VINTAGE SPEC 1964 STRAT SET – THE “CBS” EDITION 

Corporate Takeover. Unintentional Perfection. The Last Great Accident in Strat Tone.

🎸 INSPIRED BY EARLY CBS-ERA 1964 STRATS

In late 1964, CBS took over Fender—but the tone didn’t fall off a cliff overnight.
For a brief moment, guitars were still built using Leo’s original parts, staff, and specs—but with looser oversight and a growing obsession with mass production.

That weird overlap created a perfect storm:
Some of the most alive, raw, and expressive Strat pickups ever made.

We reverse-engineered a transitional 1964 Strat set from this exact window—
where CBS owned the company but Leo’s ghost still ran the shop.

🧪 BUILT FROM A REAL TRANSITIONAL STRAT SET

The set we cloned came from an early CBS-era Strat with all-original pickups.

• Alnico magnets & Aged Plain Enamel wire with a less “clinical” tension pattern. This set moves air and cuts through mixes with authority.

🔥 THE EDGE OF GREATNESS… BEFORE THE FALL

This isn’t clean-cut vintage.
It’s vintage with a snarl.

The CBS Set gives you:

• Warmth in the top end

• Punchy mids that aren’t afraid to shout

• Slightly boosted output that hits the front of your amp harder
  

✅ HANDMADE TO EXACTING (AND IMPERFECT) STANDARDS

• All pickups voiced, wound, and aged by hand

• Every detail matched to our transitional 1964 reference set

• Fully tested, labeled, and drop-in ready

🏆 WHY PROS CHOOSE TONESPEC

We’ve cloned legends: Holmes, Arlo & David White.
And we only release a set if it meets or beats the real thing.

That’s why Grammy-winning composers, tone-obsessed session cats, and elite players trade in their “premium” brands for VintSpec.

ToneSpec doesn’t build for mass market.
We build for players who know the real thing when they hear it—and won’t settle.

⚠️ LIMITED AVAILABILITY – BUILT IN SMALL BATCHES

Only a few sets available.
Once these are gone, they won’t be reissued.

If you want the sound of the last great Strat pickups before CBS brought the bean counters in—
This is your moment.

💬 Questions?
We accept trades from most major pickup brands.
Check the trade-in program here or message us directly.

💥 UNFILTERED VINTAGE STRAT TONE – WITH TEETH

It’s messy. It’s brilliant. It’s 1964, right at the tipping point.
And now it’s yours—if you’re ready to upgrade from average to elite.

HOW TO BUY

Serious Guitarists rely on VintSpec Pickups in all of their guitars because they deliver a serious advantage over guitars with cheap, stock or vintage pickups. Our proprietary techniques make all other pickups obsolete. 

It's tone you can feel & once you experience it, you'll never play guitars with anything less than ToneSpec Pickups. You can easily join our roster of guitarists with top-notch tone by following these easy steps to get started:

1. Watch the video below that explains our process. 
2. Contact us to inquire about ordering. CONTACT US TO ORDER

Professional Testimonials

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“These pickups respond just like vintage pickups. What makes them better than vintage pickups is that each set is consistent. You don’t don’t get that with vintage pickups…some are great & some are duds.  The Tone Specific’s always sound amazing. There's nothing else like these on the market.”

-Dan Courtenay, Vintage Guitar Expert

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"These are the best pickups I've ever used. I'm so happy to have these in my guitars. They are better than vintage pickups. I was shocked to discover they are even better than the Arlo's. They just feel & sound amazing. Man you are a Genius. "

- Will Crosby, Legendary Guitarist (BB King, Aretha Franklin, Mavis Stables)

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“It sounds like the have Tubes in them...almost three dimensional. They just sound really sweet. I don’t how they do it but they even feel sweet. Just like vintage pickups but with more sustain and less noise. They are just amazing”

-Mike Gallaher, Legendary Guitarist - Joe Cocker, Leon Russell

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"Just like vintage pickups only better. They have this dynamic thing going on kind of like a great tube amp. I imagine this is what new vintage pickups sounded like back in the 50's & 60's"

-Dani Robinson, Blues Guitarist (Performs Jimi parts w/Billy Cox Experience)

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"They sound better than all of the other pickups I've used. I think they even send better than the Arlo's. I'll be using them in my future builds."

-Ken McKay, Luthier

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