Neck pickup for strat

[Matt]

I have a Fender Mexican strat and I'm looking for a different neck pickup.  It currently has a Heavy Blues or something like that, can't remember for sure.  Anyway it's a bit dark.  The bridge pickup is a hot rails with a single coil/hum buckler switch.  Middle I think is stock which sounds fine to me.

I'm looking at a few Seymour Duncan's:
1. SSL-1 vintage
2. SSL 52 Five Two
3. APS-2 alnico 2 pro

Anyone have experience with any of these?  Any recommendations?

[GermanCdn]

The alnico pros in an alder body are nice, on an ash body they can be a bit trebly.  The five twos have a good rep, though I have never played one. 

Personally, my current fave SD strat pickup is the vintage rails.

[murdog47]

I have three different sets of Dale Allen pickups and they are all great. These are my favorite

http://www.dallenpickups.com/product_p/vp%20strtct.htm

[lars]

Before investing in a different pickup, you may want to look into your tone wiring. If you haven't changed anything, I imagine your strat has the typical single .022uf-.1uf cap shared between two tone pots, the same setup that has been on strats for decades. Two options I've found that can open up new sounds:  "fender greasebucket wiring", and "Gibson '50s wiring on a strat". Both of these can help with treble loss and dark-sounding pickups. Overall I would recommend these mods for any strat, even if you like the sound you have now.

[Blues Healer]

I haven't used the Five Two, but I've used both the SSL and APS.
Between those, I think it's a fairly straightforward decision: the SSL is more glassy, and the APS is warmer with a little less string pull. They both have a similar vintage type output.
And just to clarify something, both come with either staggered or flat magnets; the -1 suffix is for staggered, the -2 is for flat.

I posted a demo of the Rub-a-Dub Deluxe here recently. The guitar I used has a set of SSL-2s, and I was pleasantly surprised at how nice it sounded after having not played it for a while. That said, one of my favorite strats has an APS-2 in the neck, and it's just as great.

If you need a couple of recommendations for Duncan dealers, I can vouch for both BanjoMike on ebay, and Darren Riley online.

[Matt]

Thanks to everyone for the input!

Before investing in a different pickup, you may want to look into your tone wiring. If you haven't changed anything, I imagine your strat has the typical single .022uf-.1uf cap shared between two tone pots, the same setup that has been on strats for decades. Two options I've found that can open up new sounds:  "fender greasebucket wiring", and "Gibson '50s wiring on a strat". Both of these can help with treble loss and dark-sounding pickups. Overall I would recommend these mods for any strat, even if you like the sound you have now.

I'll give the greasebucket wiring a try.  That would definitely be my cheapest option. Then I'll go from there

[culturejam]

This is outside what you are looking at, but for a single-coil sized pickup, my all-time favorite tone is the Dimarzio Air Norton S. It's in between a single coil and humbucker tone (but not quite a P90 either), and you can coil tap.

It's totally money in the neck of a Strat or similar guitar.

[ckim715]

I have three different sets of Dale Allen pickups and they are all great. These are my favorite

http://www.dallenpickups.com/product_p/vp%20strtct.htm

I too have D Allen pickups. I have the 60s R&Bs. LOVE the tone of them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOadrGG2txg
^^ yours truly.

[selfdestroyer]

I have three different sets of Dale Allen pickups and they are all great. These are my favorite

http://www.dallenpickups.com/product_p/vp%20strtct.htm

I too have D Allen pickups. I have the 60s R&Bs. LOVE the tone of them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOadrGG2txg
^^ yours truly.

Simply awesome. Love your spin on that song.

Slight hijack:
Anyone have any opinions on the GFS 1959 Strat Texas Wound Professional pickups? Looking for some budget pickups for a Classic Vibe partscaster I am working on.

Cody

[ckim715]

I've had good luck with GFS pickups. GFS is one of those brands that you either love or love to hate. My other strat is loaded with GFS humbuckers, and while not on the same level as the boutique winders, they definitely don't sound bad. Previous to the D.Allen pickups in the strat above, I had the GFS Alnico IIs. Again, they weren't bad at all, but there was nothing "special" about them either.

[oldhousescott]

To the OP, maybe take a look at the Rio Grande Vintage Tallboy. Plenty of spank and growl.

[Matt]

Quick update on this, I used the fender grease bucket wiring on the neck pickup only. It seems more glassy on the top end.  It definitely fits better tone wise with the other 2 pickups.  It's not dark sounding anymore but still has as much bass as I would ever want. (Possibly too much) I'll keep it like this for a while.  I'm going to mess with the height a bit and see if I can dial some bass out and still keep the output even with the other pickups.  Ill mess with it more this weekend.

Thanks again for everyone's input. I'll research the pickups mentioned some more just in case I end up not being satisfied with my current set up.

[Rockhorst]

With a Mexican I would consider doing a full set pickup swap. A very affordable candidate for that would be a ToneRider City Limits set. And I agree on first checking out the tone wiring. The Mexican I used to own came to life when I disconnected the tone controls completely (though this might be a bit to much for you). There's a lot to be won with good wiring with good parts.

[selfdestroyer]

With a Mexican I would consider doing a full set pickup swap. A very affordable candidate for that would be a ToneRider City Limits set. And I agree on first checking out the tone wiring. The Mexican I used to own came to life when I disconnected the tone controls completely (though this might be a bit to much for you). There's a lot to be won with good wiring with good parts.

Thanks for the ToneRider City Limits reference. I have never heard of them and the demo seem really cool. I may try these instead of the GFS ones.

/Derail

Cody

[gordo]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOadrGG2txg

Nicely done!  I'm a big fan of fat-head strats too.