Ultra Noiseless Vintage Stratocaster 3-piece Pickup Set - Cream Review

I quite like these

I've been using these in my main Strat for over half a year. I don't understand the hate noiseless pickups get. Especially on the internet forums. "ThEy DoN't HaVe AnY sPaRkLe!" some will say. Sure they do. The people saying these things are doing A/B tests through the same amp with all the knobs in the same position. Of course they're going doing different. If you need more sparkle… read more you can add a little treble and you've got your sparkle. I've got all the Strat tones I could ever ask for from my Strat, and without the noise. They sound good. What else can I say? Maybe people have had some bad luck with Fender Noiseless pickups in the past, but I think maybe Fender got it right with the Ultra Noiseless series. These aren't completely noiseless, but a lot quieter than a standard single coil. I'll still get some interference from lights and some electrics. I can fix those problems by standing in a slightly different spot or pointing by altering where I'm aiming with the guitar by a few degrees. The cavities in my Strat are completely shielded.

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Really like these

Here's my experience. I replaced a set of nice Fralin pups that came in a rare SSS Danelectro I recently bought. I wanted the Ultra Noiseless Fender pickups because a) I'm a Fender fan, and b) these are the same pickups that come stock in the new Fender "Ultra" series instruments (after which I secretly lust — don't tell anyone). In my case, the swap was straightforward, once… read more I got the wire colors sorted out (mapping Fralin to Fender color scheme; thanks googlez.) I didn't need to do any soldering work directly onto the switch or pots. I simply sliced and spliced wires, wire for wire, soldering and heat shrink tubing as I went. Worked perfectly. Sound? Amazing. To be clear: these are a stacked, noise-canceling pickup. They are technically, "humbuckers", because of the coils arrangement. Fender has done a fantastic job tuning these pups to have a pure, snappy single-coil Strat vibe. I love them. If you're looking for a drop-in replacement for your Strat, to me this is a no-brainer. The price is killer for a killer set of pickups. You will need to consider cavity depth, as these are about 1.5x the height of your average Strat pickup. (I got lucky, but barely. I may still opt to route the neck pickup side of the cavity of my Danelectro, but it works for now. An actual Strat wouldn't have any problems cavity depth-wise.) If you're concerned how this might change the sound of you Strat, ask yourself what you're looking for. All guitars sound unique, even off the same assembly line. In my case, it gave me more of what I was looking for: less noise and a smidge bit more mids. The stock Fralins were just too spanky for me. These Ultra Noiseless give me all the sweet single-coil Strat-like vibe with less noise and a tiny bit more girth. That's exactly what I wanted.

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Less noise comes at a terrible cost - TONE

First let's be clear, less noise not noiseless. If you are mostly a rhythm player using a digital interface, modeling amp, or heavy effects, you might like the noiseless. If you are a lead player using a traditional Fender tube amp, you will hate these pickups. I'm coming from a Fender SSS, well let's just say NOT noiseless, playing into a Vibrolux. I was absolutely crushed… read more when I heard the difference. In A/B ing noiseless vs. traditional, the noiseless just sounded like there was a wet blanket over my amp. All the punch and life was just gone and I could not dial it in. Honestly if you have noise problems, there are better solutions and management. Noise is just something all guitarists have to deal with and it's not that bad if you know what you're doing. Don't sacrifice all your tone for slight convenience.

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