Fender Original '57/'62 Strat Pickups

A few years so I bought a Fender Starcaster used and got into the blues. This was the Costco and Walmart line of fenders- seriously entry level. Anyway after wanting to upgrade but not wanting to spend $2000 in the Fender Eric Clapton “Blackie” Stratocaster, I started looking at good bang for the Buck mods I could make to an honestly very good workable guitar chassis.I settled on 3: new strings, new Fender bridge, and upgrading my pickups. Turns out the same pickups in Claptons blackie can be bought for about $200, and I got even more of a discount because i bought a set from the Amazon warehouse.So for $170 I had my gear!Installing was fun too but here is what I wanted to say:The 2 pickups came with white and black wires; these are the neck and middle. Doesn’t matter which. The black and yellow is the bridge.The box included a very helpful graphic showing how to to the install, and that made it clear too.I got 3 potentiometers with the kit, and I didn’t pay close attention when installing them, nor did the graphic say which to put where, so I just went ahead and installed them. Then when i figured where they should have gone and why, so had to go back later and switch them up.Here’s the deal: I received 2 CTS 1 meg split shaft potentiometer, and 1 CTS 500k potentiometer.I discovered that due to the bright sound coming off the bridge, usually that gets a less powerful pot so it doesn’t overpower the other pickups, so I should have put the 500k pot there. Turns out it doesn’t matter which 1meg pot you use for volume or neck tone.The other big mistake I made was, once it was all soldered and I put the pickguard back on, I pushed the knobs down too hard and separated the potentiometers inside. I had to go back later and, while changing them, retighten them so the contacts were all flush again.Anyhow that’s it. The sound is incredible and I’m very happy with these purchases!

I really love these pickups. I installed them in a 1993 strat with a rosewood fretboard and it sounds just like how I've always wanted this guitar to sound, but without the noise. At first I wasn't confident it would sound good because I wasn't up to changing the pots and installing the 1m and 500k pots that Fender sends with the set. I kept the 250k pots that came in the Emerson custom prewired kit that I have in this guitar. But the pickups have plenty of brightness with 250k pots. Even with the 250k pots I still find myself rolling off about the same top end as before with other pickups. These pickups seem to have a little less 'body' than the Pure Vintage 65 pickups I had, but I actually prefer the sound of the Vintage Noiseless. I'm not sure what accounts for this change in sound - it could be that the old pickups were Alnico 5 and these are Alnico 2 but I'm not an expert on those specs. Either way, the best joy is how clear and articulate these pickups are. They are very balanced sounding and every note just rings even with a lot of overdrive. And of course, they are totally noiseless, unlike the Lace Sensor Golds I have in a different strat with a maple neck. Those pickups are quiet but not totally noiseless like the Fender Vintage Noiseless are. I still like the Lace Sensor Golds for certain mood or applications, but I definitely prefer the traditional sound of these Vintage Noiseless pickups. Wonderful pickups.

These Fender Original '57/'62 Strat Pickups are the pickups that will deliver exceptional chime, jangle, and crisp tone. I installed them in my '94 Mexican Stratocaster (the first guitar I ever had), and run that through a Vox A15 with a little overdrive... and that's the last single coil guitar I'll be having. It's that type of tone like the guitar that plays the solo in the 1965 song 'Nowhere Man' by the Beatles (which I believe is a Stratocaster). I particularly like the neck pickup sound, but all three sound distinctively different and very good. If you want your Strat to do Strat stuff, this is it.I also sort of... installed them with custom options. The guitar was looking quite old with a hideous yellowing/browning pickguard, etc, so I went ahead and made it a whole big project. Using parts non-standard to the Stratocaster I can also play these pickups in series (BM, or NM) which makes them more humbucker-like in tone and better for heavier distortion, with option to play them out-of-phase (which strongly highlights treble). These unconventional connections also sound good, but not better than each pickup individually. As you can see I installed these things without altering the normal appearance of the guitar.I may be getting extra chime out of them because I installed 500K potentiometers instead of the native 250K ones so I just want to put that out there too.Very glad I have these pickups in my guitar.

I really loved the sound of these pickups but out of nowhere the bridge pickup just died. It was a huge let down.

I bought these for my 2012 MIM Fender Strat. It is important to me to only use genuine Fender parts so I chose these and they did not disappoint. The stock Tex-Mex pickups sounded very Fender-y and beautiful with a clean tone, but I regularly play with high gain and they just made too much noise for my taste. Installation was fairly simple and straight forward (didn't even need the included wiring diagram). As soon as I installed them I plugged in to my JCM 2000 and they exceeded my expectation. The bridge screams and the middle and neck pickups are smooth, warm and jazzy. With a BOSS NS-2, they are completely silent at the highest of Metal Zone gain. I love these pickups. Worth every penny to anyone playing a Fender Strat.

I ordered a set back in 2019 at a great price around$140. The first set had a dead pickup, I returned and received a replacement. So many buyers on these reviews received dead pickups. Why is Fender shipping without testing these?To me the sound is very hot but still fairly crisp. I would say a very brittle, aggressive sound, not vintage. No 60 cycle hum is nice. I kept them, but they are not being used.