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Fender Noiseless Pickups
The Fender Noiseless series is a line of electric guitar pickups made by the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation designed to cancel 60 cycle (Hz) hum noise while retaining the characteristic sound of single coil pickups. Introduced in 1998, these pickups consist of a pair of single coils stacked one on top of the other, compacted so as to match the shape and width space as a traditional Fender single coil guitar pickup, while being only slightly taller. The upper coil is actually the sound source, while the lower coil is responsible for the mains hum attenuation. Alnico 5 magnetic bars span from one coil to the other, crossing a soft ferrous steel spacer plate that isolates them, without touching it. The spacer plate has mainly two functions: to isolate the lower coil from the vibrations of the string, making sure that the sound is picked up only from the upper one, and to increase the magnetic flux that passed through both coils, increasing the output of the pickup. This is to be contrasted with the original noise canceling pickup, the humbucker, which is a double-wide, horizontally adjacent pair of single coil pickups with opposing phase.
The series includes models for electric guitars and bass guitars.
From 1987 to 1998 Fender used Lace Sensor pickups on its Strat Plus model Stratocaster. Lace Sensors are an innovative design of pickups using a unique radiant field barrier system that surrounds both the coil and magnets, eliminating annoying 60 cycle hum. The patented Lace Micro Matrix Combs replace traditional bobbins, yielding a wider tonal range and better string balance than traditional pickups. Lace Sensors were also configured on some Fender models as Dually pickups (two adjacent single coils operating as a quasi-humbucking pickup). Lace Sensor pickups are still available from Lace Music Products with many more variations than offered on Fender guitars. The pickups installed on Strat Plus guitars display "Fender Lace Sensor" on the cover. Later "post-Fender" versions sold by the Lace Music Co. have "Lace Sensor" embossed on the cover. The Gold Lace Sensor model was the pickup of choice for years by Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, and Buddy Guy on their Signature Series Stratocasters. The Strat Plus Standard uses three Gold Lace pickups, but other varieties of Lace Sensor pickups were used by Fender on different models of the Strat Plus.
The Noiseless pickups now referred to as Vintage Noiseless were original equipment on the Fender American Deluxe Series Stratocasters made between 1998 and 2003. They are now widely used on many Fender guitars made in their Ensenada, Mexico facility (so-called "Made in Mexico", or "MIM" guitars) and Fender Custom Shop guitars, and have been the stock pickups on the Eric Clapton Stratocaster signature model since 2001. Vintage Noiseless pickups are still sold by Fender. Vintage Noiseless pickups use Alnico II magnets. These pickups were the result of three years of research aimed at combining the advantages of single coils with those of humbuckers: the characteristic sound of the former and the silence of the latter. Fender's intent was to develop a pickup that could evoke the vintage Stratocaster sound and the silence of Lace Sensor pickups The Stratocaster version is identified by the word "Noiseless" embossed in gold cursive on the aged white or black pickup covers and the use of staggered pole pieces. The Stratocaster set of Vintage Noiseless pickups comes packaged with two 1 MΩ potentiometers ("pots") and a 0.022 μF capacitor for tone controls, one 500 kΩ pot for volume control, a 680 pF capacitor and a 220 kΩ resistor for a treble bleed circuit, and a wiring diagram. Vintage Noiseless pickup sets are also available for the Telecaster and Jazz Bass. Features include:
The Samarium Cobalt Noiseless (SCN) series was a subsequent line of stacked electric guitar and bass pickups; these were designed by Bill Lawrence with the goal of further reducing noise while improving the "single coil" tone of the pickup and were fine tuned by Fender. Introduced in 2004, they were similar to the Vintage Noiseless pickups, but Lawrence's research into controlling magnetic eddy currents led him to employ miniaturized samarium cobalt alloy magnets instead of Alnico V. Samarium cobalt is a rare earth magnet that is more powerful than the Alnico V magnets traditionally used in pickup design. The SCN pickups were a standard equipment feature on the American Deluxe series Stratocaster from 2004 to 2010, and were available for the Telecaster and Jazz Bass, but are no longer manufactured by Fender. The earliest Stratocaster SCN pickups had no external marking; later models had the SCN logo lightly embossed on the bottom right corner of the pickup covers, but the letters were not colored, making them hard to discern. The covers were available in white, black, aged white and parchment, but the Tele sets were offered in black and chrome only.
SCN features include:
Hot SCN pickups were used only on the HSS (Humbucker/Single/Single) American Deluxe Stratocaster from 2004 to 2010. Hot SCN pickups claim a hotter output than a standard SCN Strat pickup and were designed for proper balance with a hot humbucker in the bridge position. A hot pickup will push an amplifier harder, resulting in more gain and volume. The American Deluxe Series HSS Strat was designed with one single coil SCN pickup in the neck position, one single coil Hot SCN pickup in the middle, and one DH-1 ("Atomic") humbucking pickup at the bridge.
The Fender Hot Noiseless (Ceramic Noiseless) Strat Pickups are an overwound version of the original Fender Noiseless pickups with ceramic magnets. Ceramic magnets are quite strong and as such are normally hotter. The hotter (higher DC resistance) a pickup is the more it is going to push an amp and typically the more it is going to overdrive/distort. They produce pronounced mids and a quick bass response. The strong magnets allows the pickup to retain articulation and clarity, even when introduced to extreme gain. These pickups are identified by the word "Noiseless" in silver cursive on the aged white pickup cover, just like the Vintage Noiseless. However, they can be distinguished by the fact that all pole pieces are flat (non-staggered). Hot Noiseless Strat pickups have been standard on the Jeff Beck signature model since 2001, but were never available on the American Deluxe. They are still available from the Fender Custom Shop. Features include:
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Fender Noiseless Pickups
The Fender Noiseless series is a line of electric guitar pickups made by the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation designed to cancel 60 cycle (Hz) hum noise while retaining the characteristic sound of single coil pickups. Introduced in 1998, these pickups consist of a pair of single coils stacked one on top of the other, compacted so as to match the shape and width space as a traditional Fender single coil guitar pickup, while being only slightly taller. The upper coil is actually the sound source, while the lower coil is responsible for the mains hum attenuation. Alnico 5 magnetic bars span from one coil to the other, crossing a soft ferrous steel spacer plate that isolates them, without touching it. The spacer plate has mainly two functions: to isolate the lower coil from the vibrations of the string, making sure that the sound is picked up only from the upper one, and to increase the magnetic flux that passed through both coils, increasing the output of the pickup. This is to be contrasted with the original noise canceling pickup, the humbucker, which is a double-wide, horizontally adjacent pair of single coil pickups with opposing phase.
The series includes models for electric guitars and bass guitars.
From 1987 to 1998 Fender used Lace Sensor pickups on its Strat Plus model Stratocaster. Lace Sensors are an innovative design of pickups using a unique radiant field barrier system that surrounds both the coil and magnets, eliminating annoying 60 cycle hum. The patented Lace Micro Matrix Combs replace traditional bobbins, yielding a wider tonal range and better string balance than traditional pickups. Lace Sensors were also configured on some Fender models as Dually pickups (two adjacent single coils operating as a quasi-humbucking pickup). Lace Sensor pickups are still available from Lace Music Products with many more variations than offered on Fender guitars. The pickups installed on Strat Plus guitars display "Fender Lace Sensor" on the cover. Later "post-Fender" versions sold by the Lace Music Co. have "Lace Sensor" embossed on the cover. The Gold Lace Sensor model was the pickup of choice for years by Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, and Buddy Guy on their Signature Series Stratocasters. The Strat Plus Standard uses three Gold Lace pickups, but other varieties of Lace Sensor pickups were used by Fender on different models of the Strat Plus.
The Noiseless pickups now referred to as Vintage Noiseless were original equipment on the Fender American Deluxe Series Stratocasters made between 1998 and 2003. They are now widely used on many Fender guitars made in their Ensenada, Mexico facility (so-called "Made in Mexico", or "MIM" guitars) and Fender Custom Shop guitars, and have been the stock pickups on the Eric Clapton Stratocaster signature model since 2001. Vintage Noiseless pickups are still sold by Fender. Vintage Noiseless pickups use Alnico II magnets. These pickups were the result of three years of research aimed at combining the advantages of single coils with those of humbuckers: the characteristic sound of the former and the silence of the latter. Fender's intent was to develop a pickup that could evoke the vintage Stratocaster sound and the silence of Lace Sensor pickups The Stratocaster version is identified by the word "Noiseless" embossed in gold cursive on the aged white or black pickup covers and the use of staggered pole pieces. The Stratocaster set of Vintage Noiseless pickups comes packaged with two 1 MΩ potentiometers ("pots") and a 0.022 μF capacitor for tone controls, one 500 kΩ pot for volume control, a 680 pF capacitor and a 220 kΩ resistor for a treble bleed circuit, and a wiring diagram. Vintage Noiseless pickup sets are also available for the Telecaster and Jazz Bass. Features include:
The Samarium Cobalt Noiseless (SCN) series was a subsequent line of stacked electric guitar and bass pickups; these were designed by Bill Lawrence with the goal of further reducing noise while improving the "single coil" tone of the pickup and were fine tuned by Fender. Introduced in 2004, they were similar to the Vintage Noiseless pickups, but Lawrence's research into controlling magnetic eddy currents led him to employ miniaturized samarium cobalt alloy magnets instead of Alnico V. Samarium cobalt is a rare earth magnet that is more powerful than the Alnico V magnets traditionally used in pickup design. The SCN pickups were a standard equipment feature on the American Deluxe series Stratocaster from 2004 to 2010, and were available for the Telecaster and Jazz Bass, but are no longer manufactured by Fender. The earliest Stratocaster SCN pickups had no external marking; later models had the SCN logo lightly embossed on the bottom right corner of the pickup covers, but the letters were not colored, making them hard to discern. The covers were available in white, black, aged white and parchment, but the Tele sets were offered in black and chrome only.
SCN features include:
Hot SCN pickups were used only on the HSS (Humbucker/Single/Single) American Deluxe Stratocaster from 2004 to 2010. Hot SCN pickups claim a hotter output than a standard SCN Strat pickup and were designed for proper balance with a hot humbucker in the bridge position. A hot pickup will push an amplifier harder, resulting in more gain and volume. The American Deluxe Series HSS Strat was designed with one single coil SCN pickup in the neck position, one single coil Hot SCN pickup in the middle, and one DH-1 ("Atomic") humbucking pickup at the bridge.
The Fender Hot Noiseless (Ceramic Noiseless) Strat Pickups are an overwound version of the original Fender Noiseless pickups with ceramic magnets. Ceramic magnets are quite strong and as such are normally hotter. The hotter (higher DC resistance) a pickup is the more it is going to push an amp and typically the more it is going to overdrive/distort. They produce pronounced mids and a quick bass response. The strong magnets allows the pickup to retain articulation and clarity, even when introduced to extreme gain. These pickups are identified by the word "Noiseless" in silver cursive on the aged white pickup cover, just like the Vintage Noiseless. However, they can be distinguished by the fact that all pole pieces are flat (non-staggered). Hot Noiseless Strat pickups have been standard on the Jeff Beck signature model since 2001, but were never available on the American Deluxe. They are still available from the Fender Custom Shop. Features include: