Silver Star sounds cheap thru amp -should I buy new pickups?

[scunny]

I have a silver star (pre 1982) which on the whole I am happy with.
It plays nicely, is well built and resonates well unplugged - but I am disappointed with the sound through an amp.

I'm running it through a Laney VC30 (class A) which sounds great with my Dano U2 re-issue. However the Danelectro only cost me ?60 and the silver star ?250, so I was expecting considerably more from the strat - especially after the great things I have heard about them.

It just sounds a bit ... cheap!

Would replacing the pick-ups make a huge difference?
And does anyone have any tips on what would be good 'can't go wrong with these' replacement pickups for not much money i.e. under ?100 set?
________
jailbroken

 

[bruceboomstick]

Old pickups can loose edge as the pole pieces can loose magnetism and the windings can become loose. Two solutions for thin (rather than cheap) sounding pickups is to either have the magents repolarised and have the pickup re-wound. It can work out a little pricey (equivalent to the cost of new pups) but does have the advantage of retaining orginal spec.

New pickups will of course solve the problem and you have the advantage of dialing in the exact sound you want and adding useful non vintage options like noise cancellation or hot (over) winding

 

[luis]

I didn?t feel SS pickups as weak,I guess thy?re strong.But they lacked warm to me so I replaced them with Fralin set I had laying around.No regrets....My Silver Star is a good guitar itself unplugged and very comfortable.....

 

[bruceboomstick]

Have a look at www.axesrus.co.uk - loads of options

 

[scunny]

Have a look at www.axesrus.co.uk - loads of options

WOW!
Great link, thanks for sharing

Almost spoilt for choice now!

Am looking at their pre-wired pickguard assemblies. These seem to contain Wilkinson pickups. Anyone have any opinions on Wilkinsons?

........

Have got to add to earlier post ... just noticed where the shop is - in Hull. It's about 40mins from my house. Result! cheers.
________
Mercury Meteor picture

 

[bruceboomstick]

Funny you should mention that !!

I did a renovation job on a squier last year - used a prewired Wilkinson pickguard H/S/S for the job.

Wilkinson stuff is great - although aimed at the "lower end" they punch well above their wieght. A set of unlogoed ones would go well in your SS. Their stuff gets better year on year and although mass produced they have a real quality feel to them, Soundwise they're as solid as you could want

Having said that if you spend a little more you get more p/up choice - I've seen some GFS pickups on their and they are really good - not too steeply priced either.

Of course there are a lot of options from fender - which are all pretty good. I have a mate with Texas specials in a JV Squier strat and they sound awesome (real dirty blues).

 

[Paladin2019]

I don't see any problem replacing the pickups, you can always put the old one back if you want to return to original spec.

If you're in the UK you NEED to check out Bareknuckle pickups. They're our equivalent of Fralin and the other major boutique US names but being based in the UK they only cost a little more than your average Seymour Duncan or Dimarzio. I've heard nothing but praise for them online, their service is excellent and their products are amazing. I have a pair of Mules in my love rock.

If they're a little too costly, Kent Armstrong are on par with SD and the like but much cheaper (again, UK based).

 

[kmarccoco]

the fender "fat 50's" are great.