Dynamic Responsiveness

Over the years I’ve tried lots of different strat pickups: active EMGs, Duncan Antiquities, half a dozen factory Fenders. Fralin Real 54s and Vintage Hots are just way more dynamic and responsive to picking nuance than any other pickup I’ve tried. Period. Pick softly, you get one thing. Dig in, you get another. And every spot in between. I don’t know how they pull that off, but I can’t do without it.

My Strat is Awake!

I installed the Vintage Hots on the bridge and neck position with the Real 54 in the middle. Holy Cow! A great balance of sparkle and mids that make the 2nd and 4th positions very desirable. High-quality components and great finish work. Thank you Fralin Pickups

Set of Blues Special on Prewired Pickguard

It took me some time to decide but I couldn’t be happier with the results. Coming from noiseless pickups, my Strat Deluxe now sounds and feels full and alive. A true joy to play. Awesome job Fralin team!

Amazing difference

Absolutely amazed at how much of a difference these make on my Mexi Strat. So much clarity, definition, and added control over different sounds. I can’t recommend these enough!

Unreal! Such a fat sound. Really helps out this guitar I’ve built.

Installed a vintage hots pickquard in a 2000 Fender ’57 Vintage reissue body. Fantastic sound with the chimey overtones and attack transients I was looking for in this guitar. My third set of Fralins. Got my first magic cap on a push-pull tone knob, and it’s a wonder. I’ll finally be using a tone control on a Strat. Now my beefs: I don’t believe the guard is parchment white, as ordered; it’s the whitest guard on any of my Strats. Also, please guys, remove the plastic wrap from the pickguard before you install the PUs and electronics. It’s nnoying to keep trying to pull the plastic from under pickup screws and switches.

Vintage hots

Ordered a prewired pickguard with all three Vintage Hots, the volume/treble bleed mod, and the bright switch mod. The pickups sound great, very ‘chimey’ as a Strat should sound. These were replacing a set of Fender gen 1 vintage noiseless, which after switching to the vintage hots, sounded much more jazzy and warm (I’m thinking the stacked humbucker style does affect tone more toward hum bucker spectrum). I didn’t care for the volume/treble bleed mod (too much treble/I like the tone shift with traditional volume control), nor did I care for the bright switch (seemed unnecessary for my needs/no significant boost over full volume), so I have since removed both of these mods and have gone with complete standard wiring specs. If you want the traditional bell-like chime of a Stratocaster, then go with the Vintage Hots.

Strat loaded pickguard with 3 Steel Pole 43’s

So far, so great. Put on my ’75 hardtail. It has the 500k pots, Push-pull volume kit enable/disable, Master Tone push-pull brightness, and Blender pot. All of the options are very usable. The tone possibilities are seemingly endless across the entire pickup spectrum with a very smooth transition between pickups. These pickups really have some bite and sound great thru effects as well as for getting a great hard rock sound – I play mainly through Fender and Marshall amps. This is what I was hoping for and am happy.

Way beyond expectations! This pre-wired set sounds incredible. One of my favorite Purchases this year.

I ordered a pre-wired pickguard with vintage hots in the neck and middle and steel pole 43 on the bridge. Really liking the sound from all positions and the blender pot is really cool if you like some of those in-between sounds or need to make quick adjustments to neck or bridge sounds on the fly. If you like the in-between or scooped sounds like me you will probably always want these options on all of your axes. I was not aware of the ‘bright switch’ option on the volume pot is really just cutting the volume pot out of the signal. Not quite what I thought it would be but also not a big deal. Overall thrilled with the pickups and quality work in the pre-wired product to simplify installation. Really added new life to a 50s custom shop start that never had a good balance between output and sound across all positions with the stock or gold-lace pups. Also I like these pickups them more than American strat I have with Texas Specials. I would recommend these and already have to a couple of friends.

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Better than expected! I got a prewired strat pickguard with the blues hot pickups and the blender mod with master tone for my 2012 MIM strat! I honestly couldn’t be happier, it was easy to install, and my strat sounds amazing. The Fralin quality and workmanship are as advertised!!

Vintage Hots are great. Came with Fender Texas Specials but it’s a warm sounding guitar so it was just a little muddy. Now it’s a strat I can get into

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Ultimate Strat Tone – Vintage hots loaded guard. They are what Lindy claims, “the best sounding strat pickup.” Attention to detail and experience achieve what Fender Corp no longer can – hand made quality. The subtle nuances and depth of tone are hard to describe until you compare side by side with the pickups you previously thought were good. Then the penny drops – no comparison!

The Hiwatt of pre-wired pickguards
Ever see the inside of a Hiwatt amp? Extremely clean and precise, almost military looking. That’s what Lindy’s pre-wired pickguards remind me of. Amazing work.

Great blues pickups! Great sound and very well assembled on the new pickguard. Pity the colour of the knobs don’t match with the pickguard

Since I tried my first Fralin pick up years ago I realized it is the best single-coil pickup I have ever heard. Ultimate clarity and tone. The staff is really personable and easy to talk to and helped me out with every single detail on the phone. I’ll never use a different kind of single-coil then Fralin pickups! Every Strat should come stock with Fralin pickups.

Set of Vintage Hot, in wired Pick Guard.
I’ve left this review for a while so I could play and compare to other pickups. Have to say a little underwhelming after reading lots of reviews. I ordered these to replace a set of City Limits Tone riders, but I’m not convinced paying 3 times the price was worth it. Also had to replace Tone bleed as decided the installed values weren’t to my taste. My 2 other Strats have Seymour Duncan Antiquity set and Bare Knuckle Irish Tour set. I think both would shade it, in my opinion.

Lindy Fralin Stratocaster Vintage Hots – 30th Anniversary
I have been playing guitar for 40 years and Stratocaster’s for 20 years. Lindy Fralin Vintage Hots allow me to play all the types of music I enjoy to play very realistically. From SRV(clean and dirty), to Jeff Beck, to Jimi Hendrix, to Sweet Home Alabama. For the first time I have found my favorite set of pickups after many attempts with other great pickup brands. Lindy Fralin Vintage Hots are by far the best pickups for my style of Stratocaster playing period!

Thanks to Lindy Fralin and his Team!!!

The different tones you can achieve with the blender has really brought my strat back to life.

Fralin’s Are Awesome!!
I asked a good friend for his advice on strat pickups. He told me about Fralin. I took his word for it and I wasn’t disappointed. I ordered a loaded pick guard with the blender pot. LOVE IT!

Blues Specials
Great pickups on my prewired pickguard. Nice balanced tone and volume. Requested separate cap and tone control for the bridge pick up. Only thing I changed went back to the standard cap from the magic cap on the bridge pickup – I just needed more tone range to cover the music I play.

Amazing pickups! Amazing service! I highly recommend these pickups. My Fender American Standard Stratocaster has never sounded better!

Completely woke up my strat and basically made it a whole different animal. Have vintage hots in neck and middle, then blues special in the bridge, with master volume and tone, bright switch and volume kit with a blender knob, awesome sounds a plenty

Excellent Overall
Thanks Lindy,

The Prewired Pickguard arrived fast and in perfect condition. I reviewed your videos and found the install and setup to be straightforward.

I love the pickups, they have made a big improvement over my Custom Shop Fat ’50s that came stock from Fender. I’m still experimenting with the Blender Pot and really liking it.

This customized choice for the prewired pickguard has really made this Strat a delight to play again.

William

Great pickups, better customer service!

These pickups sound absolutely amazing. The pickguard was wired better than I could have asked, but let’s face it, we know that already. I had a minor issue with the pickguard, they quickly replaced it for me and were incredibly easy to deal with.

Unrelated, their T-shirt’s are incredibly comfortable!

Love these pickups! Brought new life to an old guitar.

Blues Special bridge with baseplate and vintage hots for middle and neck. I’m extremely happy with the tone of my Strat. It’ has snap and great quack Strat tones, but also has a nice rock bridge tone thanks to the Blues Special combined with the baseplate. Excellent pickups as I have always received from Lindy.

Solid except for the cap.
Love the pickups, but the magic cap in the bridge was a big mistake for me. Even though it boosted the mids, I couldn’t get rid of a harsh top end, no matter where the control was set. Once I replaced it with a 22 cap, I felt like the bridge pu really started to shine. The baseplate adding thickness and low end to the bridge was more apparent without the magic cap as well. Maybe I just got a dud, but for my ears, the magic cap didn’t match the description on the website. Having said all that, fralin pickups have really breathed new life into my 90s American Strat. Also, I got the prewired pickguard, and the fralin pickup selector switch is noisier than my old one. Almost very satisfied!!

Blues special with blender
I love Lindy’s pickups and this loaded pickguard is excellent! The blender pot is a must have mod…very usable. I wouldn’t have a strat without it. I have the same loaded pickguard with vintage hots on my other strat. Listen to your playback with these p’ups and you’ll be sold for life. If you want a slightly thicker tone with a little more growl, the blues specials are the best available. There are different sets out there, but none better.

I love the clean sound! (Vintage Hots)

My first build made easy. I have played guitar for 30 years and never owned a Strat! The time has come, and I knew that I couldn’t afford a custom shop, and that I wanted some specific improvements. Fralin pickups were a must. And the sound clips led me to choose the Real 54’s in the Neck and Middle, with a Vintage Hot in the Bridge. I had the volume kit wired in with a Neck/Middle tone knob and Magic cap on tone 2.

Install was easy. Guitar looks and sounds amazing. Two small comments: I have recently discovered Fuzz (have been an overdrive guy for a long time). If I were going to order the pickups today, I’d go with the Vintage Hots, with a Blues special Bridge. I’d also get the Tone 2 wired with a push/pull Magic cap and regular tone for the Bridge. The guitar tone sounds amazing with Fuzz on, and volume rolled down. I can also dial in the more Fuzz sounds if I had a real tone knob. Not a big deal, because I can now stack OD on top of the Fuzz. All, in all really great product.

Finally, the sound I’ve always wanted!

I’ve had my Strat for 22 years now, been through two other sets of pickups (Lace Sensors and Texas Specials) and never got the sound I wanted exactly. This pickguard has solved that problem finally. Love the Vintage Hot pickups and especially what the base plate does to the bridge pickup, adds that little bit of needed oomph to that position that always seemed missing before. It’s also the first time I’ve felt the pickups output was nicely balanced in all positions. Best decision I made to freshen up my old Strat.

Fantastic as usual! Blues Special w lefty middle and a bridge baseplate. Easy peezy and sounds incredible

Wonderful Tone! I got these to complete my new fiesta red build. I have used just about every pickup imaginable and these are top notch in every way. They bring all the personality you could ever expect from these style of pickups. Superb!

What Fender Should Have Placed in Their 72 Strat!
For 40 years I’ve been looking for that right combination of Strat, box, amp, etc., that allows for the sweet, ringing chime of Strat, with the sustain of Gilmour, and the impending explosion of Hendrix. And, just a little hair and crunch for a chord or 2. Until now, the bass response has been flabby and loose. I had to revert to Series wiring.

I can go on about some of your competitors offerings; too humbucky; too much like a Tele; not much difference at all from the originals.

Now, for the Lindy’s. I’m glad I ordered the “High Output” Strats. Your scale might be a bit conservative, but no matter. They are precisely what I was looking for. Sweet clean, sweet with a little bit of crunch, with the ability to fully take advantage of a Fender amp at the sweet spot.

My only complaint has more to do with your web site (and the gentleman who answered the phone when I questioned him about some of choices when ordering). Primarily the Bright Switch push/pull Volume and Tone pot selection. I opted for the volume. All this does is bypass the volume – in effect setting it to 10 – when pulled out. I find it easier to roll the volume up and down with my pinky. I was about to rip the damn thing out – cleaner signal, you know. Then i figured i didn’t have to use it, kind of like an appendix. This is the reason I didn’t give this product a 5.

Thanks for an excellent product.

Real ’54 Prewired Strat Pickguard. I love the sounds I’m getting out of these pick-ups. I just can’t believe how good they sound. Classic Strat tones now at my finger tips. Ordering and shipping was fast and easy. The wiring options really sealed the deal for me.

Beyond Belief!
Bought these to replace my American standard Strat pups. Was not expecting the amazing sound and tone I got from these. They blew away the originals ten fold!

Real 54’s bring new life to my strat! I am writing to tell all at the Fralin site and anyone thinking about a complete 54 package that the Real 54’s are beyond great and brought a new vibrance to my 96 Strat. Easy install and the tone was instant. Thanks Lindy and everyone for a great product, service and super price. Regards, Matt

I couldn’t be more pleased with the sound of these Fralin Vintage Hots. I love the glassy sound without being abrasive. All positions sound just fantastic with the bridge pickup having just a bit of extra grease. I ordered a pre-wired pick guard that arrived at my door in Canada in literally one week! Thanks! Their sound inspires me every time…expressive!

Great sound.
After Seth Lee Jones installed the pickups I noticed a very good tone, which is very adjustable. They have that special quality of having a special tone, without turning to too much overload, which causes your guitar to sound muddy. Thank you for the quality job!

A dream! Simply put, I now have the guitar of my dreams, incredible tone, awesome response, this pickguard turned my strat into my dream guitar.

Customer added no additional comments

I ordered the custom pickguard with real 54 neck, vintage hot middle, and blues special bridge with base plate. They sound incredible. Huge improvement over the fender cs Texas specials that came with my Strat. Highly recommend. I highly advise speaking with a rep at Fralin to understand exactly what your ordering. The rep I spoke with helped me tremendously. Thanks!

The absolute in tone. This pre-wired pick gaurd was installed in a tired old 90’s strat (someone had swapped original pickups at some point).

Holy. Cow.

What a difference. The setup I have is as follows:

-Bridge: Vintage ’54
-Middle: Vintage Hot
-Neck: Blues Special

Considered this setup for quite a long time, and now that I have it, I wish I would have picked it up all long time ago.

Just spectacular. Couldn’t ask for more, and worth every dollar. Thanks!

First point, having a presided pickguard made installing it myself so simple, no need for a tech. But that doesn’t even scratch the surface about how great these pickups are. I ordered the Blues special in all positions, with the baseplate, blender pot, and volume control added onto the pickguard. The result is a level of tone control I had not experienced in this guitar before (93′ American Strat Plus), giving it new life, and giving me more desire to play it. The lows are resonant without being muddy, and the highs have that wonderful bright Fender tone without the almost “tinny” sounds I was hearing before. I have had them for a few months and it has become my go to guitar for everyday playing.

I’ve had seven Gibson Les Pauls over the years. I liked them all, but sold my last one, a 1975 Custom, a few years back and went to Strats, Teles and big hollow bodies for my Humbuckers. Anyone who’s ever owned an LP knows darn well that if they sell it, they will get another one sooner or later. When the LP jones hit, I realized new LPs came with a California zip code hanging on the price tag. Too rich for me. So, I opted to try what I was optioned, a new Epiphone Custom LP (500.00) and trying some better pickups. I play every Sunday at a big church in Atlanta. Lotta folks. Me up there playing an Epiphone really bothered the guitar snob in me because I gotta look like, as well as sound like I got good gear. I put a set of Fralins in that Epiphone with CTS 500 pots. (It was fun gutting the Epiphone, by the way) Holy Lord! What a difference! I now play the little and lighter Epiphone almost every Sunday now. And I play it proudly! Killer tone that doesn’t leave me when I turn the volume down from the guitar! That is huge!! I’m trying the Fralin Strat pickups on a build project I’m doing now. Can’t wait! These pickups are for real!!