Fender Custom Shop Fat '50s Stratocaster® Pickups, (3)

They live up to their name producing tones with richness and substance while retaining the cutting edge of the 50's strat. Excellent pickups indeed.

For quite a while I had been procrastinating over the purchase of Fender custom shop Fat 50's and I finally decided to decided to purchase them from Amazon as they had the best price. I was all excited when my parcel arrived and eagerly opend it up to examine my purchase. To say I was gutted when I set eyes on them is an understatement. I had researched these pickups for some time , I had looked at many pictures of them but when I saw what I had been sent I was devestated for what was inside the Fender packaging was clearly NOT Fat 50s. The ones I received had thin pvc covered wires in various colours including blue ! They were not the chunky traditional waxy cloth covered white and black of the bridge and neck pickups and the yellow and black of the middle ,also the build and construction was clearly inferior and no fender custom shop stickers underneath.. I contacted Amazon immediately with my concerns and for a short while I was extermely anxious about the situation but credit to them they arranged another shipment for me and I was able to send back the fakes. For good measure I made an package opening video just in case the same were to happen but thankfully the second set were legit. You don't normally expect this type of issue with items sold directly by Amazon but clearly they have an issue autheticating their stock. Somehow, fake/substitute items have been creeping into their stock. Now the good news I finally recieved the correct items and the difference in construction can clearly be seen so if you buy these know what you should be getting. As for the Fat 50s ....all the hype is justified for if you long for that quintessential sound that the Strat is famous for then these deliver in spades, their clarity and sweetness in my opinion just make them sound 'right'. Yes nowadays you can get all manner of pickup types including ceramic but to me they are not what I believe a strat should sound like you may as well get a different guitar. IMHO Fat 50s are wonderful.

Brilliant pickups with anti hum in out of phase 2 - 4 settings. Authentic vintage sound.

J’ai longuement hésité entre ceux ci, le set 57/62 et les alnico ii pro. Je regrette pas du tout mon choix. Le son est précis, chaud, dynamique. Tout ce qu’on attend d’une strat comme il se doit

Take the 57/62 and add a bit of oomph and you've got the Fat50s. Not lacking in A N Y T H I N G but not overpowering either. Likely the best strat pickups I've ever used - taking the crown from the 57/62 by just a smidge.

With this pickup set I finally found the sound I’ve been searching for the last four years. I’m bit of a Fender purist and have tried Texas Specials, Vintage Noiseless and Highway 1-pickups prior to these Fat 50s. My issues have been in the upper frequenzies where Texas Specials are a bit too edgy and aggressive, Vintage Noiseless too muddy and Highway One (which of course only available second hand) lacks the ”body” - sounding thin without character, Fat 50s is an almost perfect blend with fullbodied rich sound, well balanced highs and a low end with plenty of punch. Not as snappy and aggressive in attack as Texas Specials which was my main issue, my ears litterarly hurt when playing Texas Special at times. My almost forgotten Strat became my favourite Strat overnight after installing Fat 50s.

Ich bin wirklich begeistert. Ich habe diese Fat 50s in meiner Fender Road Worn 60's Strat verbaut. Sie kam ursprünglich mit Pure Vintage '59 Single Coils, die zwar ordentlich perlten und schmatzten, aber auch irgendwie zu "spitz" tönten. Clean und Crunch wirkten etwas dünn und im High Gain schepperten die Saiten so heftig, so dass es fast unangenehm klang. Ich habe dann eine kurze Zeit in der Fender moderne Bare Knuckle Pickups mit mehr Output und Bässen versucht. Higain klang damit deutlich tighter und weniger schneidend, aber die 5 Pickup Positionen klangen mir damit alle viel zu ähnlich und wenig sensibel für die Spieldynamik. Zudem fehlte mit wenig oder keinem Overdrive grundsätzlich einiges vom typischen Fender Glockenklang, für den man so ein (Vintage) Instrument eigentlich spielt, naja ich zumindest ;) weil ich für moderne, v.a. kristallklare Cleansounds und tightes Distortion 2 andere Äxte habe, die mich auf diesem Terrain vollends zufriedenstellen. mit den neuen Fat 50s erfreut mich nun auch die Strat vollends. Was für ein tolles PU Set! Ich dachte bei 50s eher an Buddy Holly und bei Fat an Jazzmaster Sounds. Aber wie die anderen Kritiken zu Recht betonen, decken die Fat 50s eine enorme Bandbreite ab, reagieren sehr dynamisch auf Spielweise und Input- bzw Gainlevel, und sie "schmatzen" auf allen Positionen. Selbst der Bridge PU perlt in diesem typischen Fender Twang, ein Traum. Der Neck-PU war mir ein bisschen zu Fat/bassig, aber da konnte ich die Höhe ein bisschen tiefer legen (sehr nah am Pickguard) und so auf den höheren Bridge PU abstimmen, dass es gut passt und die Bridge nochmal extra Schub gibt, wenn ich es brauche. Von Dire Straits über Chili Peppers, Jeff Beck, Stevie Ray Vaughn bis hin zu Malmsteen kann ich nun jeden Strat Sound aus der Gitarre locken, den ich mir wünschen kann. Ja, auch Metal mit dicken PowerChords und Chugga Chugga macht die Fender nun tatsächlich auf Rage against the Machine Niveau mit, deutlich fetter, obertonreich ohne Ende ohne jedoch zu kreischen, besser als mit allen anderen bisher getesteten Pickups. Kaufempfehlung!

Wow is all I can saw about these cool pickups! Nice and round is how I would describe them. Meaty but not too thick. Even through the tone spectrum and nice clarity and sparkle when you turn the tone pot all the way up. Attractively packaged - cool wax covered cloth push back wire - easily marked for correct installation. My Strat has never sounded this good - I think I may put these pups in all of my Strats. EDIT 10-23-2012 After using these for a few months I still love them! Great tones and good looks! ********************************************** 09/27/2013 The gift that keeps on giving! I still love these pickups - they just sound awesome. It never fails that I get a compliment on my guitar's tone EVERY NIGHT I play. Awesome. Building a second guitar and these will go in there also.