I have a hand made custom strat from an estemed Australian maker Gerard Gilet. Its an awesome guitar with rosewood board and a swamp ash body. It is sounding a but cloudy /muddy at the moment its obviously the pickups arnt right for the guitar. I love the dark srv sound and mostly play clean blues but love to crank it up and add some ds i im trying to compare vz's kinmans fralins lollar or any other suggestions would be welcome thanks for your help

We could probably help you better if we knew what was in there now(?). All the aforementioned pups are great. If you want to retain the brightness of the guitar DON'T use "hot" or "overwound" pickups. They generally lack highs and push mids. Do a search here for "strat pickups". You'll find incredibly detailed info.

I have been a guitar repairman for over 10 years and I personally love Tom Anderson and Kinman pickups above all others, especially in swamp ash. Chimey and ringy and lush.
Just my preference,
Rock on

thanks for the help im relly liking the sound of kinmans mabey 62's in the neck and middle and a slightly hotter 59 in the bridge

That sounds like a GREAT combo.
Good luck!
Rock on!

Those Kinmans you described are the " warm set", same I have on my Strat and I love them.

I'm not sure how to reply to this as you don't mention what pickups are in the guitar now. You also mention that you like the sound of the Kinmans and might go with those. How do you know you like the sound? Do you have them in another guitar? Anyway strat pickups that don't sound cloudy/muddy:
Fralin Vintage Hots - I especially like the 5% underwound. Sweet, chimey, punchy.
Lollar Blondes - I have these in the neck/middle position of my Nash S model - damn they are sweet sounding!
Van Zandt Pure Vintage - These were in a shop guitar of a now long gone guitar shop - the tone still haunts me.

quote:

Originally posted by gilet strat:
It is sounding a but cloudy /muddy at the moment its obviously the pickups arnt right for the guitar. I love the dark srv sound and mostly play clean blues ...

I would first check the cap value ... "cloudy/ muddy" are not the usual problem with ash strats.
BTW, if you love "dark srv" tones, I have to wonder why you would get ash instead of alder ... but not biggie. Ash can sound great obviously, it's just a little different tone.

in my own ash strat, I use Duncan Antiquities, since the softer Alnico II magnets match up well with ash.

However, I would want to get to the bottom of your problem first -- the common complaint with ash strats is that they're too bright.

Check out the Suhr V54s. They sound great in my Swamp Ash Suhr. And while you're at it, pay a little extra to get the silent pickup system with it. AWESOME stuff.

check out some bare knuckles