Why is it so?

Why is it so... Fender?

So, why is it so that Fender use their best sounding Strat pickups in their entry-level made-in-Mexico Standard Stratocaster? I have been looking around at Fender Stratocastsr's and all their variants and of the seventy six I've tried, that I may be able to afford, my findings seem to always go back to the Mexi Std. There isn't much wrong with this out of the box other than a badly cut nut but that's not uncommon for most Fender's these days. What ever happened to QC as we knew it?

Radiused slugs.

Take a quick squiz at these couple of snaps I pinched from The Straosphere (great source of many parts) and you will notice the pole pieces, or should I say the ugly pot-metal slugs, and you will notice they are radiused to suit the radius of the fingerboard and strings. This gentle curve of the pole pieces make for a very even string balance between strings. These are the only Fender pickups I have come across that have this radius. Most pickups from Fender are either flat or have the old vintage stagger with a high 3rd string magnet next to a sunken 2nd string magnet. This results is a G string that is twice as loud as the B string. Why is it so? Back in the day, like way back in the day, this stagger was fine as with a wound 3rd the high stagger audibly made up for the imbalance of the quieter wound 3rd string.

Where the secret lies.

We hear a lot about the famous Fender 'ice picky' sound and a Strat with a SSS configuration with a single coil pickup in the bridge position can certainly draw blood. If we flip the Fender Standard pickups over (courtesy of The Stratosphere) even though it looks a bit of an ugly mess we see what appears to be two flat ceramic magnets resting against the metal slugs. I'm a big fan of ceramic magnets for any guitar pickups, humbuckers or singles as I believe they do have a rounder and less toppy sound, less ice picky. The construction of the Fender Standard's pickups is not dissimilar to a Gibson P90 which also had two magnets under the single coil either side of a steel beam with screws that appear as adjustable pole pieces on the top of the P90. No, I'm not saying the Fender Standard pickups sounds like P90's, only that the Standard is constructed the same way. I am convinced the Mexi Standard's pickup build, as it is with ceramic's against the slugs under the single coil, is the key to their pleasing tone. That, along with the radiused slugs, provide that even balance between the strings.

So, why is it so Fender that you put a great sounding pickup in your entry level Stratocaster and put unbalance ice-pickies in your expensive USA made instruments. Sounds like you believe the Alnico hype to me??