Product: Klein Pickups Tapped Stratocaster Vintage 50's & High Output
Price Paid: USD 200
Submitted
03/03/2009
at
04:27pm
by
Mark
Features
:
Tapped single coil pickups.
Vintage 50's: 5.5, 5.7, 6.0 output
High Output Tap: 7.0, 7.2, 7.5 output
Alnico 3 (I think) magnets and formvar coated 42 guage wire used. Tap is controlled by a 3PDT switch that Klein generously included. More on his great customer service later.
Instrument
:
I play an American Standard Strat into a 65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue. I put the Klein's in all posiitions. While I liked the tone of my strat, the sound was a little too "in your face" for lots of the stuff I play. I wanted something will a little more senstativity and string balance. Chris Klein suggested the Vintage 50's to achieve the sound I described. I don't know of anybody using exactly these pickups but vintage 50's sound is sought after.
Sound
:
9
The output level of the Vintage 50's is wonderfully low. The nuances of the guitar, pick, and fingers shine right through these pickups. Very transparent and sweetsounding. Because the magnets are signicantly weaker than typical Alnico 5's, a certain amount of bell like scooped sounds are missing with these pickups. These pickups sound like old strat recordings, before people thought they should overwind all strat pickups. They are not very bassy but carry enough low end for most slyles. People looking for the SRV growl will want to choose other pickups but these things nail the thinner, cleaner, Robert Cray tone. Overall, very well balanced when chording. All positions sound unique and are all useable. I mostly play blues and blues influenced music (country, John Mayerish type rock) as well as worship music at church. Great sound if you like lower output.
The tap has similar qualities but sound warmer with increased mids and lows due to the extra winds. Adds a touch of drive when cranked up. Great to use as a clean boost for leads or just for a fully sound.
Overall Rating
:
9
These pickups are awesome. The clarity is unmatched in anything I've played. I miss the traditional SRV type of tones but since I can't have both, I'd rather have the vintage 50's. Klein offers exceptional products with even better service. Vintage 50's won't be for everybody but he makes pickups for almost any strat sound you could want. He went out of his way to help me select a pickup type that would be suitable and he can do any custom adjustments you may want. It was a real pleasure to deal with Klein Pickups.
