Fender Custom Shop 1969 Strat Pickup Set

Comments about Fender Custom Shop 1969 Strat Pickup Set:

I own a few of the classic player 60's strat models and these pickups come stock in them.I've owned and played many strats over the years and I instantly fell in love with these.They really capture that 60's strat sound that Hendrix made so legendary.They are pretty low output so you really hear the nuances of your guitar's acoustic tone shine through.They have wonderful clarity and detail with a well balanced EQ.In the bridge position you get that amazing snarl and twang that Jimi had on some parts of voodoo child.The neck,middle and combined positions deliver true,classic vintage strat tone.I would'nt recommend these for hard rock or metal,they are too twangy for that.But that twanginess is perfect for blues,country,r'n'b or any music that requires true vintage strat tone.

Comments about Fender Custom Shop 1969 Strat Pickup Set:

I'd say I'm an intermediate guitarist who focuses on Gilmourish type music to play, partly because I can handle the guitar pieces - but occasionally dive into SRV and Rush. I have a '95 MIM Strat. I've been playing it for 12 years with stock pickups. Last week I installed the CS '69's. WOW. Let me say it again - WOW. First (compared to my MIM pickups), the external humming is reduced significantly. Second - they sound absolutely amazing. With a little tweaking of effects (or using my DG350) I have been able to get a great Eric Johnson or David Gilmour sound. Heck, I can even sound a little SRV like. It's improved my playing! For all this time I thought my sound was awful because of me - but these pickups showed me that your sound definitely matters. The sound is clear and bright. I think there is much more body to all five positions for the pickups. They may not be the greatest 'metal' sounding pups, but they do great for hard rock too - a la Rush. Can't say enough about them. Really!

Comments about Fender Custom Shop 1969 Strat Pickup Set:

I got these last year and they are kickin butt! I was looking for a Hendrix/Gilmour/Later Clapton sound and these delivered. Great for everything from Funk to Blues to Soul to sounds rocked best on Electric Ladyland. For TRUE sixties glass-a-licious Fender sound, these are what your lookin' for friends!

Comments about Fender Custom Shop 1969 Strat Pickup Set:

Totally satisfied. Everyone knows that classic Strat tone. That warm, round, thick sound that Strats are known for. That sound that makes me fall in love with Fender everytime I hear it. Well these 69 pickups deliver that sound and man, I cannot put my guitar down. I put these in my Standard Mexican strat and I noticed the difference with one note. These are very clear and bright and pickup less gain. I love these so much. With my fulltone OCD and Fuzzface, I can get some pretty wicked and "familiar" sounds. Again, Totally satisfied.

Comments about Fender Custom Shop 1969 Strat Pickup Set:

Having owned the same MIM Strat for 15 years, I opted to upgrade rather than to replace. As a Hendrix fan, these pickups seemed the most promising. Despite my limited experience soldering, I found that the pickups were extraordinarily easy to install. The wiring diagram included with the kit was helpful, and all of the existing wiring at the blade switch, ground, and volume/tone controls required no work. The process entailed, literally, 4 welds - 1 hot wire per pickup to the blade switch, and one collective grounding weld for the 3 ground cables. The whole process took about 30 minutes including removing and replacing the pick guard. After plugging in I noticed two things right away: The sound is absolutely INSPIRING!! Deep round lows, popping hollow bite and attack, and super bright ringing highs. This was noticeable from my very first note. The second thing I noted was that the single coil hum, while reduced dramatically overall with these pickups, is not eliminated on the 2nd and 4th position of the blade switch. All three Custom Shop 69 Fender Pickups are the same output, same spec, and wound the same way. Therefore, the middle pickup, when used in combination with the neck and bridge pickup, will not cancel out the single coil cycle hum. But aside from that, the tone has kept me infatuated for months, and I feel that I literally have a new guitar whose value is no longer solely sentimental. For sound, think Axis Bold As Love Album, Electric Ladyland, think Yellow Ledbetter/Little Wing. Also, previous reviewers were right in stating that these pickups are not really suited for metal. In short, Fender is an American original and the tone of these pick-ups epitomizes the reason I play guitar. You can't go wrong here. (Oh yea - the screw holes on the dog ears of the pickups need to be worked a bit to accommodate the screws included; but it is designed this way to increase stability of the housings, so suck it up, Soldiers and ROCK ON!)

Comments about Fender Custom Shop 1969 Strat Pickup Set:

Pickups were great but they sent the wrong size screws. The hole for the pickups were not large enough for the screws. Found this out AFTER I had the wires soldered to the guitar. Call Guitar Center and the customer service agent told me they were not a parts store and I needed to send the pickups back. Also told me she'd send someone an email and I might hear back in a couple days. Funny. Asked for a manager who politely overnighted me the "correct" screws. When I rec'd them 2 days later they were the exact same ones and were too big. Finally went to Ace Hardware and found some screws that worked. Not very good best customer service and I was disappointed that Fender included the wrong screws. Nice pickups though!

Comments about Fender Custom Shop 1969 Strat Pickup Set:

I would have given them five stars, but I wanted you to read what I had to tell you. I replaced my Custom Shop Fat 50s with a set of these Custom Shop 69s in my MIA Sienna Sunburst Strat. Now for the caveat - I replaced the neck and bridge with the Custom Shop 69s, but used the center pickup from a Custom Shop Texas Special for the center pickup. The center pickup of the Texas Special is reverse wound; therefore, reduces the loud single coil hum you'd hear if using all 69s in all three positions. The combination is beautiful classic 69 Strat sound with a hint of Texas mixed in. What a fantastic sounding guitar in this setup!! I like this setup much better than the Fat 50s it came with.

Comments about Fender Custom Shop 1969 Strat Pickup Set:

Great sound.

Comments about Fender Custom Shop 1969 Strat Pickup Set:

Had been watching tons of vids for weeks on 54 vs 69 vs Fat 50... Lace Sensor Gold and finally I decided to go with the 69's...even in the vids the hum cancelling pickups seem to be missing something almost sounding compressed...well needless to say it took about 1-1-1/2 hours to install...came down to screwing in the pick guard dreading all the comments on the screws being too large and to my surprise, a little down pressure and they were in...set the pickup heights 1/16 from high E string (holding down the string on last fret) and low E picking at 12th fret (lowering pickup till the wow and fluttering sound disappeared) plugged in to my practice amp- Orange Crush 12 and checked all position switch...all good and I started to play and the sound of these pickups just blew me away...so glad I spent the money stock pickups suck...cant wait to play through my Marshall, Hughes and my Quilter...cant go wrong with these Pups...Guitar is a 2012 Nitro Satin

Comments about Fender Custom Shop 1969 Strat Pickup Set:

Beginning guitar player. Sound of these pickups is a vast improvement over my old stock ones.