humbuckers for a strat...

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messsa

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like some people here,,i had to get one nice guitar so i finally chose a strat. I thought it would be easier to get a dirty or beefy sound for a generally clean sparkly guitar than to try and get sparkle out of (ex.warlock). so now i have this strat and cant afford a gibson or anything with a nice humbucker sound. i love the single coil in the bridge but want to get a neck p/u thats hot so i could switch from the crazy tone in the bridge (for lead or what ever) and have a nice smooth but heavy clear tone from a hum neck pick-up.....is there anything you can recommend?...cause i really cant spent another $1000...
 
seymour duncan '59

i just ordered mine today along with a JB for the bridge. It's gonna sound sweet

~Brandon
 
frist44 said:
seymour duncan '59

i just ordered mine today along with a JB for the bridge. It's gonna sound sweet

~Brandon
Click to expand...

Unless I am mistaken, the '59 is a humbucker. If you have a strat with three single coils messsa, you will have to get a stacked humbucker unless you wanna route it. The '59 is a great humbucker for the neck position, though I much prefer the Custom Custom for the Bridge. Bye the way Brandon, what are ya putting them into?

Fangar
 
messa- I guess you're just looking to replace the neck so I think both fangar and I would go with the seymour duncan 59.

To my surprise when i pulled the pickguard off, the body of the guitar was already routed for 2 humbuckers even though it came with 3 single coils. I guess it all depends on the make of the guitar. I'm pretty sure american strats are routed just for 3 single coils. You'll have to pull the pickguard off and see. If that the case, you can always get someone to route it out to give a little more room for that humbucker at the neck. If you're able to wire anything at all, seymour duncan has some great schematics for pretty much any configuration you would ever want.

fangar-I'm putting them into a look alike strat. I actually don't even know what kind it is. I got it a long time ago and just want to have a guitar around that'll sound good. Since that's not my primary instrument, i figured it would be easier and cheaper to just replace the pickups and tuners than go out and spend another $600 on a new guitar. HOpefully i'll be down with the humbuckers and that'll be the end of it, but for some reason there's never an end, so we'll see.

Brandon
 
The neck pickup has the sweetest,woody strat sound,beloved for soloing.Usually,a bucker is dropped in the neck position.I have a Jackson stack bucker that looks like a vintage fender pup.This way,I can always retrofit my original parts back to my '83 American Standard to preserve whatever intrinsic vintage value it may one day acquire.
 
I agree with Tom. At least IMHO, the single coil neck pickup already gives a nice full, round, warm tone. People usually want extra beef and output from a humbucker at the bridge.

But hell, you're the one that knows what tone YOU are looking for.

You also might want to consider a SD Hot Rails. No new pickguard necessary. It's a humbucker in a single coil space. I have one on the bridge of my strat and one at the neck of my ESP Custom (with a humbuker at the bridge). They do a great job.
 
i know i need a stacked p/u. hmm now im wondering where i get my my tone from.(lol). when i crank my twin and slap in the crybaby theres no channel like the single coil bridge for me that is....i find the neck p/u to be more muddy and less colorful and when i boogie up the single bridge it doesnt sound full enough and on the neck it gets the full bass but sound REAL muddy.so i thought there could be a good neck stacked p/u that could serve for heavy yet clear rythmes, but maybe not . SO does everyone like using the neck for solo's? and rythmes in the bridge position?(just trying to get understanding and different styles). which sustains longer....
 
If you are of the Jimi Hendrix,Stevie Ray Vaughn,Eric Clapton, Eric Johnson tone school...yes.Of course all those guys used all three strat pickups.In fact,the Hendrix school of playing features lots more use of changing pickups on the fly than most folks do.But all strat lovers know that it is the tone of the neck pickup that is the real singing voice on that instrument.
 
frist44 said:
messa- I guess you're just looking to replace the neck so I think both fangar and I would go with the seymour duncan 59.

To my surprise when i pulled the pickguard off, the body of the guitar was already routed for 2 humbuckers even though it came with 3 single coils. I guess it all depends on the make of the guitar. I'm pretty sure american strats are routed just for 3 single coils. You'll have to pull the pickguard off and see. If that the case, you can always get someone to route it out to give a little more room for that humbucker at the neck. If you're able to wire anything at all, seymour duncan has some great schematics for pretty much any configuration you would ever want.

fangar-I'm putting them into a look alike strat. I actually don't even know what kind it is. I got it a long time ago and just want to have a guitar around that'll sound good. Since that's not my primary instrument, i figured it would be easier and cheaper to just replace the pickups and tuners than go out and spend another $600 on a new guitar. HOpefully i'll be down with the humbuckers and that'll be the end of it, but for some reason there's never an end, so we'll see.

Brandon
Click to expand...

You will be happy with the JB too. I really like both models, but the Custom Custom just won me over. Just wanted to make sure that your guitar has a standard trem and not a Floyd Style. If so you would need to get a TB model which refers to a "Trem Bucker" where the Poles are "F" or floyd spaced. Cheers. They make almost all of their models in both SH (Standard Humbucker) and TB styles.

Fangar
 
The humbucker that frist44 was referring to is the "lil '59er"

by duncan .

i have one.

it's literally 2 halfsized coils made to fit into a single coil space.

it comes with 4 wire setup.

i have it in a custom guitar, and it's a killer sound.......

very close to my ears, to that of an actual PAF..........

if you want humbucker sound, but don't want tons of gain, that's the way to go.......
 
Re: The humbucker that frist44 was referring to is the "lil '59er"

GONZO-X said:
by duncan .

i have one.

it's literally 2 halfsized coils made to fit into a single coil space.

it comes with 4 wire setup.

i have it in a custom guitar, and it's a killer sound.......

very close to my ears, to that of an actual PAF..........

if you want humbucker sound, but don't want tons of gain, that's the way to go.......
Click to expand...

Don't think that was the one that Frist was thinking of, but that looks nice too.

Fangar
 
are JB's good for strats? ive been told id get a very heavy "hi's" sound with one... should i go with a JB jr, or would a JB work good in a strat knock off?
 
GONZO-X

I was referring to the true '59 humbucker. They do make the lil 59 in half the size you can easily throw in a strat, but i got the full size '59 for the neck.

Brandon
 
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