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Reading and searching this great forum, it seems as if the 69 ri mustang pickups are inferior to the 65 ri's.
Has anyone taken A look under the hood and measured them? I also went looking to buy some at Angela's..where it only says mustang pup japan, real fender part. So does anyone know if these are the 65's?

sdgails wrote:Reading and searching this great forum, it seems as if the 69 ri mustang pickups are inferior to the 65 ri's.
Has anyone taken A look under the hood and measured them? I also went looking to buy some at Angela's..where it only says mustang pup japan, real fender part. So does anyone know if these are the 65's?

These are the 65RI pickups -- as Fender doesn't sell the 69RI in the US.

I have a 69 RI. They sound great to me .

I like the '65 RI pickups and all, but seriously I can't imagine actually wanting to buy those pickups to put in other guitars.

They're pretty generic flat pole Strat pickups IMO. Noise handling is on the poor side, even for single coils. I had bad interference problems that I just don't have with higher quality single coils.

FFS, get some dope ass strat pickups with adjustable poles. the fender noiseless in any flavor is better than any mustang pickups.

The only Strat pickups with adjustable poles I've seen are the P90 in a Strat format type. Are there others?

Anyway, yeah, the Fender Noiseless is cheap ($110 a set, sell the spare one for a bit of money) and has excellent brightness, if that's what you like. Compared to Lace, DiMarzio, and Kinman, I find it to be the brightest noiseless pickup you can get. They have detachable covers, too, so you're not stuck with one of them saying "Noiseless" upside down, which would bug the shit out of me. It actually makes the out of phase fun to use, as well, vs. being lost in a pile of static. Doesn't have the greatest depth in the world and I actually find them a bit boring in a Strat (middle and neck sound too similar), but they would complement a Mustang very nicely, I think.

I played a ton of mustang copies about two years ago trying to find one that I really liked the neck on, but one thing I noticed was that the pickups in all them sounded pretty stale. Having taken apart a few reissues, the pickups definitely seem like they were made on the cheap. I love mustangs, but with better pickups they are the jam.

"FFS, get some dope ass strat pickups with adjustable poles. the fender noiseless in any flavor is better than any mustang pickups." Any good strat-style pickup will fit nicely in a mustang, but you really retain some of the nuances by getting a pickup with flat, unstaggered, pole pieces.

as far as adjustable i mean with poles that you can force up or down. i.e. not the ones with the huge magnets on the back.

honeyiscool wrote:They have detachable covers, too, so you're not stuck with one of them saying "Noiseless" upside down, which would bug the shit out of me.

turn the cover over, dummy.

I know, that's what I'm saying. If the cover was integrated, you wouldn't be able to.

Then again, I can't remember the last time I saw a pickup with a triangular flange that didn't have a detachable cover, so I don't know what I'm talking about. EMG, Seymour Duncan Humbuckers, and Lace are all easily flippable.

retain the nuances? last time i checked, the neck on a mustang was curved. flat pole pieces aren't going to retain anything except mud.

CURVE THOSE FUCKERS = INSTATONE

hotrodperlmutter wrote:retain the nuances? last time i checked, the neck on a mustang was curved. flat pole pieces aren't going to retain anything except mud.

CURVE THOSE FUCKERS = INSTATONE

Flat polepieces won't give you mud, and they were a part of the original design that give the mustang's sound some of its tonal characteristics.

Yeah I wouldn't say flat pieces are muddy. Aren't most modern designs (Lace, EMG, etc.) tending to get flatter and flatter, and they are hardly known for mud?

I think I read on Curtis Novak's site or whatever that modern string sets are much more balanced and don't require such an exaggerated stagger to maintain string balance. I somewhat disagree, because on humbuckers, I do usually end up setting up the screws to have a bit of stagger (just using my ears to balance out volume) but it's not too bothersome either way.

i guess i was being partially facetious.

why you would dick around with two specific sets of pickups rather than create your own pair from the plethora of strat pickups is beyond me.

hotrodperlmutter wrote:the fender noiseless in any flavor is better than any mustang pickups.

robroe will enter your poophole with a machete for that one.

you say that like i'm on the fence about the entire idea.

hotrodperlmutter wrote:why you would dick around with two specific sets of pickups rather than create your own pair from the plethora of strat pickups is beyond me.

Fair point.

Also, if you want something that's of a higher quality altogether but vintage accurate, SD Antiquity, Curtis Novak, Lindy Fralin, the choices are endless. I do agree that there's no point in focusing on '69 vs. '65 RI pickups, when they're merely average pickups.

devils advocate:

i love the MG65 pickup.

its my favorite pickup. ever.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/sorryabouttomor ... tKWK62n3A8[/youtube]

I am no expert on Mustang pickups yet, though I love the one 65 RI I played and Mike's Demo is the best Mustang demo on youtube.

The 69 RI Mustang I am getting from Serfx has a Lace sensor in the bridge and stock neck pup while the Mustang Project pickups I have are reissues I believe. I will have a better opinion once I get both guitars in my possession.

Meanwhile, I found this really cool Mustang demo with lace pickups that blew me away the tones he is getting.
[youtube][/youtube]

Lace is best for people who like to go through a bit of FX or a lot, since its tone always retains definition and clarity no matter how distorted or delayed or anything. That's why you see guys like Radiohead use them. It's not as great for straight up guitar-to-amp players who like to get a raw sound, IMO. Guys like Buddy Guy use it to get a smooth sound, and people who use Eric Clapton Strats don't count because they're active, meaning it's a preamp'd guitar.

I (linda) love Lace pickups, I think they're the perfect match for a Mustang.