What's your favorite clean strat pickup set?

My favorite are actually Classic Stack Strats. But for true singles, I love the Antiquity II Surfers, and the Five Twos.

 

^^^ +1 on this

I think Fender 57/62 pickups, the late ones with beveled mags, are a baseline for standard Strat tone.

 

Pickups that are NOT wired hot.

Why? Hot pickups are considered easier to distort.

 

Fender 57/62 The best !!

 

My 'pole adjusted' Fat 50's are VERY clear and articulate................. actually to a fault, IMO. For me they only sound good (to ME) with the tone knob rolled off a bit. I want to try a set of Fat 60's as I've read they are a bit warmer/bolder.

In my little collection my CV 60 Strat with Tonerider Classic Blues pups has a great bluesy clean tone that I prefer. My favorite pickup set for sure!

 

Did you change the pickups ?

 

I just put a set of basic Fender pickups from a 2001 American Standard (the set used between the mid-late 90’s to mid 2000’s, before being replaced with Fat 50’s). It’s a beautiful classic strat sound both clean and with overdrive and pedals. Much praise all over the internet for these. Can usually be found between $60-90 a set.

 

I love a Texas Special. Turbo charged cleans

 

No, the CV 60 has Tonerider Classic Blues pups from the factory.

 

That's been a forum misnomer for quite some time now. For whatever reason, someone, noticing the similarity, decided to say they put Tonerider pickups in CIC Squires.

So it seems 999 times out of a 1000, whenever someone talks about the Squires, someone posts..........................oh, the pickups in them are Toneriders. So on and on it goes.

Funny how it takes forever to squish the rumor mill. I guess a lot of folks are just going to believe what they will, and think everything they read is the gospel.


CV's are manufactured by Grand Reward Education & Entertainment (GREE). THEY have a pickup department of THEIR own, in THEIR factory, and MAKE pickups for Tonerider, as well as what goes into
guitars THEY manufacture.

But whatever, they are great sounding pickups none the less.

 

The pups are labeled the same as the Tonriders. Whether Squier makes them or Tonrider makes them it's of no importance. They are the same.

 

Of the guitars I own the grey backed pups that are stock in my '76 hardtail natural.

I have Hot Golds in a homegrown Blackie clone, but they don't seem to have the crispness of the grey backs.

 

Just giving credit to where credit is do.

Just as there are Fender guitars, and Squire Guitars, but they are NOT "the same".

 

Of all my Strats, and most have different pickups, there’s a set Bodean wound that are amazing. Tony Sims turned me on to his stuff, and it doesn’t disappoint!

 

Another 57/62 set fan here....

 

Yes, yes, yes. And if you need completely noiseless, the L-45s, which are dang close to the Microcoils.

 

Through what amp? That's the question, I guess. Same pickups, different amp. Do you still like them as through that other amp?

 

I noticed no one has listed the Pure Vintage 59s as an excellent choice, yet the AV 59 is heralded as an excellent sounding guitar.

 

My American Elite came with the Fender Gen4 noiseless pups

I have really come to like them a lot.