Strat Pickup Sound Clips

About This Page
Using This Page To Select Pickups
The Sound Clips

About This Page

This page is all about giving you the opportunity to hear various pickups recorded in a controlled environment. Since every guitar is different, a set of pickups can sound different in one guitar than they do in another, so we had the idea that if we recorded a bunch of pickups in the same guitar, using the same amp, same settings, same player, this would provide a level playing field, where the differences you hear in the sound clips would be the differences in the pickups themselves.

Please note that more pickups will be added over time.

The clips below were recorded with a '71 Strat (alder / rosewood) straight into a Dr. Z Maz 18 Jr (18 watts, EL84, class A). They were recorded with an SM57 into the computer using a Tascam USB audio interface. We built identical pickguards using each of the sets of pickups that we recorded. Each pickguard was built exactly the same, and all the pickups were adjusted to exactly the same height (all three pickups 1/8" below the strings on both the treble and bass sides). Each pickguard was installed in the guitar, final adjustment of the pickup height was made, and then the pickups were recorded. All three of the guitar's controls were at full clockwise, with the exception of the "I Know A Little" clips, which were recorded with the blender pot fully counterclockwise.

All amp controls were placed at 12 o'clock. We made a board with locator stops for the amp's feet to butt against, and the mini-mic stand's location was marked so that its placement would stay consistent, and so that we can easily duplicate this configuration in future recording sessions.

We know we will catch some flack about not optimizing the controls, or pickup height, of whatever so as to make each set sound its best, but this wasn't the point. If we tried to optimize pickup height, for example, then we would have been adjusting for our ears. Who's to say you would have adjusted the same way? And maybe the funk tones would have been better if the amp hadn't been breaking up, or the jazz tune would have been better if the tone control was rolled off, but again, this would have compromised the whole exercise. The purpose was an easily-repeatable, level playing field.

Using This Page To Select Pickups

We get asked every day to make recommendations about which pickups folks should buy. The conversation usually starts out with something like "I have a Mamywo-bodied Big-Headstocked Special with a Pau Ferro board and fuzzy dice, and I want to sound like that middle section of the break on JoeBad BloozMan's record 'Smokin at the Apollo', whaddaya think..."

This is a difficult question to answer, tone being in the ear of the beholder and all that, so we decided to do this web page, and here it is! So, how to use this data to make an informed decision? Well, the first thing to know is that these samples were recorded on our guitar, and your guitar will almost surely sound a little (or a lot) different.

It's our opinion that the guitar itself has more to say about its tone than the pickups do. We've read differing opinions on this, but we believe this to be the case, hence the difficulty with making a Strat sound like a Les Paul, even if you put humbuckers in it. The pickups enhance (or detract from) what is there inherently.

So rather than choose pickups based on an idea like "Stevie had a meaty tone, so overwound outta get me closer to him", a better approach might be to consider where you are now (the inherent tone of the guitar in question), and then decide where you want to go.

You want to brighten up a dark guitar? Then you don't want output, because output adds midrange. You want lower output, not higher output.

Want to warm up a guitar that is already too bright? Then output is what you want.

Now all of this is coming from the vintage viewpoint. We don't stock any pickups that stray too far from vintage specs, so that's where we're coming from. If you want a mega-output pickup, we're not the place to get that. So all of our opinions are informed by a love of "classic" Fender tones. Therefore, when we make a comment like "output is what you want", we mean up to a point.

So we came up with this page so you could hear clips of these various pickups on a level playing field, and this might help you make a more informed decision. Ultimately, you'll have to decide which pickups provide those abstract qualities that are so difficult to define, like "quack", and "chime" (assuming these are what you're looking for).

Also, it's important to note that some of the differences are subtle, you need to listen carefully, and more than once, in order to discern the differences between some of these pickups (please see the note below regarding conserving our bandwidth). And make sure you're using good speakers or good headphones, if possible. If you hear clipping, it's not the samples, it's probably that your computer speakers are turned up too far and are distorting.

The Sound Clips

Please, if you're going to listen to these samples over and over, give us a break on bandwidth usage (which is very expensive) and save these files on your computer. Simply right-click on the link and select Save Target As... from the menu, then save it on your hard drive wherever you want. Otherwise, if you listen to these files over and over, you will be downloading them over and over across the Internet, taxing our server as well as our pocketbook (you don't want to know what Internet bandwidth costs...) Thanks!

Please note that we recorded Fralin sets with and without a baseplate on the bridge pickup. Those samples that were affected (only those recorded in the 1 and 2 switch positions) are presented both ways: clicking the Vintage Hot link, for instance, will play the sample without the baseplate, while clicking the w/ Baseplate link immediately below it will play the sample with the baseplate added.

Listen and enjoy!