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Post by carlitos0569 on Jan 19, 2014 16:21:10 GMT
Hi Charlie,
I own a Squier Bullet Strat with a HSS stock pickup set. I have done a good complete setup of the guitar and it has now a good, equilibrated run, i really like it. However, i don't like the sound of this stock pickups and can never find to achieve that Hank old sound! I think that this is due, mostly, because of the humbucker in the bridge, what do you think about this?
Anyway i would like to replace the pickups so i would like to know what would be the best compromisse in choosing a good set of pups to achieve the most aproximate sound to that old Hank's?
Regards,
Carlos
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Post by Charlie Hall on Jan 19, 2014 17:02:25 GMT
Hi Carlos,
I think most Hank style players would choose 3 single coil pickups, but to do that you would have to change the scratch plate too if your guitar has one.
I don't know what the Bullet humbucker sounds like. Hank was looking for more of a humbucker sound after using a Les Paul and chose the DiMarzio FS1 for the bridge pickup on a Strat. I don't like the FS1 myself, having had one a long time ago, and it was far louder than the other two pickups.
Regards,
Charlie
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Post by carlitos0569 on Jan 20, 2014 23:51:50 GMT
Hi Charlie,
Thanks for your reply. I do not intend to replace the humbucker by another one. I'm most intended in replacing all the 3 pickups by single coil ones, obviously i will have to replace the pickguard too... Question is, by what kind of pups should i replace it to get to the best aproximate sound of Hank? Hi think i have read somewhere that a set of Fender Custom Shop 50's would be a good choice...
What would be your suggestion?
Regards,
Carlos
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Post by Charlie Hall on Jan 21, 2014 0:22:32 GMT
Hi Carlos,
If the guitar has a lively sound when played acoustically (without an amp) and you play lighter gauge strings like 10s then the Fat 50s could be good. If you play heavier strings the Fat 50s might not be such a good choice. You need to use 250K log pots for all 3 controls with single coils.
If whatever you choose doesn't work out for that guitar, you might be able to fit the whole scratch plate to a different Strat later.
Regards,
Charlie
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Post by Tone on Jan 21, 2014 10:55:13 GMT
Hi Carlos
Some sets of pickups have similar names which can cause confusion! Charlie answered your last question as if you were asking about Fat 50s but when you referred to 'Custom Shop 50s' I womder whether, in fact, you meant 'Custom Shop 54s' which are quite different. For what it's worth I recently put a set of Custom Shop 54s on a Strat and I'm very pleased with the Hank sounds they produce. And, of course, Hank himself used these pickups on the Final Reunion tour so what's good enough for Hank should be good enough for me!
Cheers.
Tony
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Post by carlitos0569 on Jan 22, 2014 23:00:11 GMT
Hi Tony,
Thanks for your reply, and yes, you're right when you say that there are so many sets of pickups that we may get confused with all those names... I'm new to this stuff and only recently started looking and surfing the web for information about the best pickups for the strat, trying to achieve a good clean and vintage sound that best approaches to Hank's. In fact i have read something about the CS54's and that was what i intended to refer when i posted the thread, but instead i wrote CS 50's, it was a typo...
Anyway, since you are experienced with the 54's, i wonder if you may have any information or experience about the Kinman Impersonator 54's (with no hum). Has far as i know, this set was evolved by Chris Kinman to reproduce the tone of the earlier Fender CS54's that Hank used, but have some kind of innovative construction that removes hum (acting like humbuckers) but still retaining a very similar tone of the original 54's.
Also, i have read some posts in some other forums claiming that the CS69's are also very similar to the 54's and could also be a choice in mind...
I wonder if you or anyone here in this fórum could give some experienced opinions about this...
Regards,
Carlos
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Post by Charlie Hall on Jan 23, 2014 0:01:15 GMT
From what I hear the common reports about both of these sets is that they can sound thin.
Hank told me himself in 2009 that he said he had to keep the treble low on the amp.
I think that tells me everything I need to know about them, especially after coming to the same conclusion with a set of CS54's I had.
Regards,
Charlie
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Post by Tone on Jan 23, 2014 9:20:46 GMT
Carlos - I haven't tried the CS69s or the Kinman Impersonators so I'm afraid i can't comment. I have the older Kinman vintage style pickups on a couple of guitars and I like them but, while they're great for Hank's modern sound, they don't quite give that classic early vintage twang, despite the name.
Charlie - yes, I read reviews of the CS54s before I bought them and I was concerned about comments that they could sound thin, especially at the bridge. The guitar they are on has a tone control for the bridge pickup so I roll off some of the treble and that gives a sound that, to me, is more than acceptable.
Cheers.
Tony
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Post by harley on Jan 31, 2014 13:36:32 GMT
ironstone golds! £30 a set and in my opinion, as good as any ive heard for HBM sound
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Post by Roger... on Jan 31, 2014 16:31:21 GMT
Hi Carlos,
I have a 2012 USA Strat that was fitted with CS Fat 50s as standard. I liked them so much I purchased a set for my Squier 'Simon Neil' classic Vibe too. I love them. I also agree with Harley, Ironstone Gold's are excellent and will not break the bank to try them. By the way, my strings are: D'Addario 10 - 46's.
Kind regards
Roger
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Post by allclaphands on Jan 31, 2014 17:07:22 GMT
Hi Carlos I also would opt for the Ironstone Gold pups and D'Adarrio 10-46 Strings.This should be reasonably affordable and get you near to the sound your looking for.This is only information for you to think about in your quest to alter your Squier Bullet Strat GOOD LUCK Pete  |
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Post by harley on Feb 1, 2014 1:42:19 GMT
Hi Carlos I really do believe ironstone gold pick ups are the best value for money pick ups you can lay your hands on. With that in mind i have thrown this together (and i do mean thrown!) to hopefully highlight their potential. Please ignore some pretty scruffy playing in places, its all live one take stuff and its meant to show the sound, not my playing. a few different sounds and styles all played on a Squier infinity strat fitted with ironstone gold pick ups. app.box.com/s/r96jji1lo3d4xt09oan9give them a try, you wont be dissapointed regards Ian |
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Post by glyderslead on Feb 9, 2014 20:38:22 GMT
Hi Carlos
Well, what did you think of that great sound file from Ian?
What we need now is a short sound file from a player with CS Fat 50's installed so that a direct comparison can be made.
Also, Roger replaced the stock pick ups on his Simon Neale for CS fat 50's:- I thought I read here in the past that the Simon Neale pickups were considered to be very good, so if a player could post a test file of these pickups it would be helpful. You never know, the S.N. pickups may compare very well and if other players have swapped them out there may be a set or two available for sale.
Cheers,
Mick
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Post by Roger... on Feb 11, 2014 20:17:59 GMT
Hi All,
The Squier 'Simon Neil' CV pickups are excellent in every way. The only reason I changed them for CS Fat 50s was because in 2012 I purchased a brand new USA Standard Stratocaster that had Fat 50s fitted as standard and I liked the sound of it so much I decided to change the ones in my 'Simon Neil' to match the sound of my new USA guitar. Very frivolous really but there's not many pickups out there that will beat the 'Simon Neil' for sound. By the way, my 'Simon Neil' pickups are not for sale.
Kind regards
Roger
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Post by glyderslead on Feb 13, 2014 17:24:56 GMT
Hello All,
I thought I would look into CS Fat 50's on the well known auction site and found that there seems to be an original version of these pickups and a "new stock" version. This seems is something else to consider. Does anybody know if there really is a difference?
Cheers
Mick
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Post by Charlie Hall on Feb 13, 2014 18:07:40 GMT
Hi Mick,
Please point us to whatever it was that made you think that. I had a look and didn't see anything obvious.
Regards,
Charlie
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Post by glyderslead on Feb 13, 2014 23:40:45 GMT
Hi Charlie and Steve.
The guy on the well known auction site signs on as Johnnyguitarfirstavenueguitars and clearly states "these are a modified version of the traditional fat 50's thicker bass and perfectly phased midrange tone........" He also describes these as "new stock" so it would appear that these pickups are different to the original.
Cheers
Mick
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Post by Charlie Hall on Feb 14, 2014 0:08:07 GMT
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Post by metrostrum on Feb 23, 2014 20:06:49 GMT
Hi Carlos,
I have 57/62 pups on my Japanese Strat with alder body and the sound is pretty close to the early Shads records. I use 11-48 strings played through an AC30 using an EFTP unit.
Sounds good enough for me!
Regards
Mike
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Post by Charlie Hall on Feb 23, 2014 20:18:40 GMT
Hi Mike,
I did an interesting comparison a while back. My replica 50s Strat with Fat 50s pickups and strung with 10s sounded practically identical to a friends 60s reissue Strat strung with 12s and which I assume came with 57/62 pickups as it is not a very old reissue.
Regards,
Charlie
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Post by somebodyelseuk on Feb 24, 2014 12:31:20 GMT
Hiya,
Something that occurred to me...
I had a Squier Jazzmaster apart a few weeks ago... was looking at the electrics and noticed these things have 1Mohm pots - they do next to nothing until they're almost off.
Now, I haven't read the original post, but I would strongly advise checking the electrics and replacing with more suitable values before/during pickup replacements on Far Eastern guitars - any make, not just Squiers.
Cheers
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Post by Charlie Hall on Feb 24, 2014 14:29:15 GMT
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Post by somebodyelseuk on Feb 24, 2014 20:40:27 GMT
Interesting read, Charlie.
It may be the cap, then - nothing at all happens with these until they're almost off, though they could be log when the should be linear... or just not very good?
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Post by Charlie Hall on Feb 25, 2014 2:57:11 GMT
Hi Julian,
I found what appears to be an old official Jazzmaster diagram from the 60s.
Both the volume pots should be 1 M linear and the main tone pot should be 1 M log with a 0.03 tone cap and the upper wheel tone pot should be 50K linear with a 0.02 tone cap. The two caps in today's values would probably be 0.033 and 0.022.
From what you are saying it sounds like you have a linear pot which would be correct to the original spec. A log pot would reduce the volume as you would expect it to.
Regards,
Charlie
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