SweetMax954
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- Jan 8, 2015
- #1
I want some lipstick tube pups for my american std Strat. I know of the seymore Duncan ones, but no one seems to have them.
bgmacaw
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GFS and Kent Armstrong have them but I haven't tried them. I'd suspect that they're probably made in the same factory in China though. They are a good bit cheaper than the SD's though.
What kind of tone are you hoping for from them? If you want the jangly and trashy 60's garage/surf band tone you'll want to wire them up in series rather than parallel.
SweetMax954
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- #3
bgmacaw said:
GFS and Kent Armstrong have them but I haven't tried them. I'd suspect that they're probably made in the same factory in China though. They are a good bit cheaper than the SD's though.
What kind of tone are you hoping for from them? If you want the jangly and trashy 60's garage/surf band tone you'll want to wire them up in series rather than parallel.
No sound in particular, But I've played various strats with lipstick tube pickups and I've almost always liked how those sounded as apposed to normal single coils. I'm just not SUPER satisfied with the fat 50's pups I have now.
magilla
Tone chasing!
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Depends what you're going for.
The original lipsticks were sweet because they were low output.
Low output pickups + big strings (Kimock, SRV) has it's own thing going on. Granted those two do (for the most part) different things.
Anyway, do you just dig the look, or are you going for a specific thing?
transmission
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- Jan 9, 2015
- #5
Novak Pickups make a true to vintage spec/construction Lipstick pickup. I think the only major manufacturer that also does this as a regular production pickup is SD. The others are Lipstick in look only.
Don't know if Novak makes a set for a Strat (without requiring any modification to the guitar), though he will happily do custom work. I know he does make a Lipstick that will drop in to a Jaguar without any modification.
I have a set of Novak's Dual Lipsticks (each pickup has two vintage Lipstick coils in series) in a La Cabronita build. I have push pull pots to split them to single coil. Sound great in single coil or humbucking mode.
Listen to some clips of old Danos and Silvertones to see if a vintage spec Lipstick would suit you. And if so, go to Curtis Novak. No need to look any further.
Actually, Novak's Lipsticks are in the RS Guitarworks Slab Electro, there is a good gearmandude vid on YT of him playing one.
sksmith66
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transmission said:
Novak Pickups make a true to vintage spec/construction Lipstick pickup. I think the only major manufacturer that also does this as a regular production pickup is SD. The others are Lipstick in look only.
there are a crap ton of people making lipstick pickups these days .... saying only 2 of them do it accurately seems like an awfully broad brush to paint with.
9fingers
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- #7
I have 3 Duncans in a Strat build. Very nice & jangly.
I like the lower wind GFS Pro Tubes just as much, different but also very good lipstick sound. They have the jangle too, maybe a bit more complex overtones.
Lipsticks can be the cleanest, most detailed tone ever to come out of an electric guitar, or can have a nice complex raunch when cranked.
sksmith66
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9fingers said:
Lipsticks can be the cleanest, most detailed tone ever to come out of an electric guitar, or can have a nice complex raunch when cranked.
lipsticks really do have killer clean tone. kimock with his white strat with lipsticks in it.... that tone is literally the only reason I own a strat these days.
interestingto hear you like the GFS lipsticks as much as the duncans. I've heard good things about the duncans. I'd like to try the mojo pickups lipsticks and the rene martinez lipsticks
transmission
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- #11
sksmith66 said:
there are a crap ton of people making lipstick pickups these days .... saying only 2 of them do it accurately seems like an awfully broad brush to paint with.
I said 'I think', indicating a level of uncertainty so not stating it as fact. And 'major manufacturers', so it depends on how you define major manufacturers. I'm talking about those who shift a lot of units, the ones who will come near the top in a prospective buyer's search. They are often not accurate to the original design under the hood and it's easy for people to get duped by a shiny cylindrical cover.
Of course there are others offering authentic replicas, but if people believe a GFS pickup at a lower cost is accurate, then it's not a fair comparison. Not a knock on GFS pickups at all, just about knowing what you're getting. Caveat emptor as always.
How about letting the OP know who a few of the others are so they can check them out.
kingsleyd
Frikkin genyus
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- #12
sksmith66 said:
lipsticks really do have killer clean tone. kimock with his white strat with lipsticks in it.... that tone is literally the only reason I own a strat these days.
interestingto hear you like the GFS lipsticks as much as the duncans. I've heard good things about the duncans. I'd like to try the mojo pickups lipsticks and the rene martinez lipsticks
Kimock's White Strat has pickups from a Dan-o bass. They're bigger, and they sound a little different than Strat-size lipsticks. The main thing about bigger is that the treble side extends well out past the high E string. That means the high E string has the benefit of a fuller magnetic field than it would otherwise have. It's more consistent with what the other strings see.
Anyway, I have one of the AmStd Strats they did in 2012 with Seymour Duncan lipsticks. (traditional Strat size) It's cool and all, and the pickups sound good for what they are, but doesn't have that same clarity and depth. I replaced the stock bridge with a John Mann drop-in replacement. That helped, and it allowed me to use .013 strings, but it's still not all the way there.
Next stop is Scott Walker, who is building me one of his new Electro models. Scott found me a set of vintage Dan-o bass pickups so I might get "all the way there" with this one.
Vic Interceptor
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I've tried the Mojotone Rene Martinez lipsticks that were suppose to be clones of SRV's "Charley" Strat. They were cool, then I tried the Duncan's, they were cooler but still very middy and lacked the fundamental coolness, richness and complexity of a typical Strat pickup. If you like a nasal, thin and cut through everything tone then lipsticks might be right for you. If you like big, warm, rich tones then no, they are not for you.
When I think "lipstick" I think cheap AM radio garage rock of the late 60's.
kingsleyd
Frikkin genyus
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- #14
Vic Interceptor said:
I've tried the Mojotone Rene Martinez lipsticks that were suppose to be clones of SRV's "Charley" Strat. They were cool, then I tried the Duncan's, they were cooler but still very middy and lacked the fundamental coolness, richness and complexity of a typical Strat pickup. If you like a nasal, thin and cut through everything tone then lipsticks might be right for you. If you like big, warm, rich tones then no, they are not for you.
When I think "lipstick" I think cheap AM radio garage rock of the late 60's.
Hmmm... ...that might have a little bit to do with the guitar, amp, how you play, and how you dial in the amp. (hint #1: BIG strings, and I don't mean .011s)
This sure doesn't sound like cheap AM radio garage rock to me, although it sure is a different sound from stock-type Strat pickups.
sksmith66
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- #15
kingsleyd said:
Next stop is Scott Walker, who is building me one of his new Electro models. Scott found me a set of vintage Dan-o bass pickups so I might get "all the way there" with this one.
my next custom build will be a scott walker electro
and yeah kimock's strat tone is about a 100 miles from cheap AM radio garage rock
jazzgtrl4
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- Mar 17, 2015
- #16
Can you get close to that kimock tone with the Scott Walker Electro? Love that kimock clean tone! Check this out from the other night. You can watch the whole show
Doctor Morbius
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- Mar 17, 2015
- #17
I bought a Duncan lipstick Strat pickup through Newegg.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...ncan_strat_pickups-_-0TF-0008-000X6-_-Product
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...ncan_strat_pickups-_-0TF-0008-00039-_-Product
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...ncan_strat_pickups-_-0TF-0008-00094-_-Product
skhan007
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- Mar 17, 2015
- #18
I haven't played a ton, but I heard the Duncans and thought I didn't need to look any further. I put three Duncans in my strat...
kingsleyd
Frikkin genyus
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- #19
jazzgtrl4 said:
Can you get close to that kimock tone with the Scott Walker Electro? Love that kimock clean tone! Check this out from the other night. You can watch the whole show
Scott found some original Dan-o bass pickups, i.e., what's in the White Strat, and that's what's going in my Electro which is currently in the finish room.
The reissue pickups don't really sound like that. Partly because they are reissues of the (smaller) guitar pickups. They sound good I have an AmStd Strat with the Duncan reissues, from that limited run they did a few years back but they're not the same.
TheoDog
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- Mar 17, 2015
- #20
With all the knowledge flowing in this thread, does anyone have a suggestion for a bridge lipstick for a new reissue Dano Bari? The neck pickup is fine, but the bridge is weak and thin.
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