DiMarzio Area '58

Stacked humbucker, passive

Tokai Goldstar Sound '57 Streat Replica
DP415 neck, DP415 middle (reverse wound)
DP409 bridge

Output is about original for a real 50's Strat.
With a Blackface Fender the tone is bright and glassy without being
harsh. It is quiet! No 60hz single coil hum. Great for
anything but metal.

Two things: get the reverse wound / reverse pole middle pickup for a nice in-between quack. This pickup sounds awful without the 1 meg volume and tone pots. This cannot be streesed enough. With standard 250K strat pots these pickups sound awful, add the 1 meg pot and they come alive. I have been searching 25 plus years for this tone with no hum.

Single Coil Passive Pickup with Staggered Poles

Put in neck position of an Ibanez RG565, it replaces stock pickup. The bridge is a Seymour Duncan Alnico Pro II.

Output is moderate, I play predominantly through a Rocktron Prophesy into a Computer, or a Fender Evil Red Knob Twin. Rarely do I post reviews on pickups, because most of the time they're just OK, or disappointing and I just lack the energy to type anything about it. This pickup gets a WOW. It makes the guitar vibrant and lively. Sensitive and just like Dimarzio claims: Woody and Glassy. That's exactly what it is. It's amazing single coil tone, the best I've ever played.

Other Pups I've tried: lil 59, Dimarzio v2n, dimarzio hot rails, Lace Hot Gold, Lace Custom shop, Ibanez C3, Ibanez S1, Jackson stock pups, THIS ONE DESTROYS ALL OF THE ABOVE.

I would buy it again. In fact, I AM already going to buy it again for my JAckson Soloists. I've been playing for 17 years, I own a dozen guitars, RG770dx, vintage Aria/Matusumoku guitars, a pair of Jackson Soloists, Ibanez S540LTD, S2170FW, S470FM, all with upgraded pups. Play all sorts of amps, Marshall 6100, had a tremoverb, kept my Twin because it sound HEAVENLY being pushed by the Prophesy.

The only knock on this pickup is the staggeredpoles. I just don't understand why they make the high e weaker than the rest? Then again, I'm not that into single coils so I don't understand it.

Other than the weak high E no complaints.

I just installed a Set of DiMarzio Area 58/61 pickups in my 2003 Mexican Standard Strat.

I have the Area 61 in the Bridge, the Area 58's in the Middle and Neck.

The output is better than the stock pickups, much smoother, quite a bit more sustain and a Bell Tone Chime you wouldnt believe. If any of you saw the Guitar World Video demoing these pickups, they sounded good there but that doesnt even come close to what they sound like on my setup. The pickups are in my opinion superior to Kinmans, Fralins, and even Barden's but than again I have only heard Bardens on Tele's so its not a fair comparison. But Bardens have the double rail humbucker look and that is just not cool on a strat.
The Pickups where balanced, a full range of tone.

Im getting another set of these for my other Mex Strat this week. I cant say enough about these pickups. They had some noise when I turned my guitar volume up all the way with my Tonebone Cranked to maximum gain but really negligable as far as Im concerned. If I turned down the volume on my guitar to like 8 to 8.5 with Hi Gain, the noise would pretty much disapear. Its almost like the pickup itslef is a noise gate. Only thing, the tone sounds incredible and I have to agree with the Sound Engineer that posted, these are the best pickups I have heard to date, noiseless or otherwise.

Stacked single coil (humbucking).

Installed in Fender Mexican 07 "1950s" Strat

Put it in the neck position with Area '61 in the middle and bridge.
Replaced the stock pickups which were very good, but hum.

I first replaced just the neck pickup and did an a/b test with the stock pickup in the middle posistion. The sound was pretty much exactly the same except the Area '58 had to be a tad closer to the strings to get the same treble response on the low strings.

They sound great and have a whole lot more dynamic range than the stock pickups. Almost too much in some cases (i'm using my compressor more now), but i'm getting used to controlling the dynamics in my playing now.

The quack between an Area '58 in the neck and a Area '61 in the middle is sweet! And it's more pronounced than between two Area '58s

Although most recommend an Area '58 in neck and middle with a '61 in the bridge, i'm actually using them in the neck and bridge with a '61 in the middle. The '61 just sounds a little to harsh for me at the bridge and having one in the middle gives you two sweet quack positions.

Single-coil noiseless pickup.

I installed two of these in the neck and middle positions of my Stratocaster. (I put an Area '61 in the bridge position.) These replaced a set of Fender Noiseless Pickups, though I've had a few different pickup arrangements in my Strat over the years. At first, I was unhappy with the 60-cycle hum of the stock pickups; then I put in Fender Noiseless, and after a while I came to feel that the sound was dull and thin. I wanted pickups with more character, but still delicate and "transparent," not thick and soupy. I like the guitar to sound like a carrot. Sorry, I don't know how else to describe it!

The output is definitely higher than the Fender Noiseless. In fact, I first installed the Dimarzio neck pickup and left a Fender Noiseless in the middle, in order to compare them side by side. One thing I realized is that the two Area '58's I bought sounded slightly different. Pickups are like guitars themselves - each one has its individual idiosyncrasies. One was darker (more bottom end) than the other. I verified this by putting each one in both the neck and middle positions. The darker one is now in the middle position. It's one of the few middle -position Strat pickups that I would be tempted to play by itself for its sound. (Most Strat players just use their middle pickups in conjunction with the neck and bridge, as do I, in order to get the out-of-phase quacky tone. But this middle pickup sounds so good, I'd use it on its own.) These are very nice sounding pickups; they have a lovely rich sound and are totally noiseless. In addition, they have far less magnetic pull than the Fender Noiseless: You can tell the difference if you hold the end of a screwdriver near the pole pieces. The Fender Noiseless almost pulls the tip of the screwdriver out of your hands! The Dimarzios do not do this. This means the strings vibrate more freely and do not sound wobbly (because of interaction with the fret surface) when fretting high notes up the neck. The sound has real character. Very carrot-y.

If these pickups were lost, Yes, I would replace them with same model. I've been playing for about twenty-five years, and have owned three Stratocasters and a couple of Strat copies. These sound nicer than any other pickups I've ever had in any Strat, including Fender-made pickups and various cheap or unknown pickups I've had in my guitars. They sound like three happy carrots. In my search for noiseless pickups, I've tried Strats with the new Fender SCN pickups in stores, but I don't care for the way they sound. (SCN's seem to have a thicker, less delicate sound that may appeal to some players, but not to me.) They are totally noiseless, and have low magnetic pull, so do not interfere with string vibration. If take the cover off one of these Dimarzios, and compare it with the Fender Noiseless, you can see that the insides are better made - there's more careful shielding of the windings (at least it seems so to me - I'm no expert!), to prevent interference between the upper and lower coils.

Stacked single coil (humbucking).

Installed in my '96 Strat.
Put it in the neck position.
Replaced the lifeless stocker.
Dimarzio Virtual Vintage Solo Pro in middle,
Dimarzio Virtual Hot PAF (full-size humbucker) in bridge position.
Wanted a true, classic Stratocaster tone without the hum.

The output is definitely vintage; just what I was looking for.
Played through a small Vox combo--no effects.
THE TONE OF THIS PICKUP IS AMAZING. Round, perfectly balanced, just the right amount of bounce and snap, it NAILS the classic Strat sound. But it is dead quiet. Being part of Dimarzio's "Vintage" line of pickups, it is very sensitive to height adjustments. The closer it is to the strings, the bigger the sound gets, and it can be adjusted far closer than conventional pickups can, without losing sustain. Great design.
It can do Buddy Holly/David Gilmour/John Frusciante on the clean channel, Hendrix/Blackmore on the dirty, and as for you Stevie Ray fans, I'm sure with the right amp, OD pedal, (and hands, for you sticklers) it would make a great Texas blues pickup. If I were going for that sound, though, I'd probably opt for the Area '61.
I think that this pickup would be suitable in any position, though I would probably put the '61 in the bridge position if I wanted the Strat sound in the bridge--I just love my Virtual Hot PAF too much.

I would definitely get another if this one blew up on me. It is the ultimate Strat pickup--bar none.

Humbucking (stacked coils w/ 4-conductors)
*NOT* single-coil as other reviewers have stated

1991 American Strat Plus
Installed in the neck position
Replaced a DiMarzio Pro Track
Joins a DiMarzio Cruiser in the middle, Duncan Hot Rails in the bridge
Needed an open strat sound for upcoming blues/country project. The DiMarzio Pro Track, although likely a nice pickup in the right application, was a useless muddy mess on the Strat. The Area 58's tone profile seemed the right choice.

The output is mild, maybe a tad hotter than Lace Sensors. The 58 is sensitive to height, and very responsive and dynamic and extremely quiet! The tone is glassy and open, and no harshness in the upper mids. Despite the lack of low end in dimarzio's tone chart, there's plenty of fullness, certainly not thin. This pickup seems perfect for blues/classic rock/country applications, as well as uber-clean stuff a la Adrian Belew, etc.

I would most definitely replace it! Not qualified to vouch for vintage 'authenticity' but the Area '58 is certainly a sound I associate with a strat. With all of the Area '58's attributes, then the Cruiser in the middle for a very usable all-purpose modern rock sound, and finally the Duncan Hot Rails for super high output, mid-heavy metal/shred tones, I now have a very versatile, very quiet, all-humbucking strat that I'm thrilled with.(Note: I also performed the star-ground wiring as outlined on guitarnuts.com/wiring/shielding/innards.php)

Passive Single coil w/noise cancelling technology. Low output.

1996 American Standard Stratocaster - Maple neck & alder body.
Installed in the neck position to replace the stock pickup.
Middle pickup is a Dimarzio Virtual2
Bridge pickup is a Dimarzio Virtual Vintage Solo Pro
All pots have been changed to 500k
Neck and bridge position wired for independent tone controls. No tone control for the middle was needed.
I can't think of any artists using this pickup yet.

This is a low output single coil meant for nailing that '58 Strat sound. It is really sensitive to height adjustments and picking dynamics. It has a very sweet, old sound that is quiet. Bright and brilliant but not too twangy. Perfect for a "darker" sounding Strat. Although the EQ is: highs 9, mids 3.5, bass 3.5 - it sounds very balanced in my guitar. I run it through a 1967 Fender Princeton Reverb Amp, as well as a Line 6 AxSys 2/12. It behaves really well with a touch of overdrive. I am using it with a 500k tone pot that I may end up changing back to a 250k just because it is a low-output pickup that is bright enough on its own, so I usually keep the tone knob at 6-7. I play in a band that does everything from jazz to hard rock, a perfect match for me. Since the output is so low do not use this pickup in the bridge position. Neck and middle positions only.

If this pickup was destroyed or stolen I would buy it again. I have been playing for 15 years and when I find something I like, I stick with it. I also have an Ibanez SA260 model that is loaded with Seymour Duncans (Cool Rail/neck, lil'59er/middle, JB/bridge)- it's my rock guitar.
What I love about this pickup is: It nails that old '58 Strat sound that I was after. It will take me a little while to find that specific pickup height that I want it at, but that is all part of the fun!

Single coil pickup, TOTAL NOISE CANCELLATION, but fully retain the sound of vintage single coils. My guitar tech said they sound just like a 1958 strat. From DiMarzio:"The Area ???58 has obvious similarities to the Virtual Vintage?? 2.1 it replaces, but there are several non-visible performance factors that have changed. Dynamic range and string definition are greatly increased, leading to improvements in both clean chord-playing and overdriven soloing."

Installed in a 80's Squire body, with a Jap Strat neck = Frankenstrat. I put them in the middle and neck positions with an Area '61 in the bridge. They are replacing standard noisy Strat pickups. I play through a Hughes & Kettner Switchblade 100 combo amp and the noise from the old Fender pickups was terrible at high (ultra) gain settings, making the guitar unplayable. Now it's an awesome instrument at all amp settings from clean, crunch, lead and ultra gains with no noise, making this guitar my favorite recording single coil guitar.

The sound quality is amazing, they sing, quack, shimmer and snarl. They sound great at any setting with any effects. (I would never believe a claim like this - but it's true. I painstakingly read reviews on this site about all sorts of replacement pickups for this project and I know that these are the best.)

The tone is "STRATY"- not warm like humbuckers. They have the same tonal charm as my 1984 Stock USA strat, but without the noise. Totally balanced, not harsh like the Seymour Duncan Strat Noiseless, not lifeless like the EMGs, and not dull or muddy like the Fender Vintage Noiseless.

I play all type of styles and these are best at sounding from Eric Clapton to SRV to AudioSlave.

I think they would work great in all positions, but I like a bit more crunch in the bridge that's why i went with the Area '61 for that spot. My dealer says that he sell many sets in this configuration.

I'm an audio engineer, songwriter and record producer. I tried Seymour Duncans, and Fender Noiseless's but there is no comparison.

I own many vintage Fenders, Hamer, Carvin Fernandez, and PRS guitars. I love the way my guitars have different sounds and character. These pickups don't take away the character, they add to it.

These are the best sounding Strat pickups i've ever heard. I know some "purists" will say that you can't get "true single coil sound" from a humbucking pickup - NOT ANYMORE. These are the real deal. I'm thinking of replacing the old pickups in my vintage strat's - even though it will lower their value - just to get rid of the noise.