Fender Vintage Noiseless Strat

noiseless passive set

I had this set installed in a MIM 50th anniv. gold strat. The stock pickups weren't happening. I tried the David Gilmour set, but it absolutely ate batteries. The reason I chose this set is because I needed one with all the required pots and caps. Everything that was stock on this guitar under the hood had to go.

Everybody has an opinion on the ideal strat sound. I, for one, don't care for super high output strat pickups. I love chimey Claptonesque tone. These do deliver tone clean tones you love. I was concerned that with the whole noiseless deal, I would lose the 2 and 4 position quack. It's still there and sounds great. Having said that these aren't high output, they do sound great gained up. And , yes they are noiseless.

I would replace this set with the same one if it were destroyed. I have been playing for 20 years. This pickup set is staying with this guitar.

Single coil, passive, white FVNS pickups set.

I installed these in my '96 Fender MIM Strat. I replaced some 80's Fender pickups I bought when I got the guitar. I didn't like the hum I was getting from this guitar and had not played it in a year or so because of it.

I really like the tone I get from these compared to the stock, and sound about as good as the 80's pickups I took out, without the hum. I play blues, classic rock, metal and todays rock, but through different guitars. This guitar is mostly for cleans, blues and some various playing.

If they were stolen I would buy again in a second. I really like that these come with the pots, caps, resistor and pickups in one package. I have not tried the Lace Sensors or any other pickups in this guitar so I can't compare.

Stacked singles, passive. Been described in many prior reviews. As some other posters mentioned the quality control on these must be pretty poor. I had to send the first set back to Musicians Friend as the bridge pup was dead. The second set was fine with no issues.

1999 MIM Strat. I got bored with the OK stock pickups and really wanted to quiet things down in my practice room. I loaded up the full set of 3.

The output seems relatively mild, but this is a good thing if you want to hear note separation. Some of my favorite single coils are rated at between 5 and 6k. I think these are between 7 and 9? not sure. I play into either a BillM modified Fender Blues Jr. or late model HotRod Deville 410. I installed these pups about 5 years ago, liked them intially then let the guitar sit virtually unplayed for about the last 2 years becuase I've been using other guitars more. I decided to pull out my MIM Strat last weekend and spend some time dialing in some great tones. I found that the bridge pup which is typically pretty thin and brittle sounding can be very useful by using a compressor and dialing back the tone a bit. (I installed a jumper between lugs on the switch when installing these to give the bridge a tone control option. I think this is a necessary feature for all bridge pups) After jamming along to some Little Big Town I found that I was getting great clean and overdriven tone through my Deville in all pup settings. These pups to my ears do a Great Strat Quack in positions 2 and 4 and really have clear bell like tones in 1,3 and 5. I was tempted to install 250k pots as another poster stated to tame the highs, but when playing in the mix I think it's better to have the option to cut through when needed and dial back the tone controls when not playing with a band. I play a variety of blues and rock and contemporary Christian music. I love that these are very quiet pups and work great for the venu's I play.

If I had to replace these, I might try the Hot Noiseless pups instead since I already have low output true single coil GFS pups in another Strat. However I do like these quite a bit and will keep them in the this guitar. As other reviewers have stated it does take some time to dial these in, pup height is very important, tone control for bridge is critical, it seems 250k, 500k, or 1 meg pots is a matter of preference. I used the pots that came with em. I think they're 500k but don't remember for sure. I've been playing the guitar for 35 years, but have only been playing electric guitars for the last 10 years. I have 2 other Strats, 2 Tele's a Les Paul copy and an old Sears Silvertone with amp in case. I also have a 1976 Hohner (Martin D45 copy) and a 2007 Guild D50 Bluegrass Special. These are not the best sounding pups I've heard, I actually like my cheap GFS Alnico Premiums better for overall tone, but those are noisy in most environments (except in church they are dead quiet there, must not be any rf) The Vintage Noiseless do a very respectable job for being noiseless pups and come really, really close to imitating a true singel coil. Great Bang for the buck!

Single coil passive, though I'm not sure if they're true single-coils or some kind of hybrid design. Really don't know the impedance or other specs. They came stock on a MIM Player's strat.

Stock in MIM Player's strat. The Player's strats have ash bodies, slightly flatter fingerboard radiuses, and larger frets than the regular MIM strats, which is why I bought it. Mine was the maple-fretboard version, but I'm not really convinced that whether a strat fretboard is maple or rosewood affects the tone, at least not as much as other factors.

I ditched 'em for a $25 set of MIM standard strat pups. I'm not totally happy with the MIM standards, especially the neck seems a little thin, but they're way better than the Vintage "Toneless" pickups that came with the guitar.

The output was about the same as the standard MIM single coils. Mostly I use them with modified Peavey Classic 30. Using these for mostly funk /blues/soul.

They sounded great in the store, but on the gig, they just didn't cut it.

I like a nice snappy clear tone for funk rhythm and palm muting parts, but I like a nice juicy singing neck pup lead for soloing. Unfortunately, these didn't do it. In overall frequency, they were close the the standard single-coils, maybe a tad more upper midrange. The tonal "balance" was pretty close to standard single coil. Actually, the #4 and #2 positions weren't too bad, having an okay quack. Even the bridge pup wasn't bad and sounded a little tele-like.

All that aside though, they sounded awful. No matter what I did, they had a brittle harshness to the tone. Every sound in every position, at every pickup height, came with an icepick. It was like an over-scooped humbucker. There was always a touch of "thuk" to the sound. If I wanted "thuk," I'd get stacked pups or humbuckers.

I'd pick up this guitar on a gig, and it was like somebody laid an egg onstage. I'd futz with the amp over and over trying to get some juice, life and sparkle out of them, and I just couldn't do it.

I tried raising them, lowering them, a dime's width, an nickel's width, two nickels, etc. Sometimes it would help a little, but they still sounded like nails on a chalkboard -- Harsh, biting and brittle -- Especially on the neck pup. I just could not get a useable neck pup sound. The #4 wasn't too bad, but as soon as the neck was by itself it was like someone farted onstage. Even the #1-#4 positions, while not terrible, still suffered from some kind of lifelessness. No matter what I did, they never sat right in the overall mix and band balance. One second they'd be too quiet, next, they'd be tearing your ears off. Complete lack of bloom to the notes: They'd start off a okay except for a little "thuk," and then maybe 100 milleseconds after the initial attack they'd turn into a thin harsh grating sustain. They might have sustain, but it's sustaining such wretched frequencies that you wish it would stop. No singing, no bloom, nuthin' but brittle harsh thin ugliness.

These might be good for someone playing an arena with 10,000 or more people. In that case, the lack of hum would probably be more important than the tone, and the size of the venue might ameliorate the biting harshness. Besides, once a venue gets too big, it's all the soundman anyways. Or maybe if you were doing a TV spot or talk show band, in which case the lack of hum would be far more crucial than the tone quality. However, in a nightclub or tavern, or normal small gig, these just sucked. I'd get all set to dive into a singing solo, flip on the neck pup, and it was like someone let the air out of my tires.

The standard MIM strat single-coil set sounded way better. Not perfect, as they had some hum and they're still a bit icepick

If they were destroyed or stolen, I'd be sad that I no longer had them to sell on eBay. Truth is, I probably wouldn't even notice, since they just sit in a box in a closet. Once I took them out of the guitar, I've never wanted to put them back.

I've been playing like 35 years or something. I make my living doing it at the moment, though that could all change next week.

I've been through enough gear to finance a third-world country, so I think I've got a pretty good perspective. I'm still searching for the perfect tone -- and of course different gigs need a different tone -- but these weren't even in the ballpark: Harsh, sterile, lifeless, never sat in the mix right. I'd happily take the 60-cycle hum back than. I'd rather be forced to stay in the noiseless humbucking #4 or #2 position with some real single-coils than have to listen to these.

A good, well-shielded guitar and single-coil pickup shouldn't hum too badly in most situations. In this case, it wasn't worth the tone sacrifice to lose the hum.

Single coil stacked for noiseless capability. I got the cream tinted covers.

Frankenstrat home custom built, had some stock single coils that were to tinny and bitey. Replaced the whole set because of the 60-cycle noise and trebley tone.

Output is about 75% of the stock pups and sound good. I only had to boost the compression about 10% to get a good even volume and tone is very good at this level. Boss pedals are used into a Peavey VK 212 amp. All pre direct to input one no effects loop used. The tone is a little bit lacking on the bass but the mids and highs are smooth and level. I did not change the pots or capacitance, I used the stock Fender configuration with the 250k pots. The only change I think I would make is to change all the pots to 500k. I use the bright switch or on another amp it would be your prescence to boost the highs and you know this is just fine. The pickups are adjusted to about 1/8 of an inch above the pickguard, much more and the magnetic pull restricts the string vibration and then I see why some people would say the pup is lifeless. Lower the pickups and you will have the nice Fendery "quackability" without the noise. Too many people have complained but I think they either expect the pickup to play metal or don't know their amp or are just too lazy to seek out at good tone from this fine pickup. I think the user needs to really tweak the pickups to get good tone but it is worth your time and effort to get to the sweet-spot with this particular pickup.

I would buy them again, much better than stock and better than the SCN. If I would do it again I might buy the Jeff Beck HOT set but this is very well suited to my classic hard rock and blues philanderings.

Passive stacked coil pickup, didn't check the impedance. Kit includes new pots, and capacitor for tone controls.

A friend of mine has these, when purchased they went into an American standard strat, now they are in a 50th Anniversary strat. they relpaced the stock pickups both times. We swap guitars a couple times a month, just to play with different toys.

Comparing them in tonal refrence to the following; Rio Grande Tallboys, Fender; tex-mex, 60's Classic, 50's Classic, American standard early 90's, American standard 2004, 57 japanese re-issue, Lace Sensors.

The output is less than you would expect from a dual coil pickup, toying around with them with a couple different 808 tube screamers (Ri and UE300) and a FulldriveII 10th ann. into a Fender modern two channel all tube "Twin Amp"

Very clear and defined. More focused on high-mids and highs; than lows or a "round" sound. Never heard a Fender pickup with great lows, and these still don't have great lows, but good tight lows, and good lows is progress for Fender! The mids and highs are VERY good, not as smooth and chimey as I would expect from fender. Cuts/blends clearly through the overdrives, good sustain.

Best Fender pickup I've ever heard, very impressed for the company they are coming from, would recommend them over Lace Sensors (or anything else from Fender).

I've been playing for 11 years, and I probably would not buy these. Not to say they aren't great for someone else. The owner of the guitar loves them, and I can see why. For the money they are a pretty good buy, not boutique; R.G., Torres, or Fralin, but probably the best regular production pickups to come from Fender in a long time.

single coil,passive

Installed on '06 MIM strat. Replaced the loud [but lacking tone] OEM pickups. I play mainly classic rock and blues-rock, and I wanted that Clapton / Buddy Guy sound.

They sound mellow, but have more output than you would expect. [they put out 9.3k on my multimeter] Tone is very balanced, slight bias toward mid and treble. I'm running through a Vox ad30vt at home, and a Carvin 100 watt combo on stage. They sound best through the Carvin. I probably not use these for metal [even though we play a Metalica cover and it sounds pretty good]

If they were stolen I would buy the same set up again. I have been playing over 11 years. I play in a blues-rock trio and a four piece alt-metal band. I own a Fender MIM strat, an Ibanez sz320 and rg321. For amps I have a '01 Carvin SX200, Vox AC30VT, '66 Fender Princeton Reverb, and a Ibanez TB15

HB-Pickup, passive

They are installed original in my American DLX Strat. I made a litle mod on neck and middle pickup. I gave them a middle tap to play them as singlecoil using the tonepot's to dial them into single when the pot is full open (10) and humbucking at 9. Its not easy to solder a middletap in a pickup. You can easyly destroy the pickup!!!

The output at single coil is greater than in humbucking mode. I play a Fender HotRod-DLX with Jensen C12N and mostly JJ-tubes. My music has a spectrum from classic rock to crunge, ballards, blues, rap, funky, etc.. The variaty of the single coil sounds perfects my needs in many ways. The neck PU in singlecoil fits perfect for SRV or funk and even rap. All over strong sound without being edgy on top. My second Favorite sound is Neck PU in Singlecoil with Middle PU in humbucking. Great fo picking Ballards, sounds nearly accustic with sparkling highs and fat botton. I also like the screaming distortionsound of the bridge PU and the good control of feedback on both bridge and middle PU.

The orginal sound of th noiseless is a little bit boring if you play clean but the humbucking PU's a great for distortred sounds and very quite. Mostly the sounds fit into the music. In ohter ways I use a sloped in Korg AX3000G for effects or one Marshall sound. I'am happy with my equipment.

Single-coil sized and voiced stacxked humbuckers. Direct replacement for Strat p/us. You already know this of course.

Guitar in question is a 2006 MIM rosewood board Strat, modified as follows: Callaham block and saddles, tremsetter. Set up with 11-49 Fender 150 strings, 8 thou relief, action 1mm all strings at 17th fret. These p/us replaced the stock MIM ones.
Stock MIM pickups surprised me. High output, and not too bad through a pignose, but they didn't like any valve amp I put them through as soon as I turned up a bit(motorboating noises when changing p/u, squealing, hum as loud as the guitar, getting worse and worse as the amp turns up. And that's at just over "playing in the kitchen" volumes. Never tried the MIM pickups at gigging volume - the idea's to awful to think about.

Amps used either a Fender Bassman (1961 tolex head into original cab with 2x12" Jensens or a Laney LC15, with a T-Rex Tremster and Fender re-issue valve reverb between guitar and amp can you guess I play surf alot?). That's basically it as far as effects go. The MIM is a spare guitar, main one's a fairly battered 1963 Strat I've had for nearly 30 years.

Vintage noiseless are indeed noiseless. Output is respectable - less than MIM stock pickups and slightly higher than my pre-CBS (athough the magnets will have weakened over time - a 40 year old pickup is unlikely to sound how it did when new). Tone is surprisingly similar to preCBS, and as well as clean they give good Hendrix, Buddy Guy and Clapton types of tone and work fine with a RAT or Muff.

Those complaining about a brittle sound - throw away the 1M pots these come with and stick to a standard Strat 250K volume/tone setup. Cures the insane highs and smooths things out properly and results in a very "vintage strat" sound, nicely hollowed out.

Remember that in the 1950s/early 60s what we'd regard as a pretty heavy set (12-54 anyone?)of strings was the norm. No 8s or 9s - it you wanted a 10 use a banjo 5th string etc. So the amount of metal in the strings was greater hence the pickup output was higher than with typical modern light strings and not as bright or zingy. Have a listen to Dick Dale and consider his string gauges and then wonder why the fuse wire you use for strings can't get near his tone...

I'd happily use these pickups again. Curiosity was one motive for buying them (that and I oculdn't source any 54s or Fat 50s at a sensible price at the time).

humbucking no noise

'84 jap strat

output about same as stock with out the buzz. use them with both tube and solid state amps. a little brighter than stock-that's good, my old sc's were dull.

IMHO I would not go with the 500k pots-tried it and they're way too biting. Went back to 250k in a heartbeat. They are pretty good if you spend some time finding the sweet spot in height. Found my tone with the bridge and neck @ 4/32", and the middle @ 6/32", this gives me great, smooth slick tone on each, and surprising quack in positions 2 and 4. Also, lose the parrallel trble cap/resitor on the volume control. Kinman's series setup works much better with 250k pots(kinman.com-perfect guitar-tone workshop. Enjoy.