Top notch pickups by a top notch brand, dont be confused - they are not just for malmsteen sound as you would expect, but great for any kind of rock music, sure, twang is gone but these pups will not disapoint you if you are looking exactly for strat with single coil sound, but with no harsh, I did a pickup swap for mint green and knobs for vintage looking one on my XSC Xotic strat, anyway there is nothing wrong with this set, I just didnt like that clean white new look :)