Sumerian Cobalt Noiseless PUs Anyone?

[MusicChad]

Anybody have experience with these? I may be able to pick up a set cheap... I tried the "Vintage Noiseless" a long while back and thought they were awful. I like "poppy, crisp, and very bright" strat sounds...

Any thoughts? (I currently have G&L hand wound pickups in my strat - they sound really really good, but if I could sound really really GREAT , it might be worth it at the price I may be able to snag these for...)

Let me know.

Thanks!

[Strat-tastic]

I have these on my deluxe strat. They're not quite as bright as the standard pups but not far off at all. I mainly went for the guitar as the induction loop at church prevents me playing any overdrive/distortion with a single coil. I'm no tone expert, but I'd say I love the noiseless single coil with high gain sounds you can get from them. And, for me, the p/u position 2 'strat quack' sound is much better that the std strat. Maybe the ash body and/or maple neck is something to do with this, but as I say I'm not so experienced at hearing how all the differences affect the overall tone. I prefer the neck pup on my std strat (rosewood neck), much more of a 'woody' sound to my ears.

If they're a good price then suck it and see! You could always off-load them on e-bay if you hate them ;)

[Jaybo]

I used them a bit on a friends strat that had them, and they're not too bad at all.

No hum (in my situation anyways) and a good classic strat sound.

[Barry]

They're on my Deluxe Ash strat, too. I don't use it a whole lot right now, but I've been happy with them.

In case you didn't know, the design is Bill Lawrence. Fender licensed the pups from him, but I think you can still read about that on his web site:

http://www.billlawrence.com/

[scooteraz]

My only experience is with my American Deluxe Tele. Neck PU was fine, but bridge was not right. Will be replaced with Duncan 5-2s soon.

Good, they are noiseless and not bad. Do a great job (like most noiseless) if your are using a lot of effects. Bad, I have never bonded with the direct to amplifier sound of the bridge.

OK, but I am not overly impressed with these.

[Telejazzer]

I've got an SCN neck pickup on my Tele. Not too bad but not that great either. Bridge pickup just didn't feel right. I replaced the bridge pu with SD Lil '59 and much better. The combination works OK too specially with the 4-way switch and coil tapping. Makes it versatile and I do like it but not a favourite.

[Zhangliqun]

It's samarium rather than Sumerian, which would be some seriously aged magnets!

[MusicChad]

Er... oops... um... hehe:oops:

I was thinking "good Samaritan" or something... :wasntme:

[MusicChad]

It's samarium rather than Sumerian, which would be some seriously aged magnets!

Do you offer anything similar for Strats? I've tried Lace sensor golds (with silver in the bridge) which I ended up deciding where just sterile, flat, and lacking "soul"... I currently have some G&L pickups (the hand wound ones with the funny looking pole pieces) which sound pretty good actually... I've just gotten spoiled with some AWESOME matches pickup wise on other guitars and want my strat to go "over the top" so to speak... Noiseless would be cool, but nice bright, poppy, shimmery clean would be more awesome regardless of noise vs. not...

What do you think?

[Zhangliqun]

I don't make noiseless, at least not yet, although I'm looking at trying my hand at the Fralin noiseless P90 design, which from what I understand is not patented and would not get me in trouble.

There is also on the distant horizon an attempt at a noiseless (or at least semi-noiseless) Strat pu that would have the low E and A as one coil and the other 4 strings with their own coil. 3-and-3 would make more sense on the surface but there are phasing problems when you bend the G-string across the boundary, so I figure for most players there would be a lot less up-bending of the D string and it might work. That's still just on the mental drawing board for now.

But in the meantime, I do make standard construction Strat pu's that could work for you. Sounds like the set I made for refin should do the trick. See his thread on it here, complete with soundclips:

http://gpawf4christ.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=5086

[Rubsoul]

Have them on my Tele Deluxe and love the tone. The S-1 technolgy offered on Deluxe models gives the tone a added dimension.
Doubles your standard output tones.

[Crunchyriff]

I have two SCN's in the '57 Vintage Hot Rod that is my workhorse. They are original issue in that guitar (along with a DiMarzio ToneZone); and though I don't strongly dislike them, I've already planned to upgrade them when I can afford it. As scooteraz said, ok, not overly impressive. They get the job done.
That said, But so did Earl Schieb...

[Rubsoul]

Crunchyriff wrote: They get the job done. That said, But so did Earl Schieb...
For $29.95... we paint it
For $49.95 they would not paint the chrome & glass rofl


Interesting fact: John Lennons Rickenbacker 325 was orginally a Mapleglo finnish & it was painted black by the local bodyshop,
(I don't know about you, but my guitars are not going to Earl Schieb)

[Randy]

I've tried those pickups and liked them. The G&L sound better to my ears. BTW, I'm pretty sure all the G&L pickups are hand wound- even those found in the Tribute series...

From the G&L Open House 2008
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l19/Zaphod_01/pu2.jpg

Magical sounds born right here in Fullerton California
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l19/Zaphod_01/pu1.jpg

... Perhaps you might think about calling someone like Seymour Duncan, explain to him the guitar's details (weight, tone, etc.), and what your looking for new pickups to do. I've talked to several people who have gone this route and they were very pleased with the results.

Something else you might consider is the Tone Shaper; http://www.acmeguitarworks.com/ToneShaper_for_Stratocaster__P2032C218.cfm This thing allows you to change the values of your caps and such with the flip of a switch. This has some excellent potential for dialing in your guitar... and no soldering iron!! :yeah: This tops my list for Santa this year (maybe second to a Fender Cyber Twin).

Good luck!

~Randy