Recommended Pickup for Rock Music

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monkie

monkie

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Hi, I'm looking to upgrade my Fender Strat's stock pickup to a better one to play rock music. Anyone had any recommendations? I don't even know the brand name that came with my Strat. Is there a way to tell which pickup is what brand?

Thanks
 
monkie said:
Hi, I'm looking to upgrade my Fender Strat's stock pickup to a better one to play rock music. Anyone had any recommendations? I don't even know the brand name that came with my Strat. Is there a way to tell which pickup is what brand?

Thanks
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Well, what is it that you feel is deficient in your present pickups (there are three of them, right?), and in what way would you like them to change? Multitudes of guitarists play rock music with stock Fender pickups, myself included. What is it that convinces you that you need to make a change?
 
well if you want change goto: guitarfestish.com and look @ their sets of strat pickups. You can even get yourself a set of hotrails. those'd be good for a more ballsy rock sound.
 
ggunn said:
Well, what is it that you feel is deficient in your present pickups (there are three of them, right?), and in what way would you like them to change? Multitudes of guitarists play rock music with stock Fender pickups, myself included. What is it that convinces you that you need to make a change?
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Yes, there are three of them. I feel like it's creating too much noise when turning up the gain in playing distortion and the noise gets louder with certain distortion sounds. I use Native Instruments Guitar Rig. One of my favorite sound is the Gratified Lead and the Gratified Plexi Panned Stack. I also have a Boss Noise Suppressor too but it only help with some distortions. Is this normal with Guitar Rig?
 
MatchBookNotes said:
well if you want change goto: guitarfestish.com and look @ their sets of strat pickups. You can even get yourself a set of hotrails. those'd be good for a more ballsy rock sound.
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Thanks for the link. How do I know if I should get all three pickups or just a single one?

What are hotrails?
 
If noise is your problem, a set of Seymour Duncan Classic Stack Plus pickups would likely be a good choice. I've probably tried more pickups than anyone else here (it's part of my job, after all), and I'm just gaga over mine.

Oh, and avoid Guitar Fetish - I've seen some real crap come out of that place. Go to your local music shop (NOT Banjo Center - the one where all the guys have been working there for 25 years, and actually know what they are talking about).



Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
Light said:
If noise is your problem, a set of Seymour Duncan Classic Stack Plus pickups would likely be a good choice. I've probably tried more pickups than anyone else here (it's part of my job, after all), and I'm just gaga over mine.

Oh, and avoid Guitar Fetish - I've seen some real crap come out of that place. Go to your local music shop (NOT Banjo Center - the one where all the guys have been working there for 25 years, and actually know what they are talking about).



Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
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Thanks for the recommendation. Are they good rock?
 
I've Native Instruments guitar combos and alot of the sounds just aren't really suited to single coils. Buckers will help, though I doubt the feedback will be as extreme playing through a real amp.
 
monkie said:
Thanks for the recommendation. Are they good rock?
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They are great for rock, and (solving your problem) they are quiet, but you will never get a great rock sound using software - you need a real amp, and a good one. But that is a whole other discussion, which doesn't need to be rehashed yet again.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
Light said:
They are great for rock, and (solving your problem) they are quiet, but you will never get a great rock sound using software - you need a real amp, and a good one. But that is a whole other discussion, which doesn't need to be rehashed yet again.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
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As of right now I'm only recording using Guitar Rig until I afford a decent real amp. I understand it's not the best but it's only what I have right now. But anyways, thanks for the help.:D

monkie
 
monkie said:
As of right now I'm only recording using Guitar Rig until I afford a decent real amp. I understand it's not the best but it's only what I have right now. But anyways, thanks for the help.:D

monkie
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Get the amp first and then worry about your pickups.
 
I love modding and switching pickups, but I can't help but agree with this advice:

ggunn said:
Get the amp first and then worry about your pickups.
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I would also suggest shielding your Strat (google "shielding a strat" or just go to guitarnuts.com) - it's virtually a free mod (if you use aluminum foil) and gives good results make sure you know what you're doing before you start. Actually, I didn't know what I was doing, but I still figured it out. Shielded a friend's strat and another friend's jazz bass and also my own les paul - type guitar (with coil-splits).

Also, if you do get new pickups - consider Alnico magnet ones - they can sound warmer/sweeter (but it doesn't mean they won't have the needed power).

And I have yet to see anything bad from GuitarFetish - I have 2 pickups, bought parts and components from them - all excellent quality. Just don't buy their clearance stuff, which isn't "GFS", but is big guitar companies' "stock pickup" closeouts. Email them with questions, Jay is very helpful (albeit "brief" in his replies).
 
Shielding is a good suggestion. I'm personally not a fan of 'buckers in a strat but I guess that's the purist in me. One pickup I can flat out tell you to avoid is Fender's Samarium Cobalt Noiseless... to me they're Samarium Cobalt Toneless. I had a Hwy 1 strat that I sold not too long ago and got lucky because I liked the stock (Alnico) pickups. If I had to change the pickups, I'd go with Lindy Fralins without hesitation.
 
I have a 1996 American standard strat and I replaced the stock pickups with a Fender Lace Red in the neck, Gold in the Middle, and a Seymour Ducan Hotrails in the bridge. The only pickup I use on that guitar now is the Seymour Duncan, it's a very very nice pickup and I highly recommend it.

I also have a more recent American Series Strat, and those pickups suit me just fine. I doubt I will ever change those pickups, the guitar just sounds beautiful as it is.

As mentioned before though, nothing brings out a guitars true colors like a good amp. I run mine through a Marshall JCM 2000 DSL, for what it's worth.
 
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My favorite single coil sized pickup is the Duncan Hotrails. If that has too much gain, the Coolrails is also good.
 
if you're going with rail/blade pickups, i love bardens, though they are a bit pricey.
i like the duncan jb jr. a lot too for a single coil sized humbucker pickup
 
This probably won't go down well but if they are stock Fender pickups, I'd leave them. I have found that the quieter stock pickups sound way better in terms of tone when I when I'm running my Strat through my Marshall wide open.
Not sure why but I have found hot/overwound pickups disappointing in terms of tone. Maybe its just the way I play.
Mike.
 
sorry I disagree with light on this one..

http://store.guitarfetish.com/casetof3lilk1.html these are some of the best sounding PUP's on the marketwhich I have also pretty much tried just about every pup on the market as well, because after all it's my job.:D
I use them on strat mods on regular basis.
however if a customer insists on hotrails I don't argue with them because that is just more money in my pocket;)
 
Roguetitan said:
sorry I disagree with light on this one..

http://store.guitarfetish.com/casetof3lilk1.html these are some of the best sounding PUP's on the marketwhich I have also pretty much tried just about every pup on the market as well, because after all it's my job.:D
I use them on strat mods on regular basis.
however if a customer insists on hotrails I don't argue with them because that is just more money in my pocket;)
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I've seen way to many "direct replacement parts" from them which didn't come close to fitting to ever recommend them.

Oh, and I also do not tend to like hot pickups - they get too mushy. And yes, a good amp is more important than new pickups.




Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
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