What is the deal with noiseless pickups?

[Cogs]

I've never used them, never even been interested in them, so I don't know anything about them or the different kinds there are.
Well I dug two of them out of the garage (both numbered 053326) & just bought a third off of Reverb, & I thought I'd mess around with them to see what they do.
But the pickup covers! The ones I have dont fit right, but they are not stockers, either. The bobbins are not tall enough so the magnets don't protrude from the tops.
Does anyone have experience with noiseless pickups? What am I looking at here? Are they even worth the trouble?

[phantomman]

I favor the Virtual Vintage DiMarzio's but due to the vertically-stacked dual-coil design, the pickup covers are significantly taller than stock Fender's so as to accommodate their additional height. But DM offers their covers in all of the popular colors to cater to their clientele. And they publish a full set of specs for every model they sell so its easy to predict how the various versions will interact with one another when mounted in a given instrument. An added bonus is the DM's use standard 250K volume and tone pots, eliminating the need to buy additional parts for installation.

[Offshore Angler]

Cogs,

I've had an on again off - off again relationship with Fender VN's. Sometimes they are just he sound I want but usually not. It's for sure an acquired taste. The one thing I notice is they have a very small window for EQ'ing them and having them sound good. They feel very compressed and not very dynamic like my regular singles, even more compressed than Tim Shaws or T-Tops. Makes then great for that "wicked Game" sound where you want a lot of the ping on the attack but any overdrive and they qualify for good old 80's Foxy Mud Wrestling.

The Fender VNs I've used have the polepieces protruding from the covers and are beveled.


Chuck

[ch willie]

I tried the Fender VNs on both my Strat and Tele. I couldn't quite warm up to them. They'd sound great in a way, but I always felt that I could hear something synthetic and sterile about them. Maybe I could have eq'd to make them sound better. I wanted to like them. Clapton sure made them sound great. Whatever it was about them, I just could get the synthetic sound out of my ears.

[aussienlus]

i tried n3 pickups once not to my liking

[Tele-Bob]

The only noiseless pickups I've ever truly enjoyed were Kinman's. Great sound without the scrunched face, what am I hearing, expression often accompanied by errant noiseless pickup usage.

The majority of my experience has been with the Kinman Strat pickups. Terrific sound.
The Tele and P90s were good too, but honestly I have never played either long enough to form a valid opinion.

[OldStrummer]

My 2016 EC Strat has Vintage Noiseless pickups and I really like the sound! The mid-boost adds a bit of grunt to them, but I have no complaints.

[Tele-Bob]

....

[Offshore Angler]

The whole Clapton thing, yes, but he has active electronics in his signature Strats.

A nine volt battery hides a multitude of sins.

What I've been experiencing is that if you have an amp on "DESTROY ALL HUMANS" at Albert Hall volumes they can be pretty nice, but at that point, what isn't?

[OldStrummer]

The whole Clapton thing, yes, but he has active electronics in his signature Strats.

A nine volt battery hides a multitude of sins.

What I've been experiencing is that if you have an amp on "DESTROY ALL HUMANS" at Albert Hall volumes they can be pretty nice, but at that point, what isn't?

I have the luxury of simply experimenting with tone; I'm not trying to achieve a particular sound, but just like seeing what my guitars' capabilities are. The mid-boot (active electronics) of my Clapton Strat does just what it says: It "fattens" the midrange output, making rhythm and leads, especially in the lower registers just that much fuller.

I should add that when the battery goes dead, however, the guitar becomes an unwieldy scratch box.