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Set
Price: $185.00
I
have been given the opportunity to evaluate a calibrated set
of Novak Strat pickups. As always, the goal is to test them
and find out what makes them different from all the other
pickups out there.
 Features
& Options…
Each set of Novak Strat pickups is calibrated and has the option
of being wound to vintage specs, which are in the proximity
of (Neck 5.6k, Mid 5.8, Bridge 6.2k) for a
true vintage tone or wound to custom specs of your choice. The
middle pickup, like in most Strat sets, is reverse wound for
noise cancellation.
Also,
you can have either flat or staggered Alnico 5 pole pieces.
Curtis Novak primarily uses and recommends level magnets because
“string technology is much more advanced today and the
strings are much more balanced,” thereby producing a
balanced sound without staggered magnets.
Differences…
What makes them different? According to Curtis Novak, great
sounding pickups have “personal attention to quality
and hand winding” and this is what his pickups have.
Novak
studied Leo Fender's process of making pickups, building a
coil winder like the one designed by Leo. He agrees that “no
machine can wind a better sounding or tighter wind than a
well trained person.” This is why Curtis Novak, like
Leo Fender, winds his pickups by hand.
Testing…
These pickups look similar to other Strat pickups. However,
the Novak set being tested had flat pole pieces rather than
staggered ones, making me wonder if the sound produced would
be balanced as Novak had suggested.
The pickups were wired with cloth-covered wire and wax potted
exceptionally, with almost every trace of excess wax removed.
 The
pickups were installed into my test Strat. After a quick set
up, I plugged it into my amp, noticing right away that the
string-to-string balance was almost perfect with the flat
pole pieces! With that couragement, I excitedly moved on to
adjusting and finding each pickup’s “sweet spot”
height. After
playing with pickup height, I found Novak’s pickups
to be very clean and clear sounding with just enough bass.
As I switched through each of the 5 positions, the characteristics
of each pickup really started to show.
Neck
Position…
Here, they exhibited a nice rich bass tone, but not so much
to overpower. The high strings exhibited a nice bell-like
quality and I noticed that when playing full chords, the high
strings would still ring out. With many other pickups, the
highs get lost in the chord.
Adding
a bit of overdrive gave me a truly unique sound. The high
strings stood out and there was a very good growl overall.
Neck
/ Middle Position…
Usually I find that I don’t get much quack in this position,
but with these pickups there was quite a bit. Again, the high
strings stood out and were noticed.
Middle
Position…
Although many people do not use this pickup by itself, with
these pickups your mind may change. Slightly overdriven produces
a great, growling, high-end sound.
Middle / Bridge Position…
Some people give their Strat a name. Purchasing these pickups
may make you consider naming this pickup “Donald.”
There’s more than enough “quack” for everyone,
including the die-hard Strat “quack” lovers. With
this sound, everyone will know you’re playing a Strat.
Bridge
Position…
There were a lot of good highs here and with a great bite
too. It’s not as twangy as a Telecaster bridge, but
it does a pretty good job of imitating it. Add some overdrive
and it will scream almost as long as you want it to.
Conclusion…
I really liked these pickups and I think you will too. The
string-to-string balance is excellent and with the highs being
so well balanced and not overpowered by the bass strings,
you may start to discover new tones that you never thought
could come out of your Stratocaster.
Or…talk
to Curtis Novak if you’d rather have a set of custom
wound pickups. He believes that your signature tone won’t
“be achieved with off-the-shelf, mass-produced pickups”
and he really loves “working closely with a guitar player
to help them with their quest to find their own signature
tone.”
Contact
information is available at…
Curtis
Novak Guitars and Pickups
www.novaks.org
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