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STV4
TWEEDTONE STRAT® PICKUPS
Kent
Armstrong STV4 Stratocaster Pickup set
Price= $50.00 each.
Introduction:
Ask any Stratocaster player what vintage tone is; you’ll
get a different answer from each of them. Why? Because in
the early days, pickups were hand wound. There were so many
variations that it was almost impossible to find any two guitars
that sounded the same.
So
what is vintage tone? Well today, vintage tone is subject
to interpretation. Even if you were able to get a set of vintage
pickups, there would be someone out there that would tell
you they don’t sound like vintage pickups at all.
Characteristics:
According to the marketing hype, the TweedTone’s are
“A more rounded take on the vintage Strat® sound.
Like a pick-up mellowed with age.”
This
is a pretty vague description of them, so I asked Kent Armstrong
how he would characterize the tone and how they differ from
other “vintage” pickups out there. His reply was
“I would call it warm with a bit of top edge.”
As
far as the differences with other pickups, Kent replied: “After
rewinding hundreds of Strat Pickups I know what makes a vintage
pickup. So I just give it a few more winds to give it that
warmer sound without having to weaken the magnets. That is
how mine differ from others.”
About
the pickups themselves, Kent says: “They are just my
idea of a vintage wind for Strats with the middle pickup reversed
so that in positions 2 and 4, the two on pick-ups are hum-canceling.
We use Alnico magnets and the coil is insulated away from
the poles by tape so that rust will be delayed from attacking
the coil and stop pole adjusting from braking windings. They
are totally hot waxed.”
First
impressions:
When the pickups arrived, they came individually packaged
in nice glossy cardboard boxes with the Kent Armstrong logo
on them, and also the “made in Korea” branding.
Inside were the pickups and a simple instruction sheet. They
also came with new springs, and a set of flat head screws.
The
pickups came with black covers, although you can get almost
any color you want. But I still prefer to use my own “aged”
covers anyway.
On
a closer examination I noticed that each of the pole magnets
had been beveled. A very nice detail feature. It keeps them
from breaking or cracking on the edges. They also were wired
with cloth-covered wires.
I
was also impressed at how clean the wax-potting job was. At
first glance, I could not even tell they had been waxed, but
on a closer examination I noticed that the mounting screw
holes were still filled with wax. Almost every speck of excess
wax had been removed from the coils and the baseplate.
 And
one last “feature”. A simple sticker is attached
to the base plate with the model number and the position of
the pickup. This is a nice feature for the next owner, or
even yourself when you take it apart 10 years from now and
forgot what you put in it.
Testing them:
I won’t bore you with the details of installation. It’s
pretty much the same as installing pickups in any Strat, but
it is always a good idea to have a few extra parts lying around
just in case you make a mistake or break something. For example,
extra caps, maybe a pot or an extra switch.
Our
guinea pig in this case was my black 2000 MiM (Strat of the
week 9/15/03). I had previously changed the pickups to a set
of US made 50’s pickups. These were equipped in a lot
of the Japanese 50’s reissue models and that is the
case with these. These held true vintage sound, of course
depending on what you consider vintage. Clear, bell like tones,
not a huge amount of bass. To some they are just too thin
sounding, and compared to modern pickups, I do agree. But
for me I prefer the bell tones to the grit sound.
To
be sure of what I was listening for, I made a series of wav
files with my multi-track recording software via my Johnson
J-Station. I used two emulations, nothing, and of course,
Tweed.
Settings
were recorded so after the pickup swap I would be sure I was
comparing apples to apples. Recordings were made before and
after the pickups swap.
First
impressions of the wav files were that the pickups sounded
exactly the same. But with a little more time and closer examination,
the difference start to come through.
The
Tone:
In the neck position
the bell like tones of the treble strings are not quite as
pronounced, but it does provide for a nice warm sound. Warmer
than my previous set, but not quite as bright.
The
neck/middle position
provided a good distinguishable quack. No mistake what that
sound is here. The volume tends to be a bit lower in this
position, but that’s pretty much the way it is with
any Strat. Nice warm sound with a touch of bright added in.
The
middle pickup
is
quite a bit different from what I expected. Brighter than
the neck, and very crisp and clear. It actually starts to
boarder on the middle/neck position as far as tone, but without
the quack. Hard to explain, but you will know if you get a
set. It is also reverse wound. This is a nice feature because
the original 50’s pickups did not have reverse winding.
The
middle/bridge position.
Tons of quack. As far as positions 2 & 4, these are about
the best sounding pickups I have ever heard in these positions.
Extremely strong bell tones and quack, much more than any
set of pickups I’ve used so far. If 2 & 4 are what
you use the most, these are the pickups for you.
The
bridge pickup? All
I can say is twang. It has it. Really bright tone, with decent
lows. Very nice. I actually A/B’ed it with my American
Series Telecaster, and I hate to say it, they are very close.
Conclusion:
In general, the pickups have a nice vintage sound, really
clear sounding bell tones, with added warmth. They tend to
have a little hotter output, so you will have to get used
to them. You won’t need to turn the gain up quite as
high as you used to with these pickups because they are hotter.
Some
may consider the price in relation to the origin of manufacture
to be a problem, but when you examine them closely, you can’t
help but admire the quality and the attention to detail. According
to Kent, these things are every bit as good as the one in
his hand made line, and when you reach this level of quality,
I’m not really sure it matters where they were made.
Also,
the instruction sheet. Yes, it has the basics information,
but it does not have any wiring diagrams, or any pickup height
recommendations. WD has told me that they will be revising
the instruction sheet in the next 30 days that will contain
this information. I’m sure that will be welcomed by
all.
The
last thing is the lack of marketing information on them. I
personally like more specifications, and a nice little marketing
“story” to tell me why they were created and what
the goal of the product is. WD is also addressing this and
we should see much more information on these and other Kent
Armstrong pickups in the near future.
The
bottom line is I like them!
I still have my vintage sound, but a little more bottom end
warmth.
Give them a try, I think you will like them as well.
To
learn more about Kent Armstrong, go to their site at
http://www.kentarmstrong.com
To
order Kent Armstrong Pickups, click on the WD Logo
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