BG Pups Vintage 60's Single Coils

Single coil. Vintage 60s, overwound at my request.

fender 2001 american strat, all positions.
replacing stock fender pups.
i wanted a more bluesy authentic strat sound from the classic 60s players. i was debating between BG, seymour duncan, lindy fralins, and dimarzio.

i went for BG as i could speak to bryan on the HC forum and get what i wanted and also some advice.

this is a great pick up set. i was getting a bit tired with the stock fender pups as they seemed to lack a bit of the bell-like tone that the strat has made famous. i was pleasantly surprised how good these pups sound - in spite of all the positives i have read from others. they have a crispness and clarity that fender stock pickups seem to have lost. more fender than fender! they have a really nice clanky, cutting, treble tone at the bridge, great for 50s rock and roll with a little slap back, the mid is a lovely pup for country picking and the neck has the warmth that all blues lovers have become familiar with from the likes of SRV, hendrix, robert cray, etc, etc. the out of phase sounds (positions 2+4) are pure strat again. exactly what i want. shame fender don't seem to make them this good.

gear wise i use mainly valve amps, marshall and peavey. effects wise i use muffs, ODs, phasers, flangers, delays, etc, etc. a lot of sound sculpting. however, i also play just straight into a marshall dsl401 when practising and basically jamming some blues and jazz stuff.

while the pups are great blues units they are not just limited to that genre. the band i play in - Codette - are an electro-punk-pop group. these pups still sound great despite all the delays and flanges i can stick in the signal. great pickups are great pickups, period. no matter what you play.

i bought a calibrated set, so i have them in all positions.

if these got stolen or somehow damaged i would be sending bryan frantic emails to get me some more!

i have been playing for over 20 years, other stuff i use includes - more strats, a custom made ibanez (which i am going to drop some BGs into) and some acoustics and classical acoustics.

if you are looking for the authentic strat sound for the 60s - which is basically what everyone who buys a strat wants - then get some of these.

the only problem i have is that doing this review i may turn other people onto these pups and therefore will have to wait longer to get some more from mr gunsher! so i suppose i should say "these are rubbish, buy some dimarzio!" :)

Single coil strat style passive pickups, ~6k ohm impedance. Cloth push-back type wire and beveled pole pieces.

Installed in a 97 MIA ash-bodied Fender Strat, replaced the stock pups and kept all the other stock electronics. I'm using the Vintage 60's at the neck and middle with an S90 at the bridge.

Mild, vintage type output. Compared to the stock MIA fender pups the clarity is remarkable, all the notes in a chord ring out. More bass response but not boomy, definitely a warmer tone than stock. The highs are very smooth but still nice and punchy like a good Strat sound should be.

I would definitely get another set of these. I've tried Fender Texas Specials and Vintage Noiseless sets and prefer the BG-pups single coils by a good margin. The Fender sets are nice, but these are outstanding tone-wise and a steal at the price.

Basic passive single coils.
5.9-6.7k. Vintage cloth covered wire. Very well built.

Installed in a MIM Standard Strat in all 3 positions. They replaced GFS Premium II"s. I changed pickups because I heard such great things about Bryans pickups. I was not disappointed. Well woth the few extra bucks over the cost of GFS.

Pure vintage TONE. My quest for THAT Strat tone is over. The neck pickup is awesome. So articulate, deep and bluesy. The 2 and 4 positions are full of wonderful Strat quack. Bridge is very usable with NO harsness. But I do have my Strat wired for a bridge tone control too. Middle has that wonderful Jimi tone. No effects used. I play through a Blues Junior that I modded with all the BillM mods and a Blackheart 5W little giant. I play contemporary Christian, country, blues, rock. Not suited to metal, of course.

If lost or stolen, I would call Bryan and have him wind me an identical set. I've been playing for only one and a half years but I feel I have a pretty good ear for tone. I know what I like anyway. There is nothing that I would change. I have found the tone I want and will never have a need to change these.

Singlecoil passive pickups, around 6-7k according to the site.

Partscaster
Neck + Middle positions
My strat is HSS with a Bareknuckle Rebel Yell in the bridge position.

The output level is about right. I thought it was going to be a bit weak compared to the humbucker, but the set is very balanced which surprised me. I'm running it through a Laney GH50L, and I find these pickups to sound excellent. A very balanced, full sound. It sounds exactly as a strat should, and thats what I wanted from these pickups! I play loads of music with this guitar, ranging from Hendrix/Free stuff all the way up to 80s rock/metal and I always get good tones from the guitar! I'll give it a 9 because nothing is perfect

If it were destroyed or stolen, I probably would buy again. The whole set only cost me ??60 which is much cheaper than the alternatives I could've bought. I am definitely satisfied and hopefully this has stopped my tone-search for a while now :P

A note on the customer service, it's excellent. Bryan is always very helpful even when I feel I am getting a bit annoying from asking too many questions and being indecisive!

Overall, great pickups and I would definitely buy from Bryan again.

Passive single coil
6.11k, 6k, 5.87k

NBG '61 Strat Relic
All Positions
Voodoo ST60's
The Voodoos were great, but I needed a touch more clarity and body.

Good strong output. NO weakness to be heard.

Fender Blkface Super Reverb, VintageFX Colordrive, GoudieFX 808+

Superb tone with exceptional chime and clarity while having a full bodied sound. Lows are solid and thumpin', nice warm mids and perfectly rounded smooth highs. Bryan knows how to wind excellent sounding pups and his workmanship and customer service is top-notch. I was attracted to these pups by the sound samples on his website. When I recieved my pups (less than a week later!!) and wired them up I was shocked! They totally blow-away the sound samples on the website.

I play mostly Blues and blues-rock

These are perfect for country, blues, rock. NO Metal

I would most definetly purchase these again. These are a great value for handwound pickups.

I've been playing for over 13yrs and have gone through many guitars, amps, and pickups. I play through a Blkface Super Reverb and sometimes a Vibroverb.

Single coil passive.
Approx. 5.9k-6.9k

Installed in two Eric Johnson Strats all positions.
Replaced the originals and some Lollar Blondes and Seymour Duncan APS-2's.

Just wanted to try something else!

Output is normal for a vintage type pickup.
Using mainly my JTM45 Clone amp head into a 212 cabinet with Weber Speakers.

I find these pickups to be very balanced and I am able to dial in a nice non muddy low end on the low strings while still not having too much high end ice pick highs on the high strings.

I play in a blues/blues/rock band that does old and new stuff and some originals.

These may not be suitable for ultra high gain stuff but I may be wrong. I don't venture into that territory.

I would buy these again for sure. In fact after having Bryan wind me a special set with a non RWRP middle pup and non staggered poles I liked them so much I had him wind me another identical set.

He did just as I asked and the workmanship is top notch.
I like non staggered poles with these EJ Strat neck since they have a 12" radius.

I have tried and used all the major brands;
Pretty much all the Fender stuff, Lollar, Fralin, DeTemple, Lace,Seymour Duncan,GFS,Kinman, Voodoo, Rio's and others I can't think of now!

These hold up with all the big names.

I stumbled onto these and was impressed with the clean sound samples on the site. They seemed to be just what I was looking for.
Getting them in and installed they lived up to the samples to my ears.