MIM vs USA Strat Pups

[PhiloB]

Did a demo for a buddy who was interested in the difference.  Figured if through it up for anyone who might be interested.  It is a blind test.  Part 1 and Part 2.  One vs the other.  The demos have 3 guitar parts - neck, middle and bridge pickups.  Just straight guitar through an Ampeg GVT 52-112 mic'd with an SM57.
Honestly when I was A/Bing each one live I had a hard time hearing the difference.  Recorded it became much easier for me to say which I liked better.

http://soundcloud.com/resuggan/mim-vs-usa-part1

http://soundcloud.com/resuggan/mim-vs-usa-part-2

[cloudset]http://soundcloud.com/resuggan/sets/mim-vs-usa-strat-pickups[/cloudset]




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[copachino]

i liked more the second one, but seems like it has lower volume, but its a bit darker to my ears, the first its too shiny to my taste...

[ddog]

I prefer part 1. Not really sure why. It is a very subtle difference. Part 2 really sounds like my MIM strat before I switched out the pups (I'm pretty sure its my mind playing tricks on me).

[PhiloB]

I didn't adjust the volumes or tone pots.  Everything is wide open for the sake of comparison.  Wouldn't be how I'd set it up if I were actually playing:)


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[brucer]

Cool test PhiloB.  Definitely prefer part 1, all tracks.  Sure wish I could play like that, but I can't blame my MIM pups!  Will you spill the beans at some point on which is which?

[slimtriggers]

Yeah, I prefer #1 also.  Looking forward to finding out which one is MiM and which are USA.

Thanks for the demo

[GermanCdn]

I'm gonna go with USA #1, MIM #2, but given the Fender regularly changes up the USA pickups, I could be wrong.

[chordball]

I prefer #1 as well. Seems to have more life to it.

[PhiloB]

The USA strat is a '91 and I've researched which pickups are in it to no avail.  I guess Fender doesn't advertise what they put in the American standard?


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[midwayfair]

#1 sounds like ceramic pickups to me, so I'm going to say #1 is a more recent MIM and #2 is the 91 USA.

[Leevibe]

I like the #1 recording. Or wait... was it #2? I realized I had listened through 16ga non-directional speaker wire. My ears are used to 14ga directional. And my amp wasn't hooked up to the power conditioner. Everything was so veiled because the tone pebbles were too far from the interconnects and I had the toe-in on my speakers all wrong. And I wasn't in my listening chair, plus my ears were fatigued from the sound my Keurig was making right before I listened.

OK, enough of that. I do like the #1 recording. Ceramics or not, I like the brightness more in this context. I can imagine the liveliness of the first track being attributable to alnicos with lower output not pushing as hard as ceramics of the second track. I can also imagine the biteyness (not a word?) of ceramics just having more cut than "warmer" alnicos. It will be interesting to find out.

And for the record, I don't own any fancy hifi gear, although I would love to. I listened on my logitech computer speakers. And I hardly ever drink keurig but we do use our keurig to heat water for brewing with our aeropress, which is awesome!

[copachino]

it seems that im the only one who is deaf, and like more the 2 recording...

[culturejam]

The USA strat is a '91 and I've researched which pickups are in it to no avail. 

I have a '91 Standard as well. I took the stock pickups out, but they were the kind with flat pole pieces (not staggered). They sounded okay, but weren't all that special to my ears.

[PhiloB]

Mine are the flat pole pieces.  I have a set of Lace Sensors Red Silver Blue.  May sell the USA pickups and Laces to fund some quality Alnicos


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[GermanCdn]

The USA strat is a '91 and I've researched which pickups are in it to no avail.  I guess Fender doesn't advertise what they put in the American standard?


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IIRC, for a long time they were just referred to as "American Std" single coils, or something along those lines, without providing anymore details.  When they put the Fat 50s in the 2012 models, they listed them as CS Fat 50s, but since then have gone back to "Custom Shop Designed" moniker.

I don't know that I'd trade the Lace Sensors if I were you; I had a MIM loaded with Gold LS which I sold and it's one of the few I've regretted parting with.