Seymour Duncan SSL-5 Custom Staggered Pole Neck/Bridge/Middle Strat Single Coil

6 years ago I bought as used Mexican Strat. The hum coming off those pickups was ridiculous regardless of gain. I got sick of it quickly and put in a competitor's set of noiseless pickups which I've enjoyed for several years. Two years ago I bought a gutted Epiphone Les Paul for 30 bucks, and put the Jazz/JB combo in it during the build and was floored at the tone quality. So much so that I swapped the Telecaster vintage set into my Tele. Floored once more... and it was dead silent. The hum was actually there, but you had to stack every overdrive I had and boost the front end of my Marshall to hear it. So that's the backstory leading up to the SSL-5. I was on the fence because I did not want the crazy hum level to come back. I took the plunge on a set of SSL-1 neck, SSL-1 middle, SSL-5 bridge. I got them installed last night and they're simply amazing. The bridge SSL-5 has a wonderful wide mid presence, thick but not syrup. And most of all, the hum is totally minimal. It is indeed there, but it's night and day better than the stock Mexican pickups from years ago. Very, very tolerable and the tones are just brilliant, clean or gain. I've got a Fuzz Factory, a Green Rhino, an OCD, a DS-1 that I have configured to provide dirt, and it sounds fantastic on all of them. I use a Soul Food at the end of the preamp stage of my board set clean with the volume dimed to slam the front end of my Marshall, and it's also just stellar. Great tones, mnimal noise.

This is an amazingly powerful pickup! Wow! Harmonics everywhere and super high output! Love it for rock! Way too strong for a lot of situations depending on your attack, amp settings, song choice, etc. Great for Pink Floyd Gilmour tones! Only complain is that it's not the style in the picture, it's the style with the wires coming out the sides of the pickup so the single coil cover doesn't fit down to the base which makes it look odd because the pole pieces don't stick out of the plastic as far as they should. Doesn't effect sound and isn't noticeable unless up close so I'm keeping it and using it as is. I'm going to try cutting slots into the plastic for the wires and see if that works better. You can see in the picture I attached that the wire is under the white plastic near the screw holes so the cover won't fight right without cutting the cover some.

Fender players make sure it’s wired right. It’s a great sounding, high sustain pickup that’s worth every penny.

Why did you pick this product vs others?: Clarity and quality of sound Sound quality: My Ibanez S now sound like a Stratocaster, but with a super fast neck

I bought a budget guitar. A Firefly Strat. I couldn't get the sustain and pinch harmonics I wanted. I changed out the single coil in the bridge position with this Seymore Duncan. Problem solved. There are some hotter pickups out there, but you will have to spend more money.

Simply amazing! I have an american 2008 strat. This is my setup: -Neck: Custom Shop Fat 50s -Middle: Custom Shop 69 -Bridge: Seymour Duncan SSL-5 The SSL-5 is my favorite pickup to switch to because of the brightness and power this will get you. I am not a pro but I noticed the difference in sound right away when comparing a traditional american strat 2008. The return on investment is very good with this pickup because you will bring your guitar to the next step.

Great pickup, but no surprise its a Seymour Duncan. This PU is like a P-90 pickup, thick balanced tone.

and it sounds fine there. I guess I just prefer a HSS strat setup. In the neck position though, this sounds very full and wonderful compared to the SSL-1 I normally have in the neck. I'd have no problem putting a set of these in a guitar. Sounds like a strat, just a fuller and better.

Put this in my black strat's bridge position. Instant (sort of) David Gilmour. More output than a vintage pickup, not as ice picky. Seemed to work well with the standard pickups in my 50's classic, but I swapped them out as the middle didn't have RWRP. For the rest of the DG sound I should get a pair of Fender CS 69's, but they only sell them in 3s and no RWRP middle pickup....

Amazing pick based on the SSL-1-DG custom. Deliver a rich and powerful sound at the bridge position. Note that if you install with fenders custom pickups at middle and neck, you need to reverse the polarity by using the ground as a lead and the lead as a ground to avoid the pickups from cancelling each other. However, this is well documented and was not a surprise.

Zunächst das Negative: Wie alle echten Singlecoils rauscht und brummt auch dieser Pickup je nach Grad der Verzerrung. Clean hat man nur ein leichtes Rauschen, bei Overdrive wird es mehr und bei einem vollen Distortion-Brett, sind die Nebengeräusche nicht mehr zu ignorieren. Da ich das vorher bereits wusste und es in Kauf nehme, führt das bei mir nicht zur Abwertung. Bei Zimmerlautstärke kann man mit leben. Die Verarbeitung ist für diese Preisklasse gerade noch akzeptabel: Zu viel Plastik, das kaputt gehen kann. Abgebildet in der Produktbeschreibung sind Messingbuchsen. Der SSL-5 hat diese nicht. Die Abdeckkappe passt mehr schlecht als recht. Eingebaut sieht man das nicht mehr. Was auch jedem klar sein sollte: Nur wenn man die Akkorde und Harmonien von David spielt, klingt man auch wie der Herr Gilmour. Nur durch den Einbau dieses Pickups hat man nicht automatisch dessen Sound. Wenn man z.B. "Sorrow" nachspielen will ist man mit den EMG-Pickups besser aufgehoben. Mit dem SSL-5 geht das zwar auch, klingt aber doch anders. DG hat halt dummerweise mehrere Gitarren, mit unterschiedlichen Pickups und Sounds. Für alle, denen Pick Floyd eigentlich egal ist: Der SSL-5 ist ein typischer Singlecoil Pickup, der "etwas mehr Bumms" hat. Obertöne klingen sauber und sind gut spielbar. Er hat klare Höhen, schreit und kreischt aber nicht. Die Bässe kommen sauber, die Mitten sind deutlich ohne penetrant zu klingen. Achtung: Das Holz der Gitarre, Einstellungen der Saiten und die Saitensorte selbst haben einen deutlichen Einfluss auf den Sound. Zu meiner Mexico-Start passt er jedenfalls super (9er Saiten mit verstärkten Bass-Saiten). Den SSL-5 etwas höher oder tiefer einzustellen hat deutliche Auswirkungen auf den Sound. Ich habe ihn hochgedreht bis der Sound matscht und dreht ihn dann runter, bis der Sound matschfrei und klar war. So ist der Sound schön voll, klar und ausgeglichen; von Clean bis Drive passt alles. Wer mehr Power braucht sollte nach einem Mini-Humbucker schauen. Da ist dann auch das Brummen und Rauschen Geschichte. Dafür entfällt der sehr klare Singlecoil-Sound.

Excelente tom

... Beh c'è poco da dire! Per me il Seymour Duncan ssl5 e il migliore pick-up per bridge che c'è, non a caso è il terzo che prendo e che ho messo in tutte e tre le mie strato. È bello potente pur mantenendo un bel suono, ha la sua timbrica particolare e si sente... Di sicuro se uno vuole avvicinarsi ai suoni "floydiani" questa e la scelta giusta! Amazon c'è poco da dire, il top...del top! 😂