Pickup suggestions for incoming Mad Cat clone (Firefly)

[GDSmithTX]

Howdy, y'all ... long time no see.

I have a Mad Cat clone (Prince's famous yellow Tele-style guitar) made by Firefly on the way and I want to change the pickups out. In the numerous reviews I've watched/read, the most common complaints are that the tuners are poor (I have locking tuners on the way), and the pickups are very low output (~5.4k) and not RWRP and thus not hum-cancelling in the middle position.

Note that these are non-standard T-types in that they use Strat pickups in both positions.

On the pickups, I have Dimarzio Area 58 and Area 61 pickups in another guitar that I haven't played in a decade, so I was going to cannibalize one of those for the neck slot in the Mad Cat. For the bridge, I was thinking about a Duncan Little '59 I already have (though it's in white, so I'd need to paint it black). I was also thinking about getting a Dimarzio Chopper for the bridge and adding a coil split or parallel for it via push-pull pot.

I welcome any thoughts or suggestions on my proposed upgrades, or anything else you might think of for this guitar. Despite some of the specs (SS frets, bone nut), it's a very low-cost little beast, so I don't want to drop a ton of scratch into it.

Gracias!

 

[jrockbridge]

One option: Seymour Duncan SSL-1 neck 6.5k. Seymour Duncan SSL-5 bridge ~12.9k.

Keep in mind, the potentiometer values for Volume, Tone have a huge affect on the way pickups sound. Supposedly, that guitar had 250k volume pot, 250k tone pot and .047 tone capacitor. I think those are typical values for a Strat. 250k = warm. 500k = bright. 1M = very bright. 500K to 1M are most commonly found in humbucker guitars.

 

[jp_nyc]

I was going to suggest the same Kinman pickups that Prince used but holy fuck they’re expensive!

 

[GDSmithTX]

I was going to suggest the same Kinman pickups that Prince used but holy fuck they’re expensive!

Indeed. My understanding is that the Area pickups (58/61/67) are kind of a reverse engineering of that brand's earlier noiseless Strat pups. That's why I am probably going to use them: I want something Stratty but noiseless in the neck and something more stout in the bridge to handle gain well without noise.

 

[GDSmithTX]

One option: Seymour Duncan SSL-1 neck 6.5k. Seymour Duncan SSL-5 bridge ~12.9k.

Keep in mind, the potentiometer values for Volume, Tone have a huge affect on the way pickups sound. Supposedly, that guitar had 250k volume pot, 250k tone pot and .047 tone capacitor. I think those are typical values for a Strat. 250k = warm. 500k = bright. 1M = very bright. 500K to 1M are most commonly found in humbucker guitars.

Those are great suggestions, but I'm probably going all noiseless for this guitar. I have a couple of Strats and an ESP Tele with standard single coils already.

 

[jrockbridge]

Supposedly, Prince’s former tech, Takumi Suetsugu, said he had Kinman Traditional Strat pickups installed for awhile, but that those were later removed and replaced with Fender Vintage Noiseless Strat pickups.

Tough to beat used prices.

Reverb….

 

[jp_nyc]

This thread cost me $286.91. I went looking for the Mad Cat and I was about to buy it. Then I noticed that Firefly issued a baritone acoustic and it is on sale! I bought a guitar on impulse and I was sober! Hopefully it will be worth it.

 

[Knox in Box]

I had the HB version of that guitar and liked it a lot, but sold it for a profit. I'd look at Iron Gear Smokestack Lightning pups, but they're not noiseless. Otherwise, DiMarzio or Lace Sensors.

 

[jrockbridge]

FYI the black SC S-type covers that come with the Firefly should fit on top of an S-style or Fender Strat SC pickup. So, if you find a good deal on F-style S-type noiseless pups, you don’t have to worry if they’re the wrong color. Black Fender Strat SC covers sell for about $10.50 for a set of 3.

 

[Dogsinplastic]

Shoulda nabbed one of these when they were available.

I went searching for one and people are trying to sell used ones for up to $500. I found a forum where someone had purchased the Firefly and the Eastwood. The Firefly looks so much better. The Eastwood Mad Cat body is slightly off. Prolly not enough for most folks to care but it throws off the aesthetic enough to kill my interest...well, that and the $1,200 price tag.

This looks great and I'm sure you'll land on the right pups. I'm trying to remember who made a Strat bridge pup that was wound and voiced to sound like a Tele bridge pup, even had the plate on the bottom...

 

[GDSmithTX]

This thread cost me $286.91. I went looking for the Mad Cat and I was about to buy it. Then I noticed that Firefly issued a baritone acoustic and it is on sale! I bought a guitar on impulse and I was sober! Hopefully it will be worth it.

Apologize to your wallet for me.

 

[jp_nyc]

Apologize to your wallet for me.

Not until after I buy a case so I don't end up with two split tops in one year.

 

[Honkridge]

I'm not a fan of the Fender vintage noiseless. Feeble is a word that comes to mind.

I'm gonna go out in left field and suggest the Dimarzio Injector strat pups. Paul Gilbert's signature. Thick and punchy but not tubby in any way. They still sound stratty but you won't get any Knopfler tones out of them.

 

[baimun]

My personal choice would be the Seymour Duncan Quarter Pound Lead for the tele pickup (4 wire for the coil cut) because I love that fat P90 sound in a tele bridge pickup (cutable to tele).