what single coils should i get in a strat for a nice fat rythm tone and a great, sustaining lead tone? i was considering either lindy frallins or kinman.

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Originally posted by westendriot7:
what single coils should i get in a strat for a nice fat rythm tone and a great, sustaining lead tone? i was considering either lindy frallins or kinman.

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You'll find supporters of both here, but recently replacing Seymour Duncans (& a real 1964 Fender pickup) in my spare Strat confirmed my belief that Fralins can't be beat. I've had them in my main Strat since 1994, and the spare now sounds just as good

Depending on what amp you have (not too suitable for ultra-clean Fender twin sounds), I'd also go for the "London Mod" - I got my most recent one done (as a complete pre-wired pickguard/p'up assembly) by George Ellison at Acme Guitar Works - just tell him you really want to have the 150K resistor and 1000pfd capacitor in the "treble-bleed" circuit that the mod calls for... (as opposed to the 220K resistor and a 680pf capacitor he usually uses)

No if's and's or butt's the Kinman Avn Blues set is the way to go. Been playing for almost 40 years now and there is nothing out there that compares to these pups. Sorry to all the Frailin fans, but those pups are too damn noisy!

Peace,

JoeyP

Generally speaking: Assuming you want quality , representative Strat tone and assuming you have a reasonable guitar: a seven piece or plywood bodied, fibreglass dipped, spaghetti necked cheapy has its place in our journey but do not bother putting great pups in a poor guitar because you will be disappointed. Moving on, You can eliminate stacked or side by side, humbucking Strat style p/ups as they move the tone away from accepted Strat norms. (exceptions are some high quality bridge replacements which improves the bridge tone for modern rock applications). You are then left with passives, actives and "noisless" types (REMEMBER: there are a lot of pups out there and we will have to generalise.) Actives are fine but, IMHO, tend towards a one dimentional sound - that is, they sound much the same no matter how you play or attack them or what kind of guitar you put them in. Passives are easier to deal with and any competent winder can make them happen. Bear this in mind - Fender, Duncan, Dimarzio, Fralin and company have all taken vintage Stat pups apart and replicated them. They can make them vintage, hot, bluesey etc and can do it accurately every time. Buy any of these and you will be close to where you want to go. Remember, it is only wire and magnets and the wrap method that goes into these things. Most of the major guys have this down - it is not french cooking. But, should you have a requirement for noisless technology (and there is a definite requirement about for quiet pups, be it recording, ultrea clean sound or high gain work) you are talking about real differences in the market. Firstly, all noisless technology changes the tone range and availability. Some noisless technology is so crude that major holes are punched in the tone and attack profiles. Some peripheral add ons (1 meg pots/different tone caps) are used to try and add life to dead technology (like putting band-aids on a corpse). Otherwize, Lace make some nice sounding low noise pups but appear to have fallen from favour as Fender have introduced their own 'noiseless' range - this is probably a good examaple of how a marketing decision can affect the fortunes of a reasonable quality product. Anyway, my personal recommendation for noisless is Kinmans (I particularly like the Hank Marvins that Fender used) by a long stretch. Thats all. I sell and install all types and my margins are much the same on all brands - I have no vested interest in what I sell apart from the best result for my customers. Good luck, enjoy your music and buy with your ears rather than your eyes. Regards, Russell.

I've got a set of Fralins in one strat and Kinman's(warm vintage set)in another. The Fralins definitely nail the "classic" strat tone. I used good hook-up wire and the guitar is well shielded. Consequently, it's not too noisy. The Kinmans on the other hand are obviously "noiseless" and great for recording in front of a computer. Not convinced they're all that "Fendery" though,(something missing and I can't tell you what it is - possibly the noise and what it adds around the tone). I'm not exactly sure why this is but I can't really use more than one or two effects with that guitar/pup config - OD and comp is all I'll use, or wah. Too much processing puts it into 80's land ... which is coming back so I'm not selling that axe. As Russell said, as long as you're using a decent guitar you should't be disappointed with either Fralin or Kinman pick-ups.