Seymour Duncan SSL4 Quarter Pound Strat Single-Coil Pickup

SD QPs are the PUs that Ritchie Blackmore (Deep Purple, Rainbow) used for the middle part of his career (I'm guessing mid 70s to early 90s). They are great for reproducing his tone if you have a "clean" but sustained Marshall sound going already. To my ear they get too muddy under heavy distortion from say a JCM 800 series on max gain and volume, in contrast for example to Dimarzio HS-3s which retain their clarity. Blackmore tended to use one QP each in the neck and bridge positions wired for 3 way switching (the middle position is a mix of the two). The middle pu slot was left empty with a dummy pu cover.

These pickups will hum but I've never had problems with them feeding back undesirably on me (even with little or no shielding) and I have used them in stock guitars (RB limited edition strat) and in ones I wired myself. Although to me the Silver Fender Lace Sensors are a good sonic alternative they tend to muddy up clean tones unlike the QPs which sound nice as you roll back the volume or use them without any overdrive.

Bottom line is they sound good for the right kind of music (progressive or rock) and with a judicious amount of overdrive/distortion. If your looking for bell tones, get something more vintage.

Value:
For what I payed, I am very pleased with the performance of this pickup.

Desirability:
I've had a few people mention that they'd like to try one in their axe as a result of hearing mine.

Sound:
'Just installed a Quarter Pound at the neck in my Ernie Ball Silhouette Special. Tone is very warm, with great output. It hangs pretty well with the two humbuckers in my guitar. The only draw back is that I have to work at keeping the clarity on the high end. It's GREAT for blues and mildly-overdriven rock styles.

Overall:
A long time...at least until I get the 'tone bug' again and start trying to find another sound. I am very happy now.