Your cart is empty.
Your cart is empty.The Tonerider TRS5 set is designed just like the original '54 & '55 Strat pickups that defined an entire genre of music. Moderate output (relatively high for a pickup from this era), and warm sustained tone is what defines the Surfari pickups.
Armagosa
Reviewed in the United States on May 10, 2024
I have a good Strat that came with modern ceramic pickups. The ceramics sounded okay for heavy distortion but poor for any classic Strat tones. My guitar is a 2012 MIJ ’54 with fat maple neck, 7.25” radius, two tone sunburst ash body that weighs 7 pounds even. Technically speaking, the Surfaris come with A3 magnets and a vintage wind. The middle pickup is RWRP. The set I received measured to published resistance on my ohmmeter. These Tonerider Surfaris sound AMAZING! I now have the best Strat I’ve ever owned! Yes, they do nail early surf music, like The Ventures. The balance of lows, mids and highs is perfect in all 5 switch positions. Position 2 & 4 give excellent quack. These pickups don’t get shrill, spikey or harsh. There is no “Stratitus”.I was ready to spend 3X as much on some vintage style pickups but I’m glad I gave the Tonerider Surfaris a try. They are great for surf, 50’s rock and roll, blues and classic rock. The only “con” is that they sound a little dark when rolling down the 250K tone pot with a standard .05 mfd tone cap. I may swap out the cap for a .033 mfd. Surfaris are fantastic. 5 stars all the way and back.
jebus
Reviewed in the United States on September 4, 2023
I bought a dirt cheap guitar to work on and wound up putting some tonerider pickups in it. I was blown away by the upgrade and played it more than my American made guitars. I just replaced the Yosemite pickups in my strat with these and they have completely changed my strat. I love it again it sounds amazing and it plays better. I don't understand how that's even possible but it responds to the slightest nuance. I'm buying these for every guitar I can find and maybe a few for guitars I don't have yet. I absolutely love them.
Customer
Reviewed in the United States on August 2, 2022
I don't usually write reviews, but these pickups are phenomenal. Replaced the stock pickups in my Squier Stratocaster, and discovered amazing chime, clarity, and articulation. I had one shorted pick up in the set. I contacted the company, and they sent me three new pickups! Amazing customer service, great product. I've since bought a half a dozen other Tonerider pickups for my other guitars, including humbuckers and p90s; every one has exceeded my expectations. Highly recommended!
Michael Grondin
Reviewed in the United States on October 8, 2022
I’ve been playing for too many years my whole life amd started getting into gear and audio over 20 years ago … these are in the same league as custom shop pickups and boutiques buildersThe chimes and quack is outstanding … they are sensitive and dynamic … I rewired the whole pickguard with CTS 250k pots and orange drop .47 cap instructions and diagram are included . I paid double for fender Texas special that we’re just kinda ok sounding and harsh on the highs … they are a steal and will make u smile like I did
Tim D.
Reviewed in the United States on March 17, 2021
These pickups are very well made and sound great. They were packaged nicely as well. Thanks Tonerider!
Alexis Fitzgerald
Reviewed in the United States on February 6, 2021
When I got my set, the middle pickup was bad. It happens no one is perfect. I sent an email to Toneriders customer service and had a response in less than an hour asking for a shipping address. The replacement shipped from the Uk the next morning, and got to me in Indianapolis in 3 days. With these pickups installed, my old ‘84 Ibanez road star II has a tone that rivals any American made strat. Couldn’t be more pleased with the pickups and Tonerider as a company.
Erick Kendall
Reviewed in the United States on October 26, 2020
I went back and forth on these or GFS AlNico II pickups. I heard good things on the tone riders, and I was not disappointed. I wired these into a seven tone configuration on my non-trem frankenstrat. The tone is unreal, not just for the money, but for any single coil. The bridge is a little thin clean, but sounds great with a bit of crunch. The neck is probably the best neck pickup I have ever heard. This also produces a superior tone when selecting mid/neck. Think Mark Knopfler sultans tone. With the bridge/neck selected (with a pull switch), coupled with the string through body, I am getting authentic tele twang! Definitely worth the money and more. I would put this set up against any boutique, hand wound, small batch, $300+ pickup set.
George Smith
Reviewed in the United States on August 14, 2019
Installed the Tonerider Surfaris and what a difference. These pickups are not high output single coils but are say medium output with no sharp tones, they are very balanced and make a Stratocaster sound like it should in all positions. the #4 & #2 positions produce the sweetest quack, the bridge alone has a sweet tone without the icepicky tone of the previous pickups. The neck pickup is perfect, not in your face but just right with a balanced mix of highs and lows. There is plenty of high end in the set of 3 and I find that I roll down my tone and they sound fat and full with overdrive. I'm very satisfied with my purchase. These pickups are why you have a Stratocaster. I find I'm reaching for my strat more and playing clean through a Marsh Princeton Clone with a 12" Weber Alnico speaker. The Surfaris replaced Texas Specials in an American Special Series Strat. What an improvement.
jm
Reviewed in France on May 2, 2019
Montés sur une vieille Vester, ils procurent un super son, très vintage. Très bon rapport qualité/prix.Attention, les vis ne sont pas fournies.
Inma
Reviewed in Spain on March 18, 2018
Magníficas pastillas para quien busque un sonido de Stratocaster años 50. El timbre es precioso, dulce y muy claro. Muy musical, con buena dinámica, agudos deliciosos, con filo pero no hirientes al oído, buenos medios y bajos moderados. El limpio es cristalino y muy definido.Con overdrive suave se consiguen unos sonidos con muchísima personalidad. Si buscas un sonido con más pegada, más blusero, tipo SRV, Frusciante, Hendrix, etc, se te pueden quedar cortas, pero si buscas el sonido de The Shadows, Mark Knopfler, incluso David Gilmour, estas pastillas no te van a defraudar. En cuanto a la construcción, no soy un experto, pero me dan la impresión de estar bien construidas. En resumen, me parecen unas pastillas excelentes en su rango de precios.
Cliente
Reviewed in Italy on December 12, 2018
Ottimi pick up per stratocaster. Costruiti molto bene e con un suono molto articolato e dinamico . Si installano facilmente basta un po' di manualità nel saldare. Consigliati a chi cerca un prodotto con ottimo rapporto qualità prezzo
Gisbert
Reviewed in Germany on October 6, 2018
Diese Pickups sind jeden Euro wert. Ich habe sie in eine MÉXICO STANDART STRATOCASTER eingebaut. Die original Pickups waren mir einfach zu ,, schrill“. Die TONERIDERS klingen dagegen, genau so, wie ich es mir vorgestellt habe. Toller ,, KNOPFLER-SOUND“ in den Schalterpositionen 2 und 4 .Der Hals-Pickup klingt bei mir wie ein Telecaster-Hals-Pickup. Die Pickups erzeugen den mir sehr zusagenden ,,schmatzenden Knopfler-Sound“. Glockenhell , aber nicht zu scharf und absolute Smoothie-Klänge sind mit den Pickups problemlos machbar. Eine absolute Aufwertung meiner México Stratocaster BJ 2002. Ich habe keinen Vergleich mit den teuren Marken , die bis zu 3mal soviel wie die TONERIDER kosten. Aber diese TONERIDER- Pickups sind der absolute Hammer für mein persönliches Klang-Empfinden. Ich liebe KNOPFLER UND DIRE STRAITS UND DIESE PICKUPS. Wer mit seiner Stratocaster auch mit stärker verzerrten Sounds spielen möchte, der sollte aber meiner Meinung nach auf andere Pickups zurückgreifen. Blues,-Crunch-oder Hardrock ist gerade noch machbar , aber High-Gain ist nicht die Stärke dieser Pickups. Ich benutze für härtere Sounds eine Gibson Les Paul und die Clean-Sachen spiele ich mit meiner Stratocaster und da haben diese Tonerider Pickups absolut ihre Stärke. Ist alles meine persönliche Meinung , aber von mir gibt es eine klare Kaufempfehlung 👍👍👍👍👍🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Mr. M. Kostyrka
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 27, 2017
Yes, I can recommend these. I purchased these as an upgrade to put into a Musicman Cutlass guitar, which is basically a Stratocaster with a few refinements. They are supposed to simulate Fender 54 style pickups which use alnico 3 magnets giving a very low output which translates into a very musical bell like sound which has the ability to cut through other sounds well on a track. They do definitely have a lot of cut but also will mellow up as you move towards neck position and dial the tone down a bit. The other great plus is even output across the strings- nothing as irritating as having a weak signal on a string, usually top E. These pickups do seem to be vey popular, well priced and my guitar tech likes them. This is my third set of Toneriders for various guitars I own or have owned, a good set being the Alnico II Humbuckers for my SG guitar which are give a PAF type sound which is an early type of Gibson pup giving quite a musical bell like sound- I can vouch for this as I'm generally not a lover of humbuckers, but the Alnico IIs are almost as musical as good single coils.
Recommended Products
$238.00
$ 99 .00 $99.00