Fender Fat '50s

Fender Fat 50s, All 3 in the mid 6K range. Came with a Fender 50s reissue pickguard and import electronics. Original beveled pole spacing and staggered height, cloth waxed wire orginal reproduction, Alnico 5 magnet like the original.
Middle pick-up is hum cancelling in 2 and 4 position

1993 American Standard Stratocaster, Maple Neck 3 pc Alder Vintage Burst Body. Stock set replacement.

The 1993 stocks were way too thin and hot. Schrill and with tone down way muddy and weak.

Perfect for the later 1950s Fender Strat Tone. Not overpowering or blurry cranked. Has nice mid level distortion thats thicker sounding than early-mid Fender tone when the rig is maxed.

Overall when pushed the middle setting has a nice smooth feel similiar to Mick Taylor-Rolling Stones Days using his Strat. Pushed rythmn pickup with an old VT40 Ampeg nails Stones tone, "Luxury" on their "Its Only Rock N Roll" album. Treble is great for rockn' country having just enough snap but not too quacky.

Yes, I would look for another set if lost or stolen. Playing since 1977. Own, 1969 Les Paul Deluxe, 1973 Gibson SG with 59' Burstbuckers 1 and 2,1962 Magnatone 480 with twin 12"s, 1972 Ampeg VT-40 with 4X10"s, MXR and Ibanez Overdrive, Delay and Chorus pedals.

Love the Start clean thick sound that lets your hear all the harmonic overtones of your rig.

The design achieves what Fender was after in their reproduction of material quality and sound from the late 1950s early 1960 Rock n Roll era. If you can get under a 100.00 bucks, its a great buy for those looking for that era. Remeber all the current guitar legends were playing on these 1950s and early 60's instruments. These pickup truly help to get that earlier thicker Start sound.

single coil

i have a 97 standard strat i replaced the stock pickups with fat 50s. the stock pickups still sound good but i wanted a bigger sound. I wish i would of found out about these pickups sooner.

compared to the stock pups they have more bass output and sound alot cleaner and louder, great for blues, funk or jazz. all positions sound good. neck is my favorite position. the bridge is bright and clean more suitable for country, you can get a mean snap from these pickups. middle and neck give great big round tones. you can get gilmour, hendrix, and srv sounds

i would get these again. I think this is how a strat should sound like. very satisfied no complaints I wish everything was cheaper but these are worth washing dishes for a week to get them.

well we all know ;-): Single Coil, Set of 3, Middle-pup reverse-wound & -polarity, so they're hum-cancelling in 2&4.

BE CAREFUL WHEN WIRIRNG THESE!
THERE SEEM TO BE SETS AROUND, WHOSE MIDDLE PUP-WIRES HAVE THE WRONG COLOUR-CODES!

Came stock on my 1960 Custom-Shop Alder-Strat (btw: built-to-call LPB in CC -yummy!) w/ rosewood slab-board. Sat in all 3 positions, comes stock on many 50/60's CS-Relic Strats. I gigged with them for a year now, so it's time to share thoughts. I get the feeling that very often people put something up here after they've just bought the stuff - while my entusiasm is long gone ;o)
I play a new Vox AC30 (w/Wharfedale-speakers), a 1994 Fender Blues DeVille 4x10 (these blue Eminence(?)), and a Custom Hiwatt 50 Combo 1x12 (Celestion). Effects are: Black-Cat Wah-pedal, and T-Rex Dr. Swamp OD. Sometimes a Chinese OD from 'Belcat'-sounds good, is built crappy.

Output-level seems a tad more than stock, this is enhanced through the wirde-frequency spectrum they transmit. The sound is 'big' and 'rough' and more 50's than 60's Strat-tone (well, they're not 'Fat 60's'!). They definitely cut through any mix with great authority (that I was not used to from a Strat). The sound is 'in-your-face', without the complexity of the 'bells & whistles' a 60's pup delivers.
The problem for me was that they do not really deliver the smoothness you usually get when using neck or neck-middle. The quack was pretty much drowned by the big bass fundament of these pups. Coupled w/ rosewood and a 0.1 tone-cap (true vintage spec), the neck pup sounded too low-resonance, and the tone got a bit muddy. After time I got the feeling that my Strat was 'on steroids', and when overdriven hard they really start to sing, reminding me of Blackmore's tone in the early/mid 70's.

Although I find these are really good pups, they are just too over the top for me. I found I'm rather looking for that 'glassy', 'bell-like' tone of an early 60's Strat (think Knopfler, Rea, Hendrix), than for that Fat 50's-sound (think: Dick Dale). So I exchanged them for 57/62 pups (w/.47 Jensen foil-cap for tone) recently, and now I'm a happy camper.

Very good pups, but as always you have to let your ears decide.
If you want a BIG Strat-sound like Dick Dale on 'Misirlou', these are for you. In OD, they produce an unbelievably fat sound, which always still remains 'Strat' (something that other 'fat'pups often fail to achieve).

If you're looking for a silky-smooth 'civilized' tone, this set is not it. Also, if you need enhanced versatility, you might better get a different set of pups.

I notice that since I installed the 57/62, the guitar seems to play easier, and I have a broader range of available tones at hand.

Passive single coil strat-style pickup

I installed these in a Fender MIJ Standard Strat from about 1989, with a basswood body, poly finish, vintage trem, smallish frets, rosewood neck. I had tried a number of pickups in this guitar and wound up putting the original ceramic pickups back in. In all cases the low end on the guitar was dull and woofy, and the highs were muted. I had been blaming the body (and the thick poly finish) and was considering either a new body or selling the guitar. Installing these pickups was a last chance.

These pickups have completely changed my view of this guitar. In retrospect all the other pickups I had tried were a bad match for it---they were all on the hot side, overwound or humbucker types. I went specifically for weaker vintage pickups in the hopes that they would bring out some clarity and sparkle, without getting wimpy, and the Fat 50's delivered in spades.

The low strings are now very lively and I can get Tele spank and surf sounds with a good bass presence and no mud...think of the guitar riff from the 60's James Bond theme. The neck pickup is nice and clanky, with a dark sweetness to the higher strings for a SRV/Hendrix sound, especially with the tone rolled off a bit. The middle pickup is quite usable and nice, with a 60's R&B chinky sound. The bridge pickup is of course on the bright side---this is a Strat---but rather than simply have more treble, it has a complex chang and chime that mates well with the right type of overdrive (think Ron Asheton). The quackiness of positions 2 and 4 is not as pronounced as on some Strats, but is enough for me. String separation is great in all positions. In complex chords, individual notes can be picked out. Note attack and articulation is very good and playing with fingers vs. pick yields different tones.

Notes decay very naturally. These are not sustain-type pickups, but instead provide an accurate translation of the string's behavior. Interestingly, the overtones evolve as the notes die down, giving a great multidimensional sound that responds extremely well to dynamics of playing. This is cool through a compressor and a moderately driven amp, and it sounds great LOUD.

I installed with a standard 5-way switch, 250k vol and single master 250K tone with a .01 cap, plus a "add neck" switch that gives me bridge/neck and bridge/middle/neck sounds. These additional sounds are very useful and have a lot of character. I think vintage-type lower output pickups provide more interesting and useful sounds when combined than higher output pickups. These are definitely not high output, and many of my amp sounds that work well with humbuckers and P-90s need to be goosed to get the strat into the right drive range.

Pickup height is important. Don't crank them up as high as you can without magnet warble, the tones and dynamics are better if you back them off a bit. Also, these do have a raised G magnet, so you will NOT get perfect balanced string volume. Keeping the magnets down a bit seems to reduce the volume discrepancy. And as usual don't wimp out on string gauge. I run Ernie Ball light-top/heavy-bottoms (10-52). Be warned, brand-new strings sound pretty "sproingy" and jarring with these pickups.

Yes, I would buy these again. I *might* look for an alternative that had more even response in the G/B string area.

I've been playing for 20+ years and have owned this guitar for 17 (original owner). I'm a blues/rock/jazz kind of guy, but not the mellow larry carlton or robben ford type---I like greasy tones and string noise. I've got an Epi LP Special with P-90s, a Yamaha Pacifica floyd-type, a Dano reissue with lipsticks, a Gibson ES175... right now the strat is my favorite playing guitar.

The pickups were miswired at the factory. When I installed them, the bridge/middle position was out of phase. I rechecked and while the magnet polarity was correct, on the bridge pickup they had swapped the black and white wires. Luckily swapping those two wires fixed everything.

Pickup features: single coil passive
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: 1984 made jap 1962 strat
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: standard jap p/ups
Other pickups on guitar: none
Artists using this pickup: dont know
You musical style(s): chilli peppers/rock/blues
Reason for pickup change: jap p/ups were just not doing what I wanted.....neck p/u was muddy, middle was a waste of time, bridge was ear splitting. Best pos were the split type-still sounded rubbish though.

Perceived output level: Ive found the output to be more than the jap standards. ive also found the bridge p/u to be lounder than the others-but then perhaps its just the way that ive set up the p/us hight
Tone: The tone is great. Very standard strat sounds like you hear on a decent usa strat.
Sonic evaluation: Currently using a 212 spider amp (!) which is a pile of crap...but even through this pile of crap the pus sound a 100% better than the jap type. Tried a carvin valve recently and was knocked out by the improvement. You can really hear all the scrapes and slides etc.and when overdriven sound very sweet. Even the bridge is good.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: I play chilli peppers, modern stuff like franz ferdinand and trad. blues/rock stuff. Before I got these pus I only ever really played distorted as this would hide the lack of tone of the crap jap pus. I have now discovered clean and can get some fantastic tones in all positions. I now also use the mid and between settings more than ever.....the mid is just so much like a strat you hear on the old music..............these pus are brilliant for what I play, and i wish i had put these on years ago.

Comments: Ive been playing 17yrs and if stolen I would definately replace them again. These pus are like that strat sound you hear in your head...even on my cheap jap strat....its made me want to get a decent usa strat and a decent valve amp.........most importantly its made me want to play and practice more than ever...and that can only be good right?
Although Ive been playing ages, and done a few hundred gigs etc its only recently that Ive got into maybe changing pus. Best decision I have made, and fantastic value for money.
There prob. are better pus on the market, but these suit me just fine...for now.
I only got these after reading the reviews here at harmony, and because of this I thought that I would contribute.
I always wanted a decent stat sound-like those you hear on your fav. songs, but I thought that this was not possible without spending loads of money on top quality stuff. Of course that is partly true BUT for only a measly 80gb or so you can turn your cheap jap/mex/china strat guitar into something that sounds reasonable.....Now imagine what these would sound like on a custom shop through a bassman etc!!!!

Pickup features: Single Coils
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: Fender Highway 1 Strat
Position: neck
Pickup being replaced: All
Other pickups on guitar:
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s): Rock, Blues.
Reason for pickup change: Wanted the fat fifties sound for blues.

Perceived output level: Normal.
Tone: Sweet, bluesy tone. Slghtly darker than us standard pu's.
Sonic evaluation: Sweet mellow tone. Great for blues. Only dislike: because of the staggered pole pieces the high E string is slightly weak. Had to make the pu's higher on this side. Then it was better.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: Good for Blues +Rock. Think not good for death metal.

Comments: Would buy them again. Play since about seven years, not good, but have fun. Like the sound of them very much, but don't like them to be staggered. They match perfect with the Highway strat (rosewood), even for hard rock. In my other strat I have a Harry Haeussel blues set, which is very good too. More Power, but the fat 50s are even sweeter.

Pickup features: Passive singles
Impedence or other specs: Around 6,1 -6,3 ohm

Model of guitar or bass: 2001 Fender new american strat
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: Stock Delta tone
Other pickups on guitar:
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s): Jazzoriented blues, + covers of all kinds
Reason for pickup change: First I liked the stock ones. I remember >I even told the guy in the musicstore that I would never change pus on this baby. My amp was then an Orange AD30R, a "brown" sounding one that worked well with the strat.
I traded the Orange for a Fender Vibrolux "Custom"
(got a lttle tired of not enough headroom...) the Fender has a solid state xxxx thing for the tubes power supply and lots of headroom compared to the Orange. Then my strat sounded too harsh and very tight in the bass, and sharp in the highs. Nice on low volumes, but I?m a wailer of the Bloomfield school, so I had to find something else!

Perceived output level: A little less than the stock, specially in the bridge pos. The other pos about the same as stock.
Tone: These pus have an airyness about them that I like. They are well balanced, even though Fender says that the new "Delta tones" (which is really a tonecontrol device, not a pu) are specially calibrated magnets on the G string. It?s lower than the "50:ies" but I don?t have a problem with that. If there really was a big issue wtih mag heights on the G string, why don?t Fender make all there vintage and replacement pus the same way?
Sonic evaluation: Right now it?s pure Fender. Vibrolux with Jensens two 10 " and my black strat with maple neck.
It works well, compared to stock pus, these have a "deeper, woodier " sound. I can really dig in to the guitar and play hard, not necessarly loud, and still get a nice growl, then by just turning down the volume on the strat, get a mellower, but still clear sound. These pus really sing when volune on guitar is on full. I like Knopfler clean, I get that, as well as Buddy Guy etc more tube distorted wailing sound. I get that as well. Compared to the stock pus, stock did not have that ability to play too hard, they went at your ear as not so musically sounding, more sterile.
I have other guitars with P 90 :es on to match a mors fatter sound, but nothing really outshines a real good strat.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: Thge improvised blues that I play these are great, they are as close as I can get, then you have to consider that I?ve tried Fralins hot vintage, (to compressed) tx specials, (too muddy), Van Zant vintage plus, (just a little too compressed and too sharp in the highs for my tase) My favorite pos iis the middle of course. But both the in between ones are good too. Specially middle_bridge, very clear, but can also growl. You get Robert Cray as well as other good blues sounds from these pus.

Comments: I?m a cop and I don?t think these wuold be stolen....I?ve played for 38 years and owned a lot of gear. Everything has it?s purpose and charm. There is a time for everything under heaven...
What I might consider to do is getting a new Fender Pro amp I tried one and it was fantastic.

Pickup features: single coil (passive)
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: US Lonestar strat
Position: neck
Pickup being replaced: texas specials
Other pickups on guitar: fat 50's in the middle position as well and pearly gates humbucker in bridge
Artists using this pickup: who cares
You musical style(s): everything except country
Reason for pickup change: Wanted a more classic strat sound. I like to play clean as well as overdriven and the texas specials sort of had a crappy clean sound and a good but different overdriven tone and i wasn't willing to surrender for the clean tone.

Perceived output level: I would say close to normal strat output
Tone: Well balanced, classic strat sound, very clear
Sonic evaluation: I play tube amps of various makes and models and this pickup basically sounds like a classic strat. I also have another guitar with rio grande muy grande which are cool and great pickups but i just wanted to have this guitar with a little different sound. I like the tones coming from the fat 50's better than the grandes. These pickups are very clear and really respond to your pick attack. I think you have to be a rather good player to actually appreciate what these pickups are designed for.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: These are a good match for anything that a strat could or should be used on.

Comments: What can i say i love these pickups. They do exactly what i want. I have no need to change them. Those of you who may not be strong enough players to play with a truly overdriven amp or clean should probably look more for a hotter pickup but just realize you will sacrifice tone. I just hate it when people knock the pickups for not being hot enough. You want to play hot get humbuckers and let good single coils stay good single coils. Sorry, just a pet-peave!!

Pickup features: passive single coil
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: mexican made squire strat
Position: neck
Pickup being replaced: factory pick up
Other pickups on guitar: fender 57/62 in bridge
Artists using this pickup: don't know,don't care
You musical style(s): blues,blues-rock,classic rock
Reason for pickup change: factory pick ups didn't cut it with me,fairly generic.

Perceived output level: pretty similar to texas specials, maybe a little less output.
Tone: as i said alittle less output than texas special BUT much clearer and with better definition.
Sonic evaluation: Cheap mexican made squire strat through a boss sd-1 overdrive into a fender blues junior. very simple but effective setup.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: blues,blues-rock, classic rock.

Comments: definately would(and will) buy again.Have been playing since 1979 and have been looking for this tone the entire time.I own more gear than any one person should be allowed,most of it while searching for this tone.I will be honest and say that I haven't tried everything out there (yet) but of what I have tried, nothing comes as close to the sound I've been looking for all these years as these pickups. If you are looking for a good texas blues sound, these babies are what you need.Much,much better than Fender's texas specials. I know because I have another strat with texas specials in it and in an a-b comparision the texas specials get blown away. Not that I,m bad mouthing the texas specials,but the fat 50's are just so much clearer, with much better definetion. so glassy and clear while (to my ears at least) the texas specials would sometimes sound out of tune,causing me ,on more than one occassion to check the intonation on my guitar,which would prove to be spot on.I'm sure that there are probably other pick ups that would prove to be as good or better in providing the holy grail of tone but I'm very happy with these and now I can quit searching for electronic trickery and get down to what is really important to tone-ie-playing technique.

Pickup features: (Passive single coil)
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: 2001 American Standard Fender Stratocaster
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: Delta Tone Stock
Other pickups on guitar:
Artists using this pickup: Probably none
You musical style(s): Blues, classic rock, hard rock
Reason for pickup change: The stock pickups were okay, but just not quite there.

Perceived output level: About the same as stock, maybe just a little more. Sounds better at high volumes than stock.
Tone: Definately has a better tone than stock - but I wouldn't call it fat. Cuts through better.
Sonic evaluation: I'm using a pretty versatile Marshall JMP-1 and EL84 20/20, great for my style of music. These pickups are good clean and crunchy, but not highly overdriven. Play with the pickup height to get a good sound. I'm not really thrilled with the bridge and will probably replace with a SD Little 59 or something like it.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: Good for blues and classic rock. Not so good for anything heavier.

Comments: I probably wouldn't buy these again rather going for the Van Zandt or Fralin's in the neck and middle with a Little 59 bridge. I've been playing on and off for 25 years. Still searching for that sound, but these will work for now.