Best Cheap Guitar Pickups for Strat, Tele & Les Paul (April 2023)
Best Stratocaster Pickups
Here are the best pickups for strat type electric guitars. These are guitar pickups that can fit into Strat style single coil pickup holes, with or without a pickguard.
DiMarzio Injector DP422 Paul Gilbert Signature - Best Single coil Sized Humbucker
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Cons
- Not for fans of vintage single coil pickup sound
- None of the sparkle expected from single coil pickups
Pros
- Good balance of bite and clarity
- Modern electric guitar tone with higher output
- Hum-canceling design
- Fast picking attack response
The DiMarzio Injector DP422 is the bridge and neck pickup in Paul Gilbert's signature electric guitar, the Ibanez Fireman. It is a hum-canceling single-coil pickup that lives up to the guitar virtuoso's bite and clarity requirements. To be a single-coil sized humbucker pickup, it has a dummy coil stacked with the regular coil.
This pickup is a good response to the "single coil vs humbucker" debate. It combines the best of both worlds, so to speak. It lets you fit a humbucker pickup into a single coil guitar.
Given the artist that approved this humbucker pickup, don't expect this to sound vintage. Rather, this has a modern balanced sound that does away with unwanted noise. It won't sound thin or muddy when cranked. Being a humbucker pickup, it has more output, which means higher volume and better response, without going overboard. Paul is very particular with how well pickups respond to fast playing picking attack. Ibanez catered to this by reducing the magnet pull of this pickup by about 40%.
Note that Paul uses a vintage voiced middle pickup, which fuses familiar Fender position 2 and 4 voicings. This allows him to have heavy sounds in the neck, while still having more traditional sonic options when blended with the middle pickup. This is an interesting configuration, to say the least, great for guitarists who play in the same styles that PG does.
Paul has used these humbucker pickups with heavier high-gain amps and fuzz. This makes them the best pick ups for metal if you lean more toward a trebly voicing.
When used in the bridge position, it's also one of the best humbucker for strat type electric guitars that aren't routed for a full-size humbucker.
If you're looking to beef up your electric guitar sound and reduce the dreaded 60-cycle hum noise, then this is a great pick.
Specifications
- Position: Neck
- Magnet Material: Alnico 2
- Dimensions: Standard Single-coil
- Available Colors/Covers: Aged White, Black
| Website | Source | *Rating Value |
| Audiofanzine | nickname009 | 100/100 |
| YouTube | Daniel Stryhanyn | 94/100 |
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Seymour Duncan SSL-5 Custom Staggered Pole - Best Pickups for Stratocaster
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Cons
- Can be too gritty for some
- Middle strings have a slight volume bump
Pros
- Overwound for higher output
- Hotter and grittier electric guitar tone
- Ideal for blues, rock, and similar styles
- Great for low to medium overdrive
The Seymour Duncan SSL-5 is the bridge position single-coil pickup in David Gilmour's signature Black Strat. Seymour Duncan has made it available for those who want the same pumped-up sound on a different guitar. It is available for use in different positions. There's even a middle pickup position version with RWRP. RWRP stands for “reverse-wound, reverse-polarity”) for hum-canceling in-between pickup positions.
Being overwound, it is quite sensitive. Seymour Duncan designed it to have increased output compared to other passive single coils. This results in a more in your face sound, while retaining the sparkle and bottom-end that you'd expect from a classic single-coil pickup. Single note lines cut better, while chords sound bigger, which makes this a good pickup for all-around use.
It is popularly slotted in the bridge position. But its high-output design makes The Seymour Duncan SSL-5 ideal for adding bite into the in-between positions.
Following traditional guitar pickups, Seymour Duncan equipped the SSL-5 with staggered magnetic pole pieces. This is ideal if your electric guitar has traditional rounder necks. The different heights of the pole magnets allow the middle strings to sound a bit louder. This works great with mild to medium overdrive use. It has a pronounced midrange compared to traditional single-coils.
The Seymour Duncan SSL-5 is among the best single coil pickups for adding grit. Get this on your electric guitar if you're into blues, rock, and similar styles.
Specifications
- Position: Neck, Middle, Bridge
- Magnet Material: Alnico V
- Dimensions: 3.3" x .70" x .65"
- Available Colors/Covers: White, Black
| Website | Source | *Rating Value |
| Audiofanzine | tjon901 | 100/100 |
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Seymour Duncan SSL-2 Vintage Flat
Cons
- Not enough bite
- Can sound muddy when gain is set to high
Pros
- Great sounding vintage strat voicing
- Balanced string-to-string volume
- Sparkly clean and sweet-sounding dirt tone
- Sounds good with mild overdrive
The Seymour Duncan SSL-2 is a vintage voiced Strat pickup with flat pole pieces.
The flat rod magnets are designed to work well with flat fingerboards and lighter strings. They are a good fit for modern Strat style guitars. The SSL-2 lets you enjoy classic Strat style sounds in with a modern feeling neck. It can provide a good sonic contrast to the modern sounding bridge pickups found in super strats.
Another benefit of the Seymour Duncan SSL-2's flat design is balanced string-to-string volume. This solves one of the most common problems with older strats. Conventional single-coils have staggered pole pieces that follow the curve of traditional fingerboards. This often results in subtle but noticeable string-to-string volume differences. Because of the flat polepieces, it's one of the best single coil pickups for fretboards with flatter radii above 15".
Sound-wise, it gives your electric guitar a vintage flavor, with lots of chime, good bass, and mids that are subtly cut. It's a great bridge pickup to get sparkly cleans, having some trebly bite without compromising clarity. Like vintage strat pickups, this is a great pickup for use with mild overdrive use and a tube amp.
It won't be as hot as modern bridge pickups when used with distortion. But it does give you the sparkly start sound that can be useful in a variety of musical styles.
All in all, this is one of the best Stratocaster pickups for owners of SSS configuration guitars with modern flat radius necks.
Specifications
- Position: Neck or Bridge
- Magnet Material: Alnico V
- Dimensions: 3.3" x .70" x .65"
- Available Colors/Covers: White
| Website | Source | *Rating Value |
| Audiofanzine | Tuxi | 80/100 |
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Best Les Paul Pickups
The best humbuckers not only work well on Les Pauls, but also on other guitars. Do note that these picks are also great humbucker pickups for HSS Strat and Superstrat type guitars.
Seymour Duncan SH-2N Jazz Neck - Best Humbuckers for Les Paul Neck
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Cons
- Not ideal for already bright-sounding guitars
- Not for fans of gritty neck pickup tone
Pros
- Versatile bright and lush sound
- Dial down the tone knob for warm jazz sounds
- Better clarity compared to generic humbuckers
- Great pickup for different music styles
One of the issues that guitarists have with a PAF-style humbucker pickup is it sounds too harsh and muddy for clean playing. And this problem is more pronounced with the stock humbucker pickup found on cheap Les Paul style guitars. The Seymour Duncan Jazz solves this by dialing down some of the lower mids. This results in more treble emphasis and clarity, ideal for neck position pickups.
The clarity of this pickup, plus the warmth of being in the neck position, gives it a clean, rich, and lush sound. This makes it a great pickup for a wide variety of styles - from cleanly picked arpeggios to parts with ambient delay and reverb soundscapes. Rolling off the tone knob warms up the sound to better fit solo jazz guitar work.
As the name implies, this pickup is meant to appease jazz cats that value transparency over grit. But surprisingly, its smooth sound also appeals to rock, prog, and metal players. They use the pickup to get smooth-sounding high-gain tones that are great for lead guitar work. Dave Mustaine proves that they're also the best guitar pickups for metal solos.
The smoother sound of this pickup makes it a good upgrade for a typical dual humbucker guitar like a Les Paul. Sound quality improvement is definitely noticeable. Especially if you're used to generic humbucker pickups in the neck position.
Note that it can be a bit bright and shrill on already trebly sounding guitars. Especially those with bolt-on necks and long 25.5" scale lengths. And if you're always using overdrive or distortion, then the clean sound of the SH-2N will not be a good fit. You are better off with a gritty-sounding neck pickup.
Expand the sonic horizons of your dual humbucker pickup guitar with the SH-2N. Definitely one of the best guitar pickups for clearing up a muddy Les Paul neck position.
Specifications
- Position: Neck
- Magnet Material: Alnico 5
- Dimensions: Standard Single Coil
- Available Colors/Covers: Black, Zebra, Nickel, Optional custom colors (special order)
| Website | Source | *Rating Value |
| Audiofanzine | amnesia69 | 100/100 | YouTube | Rickord | 92/100 |
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DiMarzio DP100 Super Distortion - Best Humbuckers for Les Paul Bridge
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Cons
- Not meant for cleans
- Not gritty enough for blues
Pros
- Tried and tested high-output bridge humbucker
- Great for crunch and high-gain tones
- Full-sounding lows with smooth highs
- Boosted mids make it great for solos as well
Thanks to the success of the DP100, DiMarzio is credited as one of the pioneers of aftermarket guitar pickups. When it was released back in 1972, the DP100 was one of the first high-output non-OEM pickups. It quickly became one of the best guitar pickups for metal. Even today, people are still fond of this humbucker pickup's signature sound.
The band KISS adopted the pickup and helped its reputation tremendously. Another noteworthy user of this pickup is Kurt Cobain, who used this on his modified Fender Jaguars in the later years of Nirvana.
Decades later, the DiMarzio DP100 Super Distortion is still the go-to pickup for heavy rock and metal. Its ceramic magnet design results in a combination of boosted midrange and smooth treble. This distinct response allows it to handle high gain levels without sounding thin. This makes it a crowd-favorite pickup for the bridge position. Bass response is robust without muddying up during palm mutes. That's a common requirement for most modern metal guitarists.
Being a high-output pickup, the DP100 is not meant for clean sounds. So, if that's what you're after, this may not be for you. But if you're looking for a pickup that's great for crunch and high gain, then this is a timeless classic that can get you started on great rock guitar tones. It's still one of the best pick ups for metal, especially if you're into classic metal sounds
Specifications
- Position: Bridge (Recommended)
- Magnet Material: Ceramic
- Dimensions: 2.7 inches x 1.5 in. x 0.631
- String Spacing: 48.641 mm
- Available Colors/Covers: 26 Available
| Website | Source | *Rating Value |
| YouTube | GearGasms | 94/100 |
| Audiofanzine | jkessel | 100/100 |
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Telecaster Set
Fender Original Vintage Tele Pickup Set
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Cons
- Bright tonality may not be for everyone
- Not for high-gain use
Pros
- Bright authentic Tele twang
- Vintage voiced with sweet midrange bump
- Biting tone works great with overdrive
- Fuller low end
Thanks to the popularity of the Telecaster guitar, the market is now flooded with many T-style clones. Some are more expensive or cheaper than others. One of the most surefire ways to improve the sound of a Tele clone, is to swap out the pickups for ones that Fender actually made. And that is what the Original Vintage Telecaster set is for.
This particular set is meant to reproduce the dynamic response and tone of the first Telecasters back in the '50s. To do so, it is made using similar materials and specifications, including having Alnico III magnets. This results in a tight trebly twang that's expected of a vintage Tele.
Speaking of twang, cleans have the Tele's expected brightness with the mids cutting through to give it more bite. And this bite is what makes this a good pickup set for country music, as well as other genres like pop, blues, rock, and more. Compared to generic T-style pickups, this guitar pickup set has fuller low end without compromising the highs. Its bright tonality translates well when played with overdrive. The midrange is not too overbearing, so you still get good clarity and definition even as you go to crunch and mid-gain territory.
Word of caution thought that this set sounds really bright, including the Tele neck pickup. It is not meant for high-gain use. Other features of this set include the use of enamel-coated winding wires and cloth output wires. It also has a tin-plated copper base plate for the bridge pickup.
These are the best single coil pickups for those who are looking to level up the sound of their affordable T-style guitar.
Specifications
- Position: Neck & Bridge (Set)
- Magnet Material: Alnico III
- Dimensions: Standard Tele Size
- Available Colors/Covers: Nickel (Neck), Black (Bridge)
| Website | Source | *Rating Value |
| YouTube | Justin Bishop Music | 94/100 |
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Stratocaster Set
Fender Tex-Mex Strat Pickup Set
Cons
- Sounds muddy at higher gain settings
- Can be too gritty for some
Pros
- Warm ballsy Texas blues sound
- Good balance of grit and clarity
- Very responsive to pick attack dynamics
- Budget-friendly
The Tex-Mex Strat set is one of the best cheap strat pickups for owners of affordable Strat style guitars. This is the same pickup set used in the Fender Jimmie Vaughan Tex-Mex Stratocaster guitar. It has increased output and bite, suitable for aggressive Texas blues style playing.
Note that this is not a high-output pickup set, rather it only adds moderate amount of midrange grit. This way you can still get good cleans when dialing down the volume knob. While having good amount of grit for lively overdrive. Still, this set is noticeably more responsive than generic single coils. You can get more grit by maxing out the volume and using heavy attacks on the strings.
Dialing down the volume knob gives you access to vintage-style glassy cleans. The neck and in-between positions have good clarity and can get to breaking point easily. But it truly shines when used with light to moderate levels of overdrive. It has a ballsy cutting tone that's great for expressive lead work.
It'll sound muddy at higher gain settings, so don't get this if you're into cranking distortion. It will also be too gritty for those who prefer smoother clean tones.
Being a full pickup set, there are no noticeable volume jumps when switching pickups. You don't have to worry about volume balancing issues.
All in all, you don't have to be a Texas blues fan to appreciate the value and gritty guitar tone of the Fender Tex-Mex set. It is definitely a great pickup option for Strat owners.
Specifications
- Position: All
- Magnet Material: Alnico 5
- Dimensions: Standard Single Coil
- String Spacing: 52.451 mm
- Available Colors/Covers: White
| Website | Source | *Rating Value |
| Audiofanzine | MGR/Johnathan | 100/100 |
| YouTube | Austin G | 94/100 |
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Best Pickups for Les Paul on a Budget
Wilkinson Vintage Tone Alnico 5 Overwound
Cons
- Lacks harmonic overtones
- Big logo up front sticks out like a sore thumb
Pros
- Super affordable PAF style pickup set
- Punchy and bright tone with good clarity
- Nasal overdriven guitar tone
- Split coil ready wiring included
Wilkinson usually isn't the first name to come to mind when you think about guitar pickup brands. They're usually more known for their hardware and bridges.
The Wilkinson Vintage Tone Alnico 5 M-Series is a set of the best budget humbuckers that's been getting a lot of hype for its good vintage style PAF tone.
These pickups boast a vintage, punchy, and bright PAF style tone with a tight low end, something that you usually only get at higher price points. For a humbucker pickup set, it's surprising how it cleans up nicely, with clarity in the highs. The lower frequencies are also detailed, making this set viable for clean playing use, including jazz. Paired with low to medium overdrive, it produces a nice slightly nasal guitar tone reminiscent of old-school hard rock. Raising the gain higher results in a warm and smooth tone that's quite good for playing solos.
It lacks the bloom and harmonic overtones that are found in expensive PAFs. But this humbucker pickup set will still sound noticeably better than most generic pickups. Another issue is the logo on the coils, which sticks out like a sore thumb.
Still, for a budget-friendly guitar pickup set, this is definitely quite good. It outclasses other cheap humbucker pickups that are usually very poorly made or sound terrible. It even comes with split coil ready wiring, which will appeal to DIY guitar modders and builders.
If you want a set of the best budget humbuckers that are affordable for your DIY guitar projects, then this is for you. It is one of the best guitar pickups on a budget.
Specifications
- Position: All (Humbucker Set)
- Magnet Material: Alnico 5
- Dimensions: Standard Humbucker
- String Spacing: Standard - 50mm/52mm for neck and bridge
- Available Colors/Covers: Black, Zebra
| Website | Source | *Rating Value |
| YouTube | Guitarnivore | 92/100 |
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Things to Consider When Buying Electric Guitar Pickups
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When you’re shopping for the best electric guitar pickups, you need to know the basics. This includes knowing the difference between single-coil and humbucker pickups. The main difference is their size and shape, with the former being smaller than the latter. This size difference means that you can't mix and match the two types without having to mod your guitar.
The two electric guitar pickup types also have different tone and resistance to noise. These are discussed in detail below:
Single Coil Pickups
These pickups have a brighter tone, emphasizing treble and mid-range frequencies. They also generally have lower output. This translates into lower volume, especially those with low ceramic DC resistance. This means that they don’t distort as easily, making them a great fit for genres that use less distortion and/or benefit from a bright tone. Think of blues, country, and surf.
The best single coil pickups for Strat usually have a nice snap and clarity without being shrill or harsh. Mellowed-out magnets commonly found in a vintage electric guitar pickup result in this quality. The downside to single coil pickups is they are susceptible to hum. Thankfully, there are now tools and workarounds for eliminating hum.
Humbucker pickups
These were designed to eliminate the 60-cycle hum static sound of single-coil pickups. Humbuckers have a warmer tone, emphasizing bass and low-mid frequencies. A good humbucker pickup generally has higher output than a single-coil pickup. resulting in more natural-sounding distortion.
Many consider vintage PAF pickups to be the best humbucker pickups. As such, PAF Humbuckers usually command a premium. But there are cheap alternatives that have gotten close to that desired tone.
It is possible to get humbucker pickups in a single coil size, like the Seymour Duncan Hot Rails. And there are single coil pickups in a humbucker size (for example P90 style pickups). This is a great way to get one sound or the other without performing major surgery on your guitar. Still, don't expect these pickups to sound exactly like their original-sized siblings.
A good way to get the benefit of the two pickup types is to get an HSS or HS guitar. These guitars combine a single coil neck and a humbucker bridge pickup. Eddie Van Halen helped popularize this concept with his modded Frankenstrat.
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Passive pickups
The majority of pickups are passive, there's no power source to boost their signal before it gets to the amp. Since they don't have batteries and extra electronics, they are easier to maintain. Because of their signal purity, passive pickups have a rich and musical clean tone. With some tweaks, they can also produce great sounding distorted tones.
Active pickups
Active pickups use batteries to boost and tweak their signal. They are considered great for heavy levels of distortion. But they don’t perform as well as passive pickups for anything else. The frequency range they produce is smaller to compensate for the extra frequencies that will be added in by distortion. Because of this, their clean tones usually sound sterile. However, their distorted tones are much more focused and dynamic.
Since the 2010's many metal players have used passive pickups since modelers don't need the output that active pickups put out. For the last couple of years, none of the active pickups on the market have either rated highly enough for us to recommend them, or they've been priced above the limit considered for this guide. Note that switching from passive to active pickups will require you to mod the body (modify) to make room for the extra electronics and a battery.
Unless you really know what you're doing, we don't recommend going to active pickups.
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String spacing refers to the distance between the center of your first pole piece (the little dot on top of your pickup) and your sixth. There are three main string spaces you’re going to run across with six-string guitars, standard (48 mm), f-spaced (51 mm), and Fender/single-coil (52-53 mm). These spacings sometimes go by different names.
Standard follows the original spacing used by Gibson. It includes guitars with traditional specs and fixed bridges. If you have a Floyd Rose equipped guitar, you’re going to want a pickup with f-spacing in the neck and bridge position.
Most single-coil equipped guitars should have the same spacing. The pole pieces are often close enough to the strings to get good tone and response. Unfortunately, some cheap imported single-coil pickups have slightly smaller string spacing.
Whenever you’re in doubt be sure to measure before you buy a pickup. So long as you buy a correctly labeled pickup for the position, you should be OK. I.e. buy a bridge pickup for your bridge position.
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Something you’re going to notice when you’re shopping around for guitar pickups is that you’ll find a lot of pickups that are sold in sets. The cool thing about a set of pickups is that they’re going to be balanced in volume and tone. They also give you consistent tone as you combine the pickups.
However, a lot of musicians like buying different pickups and then combining them in a single guitar to get access to a bunch of different tones. Some guitars even come from the factory like this. The most important thing to know about combining different pickups is that they won’t necessarily sound good together. If they don’t have the same level of output you may have to adjust your volume when switching between different pickups.
While there are drawbacks to combining different pickups, the benefits can be worth the hassle. Using different guitar pickups can make your instrument more flexible. It allows you to accurately reproduce tones from different genres without having to switch instruments. The combination you get from different pickups based on the position you select (like the middle position on a Les Paul, which combines both pickups) can also give you a unique guitar tone that you won’t have access to if you buy a set of pickups.
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These advanced wiring and switching techniques are ways to get additional versatility from your pickups and are often confused with one another and the terms commonly used interchangeably. Although the practical outcome is similar with both, there are some major differences in implementation.
Coil splitting refers to shutting down one of the coils in a humbucker pickup making it function essentially as a single coil (instead of dual-coil which humbucker pickups are) with brighter tone.
You would need to make sure that the humbucker pickup has 4 wires.
The humbucker pickups in this guide (including the single coil sized ones) either come with 4 conductor wiring or come in that option.
On the other hand, coil tapping is more rare and refers to single coil pickups having an extra wire running off the middle of the coil for a lower output, more vintage sounding option. For this version of the guide, the Quarter Pound Tele Set comes in a tapped version but for a higher price.
Single Coil vs. Humbucker
Active vs. Passive
Compatibility – Size and String Spacing
Buying Guitar Pickup Sets vs. Combining Different Pickups
Coil Tapping & Coil Splitting
Guitar Pickup Selection Methodology
The first edition was published in 2017 and the current edition was published on April 29, 2023.
Initially, we looked at various pickups that are available from major USA based retailers. For this 2023 edition, we decided to limit our scope to standard size pickups, in line with what affordable guitars are equipped with. This resulted in an initial list of the most promising 25 singles and 10 sets, which we examined further by gathering and analyzing relevant reviews, ratings and forum comments about each item, including the most recent sources up to April 2023. The data we gathered tallied to more than 13,400 sources, all of which were then fed into the Gearank Algorithm to produce a rating score out of 100 for each one which we used to narrow down the recommended list to just the highest rated. We divided our recommendations into two popular size-based categories - Single Coil and Humbucker. For more information about our methods see How Gearank Works.
About the Author and Contributors
Here are the key people and sources involved in this guide's production - click on linked names for information about their music industry backgrounds.
Lead Author & Researcher
Alexander Briones
I've written about and researched music gear for many years, while also serving as a music director at my local church, in addition to teaching guitar, bass and mentoring young musicians.
I consider myself a vintage tone connoisseur, so I prefer and recommend these types of pickups. The Fender Tex-Mex is a particular favorite of mine since it produces excellent tone for the genres of music I enjoy, and does so without breaking the bank.
Contributors
Mason Hoberg: Supplemental writing.
Raphael Pulgar: Supplemental writing.
Jason Horton: Editing and Illustrating.
Media
Main/Top Image: Compiled using photographs of the Fender Tex-Mex Strat Pickup Set and Wilkinson Vintage Tone Set.
The videos have been embedded in accordance with YouTube's Terms of Service.
The individual product images were sourced from websites, promotional materials or supporting documentation provided by their respective manufacturers.
Comments
The following pickups came
Submitted by Jason Horton on
The following pickups came off the recommended list when we published the October 2022 Edition:
Publication of our November
Submitted by Jason Horton on
Publication of our November 2021 Edition resulted in the following pickups coming off the recommended list above:
Our November 2020 update
Submitted by Jason Horton on
Our November 2020 update resulted in the following coming of the recommended list above, but you can still see our analysis of them:
I have 2 Chinese les paul’s &
Submitted by Jon Paul Agustsson (not verified) on
I have 2 Chinese les paul’s & one flyingV.
Both les pauls are 3 pickup black beauty's. I need 5 sealed gold hum buckers 3 are for a les paul & 2 are for a flying V - All 5 of these are covered & gold - the 3rd guitar needs sealed hum buckers but without covers all black with gold screws - black & gold not silver.
Hi Jon,
Submitted by Raphael Pulgar on
Hi Jon,
Many manufacturers offer custom covers or slug and screw colors so if you don't see a cover option from retailers, it's best to contact the manufacturer directly.
-Raphael
I have a Epiphone Less Paul
Submitted by Lloyd Taylor (not verified) on
I have a Epiphone Less Paul custom with three pickups. Where can I get a set of three and is the middle pick up also a bridge pickup ?
Hello Lloyd,
Submitted by Alexander Briones on
Hello Lloyd,
First, let me apologize for missing your question, especially since it pertains to an interesting topic - three humbucker pickup guitars.
From what I've gathered, the default configuration for triple humbuckers (as seen in Les Paul Custom models) is to use another neck pickup in the middle position. This means that you may want to get an extra neck humbucker if you want to stick to default setups.
Of course, you can go the opposite route depending on your tone preference. Just note that installing a bridge humbucker in the middle position will most probably result in a slightly hotter output and brighter sound.
I have yet to see a triple humbucker set that's readily available in the market, but there may be some retailers who can bundle a good trio of humbuckers for you. Good luck with your quest for tone.