| User Reviews of Harmonic Design Strat-Style Pickups | ||||
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| '54 SPECIAL STRAT |
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| Hey Scott, This is a bit late, but I just wanted to let you know that I LOVE the '54 Specials!! Just the sound I wanted. With the TopHat amp and your pickups, it's as good as it gets. Thanks, Bart |
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| Scott- Your pickups are the best.-thanks for everything." Al - the Buddha Heads (hear them '54 specials blues/rock on their "Are You Satisfied?" album, RCA/Edoyda EDCP-60 |
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| Scott: You've designed and built a some of the best pickups I've ever heard in my view, a guitarist of +30 years. Looking forward to installing my next HD. Happy New Year David |
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| Hey Scott: I sold Doug Gray a Vintage Plus, which he installed in an American Standard Strat, bridge position.... he also put two of your '54 Specials in the other two slots...he loves them ! He had Fender Texas Specials in there and said yours blew them away! I heard the guitar last night at rehearsal and it sounded much better then before. Gobs of tone and sustain ... and that lead pickup now has a nice fat, biting tone, yet you still know it's a Strat. Tapped it sounds just like the '54 Specials. Good job! You may quote me on this cuz I'm such a nice guy... :-) John Mann MannMade USA |
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| Hi Scott, Just wanted to let you know that I dropped the Strat '54s in last night.. Those pickups are AMAZING.. I'll be getting a couple more sets here shortly.. I am SERIOUSLY impressed.. So your logo is true, "Everybody likes 'em"!! -Dave |
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| Harmony Central reviews: These pickups have a REAL 1954 strat stagger to them. and the polepieces are almost 10% wider than the regular pickups out there.. Little things that I found made a BIG difference, much to my surprise.. I am totally sold These pickups are by far the best I've ever used. The balance is incredible and the warmth is all there as well. The note separation is present up and down the entire neck. Chords sound like they are made up of separate voices. No dead spots. The bridge pickup has all the ring that a bridge pickup should have, but it's not so bright that it hurts the ears.. Very Usable. The in between quack is all there and the RW/RP noise cancellation is nice to have as well. Scott at Harmonic was very helpful and delivered the pickups a week earlier than promised. I'm ordering two more sets... I would buy again in a heartbeat.. Playing 30+ years, tried ALL the others brands, Finally found the "one".. On a scale of 1 to 10, I give this pickup a: 10 Fantastic value |
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| Overall Rating Comments: This is quite possibly the best sounding Strat pickup I've ever heard and is my current favorite. I have an older Fralin Vitage pickup which also has that special mojo. It's hard to decide which one is better. They're both great. Can't go wrong either way. On a scale of 1 to 10, I give this pickup a: 10 Fantastic value Submitted by: Frank Macauda |
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| Model of guitar or bass: Relic Strats Position: all positions Pickup being replaced: Stock CS Relic pickups Reason for pickup change: I was looking for "the" tone. I wanted great string balance and a good earthy tone, but no unnatural highs. An almost "acoustic" quality. Also a usable bridge pickup. Sound Perceived output level: Thicker and a tad hotter than the stock CS pickups Tone: Balanced, warm with great top and bottom end. Fabulous note separation These pickups have a REAL 1954 strat stagger to them. and the polepieces are almost 10% wider than the regular pickups out there.. Little things that I found made a BIG difference, much to my surprise.. I am totally sold These pickups are by far the best I've ever used. The balance is incredible and the warmth is all there as well. The note separation is present up and down the entire neck. Chords sound like they are made up of separate voices. No dead spots. The bridge pickup has all the ring that a bridge pickup should have, but it's not so bright that it hurts the ears.. Very Usable. The in between quack is all there and the RW/RP noise cancellation is nice to have as well. Scott at Harmonic was very helpful and delivered the pickups a week earlier than promised.I'm ordering two more sets... Overall Rating Comments: I would buy again in a heartbeat.. Playing 30+ years, tried ALL the others brands, Finally found the "one".. On a scale of 1 to 10, I give this pickup a: 10 Fantastic value |
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| VINTAGE PLUS STRAT |
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| "I've been playing with The Sons Of Champlin and filling in for the guitarist for Huey Lewis And The News. I was doing a gig the other night and I was thinking, 'man my ax sounds incredible' ...So thanks for providing me with the greatest sounding pickups ever made. " Carmen Grillo www.carmengrillo.com (Hear the Vintage Plus pickups on Tower Of Power's album 'Souled-Out', EPIC 67218 |
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| The strat pickups sound really amazing! They really are everything people say about them! Thank you so much, I can't put the damn thing down! Mark Dziuba, Director of Jazz Studies, NYSU |
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| Scott, Got 'em in and played 'em loud for the first time today. Add me to the list of satisfied customers. Even better, the luthier who put them in for me was way impressed. He may have already gotten in touch with ya' – his name is Brian Nelson. He's been building custom guitars in this town for probably 15 or 20 years, knows a good pup when he hears it, and he was impressed with all three of mine. I think he'll be a regular customer of yours before long. And I'm already thinking about replacing my 79's stocks with your 54 Specials... 'til then. ~TB |
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| Posted by Timbo on May 28, 1999 at 02:45:44: Tried some of Scott's V+ Strat pickups, and just installed them. All I can say is "Excuse me while I kiss the sky!" It's going to be attack of the Killer Black Label Fenders around here for awhile. Scott's are the best single coils I've ever heard. Bar none. |
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| New PUs have made me find new tone & volume settings on amp resulting in more flexibility and greater tone range. Tone from PUs is rich and tone controls provide many options. Overall Rating Comments: Harmonic Design has an excellent product. Thanks to the folks at McMuarry Music, St. Louis, for turning me on to these PUs. On a scale of 1 to 10, I give this pickup a: 10 Fantastic value Submitted by: RCB |
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| In my opinion HD Vintage Plus pickups are great sounding. They never get muddy and keep their brilliance all the way without getting razor sharp The combination of using the master midrange control takes you from twang to rich creamy sound. The midrange control is far more musical than the midrange control that you find on "The Eric Clapton" Strat . When playing clean sounds or inbetweens and the master control set on zero gives your sound a nice brilliance twang . And with the control all the way up gives you the mid you need to get a fat and ballsy sound. Using the control as a blender gives you exactly the amount of mid that you need. The master volume control is operated smooth and with no toneshift. This assembly gives me a well balanced sound with increadble sonic range and variations. Overall Rating Comments: I have installed HD´s in various singlecoil combinations on all of my Fender Custom Shop Strats. I have also installed a pair of Z-90 and Classic humbucker on two of my workhorse Gibsons. Harmonic Design pu.s is now a part of my sound. In fact HD is that sound! I have the greatest respcet for Scott's work and support. On a scale of 1 to 10, I give this pickup a: 10 Fantastic value Submitted by: Jan Norberg |
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| Instrument Model of guitar or bass: 60's RI Fender Strat Position: all positions Pickup being replaced: Rio Grande Vintage Tallboys Reason for pickup change: I wanted something with a little more UMPH! I needed something with a little more warmth, and I had heard really great things about these pickups. Sound Perceived output level: As compared to stock pickups and the Rio Grande Tallboys...they have more depth and output-they wont take your head off like some "vintage" pickups will. Tone: LOTS of bass-about a 8, mids about a 4-1/2 or 5, treble about a 6-1/2 or a 7. Sonic evaluation: I'm using a Bassman RI with a Hoffman pt2pt board-let me tell you I had to re-think my amp settings. I went from before (t-5 or 6, m-3, b-5 or 6, p-6 or 7) to (t-6 or 7, m-4, b-4 or 5, p-7). And I was using a all 12AX7 preamp tubes, but they put out a bit more so I went to the original Bassman tube chart to putting a 12AY7 in the first tube slot. Just to clean things up a bit, I'm a pretty agressive player and use big strings, I was getting a bit too much overdrive in the front end. I really like these pickups, they sound very good. I would eventually put them into my other Strats. But the cost is a factor. The bridge pickup is the best I have heard so far in a Strat pup. It has a bit of a tele (broadcaster) taste to it. mmmmmmmmmmmm. Overall Rating Comments: Over all I would give them a 9. Minus only one point for cost. They are a great value, but a little pricey. Any questions you can contact me at the e-mail address below or checkout my website at www.angelfire.com/biz2/leftysplace On a scale of 1 to 10, I give this pickup a: 9 Submitted by: Lefty |
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| SUPER 90 STRAT | ||||
| Instrument Model of guitar or bass: '68 sunburst Stratocaster, not reissue Position: all positions Pickup being replaced: Lace HG-1000's Other pickups on guitar: vintage plus in neck/mid, S-90 in bridge (P-90 thingy strat sized) Reason for pickup change: Lace product was very good, but not quite there. Also, I didn't want to futz with changing all the pots to 500k. Tone: excellent tone every bit as good as fralins... |
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| I put in a Super 90 about 3 weeks ago, and EVERYBODY that's heard it is knocked out. My wife even complimented me on my tone last weekend, and she hates my band. It turned that guitar from a disappointment into my number one axe. |
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| Harmonic Design Vintage Plus Pickguard Assembly Product Info Pickup features: Vintage Plus in neck and middle, S-90 (P-90 for Strat), in neck position Impedence or other specs: Price Paid: US $340.00 Purchased from: Direct From Website Instrument Model of guitar or bass: 99 American Strat. Position: all positions Pickup being replaced: Stock "Delta Tone" Reason for pickup change: I just wasn't getting it from the stock pups. I still don't know what the Delta Tone thing does, whatever it is you can't hear it. I bought the entire pickgaurd assembly because I wanted tone knobs that worked and I wanted to be able to control the tone on the bridge pup. The stock pickup was so bad that I never used it. Overall the stock pups just sounded thin to me. Sound Perceived output level: Hotter than stock but very clean and transparent. Tone: It's all in there. I've had these for three weeks now and am just learning how to use them. Sonic evaluation: I have them in a 99 Am. Strat. This axe has a great unplugged tone and I never felt like it was living up to it's potential amped up. I play mostly through a Line6 Flextone. After three weeks of fiddling around with the amp settings and the tone knobs on the guitar I'm getting some incredible sounds out of this setup. The pups are matched to a master tone control for all three. The second tone knob boosts mid-range on all three. This is the best setup I've ever played including active. I've learned to eq the amp fairly flat and use the guitar's controls since they work really really well. These pups can do just about anything. The S-90 in the bridge has more punch than any single coil I've ever heard. The middle pickup has a beautiful full tone that's way more usable than most middles. And the neck is smooth and buttery. Dial in some mids and my strat sounds like a jazz box. Crank on it and these suckers just flat out burn. I was playing some Muddy Waters last night on the neck and was blown away by the way it was punching out the bass. I've got a LP that can't even come close to driving like that. Take your time with these and you'll be real happy with what comes out. I took 'em to a music shop and played some tube amps (Marshall, Fender Twin, Fender Deville), and they sounded unreal. I had a crowd around me in about five minutes just shaking their heads. When I showed the owner the tone controls, he wouldn't believe they weren't active. For which styles and positions is this pickup suitable: Mostly blues, by far the best I've heard Including the original vintage stuff. Overall Rating Comments: I've been playing since '71 and I will keep these in anything I play from now on. They aren't cheap, but you can forget about chasing tone with these and focus on playing. On a scale of 1 to 10, I give this pickup a: 10 Fantastic value Submitted by: Mike |
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| Harmony Central review: More output than any other pickup I've tried, spanky rhythm, ballsy lead -- clear and tight. sounds like a vintage strat only punchier. Funk, R&B all positions are great . These pickups record better than anything I've tried. They cut through the track Comments: I tried these out while teaching a clinic in L.A. After I played them one time, I had them installed in every guitar I own On a scale of 1 to 10, I give this pickup a: 10 Fantastic value Submitted by: Carmen Grillo |
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| STP TELE BRIDGE PICKUP FOR STRATS |
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| I realized that I didn't need to spend 900+ dollars on a Telecaster. The pickups sounded EXACTLY like a Tele! Another plus to this is that my friends are jealous because my guitar looks way better than theirs. Thanks a lot! Now I can start to record some songs... Joel |
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| Instrument Model of guitar or bass: Mongrel Strat - early 60's slab neck, 64 body Position: neck Pickup being replaced: Bridge Other pickups on guitar: Harmonic Design Vintage 54's in neck & middle Sound Perceived output level: very clean if you want Tone: as close to the telecaster sound (without a tele) you can get. It is an actual tele pick up machined down to fit in the cavity with no routing. Even comes in white so it looks good too! Sonic evaluation: I have a tech 21, fender pro junior & a reissue vibroverb. Use a tube screamer original ts9 - hopeless vintage buff. The bottom line is I finally have a bridge pick up I use as much as the neck pick up. It has the snap & twang of a tele, and can also be mellowed out nicely with the tone control. While not exactly a tele sound, I think it has more to do with the sustain block & bridge assembly on the strat rather than the pickup itself Overall Rating Comments: 10 - I looked forever to find a tele bridge sound for my guitar & could not find anything unless I was willing to rout out the cavity. I don't think you can do better. If stolen, I would not be able to replace the guitar. Once over it, I would look for a good strat & buy another pickup or buy a tele & put the harmonic design mini strat in the neck!! On a scale of 1 to 10, I give this pickup a: 10 Fantastic value |
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| Posted by Amos on February 16, 1999 at 15:02:34: I'll cut to the chase: the Harmonic Designs STP bridge pickup can make your Strat sound like a Tele. I know, it supposedly "ain't possible". I was skeptical myself, but IMHO Scott has captured the essence of the Tele bridge pup sound for Strats. This pickup initially appealed to me because it is sized to drop right into a Strat with no pickguard modifications. The STP is basically the HD '54 Special Tele pickup with the exterior sized for a Strat. It has two adjustment screw holes on the sides instead of the 3-screw standard Tele bridge pup configuration. There is metal on the bottom to help give it that requisite Tele tone. After installing the pickup in my 1996 American Standard Strat I dialed in what sounded like a good Tele tone... The Strat now had the guts and mid-range growl that I like in my stock '84 52RI Tele. It sounded like a real Tele.......but I was sure it hadn't quite captured the sound of my 52RI. When I had the pickup where I thought it sounded best, I A/B'd it against my 52RI.......and was stunned. To my ears, the STP captured the E,B,G, and D strings of the 52RI perfectly. There were some minor tonal variances in the A and low E strings, but I attribute this to differences in the Tele and Strat bridges. This is a great sounding pickup in its own right, and replaces a Seymour Duncan 'Hot Strat' bridge pup that someone told me would sound 'a lot like a Tele' (but never did). If you have a jones to have the Tele bridge sound available when you play your Strat, then the STP would be a good choice for you. Amos |
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