IronGear Pig Iron Pickup set

Single-coil passive Strat-style pickups.
Set of 3, each for specific position (can buy separately)
Alnico V magnets, 6K impedence
Wax-dipped

Guitar is a Fender Squier Affinity strat - strat-type I could get in a hurry. I needed a strat-type guitar for the very varied material of a band I joined at short notice, as I dislike changing guitars between tracks, and anyway my others are too "precious" for live gigging!

Liked the guitar a lot (after shielding, setting action, tension, etc), but didn't like the sound. The standard pickups were muddy, noisy when not playing or playing softly, hence not very dynamically responsive. Also inclined to microphonic feedback when using heavy distotion sounds. I decided that all 3 pickups had to go.

The output level is similar to the standard Squier pickups, and much the same as genuine Mex and American Strats and Telecasters owned by (richer!) friends of mine. As judged by listening to these on my usual gig amp, a vintage H&H V-S Musician 2x12 combo. Incidentally, Eddie Van Halen used one of these on many of his early recordings - he liked its clean tone and low noise like I do. I use a Zoom FX-4 pedal for distortion, echo, flange, etc.

Pickups are very low-noise ans sensitive, great when silent or picking gently. They are also VERY sensitive to fingering mistakes! Feedback problems are also much less than the originals (presumably the wax dip).

Tone is generally very "classic" strat - very clear, rather "bell-like" (especially the neck pick-up). Less boom and clearer treble than most of the Strats and Teles I listened to (various Fender and Seymour Duncan pickups), sounded rather like one Strat which had Fender Texas Special pickups.

The bridge pickup gives that hard twangy clangy "strat" ring when played clean with no EQ. I use this sound a lot, and it drives heavy distortion well enough for hard Metallica and Darkness sounds too.

The neck pickup has a beautiful clear mellow "chime", great for rhythm and acoustic-style picking, and I love it for blues soloing with a little distortion, or for Pink Floyd with lots of echo and chorus.

I never use the middle pickup alone, but combined with the bridge pickup I get a smooth Knopfler/Rea type of sound.

The sharper treble and less boomy bass gives less crunch than many Strat pickups, might not be to everyone's liking. I do play some punk, and this type of distortion was definitely better on the original Squier pickups. I can live with this, you can't get every possible sound from one set of pickups.

If stolen, I'd get more immediately! I'm about to fit some to my beloved old Ibanez Blazer Custom - it doesn't sound so good to me now!

I've been playing since the sixties, and have owned, sold and lost many fine guitars and other gear. These days, I use the Squier professionally, and the Ibanez for pleasure!

These pickups are great value for money (much cheaper than well-known alternatives), well made, and the distributer is a joy to deal with (eg: gave me immediate advice on exactly how to set the pickup height for optimum results when I asked), they ship quickly and world-wide.

Single-coil Alnico V strat-pickups 6K impedance. Set of 3 for Stratocaster-type guitar.

I installed these pickup in a 'home-grown' strat-type guitar. Instrument body is alder, neck and fretboard are Maple. I used them to replace the original cheapies which came with one of the 'donor' guitars which made up my project. The original pickups sounded as cheap as they undoubtedly were with a broken-glass, steely and harsh sound.

The output from these is higher than the 6K impedance would suggest. They are not the hottest that money can buy but are in the upper-middle output range. The magnets are extremely powerful and you have to be careful you don't get too near the strings as the pull is strong and will go 'wolf-toned' very suddenly. Correctly adjusted they have a lovely tone. Cleans are very clear with bass 4, middle 6, treble 6 kind of balance. Dirty sound is lively with great attack and sustain. Driven hard into the clean channel they will produce some overdrive effect with the bell-like tone starting to 'quack' in a most satisfying way. I play in all styles purely for my own amusement. Overdriven these will play metal well. In clean mode they are classic rock/blues style.

I would replace these pickups and would buy them again for another instrument. I have been a player of various instruments since childhood but have only recently taken up guitar. I have Ibanez and Yamaha electrics and a Babicz acoustic. These pickups have given me the best single-coil tone I have heard and are extraordinary value for money.

I changed because the original pickups were bad and I wanted to try a home-grown (UK) product at a very good price. Glad I did.