Harmonic Design Vintage Plus Strat Pickguard

Pickup features: Passive single coil
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: 40th Anniversary American Standard Strat
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: Lindy Fralins
Other pickups on guitar:
Artists using this pickup: Carmen Grillo
You musical style(s): Blues, rock, jazz.
Reason for pickup change: Incredibly phat, musical, and very "Strat" tone from the Harmonic Design Vintage Plus Strat pickups as compared to anything else on the market.

Perceived output level: Hotter than stock Strat pickups. I'd give 'em a "Hot"
Tone: Awesome? The master midrange allows "vintage jangly Strat" up to a P-90ish "blues tone from hell"
Sonic evaluation: 40th Anniversary American Standard Stratocaster with maple fingerboard, running into either (Budda Twimaster 4x10, Marshall Jubilee 1/2 stack, Mesa MkIV with 1x12 Theile-ported ext cab, blackface Deluxe Reverb)

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: On electric guitar I play blues, blues-based (think 70s) rock, jazz, fusion, and even pop-ish alternative. These pickups are awesome for all of the styles I play.

Comments: If lost or stolen I'd call Scott and bribe him to get me a replacement ASAP. I might put the assembly in a different Strat. The one the pickups are in now was just a beater, at least until I installed the Harmonic Design setup. Even though I'm not thrilled with its neck (prefer very chunky necks or deep "V" shaped necks), its my number workhorse electric guitar. I've been playing for 27 years. The other gear I own is too numberous to name (1961 Strat, hybrid '63 Strat with an SRV neck, Duncan APS pickups, and LR Baggs piezos and preamp - that guitar will get a set of Harmonic Design pickups as well, 1968 Les Paul Goldtop, BC Rich Mockingbird, Hamer T62, Epiphone Casio, Taylor and Collings acoustics) I love the way the pickguard assembly works - no volume dropoff with the in-between settings, and the phat, phat, phat tone. I hate the price, but whatcha gonna do? I compared it to Fender, Fralin, EMG, Kinneman and Duncan pickups. I'm lukewarm about most Fender Strat pickups (the custom shop '54s being a notable exception). EMGs don't suit my style, as they sound better being run through a rack system as opposed to directly into a vintage amp. Fralin, Kinneman and Duncan make very fine products to be sure. For me (your mileage may vary), these Harmonic Design pickups are "it" as far as Strat pickups, and I've played just about all of 'em out there. As far as Strat pickups go, my search has ended.

Pickup features: Vintage Plus in neck and middle, S-90 (P-90 for Strat), in neck position
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: 99 American Strat.
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: Stock "Delta Tone"
Other pickups on guitar:
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s): Mainly Blues
Reason for pickup change: I just wasn't getting it from the stock pups. I still don't know what the Delta Tone thing does, whatever it is you can't hear it. I bought the entire pickgaurd assembly because I wanted tone knobs that worked and I wanted to be able to control the tone on the bridge pup. The stock pickup was so bad that I never used it. Overall the stock pups just sounded thin to me.

Perceived output level: Hotter than stock but very clean and transparent.
Tone: It's all in there. I've had these for three weeks now and am just learning how to use them.
Sonic evaluation: I have them in a 99 Am. Strat. This axe has a great unplugged tone and I never felt like it was living up to it's potential amped up. I play mostly through a Line6 Flextone. After three weeks of fiddling around with the amp settings and the tone knobs on the guitar I'm getting some incredible sounds out of this setup. The pups are matched to a master tone control for all three. The second tone knob boosts mid-range on all three. This is the best setup I've ever played including active. I've learned to eq the amp fairly flat and use the guitar's controls since they work really really well. These pups can do just about anything. The S-90 in the bridge has more punch than any single coil I've ever heard. The middle pickup has a beautiful full tone that's wat more usable than most middles. And the neck is smooth and buttery. Dial in some mids and my strat sounds like a jazz box. Crank on it these suckers just flat out burn. I was playing some Muddy Waters last night on the neck and was blown away by the way it was punching out the bass. I've got a LP that can't even come close to driving like that. Take your time with these and you'll be real happy with what comes out. I took em to a music shop and played some tube amps (Marshall, Fender Twin, Fender Deville), and they sounded unreal. I had a crowd around me in about five minutes just shaking thier heads. When I showed the owner the tone controls, He wouldn't believe they weren't active.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: Mostly blues, by far the best I've heard Including the original vintage stuff.

Comments: I've been palying since 71 and I will keep these in anything I play from now on. They aren't cheap, but you can forget about chasing tone with these and focus on playing, once you figure them out.

Pickup features: 3 Vintage Puls Pickups (single coils) with master volume/midrange control/"smart switch"
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: Fender Custom Shop strats
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: Fender custom shop 60?s
Other pickups on guitar: Harmonic Design Super 90, ?54 Specials, Z-90, Classic Humbucker
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s): Rock, blues and fusion
Reason for pickup change: A more opimized combination that can handle all types of strat sound from the in-between sounds to full shreed! And still with full and clear single coil sound.

Perceived output level: The assembled pickguard gives me way more output level than vintage Fenders or texas special and realy cut?s throu. Plenty of dynamics
Tone: In my oppinion HD Vintage Plus pu:s is great sounding. They never get muddy and keep their brilliance all the way without getting razor sharp The combination of using the master midrange control takes you from twang to rich creamy sound. The midrange control is far more musical the midrange control that you find on "The Eric Clapton" strat (wich is active) When playing clean sounds or inbetweens and the master control set on zero gives your sound a nice brilliance twang . And with the control all the way up gives you the mid you need to get a fat and balsy sound. Using the control as a blender gives you exactly the amount of mid that you need. The master volume control is operated smooth and without no toneshift. This assembly gives me a well balanced sound with increadble sonic range and variations.
Sonic evaluation: I?m using a Marshall DSL 100 stack with Celestion Greenbacks, a Fender Tonemaster with one 4x12 Celestion cab,Chandler digital delays.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: I play rock, blues and fusion. My influences are Robin Trower, Hendrix, Beck, Page and the one and only Mr. Leslie West

Comments: I have installed HD?s in various singlecoil combinations on all of
my Fender Custom Shop strats (exept a foamgreen relic no 3/12). I have also installed a pair of z-90 and Classic humbucker on two of my working horse Gibsons. Harmonic Design pu.s is now a part of my sound. In fact HD is that sound! I have the greatest respcet for Scotts work and support.

Pickup features: Single Coils,
Impedence or other specs: see his webpage

Model of guitar or bass: '68 sunburst Stratocaster, not reissue
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: Lace HG-1000's
Other pickups on guitar: vintage plus in neck/mid, S-90 in bridge (P-90 thingy strat sized)
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s): blues rock
Reason for pickup change: Lace product was very good, but not quite there. Also, I didn't want to futz with chaning all the pots to 500k.

Perceived output level: about the same, it's been so many changes ago since the stocks I don't remember....
Tone: excellent tone every bit as good as fralins...
Sonic evaluation: Older bassman head, line6 flex plus. The tone is great, but to be honest I have to get rid of these pickups. No matter how well you sheild a guitar, when you play a gig with any kind of lighting, the hum enters right through the front just where your string vibration
is supposed to be "picked up." If you don't believe me, move your single coils toward a light fixture. It's sort of like having the best insulation in your home, but leaving the front door open when it's -10 outside.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: blues rock

Comments: Some more about the pickguard here, he has a nice setup. Smooth volume control, a mid-range cut contol, and a master tone which is cool because it works on the bridge pickup. The S-90 is real fun to play on it's own. Since this setup has been on my favorite guitar, I haven't been playing it because of the noise. I took it out at a gig last weekend, and most of my thoughts were on how/when to roll the volume back so the audience doesn't hear the hum when using the full drive2 pedal. So for the second and third set I broke out the dean explorer and had no such problems. This weekend I installed Chris Kinman's AVn 62, blues in the neck/middle of an S/S/H guitar. The tone is amazing so far, I need to do a gig with it before evaluating. I will probably get the Kinman either 62/62/SC or 69/69/69b for this guitar, but keep this pickguard setup. I'm not knocking this product, they are true to vintage and then some. If
you just plug into the Super and don't use pedals, you would like these pickups. If you want to contact me about purchasing these, please email me as I will not be putting them on ebay for at least
another month. For 75% of what I paid, I may let the whole pickguard
assembly go. I'm not going to give a numerical evaluation, because for nailing the vintage knockoff thing it's a 10, that technology is a 1. High end quality product, just not for me.

Pickup features: single coil passive, strat replacement
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: Fernandes strat
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: all
Other pickups on guitar:
Artists using this pickup: Carmen Grillo
You musical style(s): Funk R&b soul
Reason for pickup change: Needed to cut throuhg the horn section in Tower Of Power

Perceived output level: more output than any other pickup I've tried
Tone: spanky rhythm, ballsy lead
Sonic evaluation: Fernandes Guitar, Mesa Boogie Triaxis clear and tight. sounds like vintage strat only punchier

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: funk, R&B all positions are great . These pickups record better than anything I've tried. They cut through the track

Comments: I tried thees out while teaching a clinic in L.A. After I played them one time, I had them installed in every guitar I own