Vintage Vibe Guitars Custom Strat

I couldn't decide between VVG's 5% or 10% overwound so I went with 7 1/2% (bridge is 15% overwound). Technically a custom order. Modern stagger, Alnico V. I don't know the specs as I ordered overwound for the slightly darker sound as opposed to output.

I replaced a set of Fender CS 54's in my MIM Standard Strat. The guitar has seen a few changes, including a Callaham Mexican upgrade, locking tuners, bone nut and some TLC on the frets. I play a jazz style and I felt that with the vintage stagger on the CS 54's, some chord voicings just sounded off.

It goes straight into my SFTR. Very balanced and sweet. The VVG's are a little bit warmer, a little fuller sounding than the 54's. More life than the Lace Sensors before the 54's. The VVG's are well shielded and relatively quiet for single coils. I am trying to play jazz but I love my old MIM Strat.

I'm pretty happy. I think this might be the end of the road as far as the search for the perfect set of Strat pickups is concerned. We'll see, though. Lastly, the service from Pete Biltoft couldn't be better. Very highly recommended.

Single coil strat

Swamp ash Strat, all maple neck

I have decided to finally post some reviews about Pete Biltoft???s Vintage Vibe pickups. These are the only ???vintage voiced??? pickups I use in my instruments now. They come individually packaged with great care, each with their own handwritten ???birth certificates??? should you ever need to have them replicated or replaced. Pete offers a lifetime guarantee on his excellent work.

This set was a special order. The neck and middle pickups are Pete???s standard Strat pickups, but the bridge was ordered wound to Tele specifications. Pete did a brilliant job of this, and the bridge pickup retains the clarity and high end needed for Tele-style chicken pickin???, but has a lot more ???grunt??? on the low and mid ranges than your usual Strat bridge pickup.

I bought these pickups to build a friend a guitar because of how impressed I was with my set of Pete???s Nashville Tele pickups. They were put into a new-build Strat with a light swamp ash body and maple/maple neck. When I first fired up an amplifier to test the guitar in question (I had already determined what its acoustic voice sound was), I was more than impressed??? I was blown away.

In the early nineties I went through at least five different sets of Strat pickups trying to make my Strat???a light, poplar-bodied instrument with an all maple neck and very ???springy??? acoustic voice???come to life. When Guitar Player ran their now-famous review of Lindy Fralin???s Vintage Hot pickups, I immediately went down to a local store that just happened to carry these at the time little-known pickups and bought a set. With their rich and complex overtones, these became my immediate benchmark for how a good set of Strat pickups could enhance and translate the acoustic voice a good instrument.

I still think Fralins are great pickups, so please do not peg me as down on his excellent offerings, but all the sonic properties that made me love my Vintage Hots are present in Pete???s pickups, but with additional features. In addition to the lovely upper and mid range harmonic complexity of the Fralins, Pete???s pickups have additional depth in the lows and lower mids. I couldn???t believe how big the difference was to my ear. In the end, I kept Pete???s pickups and since my buddy is just a beginning player, hooked him up with a cheaper set of pickups.

One thing I will say in all my reviews of Pete???s pickups, and I can not stress this enough: These pickups are all EXTREMELY TOUCH SENSITIVE. They replicate and even amplify variations in your picking technique, especially if you use your fingers at all. If you rely on your pickup to compress your sound due to poor right hand technique or play music that tends to stay in one dynamic range, these pickups may not be for you. However, if you want a lot of expressive range from your instrument (ala Derek Trucks or Mark Knopfler), order a set of these now!

10.

Pickup features: Passive single coil, of course...
Impedence or other specs: Neck: 5.9K Middle: 6.4K Bridge: 7K

Model of guitar or bass: Fender Highway 1 Stratocaster
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: Stock
Other pickups on guitar: n/a
Artists using this pickup: Not sure
You musical style(s): Blues-Rock
Reason for pickup change: Wanted hand-wound pups instead of stock

Perceived output level: Slightly hotter than stock
Tone: Balanced
Sonic evaluation: I play mainly through a Rivera M100 and these pups rule! I owned a set of Pete's vintage Strat set, which were awesome as well, but I wanted something with a little more heat, and the man delivered! They have about the same output as Texas Specials, but much more detail, not the middy/muddy sound you get from the Fenders.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: Great match for blues-rock or classic rock

Comments: If these pups (along with my guitar...) were stolen, I would replace them in a heartbeat with an identical set from Pete, as they are the best bargain in custom wound pickups your ever going to find! I've been playing for over 30 years (my parents forced me to take lessons when I was six, hated it then, God bless you now Mom & Dad!) and have a very discriminating ear, so I'm not the easiest guy to please when it comes to gear (not sure if I ever will find "that sound", or if it even exists). These pups are so good, I'm not joking. Do yourself a favour and check Mr. Biltoft of Vintage Vibe Guitars out if you're in the market for replacement pups, you will not be disappointed!