FenderCustom Shop Custom '54 Stratocaster Pickups, White

i have to say i looked and debated over many different pickup sets when it came to what i wanted in my squier cv50's strat other then it being an inexpensive vintage modeled strat it had so many possibilities when it came to obtaining a fairly close to accurate tone, sound, and feel so when it became time for the finishing step the pickups i read reviews till i couldnt see straight on all vintage types from economy to top end the custom 54's were my top runner till a read the review on amazon from a guy who claimed he went through 3 sets before finally getting one that actually measured up to the specs they are printed to be even though i was a little nervous i went with my gut thinking no way fender custom shop would allow such a ridiculous amount of tolerance between actual pickup spec well when i recieved them first thing i did was get my multi-meter i dont know maybe dudes battery was weak or perhaps he was mistaken may meter wasnt calibrated right i dont know but first set 100% to spec if you come across that other review dont let it stop you these pickups are vintage fender all the way although be aware mid pup is not rw/rp they due hum that sweet fender hum and they quack like donald duck

Neck pickup malfunctioning and overall sound not good.

Wow, what an amazing sounding set of pickups! I had bought these nearly 2 years ago and never made the time to swap them into my 2009 USA Strat. Well, I finally got around to doing the full upgrade (pickups, pots, internal wiring and a beautiful mint green pick guard with aged white covers and knobs). Man, I am speechless! While I had managed to get some pretty sweet tones from the stock pickups, there wasn't a lot of variety between the different switch settings. Now with the CS '54s, each switch position has its own unique voice, and the tone controls actually play a major role in tweaking the sound! It sounds like a completely different guitar. I had to make several adjustments to my array of pedals and tweak the tone settings on my Orange Jim Root Terror amplifier, but that's the beauty of this pickup swap: Every tweak and adjustment matters! I can't wait to plug into my 90's USA-made Hot Rod Deluxe and really shake the rafters! I could not be more pleased, and can now swap the original pickups into my "Crafted in Japan" Fender Aerodyne Strat and breath some life into a beautiful-but-somewhat-stifled guitar. (The stock pickups and electronics in that axxe are crap...) Well done, Fender!!!

I bought this pickup set for my Fender '50s Classic Stratocaster, and for the price here on Amazon, it's a relatively cheap upgrade that pays off in spades. The pickups that come stock on the Fender '50s Classic Stratocaster are nothing horrible, but these '54 Stratocaster Pickups from Fender's Custom Shop get the guitar even closer to that glassy '50s sound that I've always wanted to have out of one of my Stratocasters.A small complaint I have on this kit are the pickup covers. Since these pickups use the thicker wax covered cloth wire, the supplied pickup covers do not sit flush against the base of the pickup. In order to combat this issue, I marked the spot on each pickup where the interference was occurring, and then used a Dremel with a small sanding drum to provide a relief in each of the pickup covers. Case closed. A little annoying to have to make this extra step, but it makes the overall finish of the guitar that much nicer when everything is back in place.And a MAJOR complaint: I bought three sets of these, and only one set was close to the DC Resistance listed on the packaging. My results were:Set OneB: 6.35M 5.95N 5.91So a good set here, but then...Set TwoB: 6.83 (whaaaaaa??)M: 6.52 (NOT EVEN CLOSE!)N: 6.46 (Please try again)Set ThreeB: 6.35M: 6.48N: 6.65You'll notice on the third set above the middle and neck are HIGHER than the bridge, which is completely incorrect. If anything, it should be the other way around. Needless to say, sets 2 and 3 are going back for a refund.Also, if you are installing these yourself, note that the drilled holes on the pickups ARE in fact supposed to be smaller than the diameter of the supplied screws. The screws are self-tapping, and are in fact meant to create their own threads into the flat of the pickups. I was a little freaked out at first, but after doing some online research, this is normal, so fear not.

These things sound great, much better than the standard pups in my Fender MIM Stratocaster. I think they're my favorite. Overall, worth the investment.I called the number on the invoice to get some clue as to which pup went where. The dude who answered said it didn't matter, I didn't believe him. So I called Fender directly, and they squared me away quickly. That was a pleasant surprise.

I was a bit of a noob when I bought these pickups probably still am a noob lol. I have been tracking guitars and also trying to learn how to setup fenders, swap pickups, etc. I did a fender partscaster with all new parts and also been upgrading squire guitars. I totally recommend doing parts caster and squire swaps, I have learned so much! Anyway, I am also trying to write something interesting and I read all the reviews and decided to go with these pickups. Somewhat to my surprise (I'm a noob remember) these pickups have a hum that needs a lot of care to avoid catching unwanted hum on recordings. In doing research and picking up a magnet pole tester I discovered these are all polarized south. So that means in the 2nd and 4th position there is no noise canceling. That said now that I know this is expected I am good with it but had I known I might have gone with the RWRP version of these pickups. As a result I thought I would leave a review for any noobs that might run across this before buying. Also check out the Fender Custom '54 Stratocaster 3-piece Pickup Set with RWRP Middle Position so at least you know what to expect. Hope I helped someone! Rock on dudes