Description
Origin Alnico Mixed Magnet Stratocaster Pickups
The top of the range Ironstone ‘Origin’ vintage Strat pickups feature resistances of 6.4K Ohm Bridge and 6.0K Ohm Neck and Middle. The tone is classic Fender 50’s and early 60’s. As all Ironstone Stratocaster pickup sets, the middle is RWRP to give hum cancelling in positions 2 & 4.
What separates these Origin Alnico Mixed Magnet Stratocaster Pickups is their thoroughly modern mixed magnet configuration, typically only found on the most expensive boutique pickups;
The Bridge is all Alnico V, the strongest of the Alnico magnets giving crisp tones and ideally suited to the bridge position with its smaller string vibrations.
The Neck has all Alnico 3 magnets, a softer tone with great bass clarity and separation, so ideal for the Neck and the larger string vibrations there.
The Middle features a seamless mixture of Alnico 3 (EAD poles) and Alnico V (GBE poles).
The result is a smooth tonal transition between the best magnets styles for each position and string. Pole piece spacing is the Ironstone standard, 52mm Bridge and Middle and 50mm Neck.
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But the rest of the build is pure vintage. The poles are bevelled edge and set to the original early 50’s pole stagger. They are housed between fibre bobbins (black top, grey bottom) which carry 42AWG windings. The pickups are slightly squatter than many, leading to a coil shape that produces a slightly fatter tone whilst retaining brightness and clarity. Wax potting ensures there are no problems with microphonics.
Vintage style cloth push-back wiring is used for the connections.
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As all of the Ironstone Strat pickups, the Origins come complete with all required mounting hardware (and are also supplied with a length of latex mounting tubing for you to cut to your own requirements), and colour code wiring identification.
These vintage Stratocaster pickups are available with either White, Cream (Aged White), or Black covers. The set is supplied in a protective foam presentation case.
Origin Stratocaster Wiring Colour Code:
Unlike the majority of Ironstone Strat pickups, the Origin’s feature vintage style cloth push-back wiring. All 3 pickups use simple white (signal positive) and black (signal negative) wiring pairs. Note; The position of each pickup is marked on its base.
Origin Vintage Strat pickups : related links
See Wiring Diagram I See Guitar Pickup Adjustment I See Sound Clips
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Owen Box (verified owner) –
I’ve had a set of these pickups on my second strat, a 2016 MIM, for a couple of years now and have been really impressed. I have been gradually trying to improve my first strat – a 92 MIM – and having gone through the obvious stuff like better trem block and wiring harness I decided to get another set of Origin vintages, and they sound just as good in that guitar. It’s obviously no fluke. There’s a subtle shimmer to the sound, especially in the in-between posititions, that is really excellent.
Anthony Partridge –
No fluke indeed Owen! Because each pickup uses a different magnet pattern to its neighbour, when you add 2 together you get a very special mix of magnetic tone influences. That’s the magic.