EMG57/66 Pickup Set, Brushed Chrome

I put a set of these in my Strat and now it sounds much the same, but ‘more’. The tone didn’t change as such, it was indeed like the difference between singles and buckers in the same guitar. (Which kind of sheds light on those who say you can change the tone of a guitar via pups, which is not true. The guitar always has the same ‘BASIC' tone, but you can enhance that tone making your guitar more playable.)So it still sounds like a Strat, YES even when clean, these pups don’t sound flat like regular EMG's, and yet it drives harder and pinches harmonics easier, yes easier to play.I wouldn’t try to use them for metal on a Strat though, they are just a bit behind where you need to be, and maybe too fruity. And then I also have them in my LTD EC-1000. Which you could push to a metal sound as it has more sustain, and yet there’s a few fruity nuances in there, again not flat like the 81 85’s. In my mind 81 85 / 81 60 are best for metal.All in all I like them ..... but then tone is illusive isn’t it. In my opinion your guitar will always have it’s own basic tone, I had a Squire Strat once that was sweet for no real reason, everyone loved the tone. I sold that and bought a real fender, the one I have now, and it is a good tone, but not as good as the Squire.... My advice? Never upgrade a guitar you don’t like the sound of, all you’ll get is that tone in another voicing.And yeah, I put these pups in three different guitars and they all sound different.Think of them more as a very hot passive humbucker.