Seymour Duncan SSL-5 Custom Staggered

This is the pickup that Seymour Duncan personally wound for David Gilmour's Black Strat, for the bridge position. It has a vintage tone to it, but with a little extra punch! And I do mean punch!! I just finished the build two days ago and plugged it in. The tone is perfect! It is the David Gilmour sound. The Black Strat has undergone surgery so many times through the years, it's very difficult to follow along all the different configurations through the years. I was targeting specifically though, the Dark side of the Moon and The Wall recordings. After the Wall was finished, The Black Strat went under the screwdrivers and such and got rebuilt in several different ways. But the sound of his guitar on those recordings and on tour, is unmistakable. The neck and middle pups were the originals from Fender. I will address those in an other review. But if you still want that vintage Fender sound, but with a little extra sizzle you can't really get from Fender, this is your pickup!
Pro: Well it's exactly what I was looking for in a pup for this build. So I guess everything about it is a Pro...
Cons: SD pups are pretty expensive, when you match them up to some of the other winders out there. Normally unless a customer is asking for something specific, I just use Toneriders directly from the factory. It gives a nice Strat sound, without the expensive price tag with the Fender label on it. Especially if you are a licensed builder. But if you need that SD sound, there really isn't an option. Or if your customer requests it, then you always pass on the extra cost to them.
Wrap Up: Seymour Duncan pickups are really great products. They are probably in more professional musicians than any other guitars in the world. Seymour has cultivated relationships with just about all of the greats that we love to listen to, and are part of the reason they have their signature sound. Are you looking for that specifically? You can't go wrong. There are many other great pickup winders out there, many you can get at Thomann, unfortunately. I wish that wasn't the case, but facts are facts. But if you need that little something more, then somewhere in the SD catalog, is a pickup with your name on it.

I swapped the bridge fender CS 69 pickup fro the Seymour Duncan SSL-5 because I was looking for a hotter single coil in that position, and I was blown away. Rolling back the volume pot can make the SSL-5 pickup sound sweet, like a regular low output single coil pick up, without sounding quacky or piercing, yet when the volume is rolled all the way up, it can sound super gainy, almost like a humbucker while keeping the single string definition.
The clean sounds that I get from this pickup through my Triaxis rhythm green channel are the most gorgeous cleans I ever heard. Absolutely amazing.

A very nice and powerful bridge pickup sound for all Stratocaster style guitars, without sounding dull like many humbuckers. While it lacks the clarity or definition of a vintage-style single coil, it has much more power and midrange. Best of both worlds, so to say. The SSL-5 is perfect for the lead guitarist that likes to play solos, or anyone who likes to rock out with a strat!
I found the cables to be a little thinner than expected. The cover I wanted to use with this pickup did not fit at first, because the cables come out at the side of the pickup. With a little cable-bending it worked, though I'm not to keen about the extra strain this puts on the thin cables. I'd like it even better if this was done the "traditional" way.