Fender CS 54's and 57/62's

[tony parnham]

For anyone interested in the outcome of this thread I decided to take up Dave Robbo's offer of hearing some 57/62's and contacted him. he actually went one better and lent me a Mex strat similar to my own to try out at home with my particular set which is a Magicstomp with a Small line 6 Amp, (I use this paricular amp because I play other genre's of music so I try to strike a happy medium with both).
As soon as I played Dave's guitar I noticed it immediately had tamed down the brightness of the Magicstomp with my set up which was very welcome as I know quite a few bedroom players have had trouble with this. I've had a number of guitars at my home over the last couple of years including one with Abigail Ybarra pickups which also came out bright, so I was impressed.
Yesterday I sent for the 57/62's fitted them this morning and my Fiesta Red 50's Classic player sounds great and I'm very pleased.
I took Dave's guitar back today and was privvy to a demo fo 5 or 6 of his guitars with different pickups played through his MS Yamaha Mixer and Studio monitors. The guitars ranged from Approx cheapy put together £150 or so to a sunburst Masterbuilt but could still achieve those vintage quack sounds . I have to say the sound was excellent and it was close with them all but I think for me the Masterbuilt had the edge. The final guitar was an orange Gretch which really sounded the business and just had that old Duane Eddy sound.
Thanks to everyone's input on the thread and to 'Robbo' for giving me the opportunity to try the pickups in my own home with my own set up which actually made my mind up. Like Alan Bakewells colourful description of factors determining the outcome I think it does depend on your own set up and perception of what sound you want. But if you have the opportunity, try any gear in the context of your existing stuff first if you can.
Tony