Best noiseless single coil pickups

[nickt]

Saw a review of the Dimarzio Virtual Vintage (but it might have been the Area 51 and 61 - can't recall) vs the Kinmans. The reviewer rated the Kinmans above the Dimazios. The Dimazios were "almost there" in his opinion but the Kinman's were "there". Haven't played either so can't comment either way.

With respect to shielding: asked a question about it on Music Electronics Forum / pickup makers. It seems that it's fine so long as you don't inadvertently add a new winding round your coils. This means if you use copper foil then it should be gapped if it's wound round your pickup. This is what is done in transformers with electrostatic shields so sounds plausable.

Back in the stone age I bought a brass pickguard for my cherryburst strat (hey it was the 70's ). Apart from making the guitar look like a festering sore it badly sucked tone so was taken off.

Thinking about the tone suck it seems likely it was because the brass formed a ring round the pickup and acted as a shorted winding. I haven't tried this yet but suspect that it might be a good idea to put a gap in any conductive paint or foil under the pickguard. A good place would be bottom E side.

I'm about to try shielding on my strat so will let you know how it works out.

[gregarious]

Well don't know about the best, but when I was finally financial enuff to splash out for some after market PU's, I researched the offerings at length on a number of forums and contacted a few reviewers to verify the responses.

One respondent from Boston had tried something like 12 different brands including Lollar, Suhr, and Lawrence and had settled on Bardens. For recording he used Kinman Broadcasters which he considered not far off from the Bardens for tone.

I decided to go with the Broadcasters, as the noiseless aspect would be a bonus. Had never been satisfied by the stock bridge PU in my '72 Tele - not only noisey but harsh as well.

The Kinmans are outstanding in comparison to the stock Fender (maybe the bridge is a dud?). More articulate and with a tad more muscle - captures a lot more detail to the point where these PU's reproduce every sound. I've had them for about 5 years and I'm as pleased as the day I installed them.

[Ed de Jager]

For noiseless i like the Ultrasonic pickups.Don`t know if they are made anymore.They were from Germany.

[s2]

I know this sounds silly, but I have a Strat with Lace Sensors in it. When properly adjusted, they sound pretty darn good to me. Hard to believe coming from a Fralin and WCR snob.

[FUCHSAUDIO]

Saw a review of the Dimarzio Virtual Vintage (but it might have been the Area 51 and 61 - can't recall) vs the Kinmans. The reviewer rated the Kinmans above the Dimazios. The Dimazios were "almost there" in his opinion but the Kinman's were "there". Haven't played either so can't comment either way.

Both Kinman and DiMarzio make multiple models in their Strat styles, so it's a tough call. I love my VV's in my G&L S-style. Quiet, meaty tone, good output level, and easy to install. I'd happily trade off the noise, for something close to the original vintage tone.

There was one guy at a local jam Thursday night who's hum drowned out the whole band....lol. That's a bar I plan to use for testing out my shielding in the future for sure.

[FUCHSAUDIO]

I know this sounds silly, but I have a Strat with Lace Sensors in it. When properly adjusted, they sound pretty darn good to me. Hard to believe coming from a Fralin and WCR snob.

I borrowed a Strat with the "noiseless" Lace's in it for a recording, back when they were making them for Fender. They sounded lifeless and compressed. Maybe there were different versions of them, but man the set I played just stunk.

[Tubetwang]

installed a set of GFS Alnico 2,

They are not noiseless...

But i like them!

[s2]

I know this sounds silly, but I have a Strat with Lace Sensors in it. When properly adjusted, they sound pretty darn good to me. Hard to believe coming from a Fralin and WCR snob.

I borrowed a Strat with the "noiseless" Lace's in it for a recording, back when they were making them for Fender. They sounded lifeless and compressed. Maybe there were different versions of them, but man the set I played just stunk.

Well, I said it sounds silly! These are post-Fender era pups. Maybe they improved them. They are blue, silver, red. They aren't the **best** sounding in my collection, but they sound pretty darn good for being noiseless.

I dunno. They have some pretty stiff competition. I have 4 other Strats loaded with Fralins and WCRs.

[Structo]

I have the Fender Hot Noiseless in one strat and the DiMarzio Area's in another.
The one with the Fender Noiseless has a humbucker in the bridge which it seems I usually end up doing on my strats.
I find it hard to find a single coil type bridge pickup that isn't too plunky or ice picky.
I like the DiMarzio's better than the Fenders for noiseless.
I have the 61's in the neck and middle and the Heavy Blues 2 in the bridge. This is a better bridge pup IMO, a little fatter but still has that single coil bite.
I can't abide 60 Hz hum so I will gladly trade a little of the chime for no noise.

If I had the scratch, I'd probably go with the Kinsman's.

[HeeBGB]

I find it hard to find a single coil type bridge pickup that isn't too plunky or ice picky.

I was exactly the same. Always put a humbucker in the bridge of my strats. I played a Duncan Hot rails since the 80's. About 5 years ago I out together a Warmoth Strat. (Sorry Lefty it "Total Vintage Construction"so I can't help with your question).

Anyway I put Fralin blues special PUP's in it. I did a little reading and this is what I found. The hotter the wind on a single coil, the less high end it has. Now you may not want that for all the PUP's in your strat BUT it solved 90% of the ice picky tone I was getting from regular bridge single coils. I got the Blues Specials (which are overwound Vintage Hot's to begin with) and I had them overwound by 2.5% AND I got the baseplate on the bridge PUP. I'm tellin' you it's excellent. I don't know if you'd like the neck and middle like this BUT the bridge is definately usable for leads like this. Still has a little twang though BUT with a good pedal most people aren't going to know it's not a humbucher. Certainly not in a band situation. My $.02 anyway!

[Structo]

How's the noise level on it?

[HeeBGB]

They are hum cancelling in the 2 and 4 positions otherwise like a strat. The noise never bothers me. It's only an issue between songs and I roll the volume off between songs so it's a non issue.

[Structo]

One of the reasons I can't abide the noise factor is when I record to my PC.
Sitting there in front of a monitor with all the interference a PC throws at you can cause some serious noise issues.
I shield all my guitars as well but the single coil hum has always left me annoyed.
To me even the sweetest sounding single coil is ruined by the buzz.
Of course that is all IMO, YMMV

[s2]

I sit about 6 or 8 feet back from the computer and use a Frontier TranzPort to control my DAW wirelessly.

[Darkbluemurder]

Update: I was able to find 2 Area 58 pickups (one through a local dealer, one through an ebay shop). Currently I have the Area 61 in the bridge and one of the Area 58 in the neck. I will play it that way at the next gig since the strings are new and I do not want to take everything off to put the final pickup in there.