Mothers milk

[Elessar [Sly]]

I have recently had a set of Mothers milk put in my fender '89/'90 MIJ left handed strat after wanting a John Frusciante/60's sound, and I can't seem to get on with this pickups quite as much as i thoguht I would. I can dial in a cool sound on my amp but the pickups still aren't woody/glassy enough. - I'm not looking to immitate an exact sound so I'm not after getting marshalls etc. blah blah blah; but is there any way the pickups themselves can be changed so that they sound a bit different to how they are now? 

I appreciate any help.

[Telerocker]

The MM's have enough glass and woodiness for Frusciante-tones. The neckpickup is stellar. I have them in an ash-strat, combined with a VHII.

[djl]

I've spent quite a while messing around with strats over the years and I would say the following things. Apologies if you know them all already.
Strat pickups are very sensitive to height changes, particularly the neck. Try messing with the heights, and don't be afraid to have fairly slanted pickups - you will prob end up with the bass side lower than the treble side, for the woody sound. The treble side can end up surprisingly close to the strings (with the string pressed at the last fret), but you def don't want the bass side too close - it will almost certainly have horrible overtones
2nd thing is just to make sure the actual guitar is set up properly - of all guitars strats seem particularly sensitive in this respect. For an awesome classic strat sound my experience is that you can't have a completely flat neck (you need at least a tiny bit of relief) or super low action. And also on some strats if the bridge is set up wrong (screws too tight etc) it can kill the tone.

[Telerocker]

I agree that strats need a good setup. Personally I don't like the action too low, it kills the tone and makes bendings more difficult.
Experimenting with the height is nearly a must with scatterwound pickups. I would not turn the bassside too low on the MM's. They have not much weigth in the bass, compared to Irish Tours. Btw, the IT's do Frusciante-tones quite convincing if you turn the guitarvol.knob a tad back. No surprise, since IT's sound more or less like overwound MM's.

[Elessar [Sly]]

Yeah I might have the strings a bit higher from the fret board.

[Telerocker]

Yeah I might have the strings a bit higher from the fret board.

What kind of pots and capacitor is in there?

[gwEm]

for me, mothers milks define woody strat tone. maybe try a setup indeed.

[Elessar [Sly]]

Yeah I might have the strings a bit higher from the fret board.

What kind of pots and capacitor is in there?

I haven't a clue. It's been set up and set up well just not quite how I want it. I can take it to workshop and have the strings raised a bit that should help (I think).

[Telerocker]

I can confirm gwEm's contribution, the MM's are woody and glassy. I have them in ash-strat and they are very Frusciante. They're woodier, leaner and lighter in the bass then the IT's I have in my other strat. Must be the pots and/or pickupheight.

[FELINEGUITARS]

Hmmm - I 'm taking a guess and if the OP is Simon then it was me that put the pickups in .........

Off the top of my head I can't recall if we changed any pots or caps - will have to peek inside if Simon(?) brings her in for me to see.

It may be that if we haven't maybe it is something that we could do - and maybe if we need a bit more shimmer there is a way to do 50s Gibson wiring on a strat which may help.

The other thing that may give more edge and shimmer is to consider having an Earvana nut (if we haven't already done it) as that can help make those funky chords  sound more articulate.

However if you are looking for more output in the bridge unit a baseplate could be added (we do wax dipping so no problem waxing it on if we get one from Tim........but we can review a few options if need be

[Elessar [Sly]]

Hmmm - I 'm taking a guess and if the OP is Simon then it was me that put the pickups in .........

Off the top of my head I can't recall if we changed any pots or caps - will have to peek inside if Simon(?) brings her in for me to see.

It may be that if we haven't maybe it is something that we could do - and maybe if we need a bit more shimmer there is a way to do 50s Gibson wiring on a strat which may help.

The other thing that may give more edge and shimmer is to consider having an Earvana nut (if we haven't already done it) as that can help make those funky chords  sound more articulate.

However if you are looking for more output in the bridge unit a baseplate could be added (we do wax dipping so no problem waxing it on if we get one from Tim........but we can review a few options if need be

Yeah I think it is more the sound I expected to actually have without actually knowing 100% what I'm doing if that makes sense. You did a brilliant job and everything that I asked, more so even. The problem I have is being left handed I never get chance to try any kind of pickups (other than stock) or specialised guitars before hand I have to just 'take a leap of faith' and learn as I go along. Unfortunately I don't know much about the technical side of things when it comes to pickups etc. So the only way I can gather information is from you or online.

I might bring it by at somepoint if thats alright and go through some ideas/prices with you. I'm happy with the neck position to middle I think its just the bridge I'm not sure on. Would raising the strings a little help to aquire the sound I want more?

[thesjkexperience]

Two things come to mind.  First, are you using quality cables?  Second, are you using a buffer last in your chain?  These things are important to retain the mids and highs in your signal.

You may lower the value of the capacitor in the tone circuit of your guitar which will add highs even with the tone control on 10.  If all that fails maybe 300k pots will liven things up.

I think you said you use high action which is great.  Also check and see if the pickups are too high and causing string pull.