Your Favorite Strat Pick-Ups

[Tremster]

I'm fairly new here and do not know this Timbo. Hey Timbo, I need some assistance!

He's a member here and he makes great pickups:
http://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=26527.0

[ahiddentableau]

I agree with madbean about the red/silver lace combo.  Sounds really good.  I love those two pickups, just not the blue.

But it's true that pickup choice depends radically based on the particular situation.  My strat sounds better with brighter pickups than most others.  And I like bright sounds.  And I use bright amps (deluxe reverb, homemade matchless style 15W).  So I use bright pickups.  It works for me.

In the end, I think we make too much of pickup choice.  They make a difference, but it's not huge.  If you're looking to change your sound, pickups are probably toward the end of the list of things you would look to change.  Effects, speakers, cabinet, amp circuit, guitar choice, playing technique all make so much more of a difference.  Pickups are somewhere around pick brand and tube rolling in terms of magnitude of importance. 

It reminds me of a Kevin Shields interview I read years ago.  He said something along the lines of: "Yeah, I got all obsessive about pickups for a while and tried everything, but in the end I just went back to the original stock units."  There are better places to focus your time, money and attention.  If I could go back in time, I'd probably save the $150 and use it something else. 

[trailer]

I agree with madbean about the red/silver lace combo.  Sounds really good.  I love those two pickups, just not the blue.

But it's true that pickup choice depends radically based on the particular situation.  My strat sounds better with brighter pickups than most others.  And I like bright sounds.  And I use bright amps (deluxe reverb, homemade matchless style 15W).  So I use bright pickups.  It works for me.

In the end, I think we make too much of pickup choice.  They make a difference, but it's not huge.  If you're looking to change your sound, pickups are probably toward the end of the list of things you would look to change.  Effects, speakers, cabinet, amp circuit, guitar choice, playing technique all make so much more of a difference.  Pickups are somewhere around pick brand and tube rolling in terms of magnitude of importance. 

It reminds me of a Kevin Shields interview I read years ago.  He said something along the lines of: "Yeah, I got all obsessive about pickups for a while and tried everything, but in the end I just went back to the original stock units."  There are better places to focus your time, money and attention.  If I could go back in time, I'd probably save the $150 and use it something else.

Yeah, but mine are covered in rust and oxidation, haha.

[ahiddentableau]

Lol, yeah, rust and oxidation probably goes beyond the 'relic' look.  Of course I'm not saying don't replace your pickups.  I'm saying I don't think it's worth getting bent out of shape over it, or obsessing over it, or, most especially, spending a ton of $$$ on it.  Just my 2 bits.

[sjaustin]

At the risk of thread-jacking, has anyone tried the Dimarzio Area Tele pickups? I'm sold on their ability to do vintage sounds despite their shreddy reputation; I have the 36th Anniversary PAFs in my 335-type guitar, and I love them. So I'd definitely consider it...

[Frank_NH]

Here's a non-conventional choice for you.  I recently modded a MIM strat body to accommodate a pickguard loaded with full size Burns Brian May Trisonics.  They are fanstastic pickups and sound hotter with a mid-range bite (like p-90s) as compared to normal strat pickups.  Yet, in the neck-middle and middle-bridge switch positions, they retain the clarity and bell-like sound you'd expect from a strat, except with a little more beef.

I should note that the pickup is constructed like a p-90, except that is has no metal pole pieces (the holes in the pickup cover are just for show).  Also, if you decide to go for these, you can get them in slightly smaller size so you don't have to do any modifications to the pickup routs.  I have to enlarge mine slightly to fit the full size Trisonics. 

[Ralfg]

I gotta plug Nordstrand pickups here. Disclaimer, I am friend... but I attribute that to the reason I discovered these pickups, not why I love them. Yeah they are expensive, but hands down the best pickups I've ever played. Vintage vibe with enough output and plays well with everything.

I have their strat NVS alnico 3 pickups 2 of my strats.

[jkokura]

At the risk of thread-jacking, has anyone tried the Dimarzio Area Tele pickups? I'm sold on their ability to do vintage sounds despite their shreddy reputation; I have the 36th Anniversary PAFs in my 335-type guitar, and I love them. So I'd definitely consider it...

I have, because of my experience with the Strat pickups. They sounded great to my ears. Still sounded like a tele, but without the hum. One thing I liked about my set is that the bridge pickup which, in most teles I've played/heard sounds shrill/bright/harsh, sounds smoother and a little more pleasant to my ears. I've don't mind bright pickups, but I don't like harsh. The Area tele pickups sounded great to me. I've owned and tried about 4 different tele noiseless combos, and these Areas were the ones I settled on.

Jacob

[chris weaver]

I use the Lace Sensor "Rainbow" pack, purple-silver rw & green...nice strat-ish tones AND can jump to Van halen. The middle middle/neck neck is really good

[jimilee]

I gotta plug Nordstrand pickups here. Disclaimer, I am friend... but I attribute that to the reason I discovered these pickups, not why I love them. Yeah they are expensive, but hands down the best pickups I've ever played. Vintage vibe with enough output and plays well with everything.

I have their strat NVS alnico 3 pickups 2 of my strats.

I got a friend down in boca that knows him too, swears by them.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[snz728]

I got the DiMarzio Areas 67, 58 because they sounded strat, humless, and affordable

[gordo]

A nice departure from the vintage norm is a pair of regular Seymour Duncans in the neck and middle and a quarter pounder in the bridge.  That pickup is just a thug wide open but retains the single coil sound with a bunch more beef and gives you a nice bit of range on the volume control.

[JC103]

I've got two Strats, one with Fralin Vintage Hot and the other with Lace Sensor B/S/R. Like you'd expect, the Fralin's are pretty vintage sounding. The Lace are all around great, not too vintage sounding, but well balanced for lots of styles of music. If I only could have one I'd actually go with the Lace Sensor...but that's also because I've been playing that set for a couple of decades and I am really used to the sound. I'd like to try the Texas Specials someday, too.

Whatever the case, I put in a toggle switch on all my Strats to put the neck and bridge in parallel for psuedo-Tele sounds. Can't live without it.

Hi Brian, how do you wire that? Is it similar to the Gilmour signature strat?

[Rockhorst]

My favourite strat pickups are the ones forum member Timbo wound for me for my 60s anniversary Am. Std. strat. I described the sounds I wanted from the pickups and their combinations and he wound me a set that did exactly that. Drop him a line

One of my other strats has Fralins, also very very happy with those as well.

[JC103]

PS: new 6-way strat pup selector switch for tele sounds!

https://www.premierguitar.com/articles/27178-mod-garage-breakthrough-electroswitchs-new-6-way-strat-switch?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=PGN%20-%20042818&utm_term=PG%20Weekly