Seymour Duncan - 11203-16-Bc - STK-S6 Custom Stack Plus, Blk

Fender Stratocasters are the most played AND the most owner-modified electric guitars on earth. O.M. Strats probably outnumber pure stock ones 2 to 1, simply because Strats are the easiest of allto modify and personalize. One of the most common gripes (and subsequent mods to) are the bridge pickups. On stock Strats, the bridge 'pup' is probably the least used by itself when playing. More often the bridge pup is combined with the middle pup for the infamous Strat "quack" sound. The strings of all guitars have the least amount of excursion (side-to-side movement when plucked or strummed) nearer the bridge, thus limiting the amount of energy they are able to produce over a magnetic pickup. The physics and nature of harmonics of a vibrating string also produce a much thinner and shrill sound as opposed to what is heard up near the neck. Bridge pickups are generally wound a bit 'hotter' to compensate for this volume difference. Even so, many Strat players desire a 'fatter', thicker sound when using just the bridge pup. The most common mod is to drop a "humbucker" into the bridge position. But, this necessitates cutting a larger hole in the pickguard to fit it (or buying a pre-cut one), and unless the Strat body is a universal or 'swimming pool' route, carving out a space in the body itself to fit the humbucker. Fortunately, there are many pickups on the market that address this problem by maintaining the stock Fender dimensions while offering alternate windings that produce the sounds and increased levels of humbucking pickups. Many of these pickups offer a wiring scheme that allows for switching the pickup between humbucking mode and 'true single-coil' mode to satisfy the purists. Unfortunately, none of the available pickups do this perfectly and the consensus amongst the purists is that no noiseless/humbucking Strat pickup will ever sound like a stock true single coil.I wanted a Strat-size pickup that would maintain the clarity and sparkle of the stock single-coil but have more gain and 'beef'. Sadly, this pickup did not exhibit either of those characteristics. The 'top end' was non-existent, and the level was less than that of the other two very cheap Asian pickups in the guitar it was installed in. I have the pickup wired for standard noise-cancelling operation. I've not yet investigated the coil-split wiring option. Perhaps that will provide the sparkle I am missing but I will get back the 60 cycle hum along with it. Seymour Duncan is a very good company and I have been previously happy with many of their products - unfortunately not this one.

Nice pickup. Note, these Stacked pickups sound brighter/better when used in conjunction with 500k pots as they’re technically humbucking pickups. When used with a 250k pot you’ll get a darker, less “straty” sound. I’m in the process of modifying a guitar that sounds very muddy with these pups but it has 250k pots. I have a stk-s6 (neck) and a stk-s4 (middle) in a Charvel with a 500k pot and it’s way better/brighter, more authentic sounding.

Fantastic pickup! The noiseless functionality is brilliant and is just as quiet as my best humbucking pickups. The higher winding also works great for both lead and rhythm tones.

I wish I could write a review about this pickup, but, since it doesn't physically fit into the middle coil slot of my Ibanez RB4EXQM1, I can't.I'm hitting up Seymour Duncan on their 21-day exchange deal. If that doesn't fit, I guess I'll ebay the replacment, and put the stock INF-set back in.

The pickup is every bit as good as I knew it would be, but the service from "Macdaddy Music" was super quick and friendly

I will forever be a Seymour Duncan guy from now on!