Lollar® Strat Vintage Blonde® Set – Parchment

I have been playing guitar for 23 years. I live in NYC – (no shortage of choices & options). I have tried many different pickups. I wanted the ability to achieve the guitar tones of: SRV, Gilmour, Trower, Knopfler & Nile Rodgers. In 2019 I purchased a Custom Suhr Strat – which had been upgraded, with the Lollar Dirty Blonde Set. I am super-picky, and not easily impressed. I was honestly Blown-away. I never knew what “Bloom” meant, with regard to a guitar pickup. They Sound Phenomenal. My tone-search has ended. I highly recommend giving them a listen. Jason Lollar has captured that glassy, bell-like, Vintage Stratty sound.

This is the best combination i`ve heard in a stratocaster period!! I initially had a full blonde set but the bridge pickup just didnt have enough output for me so I went ahead and got a Special bridge and my tone quest is not complete for my stratocaster!! Do yourself a favour and get the Dirty Blonde set you wont regret it!!!

After decades of owning a much-loved Anderson Classic, I recently removed the stock pickups and installed a Dirty Blonde set. The Lollars are everything I’d hoped for and more – clear, full, bright without being piercing, and incredibly touch sensitive. Simply put, I can’t imagine a more musical Strat-style pickup and I wish I’d made the pickup change years ago.

I had eyed this set for several years. I got the full blonde set for my 2006 American Deluxe Strat. That Strat was hardly played because the switching and noiseless pickups of the era just had no vibe. I finally pulled the trigger and just wow. The highest compliment I can pay is that I just can’t stop playing the guitar. The sound is pure SRV/Mayer/Jimi goodness. 60 cycle hum and I don’t care. There is now *life* to my guitar and overtones I have never heard. Highly recommend and am now eying the Tele pickups for my other main.

Replaced a set of (quite decent) Tex Mex pickups in a 60th Anniversary Strat. Neck pickup with tons rolled back 0-1 might as well be a jazz humbuckers. Open the tone and it has a good deal of the Special neck’s “Gibsonesque” tonality. Middle on its own is as good as any middle pickup anywhere in this solar system. I never play in the middle position but that will soon change. I had the 2nd tone knob wired so the bridge and neck can blend and, boy what a wonderful sound that makes! The bridge pickup is as sweet and round and biting as any I’ve heard. But the truly distinctive feature is just what is described—the blonds are PHENOMENALLY responsive to pick attack, making this Strat the go-to for rhythm and comping and then simply bringing the hammer down for lead playing. I could gush further, but if you’re on this site, and you’re reading this, A) you’re total dork and B) you know just how good the Lollar product is. The absolute best in the biz, and the blondes stand out as the best of the best. One PS: if you’re concerned about power, don’t be. These vintage range coils really pack a punch.

Muy buenas

I have a very sweet CS ’55 RI (complete with Custom wound pickups) – sounded beautiful, acoustically, but I could never get the sound I wanted when I plugged it in. I listened to a review or two and ordered the “Dirty Blonde” set. Results: it was like someone removed the wet blanket from the guitar – it was open and airy, chime and all……Glorious!

I just redid my Tele as a Nashville, with a Tele bridge, a P-90 50’s wind neck, and a Strat Blonde in the middle. This pickup pairs perfectly with either of those. I have the guitar wired so the middle is on a switch to be added to the normal Tele 3-way, as I, like many players, don’t use the middle on its own much. It really makes the neck P-90 sound like a Strat in the neck-mid position, with all that great jangly funky tone you’d expect. Absolutely a great product!

I went with the “Dirty Blonde” set, which just replaces the blonde bridge pickup with a higher output bridge pickup. I’m incredibly impressed, and I’ll try to be objective without rambling too much. I’ve had and played Strats for 30 years with all kinds of pickups. With vintage Fender, low output pickups, I was usually uninspired by the middle pickup. Sometimes the bridge pickup is like an ice pick to the ears. Lollar has somehow figured out how to make a set that sounds totally “Stratty,” but just better. Warmth without mud. Clarity without midrange hype. Describing sound with words is like describing a sunset to somebody who has been blind from birth, but these are the best sounding Strat pickups I’ve ever played through, and theee isn’t a close 2nd. EVERY position makes me want to stay on it. The bridge is a totally usable rhythm sound, but will quack like a duck with the right attack. The middle pickup could literally be the only one that worked, and you could still play 4 sets a night without frustration. The neck is Butter. Any combination just works beautifully. I don’t know what secret sauce has gone into this set, but whatever it is, it is appreciated, and it will be appreciated for years to come. Yeah, a set costs damn near as much as some decent guitars, and it’s totally worth it.

Perfect!!!