Customer Feedback for the IronGear Pig Iron
"Just Replaced a Seymour Duncan hot rail ( YES A SEYMOUR DUNCAN!) With a Pig Iron overwound and I have to say the tone from this pickup is just flawless. For the price, build quality, tone and what it is capable of, you wont find anything better so don't even bother looking and order these monsters! I have standard Pig Irons in the neck and middle positions of my Gilmour Strat and the Seymour just didn't seem right. But now it does! I have been so blown away with the sound of these pickups that I have loaded my Fender Strat with Pig Irons as well! The stock pups where so dreary compared to these! This Strat now sounds like Gilmour's and it plays and looks the part too! Next build is a #0001 Strat with the Smoke Stacks or the Texas Loco's. Time to give the rest of your pickup range a test! Keep up the good work guys! Can't wait to see more Strat pickups. Some Actives might be nice ;)" - Lewis Stevenson, Devon
 
"I bought the Pig Iron pickup to replace the stock bridge pickup in my '96 Fender Stratocaster and I was amazed at how much better the guitar sounded. In fact, when I had a gig later that week and plugged my Strat in and started a few warm-up chords somebody came up to me and said "That is THE Strat sound!!!!" to which I replied that the sound came from your company. For the price, quality and sound, they are seriously hard to fault! I'll definitely be recommending you to friends/musicians I encounter. Keep it up!" - Josh Thomas, South Wales
 
"The sound from my old Raptor was beyond poor and I came across your web-site and saw the great feedback. I thought for the price, a set of Pig Iron was worth the risk…they arrived as promised in double quick time and I fitted them with the kit the same night and WOW I was blown away by the sound! (as is everybody else who now hears it!!!) I would also like to congratulate you on the excellent help and flexibility in ordering. There was limited space behind the scratch plate and I had great help from you advising as to the pots etc and you changed the standard re-wiring pack to suit me at no extra cost! Quality!!! I have already recommended you to others!" - David Playford, Bristol
 
"I put in the Pig Irons this weekend to replace my Lace sensors and combined with my Hot Rails the tone I am now getting is spot on... In all fairness they have far exceeded my expectations and I really did not expect them to be as close to the likes of Texas Specials as they are. For that price they really cannot be beaten and I am absolutely over the moon." – Mark, Ilkeston
 
“I wanted to improve a cheap Squier Strat I bought to use with a "pub" band (I never owned a Strat and the material really needed one). So I bought a Pig Iron for the bridge as an experiment - at £18.90 it seemed worth the risk. It was the cheapest I could find, and the user feedback and sound clips convinced me. What a revelation!!! Beautiful clean tone, responsive, and almost no noise. So I just had to get the other 2 pickups - I couldn't stand the other Squier pickups - coarse-sounding and noisy. I can now do Marvin, Gilmour, Rea, Greeny, Clapton, Hendrix and the rest (with a little help from a Zoom GFX-4 pedal). This is now my favourite all-purpose guitar after 40 years of playing, and by far the cheapest!!! I recommend IronGear and Axetec to anyone wanting to get more out of any guitar - if in doubt about anything, email Keith who responded immediately with very helpful setup advice. Thanks!” - Mick, South Wales
 
“Having been very impressed with my recent purchase of Rolling Mills installed in my Love Rock, I thought I'd give the Pig Irons a go in my Mex Std Strat. My other Strat has a SD hot rail in the bridge and a DM FS1 at the neck (I tend to play predominantly in positions 1 & 5 on this guitar) but I wanted this guitar to retain classic Strat aesthetic with but with improved tone. 24 hr delivery again…fitted on Friday evening! They are a massive improvement on the stock pickups, they are more powerful but more importantly deliver that Strat tone, smooth, sweet but warm, clear almost bell like in every position. What I have found is that I'm using my pickup selector a lot more as they are so well balanced and the out of phase positions (2 & 4) are wonderful (so buy a set rather than single pickups). I'm especially impressed with the bridge pickup, which IMHO is the hardest to get right with a single coil unit and why I've previously gone for a single coil sized humbucker. It’s great, strong warm and smooth really delivers those pinch harmonics, they really sing! Just a little compression/sustain and it more than satisfies my critical ear.” - Stuart, West Yorkshire
 
“Thank you for the quick delivery of my order, I have fitted the Pickups (Neck & middle Pig Iron and an Alchemist 90) to an Old Sunn Mustang Strat copy (I have replaced the original Bridge Humbucker with the Alchemist) a bit of an unusual setup !! What a difference in sound! I did expect an improvement but the change is remarkable, all the classic Strat sounds are there plus that extra something that P90’s seem to have. The Electric kit was first rate too!! I would no hesitation in recommending your pick ups. By the way the strings are pretty good too!" – John, Hull
 
“I had already fitted Pig Irons to my Squier Strat (and my Ibanez Blazer. But then I wanted to get a harder-driving edge from the Squier for certain material - the Pigs can't really bite like a good humbucker. I considered fitting a bridge Jailhouse Rail - I could still keep the slanted orientation and tap it for a Strat sound. Only thing was, would I lose a touch of that beautiful Pig Iron sound in tapped mode? Then my lovely practical wife wondered why I couldn't keep the Pig Iron and just add a second pickup. So I went for it - another Pig Iron middle pickup to guarantee proper humbucking. So a little careful cutting and I installed it tight to the bridge pup, fitted backward to allow for the wiring. The staggered poles are actually near enough right even this way round! I added switching to wire it in series to get the bridge humbucking sound, I also took the opportunity to wire some other series combinations - Brian May wires his single coil Burns pups this way, hence his distinctive sounds. Of course, the new pickup could be height-adjusted separately, and I soon found a level that gave me what I wanted to hear from a bridge humbucker. WOWWWWWWW! Now it's several guitars in one! Still got all the vintage Strat sounds I love, the powerful drive sound I wanted, plus excellent May-ish sounds. The only hard part was figuring out the wiring for the extra series combinations without mucking up the Strat sounds - just adding the humbucker would have been easy!To say I'm pleased with the result would be a ridiculous understatement! By the way, the Squier now has more Axetec equipment on it than original - pickups, machine heads, graphite nut, roller trees, fingerplate & screws, pots, hook-up wire, plus amp leads, and OH YES strings! Please keep up the good work, and the prices down!” - Mick, South Wales
 
"I put three Pig Irons in my (very) cheap Strat copy. Once in and plugged into my Peavey Classic 30 they sounded great. They sound absolutely beautiful I am very pleased. Especially impressive are the clean sounds from all three pickups and although I could make this guitar sound better than a £400 Strat this makes it sound like the real deal." - Steve, London
 
"Well I read all the reviews. Listened to the sound-clips. And of course the customer feedback. Still there was a nagging doubt at the back of my mind. Can IronGear they really be that good, at that price? Well the Pig Iron (Overwound) set arrived with a Sprague Orange drop cap for less than a tank full of petrol. They certainly looked the part and appeared to be very well made. Out came the old Squier Strat that I picked on cheap on "You know who". It was basically sound with a good set up and nice action but the ceramic pups were pretty dire. Strange neck profile, but not uncomfortable. I have more exotic electric's and all more expensive by far but now the humble Chinese Squier can live with the best of them. Using my Jim Reed Strat with Kent Armstrongs as a reference point, the Pig Irons o/w have plenty of power but it is controlled with very good string separation. The tone is very pleasing and each position gives a well defined different sound. 1,2,3 & 4 are familiar territory and pure quality. 5 unleashes the beast of the high output bridge pick-up, Nerve shattering shimmering treble! The Jim Reed has a slightly different character, more open and extreme quack in the 2 & 4 positions but it does have a different tone-wood in the body which should make a difference. The Kent Armstrong's would have cost more of course but that hardly matters when the Pig Iron's put out heaps of well rounded tone with plenty of midrange and controlled bass. I tended to leave Squier out so I can grab it compose songs (mostly unplugged) Not any more! Amped up from now on. Great product! Great price! I wont hesitate to buy from IronGear again." Thanks Martin. Saffron Walden.
 
"Thought it was about time I sent a little review. I've been playing for 35 yrs and modding/building 20 yrs. Have just finished a Jem project which I loaded with Dirty Torque bridge, Pig Iron overwound middle, Blues Engine neck. The results astounding seriously professional tones in all positions. This baby can handle just about any guitar tone from the 50's through to 80's metal with aplomb, via selector switch, tone and volume controls. For the musician looking for the superstrat to do it all I highly recommend this set up. If the Seymour JB and Dimarzio PAFPRO & Tonezone had a balanced love child it would be the Dirty Torque. When people say the EVO2 cleans up beautifully the DT has it nailed. The Pig Iron overwound middle sits well on a H-SC-H superstrat guitar blending well volume-tone wise. Many change their humbuckers and leave the stock single coil, try the PI, I've got it in this position on 3 superstrats between different pups always works well. In pos 2-3-4 Strat Strat Strat. The Blues Engine neck in a superstrat is more like a fat single coil, gravity storm thing. back down the tone into classic PAF territory it handles chords, riffs, tapping and sweep picking equally well. I have a number of IronGear pups in my guitars alongside Seymour, Dimarzio and Bareknuckle I think that speaks for itself. Keep up the good work IRONGEAR." - Paul, Derbyshire
 
"I have to say, this is my 3rd purchase of IronGear pickups and yet again I'm blown away. I set myself a target of building a Strat guitar on a budget and the Pig Irons were the final piece of the jigsaw. I wanted a guitar that would sound purer and give it a Clapton tone, without the massive budget. Bought a used 50th Anniversary Squier Strat for £45 and changed the whole pickguard setup, new pots,wiring,copper shielding and finally these pickups.I now have a guitar that sounds just as good as a Fender Strat for less than £135. These are the best SC pickups I have ever used, and I am blown away. Thanks to all the guys at IG for more great work. I own 4 electrics and all but one have IG pickups. BUY THESE NOW!!! forget any of the big name hitters, get the same (if not better) pickup for a tad of the price.” - Lee Gordon, Luton
 
 
 
£25.95 inc. VAT
From
AVAILABLE HERE
Worldwide Shipping via Axetec Ltd
Specification & Product Details
Bridge = 52mm, Middle = 52mm, Neck = 50mm
Custom Etched Fibre
Length: 84 mm x Width: 23 mm x Height: 17 mm (including base)
Black, White or Parchment Covers. Overwound Version (All Positions)
250kOhm Pots, .047µF Tone Capacitor(s)
Single Coil for Stratocaster®
2-Wire
Bridge: 9.2kOhm, Middle(RW/RP): 7.5kOhm, Neck: 7.5kOhm
AlNiCo II/V
Supplied complete with screws and springs
Pole Spacing:
Baseplate Material:
Dimensions:
Options:
Recommended Components:
Format:
Conductors:
DC Resistance (Overwound):
Magnet Type:
42/43 AWG enamel
Coil Wire:
Everything from Hank to Hendrix! :-)
Included:
Applications:
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Soundclips:
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YouTube:
Bridge: 6.2kOhm, Middle(RW/RP): 6.0kOhm, Neck: 5.8kOhm
DC Resistance:
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Overwound" means adding a few more turns in order to increase output while retaining the essential character of the pickup.
Supplementary Information:
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Price & Availability
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Classic Single Coil Pickups for Strat®

If you want that classic guitar to sound like, well, a classic guitar - then you want Pig Iron! Everyone should have these tones in their armoury. From Hank to Hendrix, this classic pickup has been fundamental in some of the most recognisable tones in guitar history. The Pig Iron really delivers with precision, clarity and warmth and will really help to provide the full potential of your Strat®.
 
The overwound version of the Pig Iron gives a little more "poke"  and can really help drive the front end of you amp.
 
Don't forget you can take a "pick n mix" approach to our Pig Iron and Texas Loco pickups for Strat® so it's easy to make up a custom set that is perfect for your playing style.
 
The Pig Iron is available with Black, White or Parchment covers.
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