Seymour DuncanSSL-5 Custom Staggered Pole Neck/Bridge/Middle Strat Single Coil

Why did you pick this product vs others?:Clarity and quality of soundSound quality:My Ibanez S now sound like a Stratocaster, but with a super fast neck

6 years ago I bought as used Mexican Strat. The hum coming off those pickups was ridiculous regardless of gain. I got sick of it quickly and put in a competitor's set of noiseless pickups which I've enjoyed for several years. Two years ago I bought a gutted Epiphone Les Paul for 30 bucks, and put the Jazz/JB combo in it during the build and was floored at the tone quality. So much so that I swapped the Telecaster vintage set into my Tele. Floored once more... and it was dead silent. The hum was actually there, but you had to stack every overdrive I had and boost the front end of my Marshall to hear it.So that's the backstory leading up to the SSL-5. I was on the fence because I did not want the crazy hum level to come back. I took the plunge on a set of SSL-1 neck, SSL-1 middle, SSL-5 bridge. I got them installed last night and they're simply amazing. The bridge SSL-5 has a wonderful wide mid presence, thick but not syrup. And most of all, the hum is totally minimal. It is indeed there, but it's night and day better than the stock Mexican pickups from years ago. Very, very tolerable and the tones are just brilliant, clean or gain.I've got a Fuzz Factory, a Green Rhino, an OCD, a DS-1 that I have configured to provide dirt, and it sounds fantastic on all of them. I use a Soul Food at the end of the preamp stage of my board set clean with the volume dimed to slam the front end of my Marshall, and it's also just stellar. Great tones, mnimal noise.

This is an amazingly powerful pickup! Wow! Harmonics everywhere and super high output! Love it for rock! Way too strong for a lot of situations depending on your attack, amp settings, song choice, etc. Great for Pink Floyd Gilmour tones! Only complain is that it's not the style in the picture, it's the style with the wires coming out the sides of the pickup so the single coil cover doesn't fit down to the base which makes it look odd because the pole pieces don't stick out of the plastic as far as they should. Doesn't effect sound and isn't noticeable unless up close so I'm keeping it and using it as is. I'm going to try cutting slots into the plastic for the wires and see if that works better. You can see in the picture I attached that the wire is under the white plastic near the screw holes so the cover won't fight right without cutting the cover some.

and it sounds fine there. I guess I just prefer a HSS strat setup. In the neck position though, this sounds very full and wonderful compared to the SSL-1 I normally have in the neck. I'd have no problem putting a set of these in a guitar. Sounds like a strat, just a fuller and better.

Fender players make sure it’s wired right. It’s a great sounding, high sustain pickup that’s worth every penny.

I only gave it 4 stars because it didn't come with the "bundle" accessories. There was no cable or cleaning cloth. The pick-up came in what appears to be a factory sealed plastic case with the proper documentation and small parts; the rubber spacers and two sets of screws. I didn't order it for the bundle, so I got what I was after. However, if you advertise something, it should come as described.

This pickup's higher output does not take away from the basic Strat sound. It just gives it a boost providing additional sustain and output. It also blends well with the stock Fender middle pickup and gives a little boost to the output when using both the bridge and middle pickups. It did exactly what I expected it to do and was easy to install. I definitely recommend this pickup for anyone wanting to do a simple but effective upgrade to a Strat.

Great pickup, but no surprise its a Seymour Duncan. This PU is like a P-90 pickup, thick balanced tone.