in a fuller tone. I use 4 springs on my strat, which I find is enough to block the tremelo but still allows me to use the tremelo effectively.

[tazzboy]

and with three springs if you break string in mid performance all of your strings go out of tune as well. because of the lack of tension.

[T_red7882]

wow, i thought my strat was supposed to be that way. i've got tons of space between my bridge and body. its never been setup, but it will be getting setup next week.

[hockey_head]

right, if you don't wang up keep the trem down to the body plus about two complete turns of the screws. even with three screws on the trem, down wanging is still possible and the guitar shouldn't go sharp if you break a (small) string.
if you really want to "block" the trem, make a spacer block that fits behind the trem block tightly, (tap it in) from the bottom. this is not a great idea if you have a five screw pivot trem (vintage type) because if your spacer is too tight it will force the bridge forward causing undue strain on the five picot screws. actual blocking works well on the newer two screw bridges tho.
and it always seems beneficial to change trem guitar strings one at a time.

[T_red7882]

i just have a MIM standard, so its probably nothing special in the trem area

[sa paine]

Now that we've worked that out (Trem blocking) : ) What do we all thinks of the 3 choices of P-ups ? I have and like them all, the are all in the vintage DC range. not like the TX speciials that are almost HOT pups.

And can I add one more , the CS fat 50's ?? I don't hear much about them ..I'd live to hear everyones take on the 4 sets.

Scott

[madmark]

I have the fat 50's and I love them very ballsy... Nice deep tone.. I havent tried the other ones but do a youtube search and you can hear them... If you wanna cruise down to albany to try them then you can

[tazzboy]

Getting the guitar setup properly helps too.

[robt57]

I had TX Specials, Then VINs in a 2 post USA 97 Strat, now 57/62s in a WD Alder with the Fender US Vintage Bridge [6 screw]. The 57/62s sound good from clean to nasty on the amp. I'd like to try some 69s, I hear tell they are more sparkley. ;)

[T_red7882]

Originally Posted by sa paine

Now that we've worked that out (Trem blocking) : ) What do we all thinks of the 3 choices of P-ups ? I have and like them all, the are all in the vintage DC range. not like the TX speciials that are almost HOT pups.

And can I add one more , the CS fat 50's ?? I don't hear much about them ..I'd live to hear everyones take on the 4 sets.

Scott

almost hot? i thought those were definetely hot?

[madmark]

There are alot of nice pickups out there.. Are you dead set on getting Fenders.. Curtis Novak makes some nice ones and so does Don Mare.. JMO

[robt57]

Originally Posted by T_red7882

almost hot? i thought those were definetely hot?

de,,,de,,def,,,,de,,,definatly hot..

[sa paine]

OK, I agree, HOT !!!! Not a bad sound but NOT vintage sounding......

Keep this thread going ! I want to hear about the fender stuff and averything else!

[T_red7882]

I agree, lets keep it going. I don't know much about other boutique pups for strats. I know don mare's tele pups are amazing, but i didn't even know he made strat pups. I'm not dead set on fender pups, but they are a bit more affordable than say, harmonic designs, which cost 80 each. Now, they are worth every penny from what i've heard, but i cant afford to spend much more than 130 on a triplet of pups, you know?

[tazzboy]

Ouch well I know at Specialty Guitars these pickups run $190. If wanted cheaper then that you probably better of going to E Bay.

[Axis29]

I have 57/62's in my CP 50's strat. I've compared it directly to Lance's CP 60's strat with the CS 69's. But, I have more experience with the 57/62's. If I remember correctly, Lance also has the 54's in one of his other strats, but I cannot compare them directly as I only played it once a while ago.

I would say the 69's are a little creamier. I think they are a little hotter, but not extremely so. Neither one of us was super fond of the bridge pickup in the 69 set, but it wasn't horrible by any stretch of the imagination. If you had tone control on the bridge pickup I think it would be very nice. You can get some very nice SRV/Hendrix tone out of them (or maybe it's just that Lance does this better than I?).

The 57/62's are a hair brighter, but not ice-picky. I find I get a lot of twang off of these pickups. I really like them with my pure nickel strings. They sound very Buddy Holley like. They work really well for a cutting sound. They show up with my band (and two other guitarists) nicely through the mix. These were what I was looking for when I bought my strat. They are very clean pickups. They respond well to overdrive, but are not gritty like my Tele or my Gretsch single coils. With the DR Pure Blues strings on them, I get some nice piano like tones, very full and harmonically rich. The string balance is nice and you can hear every string nicely when you strum a chord. I find sometimes the G string can get lost just a hair though. I might try a wound G soon.

I have been a fan of some of the boutique makers over the years, though have not had the opportunity to own any. I hear very good things about Don Mare’s. I hear good things about Bill Lawrence’s offerings. There are bar Knuckles, which I have recently heard good things about too… I have always loved the tones I hear from Bardens. In fact, I want to find a set and install them either in my Tele or figure out how to talk my wife into another Strat.

This doesn’t even begin to cover Seymour Duncans, or any of the other big name guys… Wow, there almost too much to choose from. Actually there probably is for me… I get frozen by too many choices when it comes to pickups. It’s probably why I haven’t swapped out my Tele’s pickups yet.


Good luck in your quest!

[tazzboy]

I've try the Texas Special in SRV Strat. They are ok, but something tells me that when Stevie was designing this signature he would have gone with 57/62 pickups

I also have played the Vintage Noiseless in Eric Clapton's strat and they are ok.

I've heard the Lace Sensor Hot Golds and they are ok.

When I play the Custom Shop 69 is the 69 custom shop stratocaster that was the ones I fell in love with right away.

[Shadowrunner]

i like the Texas Specials best, but the 57/62's are great, too

[T_red7882]

Originally Posted by hockey_head

right, if you don't wang up keep the trem down to the body plus about two complete turns of the screws. even with three screws on the trem, down wanging is still possible and the guitar shouldn't go sharp if you break a (small) string.
if you really want to "block" the trem, make a spacer block that fits behind the trem block tightly, (tap it in) from the bottom. this is not a great idea if you have a five screw pivot trem (vintage type) because if your spacer is too tight it will force the bridge forward causing undue strain on the five picot screws. actual blocking works well on the newer two screw bridges tho.
and it always seems beneficial to change trem guitar strings one at a time.

i'm confused, what is wanging, and how do i get the bridge closer to the body?