Fender guitar pickups?

  • Thread starter Thread starter DJL
  • Start date Start date
I don't know if I should start a new thread, but I am also looking for new pickups for my Squier Strat. Contrary to DJL, I want less of a vintage Strat sound. I am into hard rock, punk, and just more modern stuff in general. Soon-to-be armed with a Marshall amp, I think you can get an idea of what kind of sound I am looking for.

Right now my Strat has the stock 3 single coil pickups that are accompanied by a lot of excess noise/hum. So my question is, should I get humbuckers? Because I am assuming that a humbucker will give me more of what sound I want. Does anyone have any suggestions for me? Also, I'd need a new pickguard to go along with the new humbucker(s), right?

Thanks
*arjun
 
I’ve been considering Seymour Duncan single Hot Rails…any opinions?
 
i had a hot rails in the bridge of a strat one time...it screams. for the modern sound they are real good.

if I was doing a pickup change in a squire and wanted humbuckers i would probably go with hot rails.

mainly cause i wouldn't want to spring for another pickguard that would be required for full size humbuckers.

there have been alot of really good recomendations on this thread....bill lawrance makes fantastic pickups that give you a vintage sound and hotter pickups that distort and scream for the modern rock...and they fit the single coil pickguard.

you just need to check out some guitars that are loaded with some of the pickups you're interested in and see what you like.
 
thanks, i checked out the seymour duncan pickups you two mentioned online.. they look real nice, and not too pricey. my question is how many of these should i get? only one for the bridge? also, it is wise to let a technician install them, considering i've had no soldering experience or ever modded a guitar before.

thanks again
 
on a side note, after a good amount of research, it seems there are two sides to the seymour duncan hot rails:

1. they are great for fat, deep, and distorted sound for modern rock and even certain punk (which is great for me)

2. however your clean is ruined by some distortion due to it's hotness. even when played clean, there is distortion still especially with chords.

i am concerned about the distortion even when set to clean channel. also, are there any other options? for example, could i also go for just better single coil pickups without hum?

-arjun
 
arjun said:


2. however your clean is ruined by some distortion due to it's hotness. even when played clean, there is distortion still especially with chords.
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Maybe turn the guitar's volume pot down.
 
They're just like any other humbucker. By the way, Hot Rails are not the only choice. Duncan makes a bunch of mini humbuckers that will fit in strate single-coil spaces. I would recommend the JB Jr (very hot) or the Little '59 (pretty mellow) over Hot Rails. Their website is nice though, they have descriptions, pics, and MP3 samples for every pickup...
 
arjun said:
I don't know if I should start a new thread, but I am also looking for new pickups for my Squier Strat. Contrary to DJL, I want less of a vintage Strat sound. I am into hard rock, punk, and just more modern stuff in general. Soon-to-be armed with a Marshall amp, I think you can get an idea of what kind of sound I am looking for.

Right now my Strat has the stock 3 single coil pickups that are accompanied by a lot of excess noise/hum. So my question is, should I get humbuckers? Because I am assuming that a humbucker will give me more of what sound I want. Does anyone have any suggestions for me? Also, I'd need a new pickguard to go along with the new humbucker(s), right?

Thanks
*arjun
Click to expand...

I would think humbuckers would do, and that's what I have my Les Paul for, it nails that other type of sound.
 
thanks for the suggestions charger and DJL... i really like the sound of the Little '59 ones that i heard on their site. however, i should also probably change my neck and middle pickups as well? because i plan on putting the Little '59 in the bridge position. it says on Seymour Duncan's site:

A whole set of Little '59s will deliver a rich, open sound: or a bridge Little '59 matched up with Duckbuckers™ in the neck and middle will provide a best-of-both-worlds '59 Les Paul®/'57 Strat® tone
Click to expand...

which would be the best set up for me?
 
It really depends.

First, do you ever use your neck and middle pickups? If they don't get used, changing them is a waste of time.

Next, do you need clean strat sounds too? Do you ever need to play light blues, or hendrix-type stuff?

Third, do you like a neck humbucker? Do you ever do leads or have a nead for darker, mellower heavy sounds?

My personal preference, if it's not just straight strat S-S-S pickups, is the H-S-H format. That's a bridge and neck humbucker, with a single coil in the middle, and wired to do coil tapping in the 2 and 4 positions (if that doesn't make sense to you, plenty of wiring diagrams are on the net, and any competent guitar repairperson can wire this for you). This gives you the following with a 5-way switch:
1) only the neck humbucker
2) 1 coil of neck + middle single coil (humbucking)
3) middle single coil
4) middle single coil + 1 coil of the bridge humbucker (humbucking)
5) only the bridge humbucker

The advantages to this setup are:

*you have 4 humbucking, thus silent, pickup positions.
*you get that one middle single coil position for when you need a single coil sound. The middle single coil is a pretty darn good substitute for a neck single coil, it sounds very similar. Not all the way there, but a good middle pickup will do fine for 90% of single-coil sounds.
*you have a ripping bridge humbucker for heavy rhythms, solos, and harmonics
* you have a neck humbucker for smooth juicy leads, and dark, mellow rhythms
*the 2 and 4 positions are pretty bright and clean, even though they're humbucking. This gives you the flexibility to get ultra clean if you need to.

Of course, there are many other ways to do things. Some people will buy a middle humbucker too, or go with the S-S-H configuration. I just like to have that juicy neck humbucker.
 
charger,
thanks for the detailed response. i play all sorts of stuff really, sometimes dark, heavy, other times bright and not-so-thick. i think your suggested setup with the H-S-H is probably best for me because if need be, i can always use the single middle coil, but it won't be often. i am interested in what pickups you are running on your strat, since you have the H-S-H setup?

thanks
 
Nah, on my strat I have Lace Holy Grail single coils. Well, technically they are humbuckers, but they are humbuckers that sound like single coils.

I do have two guitars (not strats) that have H-S-H pickups. One is my Ibanez s540, which has stock Ibanez pickups. QM1 neck - QMS1 middle - QM2 bridge. I also have a Yamaha Pacifica that I have customized the pickups for. That one has: SD Little 59 (mini humbucker) neck - Yamaha stock middle - SD Custom Custom (full size humbucker) bridge.
 
Alright... I think I know what I want to do now. I am thinking a Seymour Duncan JB Jr. in the neck position, my stock single coil in the middle, and a Seymour Duncan Little '59 in the bridge.

So you think the best thing to do is find a guitar technician and tell him how I want to be able to select the pickups, and he'll be able to do the proper wire config?
 
arjun said:


<snip>

So you think the best thing to do is find a guitar technician and tell him how I want to be able to select the pickups, and he'll be able to do the proper wire config?
Click to expand...

That's what they said, and that's what I'd do. :)
 
You know, I think these Texas Special pickups have more sustain than the old stock pickups too, but I can't A/B them to know for sure, but I think they do.
 
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