What kind of Strat pickups are best fitted for recording of my type of music?

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keem85

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I'm playing in the blues style of John Mayer and I've been looking at his Big Dipper singlecoil pickups. Are there great tonal differences from a Big Dipper and a MIA standard singlecoils?

In a mix after recording my MIA Strat, I always remove 200 - 500Hz from my EQ.. I've heard that in Big Dipper pickups this frequency range is "scooped" away..

For me it's logical that theese must be better for recording than a standard MIA but I still need some professional opinion on this.

-Kim R

EDIT: Are they also more hum cancelling than the standard MIA pups?
 
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Man, don't hold your breath, waiting for an answer to such a specific question- it can only come from someone who:
1. Plays in the blues style of John Mayer;
2. Plays a MIA standard Strat;
3. Has replaced the pups with Big Dippers;
4. always removes 200 - 500Hz from his EQ;
5. Has recorded that kind of playing, with that guitar.

In other words, YOU, 1 month in the future of one possible universe. My best suggestion: Time-travel to that time/place/universe, then come back and tell us what it was like!:D

Or, you could ring up Mr. Mayer, and after he tired of telling you all about what a horny stud he is and how much celeb tail he is getting, how he does not give a dead rat's ass whose music he steals, and other ego-aggrandizing babel, he might answer your question...

OR, call Fender's Pro Shop- there is a guy working there who has done almost all that (the stuff you want to do, not the stuff Mayer brags about,) including playing BD pups in his strat. I think his name is Steve (cool name, eh?) I spoke to him when I was considering Texas Specials, and he was very helpful- everything he told we proved to be both true and very useful. You can get the phone number (toll-free, even!) from Fender's website, with a little digging.
 
And it's especially tough to get an answer when you don't post your questions in the proper forum.
 
Yes its ok! I didn't expect any answer that quick either. Figured it would be better to ask such a question here in the recording forum rather than a strat forum because I mainly was aiming for the mixing benefit of this.

Mocking JM doesn't help but thanks anyways :)
 
keem85 said:
Yes its ok! I didn't expect any answer that quick either. Figured it would be better to ask such a question here in the recording forum rather than a strat forum because I mainly was aiming for the mixing benefit of this.

Mocking JM doesn't help but thanks anyways :)
Click to expand...

Your thinking is totally irrational. Guitar pickups have absolutely nothing to do with mixing techniques.
 
I don't know what standard pickups you have, but if they are those SCN things, I could never get a decent blues tone out of them for my taste, which is likely totally different from yours, furthermore, despite Mayer's playing ability, I despise him and everyone who looks like him, so I'm a little biased... But if you want to swap out the pups, try Texas Specials for a hotter blues tone, or if you really want all around great versatile tone, get some Kinmans. I have an 06 deluxe strat with Texas Specials, and an 06 Deluxe Tele with Kinmans. Kinman pups are grossly good.

Your amp matters too. A Fender Twin or Vibrolux is going to sound a little more bluesy than say a Triple rec... tubes or solid state matter, ah... who am I kidding? Youre using a pod aren't you? Does anyone mic amps anymore? (Digress)

And I believe the above posts are asking you to post perhaps in the guitars and basses area.
 
Thanks for the response. I will check out the Texas ones. I am using a Peavey Classic 30 but in my studio I'm using software amps after a preamp.. I was looking at the Texas ones earlier for the SRV sound, but I heard that they are very very noisy.

@ocnor My thinking isn't irrational because the Big dipper is scooping away midrange frequencies.. That's why I was wondering if any strat player here would find this good for recording. With my standard single coil I often get too much boost so I have to cut away the midrange in my EQ.
 
Don't scoop anything before you record. Do it after so you can control what you're cutting.

Not everyone is wild about the Texas Specials. But who cares. If you like them, go for it. They are a little hotter than what you're probably used to. Use your volume pot to control them.

Again, Kinmans are best imo.
 
keem85 said:
Mocking JM doesn't help but thanks anyways :)
Click to expand...

Dude. Have you HEARD any of the interviews he has given, lately? I like his music (for the most part- "Half of My Heart" is too cutesy, and sucks...) but I SWEAR, that man's press people should stuff a sock in his mouth when he is not singing. He says the stupidest things, it sounds like he is trying to torpedo his own career.

But don't let a little disagreement about JM when he is not singing or playing deter you from the best advice I have- CALL STEVE AT FENDER. That man KNOWS Fender pups.
 
Thanks! Many good advice here! And yes I agree that JM says the most stupid things. Lol.. But man I gotta say that the album Continuum is one of the best I have ever heard!
 
Oh, one more thing about "Steve at Fender." I am not sure it is Steve, may be somebody else in the same department. You can be sure you get the right tech if you are speaking to the guy who has a JM Strat, but has replaced the pups with (I think) Texas Specials. He said it wasn't that he didn't like the BD pups, just the TS'S fit his style better.

And no, you can't have his old BD pups- I already asked- it would be a violation of his employment agreement to give or sell them- and besides, I'm in line ahead of you!

Tell him Steve- the guy who put TS'S in a lefty Squire and has a lefty Fender Strat with TS'S in it- says "Hello." He may not remember me, but tell him Hi for me, anyway.
 
haha stevieb this is great! :) Thanks! Is it a special department? Fender USA department? This was a fun reading! lol
 
I put a 2 vol, 2 tone control, Les Paul style P-90 circuit in my Fender project.

P-90's get a fairly good jazz/blues sound.
 
Hendrix, and I'm pretty sure Buddy Guy use(d) stock fender strat single coils, Pre 1973. (69-73) They are low output and have the scooped sound as is. My 73 is completey copper lined and is very quiet. You can get something similar from a few PUP makers. This really should be posted in Guitars but OK next time.
 
xtp said:
I put a 2 vol, 2 tone control, Les Paul style P-90 circuit in my Fender project.

P-90's get a fairly good jazz/blues sound.
Click to expand...

Interesting. That is exactly what I plan to do with the soapbars and Squire Standard Strat I have around here.

What value pots did you use- 250K or 500K? What value caps?
 
stevieb said:
Interesting. That is exactly what I plan to do with the soapbars and Squire Standard Strat I have around here.

What value pots did you use- 250K or 500K? What value caps?
Click to expand...

vol - 250k,
tone - 500k
caps - 022

I got the caps, and pots from singlecoil.com

Mine also started life as a squire but the only thing I used was the body everything else i dumped. It cost about the same as buying a off the shelf standard strat.

I custom cut a pickguard. Took about a year start to finish. Still havent put the neck on, still trialing strings.

I used some '68 Gibson P90's.
 
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keem85 said:
I'm playing in the blues style of John Mayer and I've been looking at his Big Dipper singlecoil pickups. Are there great tonal differences from a Big Dipper and a MIA standard singlecoils?

In a mix after recording my MIA Strat, I always remove 200 - 500Hz from my EQ.. I've heard that in Big Dipper pickups this frequency range is "scooped" away..

For me it's logical that theese must be better for recording than a standard MIA but I still need some professional opinion on this.

-Kim R

EDIT: Are they also more hum cancelling than the standard MIA pups?
Click to expand...

When you say "remove," do you mean completely cut out with a notch, or simply reduce a few db? And why do you do this? Does it sound bad to you un-EQ'd, or did you read somewhere that this is a good place to cut for blues?

Anyway to echo the general consensus, it doesn't matter how it is for "recording" - any pickup that sounds good through your rig will record well. What is it that you don't like about the stock American Standard pickups? If the Big Dipper is Mayer's signature pickup, then it's only within the last couple years he's been using it - before, he could very well have been using American Standard pickups.

More importantly, perhaps - what are you plugging this guitar into?
 
DrewPeterson7 said:
When you say "remove," do you mean completely cut out with a notch, or simply reduce a few db? And why do you do this? Does it sound bad to you un-EQ'd, or did you read somewhere that this is a good place to cut for blues?

Anyway to echo the general consensus, it doesn't matter how it is for "recording" - any pickup that sounds good through your rig will record well. What is it that you don't like about the stock American Standard pickups? If the Big Dipper is Mayer's signature pickup, then it's only within the last couple years he's been using it - before, he could very well have been using American Standard pickups.

More importantly, perhaps - what are you plugging this guitar into?
Click to expand...

I'm running my guitar through my built in pre-amp and I'm using software amp for recording and not my real tube amp. I feel I get more control over the guitar recording this way.

And for the low mid cutdown I haven't really read this anywhere. I'm using my ears and almost every time (for my type of music) this low mid gets in the way in my mix and I have to cut it down alot. I feel it "muds" my mix.

This post has gone abit too far :) It really was a simple question at first, but hey, there's alot of good answers here :) Thanks everyone!
 
What's with the extra neck? Did you swap it out, or are you going to? I notice it a 22-fret, one on the guitar is a 21- won't the swap mess up the scale and thus intonation?
 
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