pick ups

  • Thread starter Thread starter stehlik2
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stehlik2

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I just recently got turned onto the idea of experimenting with pickups. I would like to try other pickups on my mexican strat, however I have no idea where to start. Anyone have any suggestions or suggested pickups to try?
 
that looks like a great selection and I love the pearloid (and other sparkly) offerings in the single-coil area.

if you're more on a budget, I think GFS pickups are a great deal and great way to experiment.

www.guitarfetish.com

(don't buy the closeouts - those aren't GFS pickups, typically just a resell of mass-produced "stock" pickups, unless it says which GFS model it is)

antichef said:
http://www.riograndepickups.com/

no affiliation, except that their shop is down the street from me and I think they make great pickups -- I took the tour - they use old slow winding machines.
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I replaced the stock PuPs in my CiJ start with bill lawrences bought used off ebay for about 75 for all three, great deal, and they sound great to my ears.

daav
 
EMG's

EMG makes a David Gilmore prewired pickguard that is supposed to be very cool. A bit pricey though at about $300.00.
 
If you want to stick with single coils both Fralin and Duncan make extremely good sounding Strat pickups. Dimarzio makes a couple of single coils but one is a very high output single coil that will hum like a thousand bees. I generally avoid high output pickups for that reason among others.

If you want to try vertical humbuckers your Strat will be quiet. But Dimarzio is the only company that I know of that makes an assortment of vertical humbuckers. Duncan only makes one and that's it.

It doesn't look like other companies are interested in that market.
 
thanks for the advice. I'm not sure whether i want to stay with single coil or try out humbuckers. other than the preventing the hum, how much does a humbucker change the sound?
 
stehlik2 said:
thanks for the advice. I'm not sure whether i want to stay with single coil or try out humbuckers. other than the preventing the hum, how much does a humbucker change the sound?
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I haven't used single coils a whole lot, but the guitar I'm playing most these days has Gibson P94 pickups. I notice more harmonic complexity in humbuckers, while the single coils (P94) are more monolithic. As if that helps... I hate writing about sound (and reading about it even more :D )
 
Full size humbuckers are the thickest pickups imaginable. Very chuncky and thick sounding. Some people like putting full size humbuckers in their Strat. You will probably be unable to do this cuz I suspect that your body is routed only for single coils.

Vertical humbuckers are not quite as thick sounding as a full size humbucker. But they are dead quiet. They are kinda between a full size humbucker and a true single coil. As I stated earlier Dimarzio is the only company that really specializes in them.

Single coils provide the most genuine Fender Strat tone. Open and airy with sparkle and chime. They are great pickups.
 
Tell us what kind of sound you're going for or what kind of music you're playing or listening to.
 
For metal and other big, thick guitar genres, the duncan hot rails and/or cool rails are really nice sounding.

But all this does depend on what type of sound you are after. The suggestions here run the gamut from super clean and sparkly to Nu-metal chunck. You have to make up your mind about what you are looking to do before anyone makes a meaningful suggestion.
 
I just did some work on a client's guitar (MiM 50s Strat) that was ungraded with Lollars.
WoW!
Very Stratty!
Also, keep in mind that any given set of pickups can sound very different in any given guitar. The pickups in my American Standard would sound completly different in my Chinese Squier. And versa Visa!
Used pickups may be a cheaper way to experiment
 
Ill have to second that in the bridge position the Duncan Hot rails is the best choice.

But here is a thought...a vintage fender set...they sell great sets of pickups for that guitar.
 
I put a 1951 fender set into my tele and it made a huge difference in tone.
 
Hot rails are great. We popped one in my dads strat...also found a single coil out of a jimi hendrix voodoo strat (on e-bay) and put that in the middle position. WOW!!! Sounds great.
 
I am against the rail pickups. One reason being is they destroy the stock appearance of the Stratocaster. Plus those pickups are usually high output pickups. Again you are getting away from the classic Stratocaster sound.

I prefer to use low to moderate output pickups and get my drive from pedals and the amp. Others do like to get more balls from the pickup itself though.
 
357mag said:
I am against the rail pickups. One reason being is they destroy the stock appearance of the Stratocaster.
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Your hand is covering it up most of the time anyway. The audience really doesn't care how authentic your guitar looks. If you play well, other guitar players will be asking you about your tone secret...

357mag said:
Plus those pickups are usually high output pickups. Again you are getting away from the classic Stratocaster sound.
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That was always the point for me. I liked the way they played, but the stock sound of the strat was simply not appropriate for type of music I played.
 
When you play a Strat your hand comes into a floating position between the neck and the middle pickups. This is the natural hand position for Strat playing unlike a Les Paul where your hand rests close to the bridge and obscures the bridge pickup.

So I don't think the right hand really covers up the pickup. But it may with you and the way you hold your right hand.

Of course the audience doesn't care. They don't care about anything.

But to me the cosmetic appearance of a guitar is extemely crucial. If I don't like the way the guitar looks I simply don't buy or play it.

That's part of the torture of being an artist and being visually oriented. In a way it's kind of a curse.
 
I wouldn't get too worked up on the appearance of a set of pickups in a guitar - I mean, it's an instrument, right, and the point of an instrument is to make music? If a certain tweak makes the guitar sound more like you want it to, well, so much the better...

I think some input from the original poster here about what he doesn't like about his current sound and what sort of music he plays and what sort of tone he's after would be rather valuable here.
 
The only thing about pickups is they are a very personal choice based on what sound you are after. Even somebody else's recommendation doesn't help a hell of a lot unless the rest of their rig is identical to yours.
 
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