Seymour DuncanVintage Flat Strat Pickup - Neck/Middle/Bridge Single Coil Pickup for Electric Guitars

These pickups replaced a pair of Fender Custom Shop '54 pickups in the neck and middle positions in my Highway 1 Strat from 2003. My review is a reflection of my comparison of the two brands of pickups.I ordered these because I was sick of the unbalanced string response of the staggered magnets of my Fender 54's. The G-string (haha, yes, I know) was especially overpowering using my old Fender Custom Shop pickups. The staggered pattern of magnets looks cool, but it's counterproductive. When Fender first made electric guitars, the pickups were designed to work with bigger gauge strings, and the G-string was wound. If you use a round-radiused neck and play on 10's or 11's with a wound G-string, staggered pickups will work just fine for you. If you use light-gauge strings like I do (D'Addario 9's), staggered pickups will give you an unbalanced string response.These Vintage Flats from Seymour Duncan are a close approximation to the vintage winding of old single coil pickups. They feature pretty much the same specs as the Custom Shop '54 pickups: Alnico 5 magnets, waxed cloth pushback wire, and similar winding. The biggest difference is the flat pole pieces, which do indeed deliver a much more balanced sound in my Strat. Before I installed them, I took a look at the windings. It seems to me that the Seymour Duncan pickups had a few more windings around the bobbin than the Fender 54's. The cloth pushback wires are wonderful to work with--far more enjoyable installation than using wire strippers. Also, I just love that vintage feel of the cloth wire sheathing.So how do they sound? Their tone is very sweet, but they feature slightly more midrange than the Fender 54s. I am not sure if this is from the extra windings, the flat pole pieces, or both. These pickups are far better-behaved than the Fender 54s, which were a bit ice-picky to my ears. I believe this too comes down the extra windings I think these pickups get, which gives what one would call a fatter tone. It's not much, but it's noticeable. It would be neat to side-by-side these Vintage Flats with the staggered version, or to compare the SD Vintage Staggered with the Fender 54s.Rolling off the tone on the neck pickup, I am able to get a much warmer sound without it getting muddy than I could with the Fender 54s.I briefly considered putting the middle Fender '54 pickup back in. Middle is my favorite pickup position, and these Seymour Duncans, while balanced, are slightly warmer than I would ideally like in a middle pickup. But the pros outweigh the cons in this case. The difference isn't incredible, and I ultimately prefer the string balance and lack of ice-pick highs. Everything in music is a trade-off. Take the good with the not-exactly-ideal. As a point of reference, I played some of the opening solo from "Shine On You Crazy Diamond." These Seymour Duncans just don't have that same plunky, clear bell-like sparkle of the Fender 54's. So far, they're not quite up to the task of replicating that solo. But these pickups can drive distortion better. It may be necesary to use 500k tone pots to unlock more bell-like sparkle from these pickups. Again, I prefer these, but may install the 54s in a different guitar for when I want that crisp bell-like sound.One thing to be aware of: if you plan to mix Seymour Duncan pickups with any other brand, be sure to check whether they will be in or out of phase with each other. SD pickups are wired in the opposite phase of Fender pickups. Unfortunately, wiring them out of phase will not result in opening an inter-dimensional rift (too bad). What will happen instead is you'll get a honky, nasal sound when you have both pickups on together (say, in the 2 or 4 position on a strat). Some people like this and use it as a tonal feature. But if you don't want out-of-phase pickups, be sure to do your homework. It is also a very simple fix--usually, just reverse the black and white wires when installing them. So there's no reason not to get SD pickups if you plan to use them with Fenders or others.I am able to do more with these pickups than I could with the Fender Custom Shop 54's. They are more versatile, and lack those piercing, stabbing highs of the underwound pickups they replaced. I believe I have hit on a winner after trying several pickup combinations.For readers' info: I am playing these pickups in the neck and bridge position (I use a SD Little '59 in the bridge) in a Fender Highway 1 Stratocaster. I am playing into an Ibanez TSA-30 head with separate TSA 212 cabinet (a great amp, btw).

The first one of these that I ordered was a dud and had a dead pole piece with very low output. I think it was because the pole was not magnetized. This must've been a fluke because the second one is perfectly fine.I have this in an HSS partscaster, and they are pretty nice vintage voiced pickups. I have these paired with a Pearly Gates in the bridge and they are pretty well matched.

Put this in my old and cheap Jackson PS7 Performer. It always wanted to sound like a strat and it finally does. Paired with rwrp in mid position and a 59/custom hybrid bridge hb I can go from the sweetest clean to driving my pre amp with a flick of my selector switch. Loving this combo. Also if you dial the height in right these pickups are not as weak as some would say they are

I had a fat 50 in the bridge position but the B was weak. I even used a heavier string or swapped the G and B strings to even out the lead. This pickup has a more even response. This pickup give more of a Tele twang than a classic Start sound though.

This is an Alnico flat stagger from Seymour Duncan.I also bought a Fender Custom 69 pickup, and honestly I prefer this thing, since it is flat wound, and I have a more flat radius guitar neck. They both sound great on individual strings.

Love the sound and ease of installation. Great product I couldn't be happier.

Perfect.

With these you get a good vintage fender strat sound but with just a little more "umph'. I have them in 3 guitars. The flat pole pieces in these SSL-2 pickups give a more even response than staggered pole pieces that accentuate the third string which in the old days was a wound (and lower output) string.