New pickups for Stratocaster

[dasazo]

Hey,

I am looking for new pickups for my Stratocaster and would prefer if I would find suitable pickups for warmoth. My Strat is a 90's Tokai with Alder body and Maple/Rosewood neck built by custom shop. It has vintage tremolo and SSS pickguard on it.

I am using POD Farm and Guitar Rig 5 for playing at home and recording my stuff. What I need is a little versatility but mostly this guitar is for metal. Why I am planning to customize this Strat for metal? Because I like how it feels in my hands. The playability is superior to any other guitars I have had.

Mostly I am into playing stuff like Arch Enemy, Devin Townsend and Gojira. I would like to have pickups which can do metal and be versatile also for cleaner stuff.

Any thoughts on pickup choice? I am also considering HSS configuration along SSS configuration.
I understood that for the SSS set The Sinners would be the best choice for my playing style, but what about HSS configurations?

Cheers,
DasAzo

[AnnunakiMassacr]

How about a Warpig? It's great it bright guitars, and is versatile enough to even play Jazz :)

Maybe try a Sinner in the bridge and match it with something lower output in the neck for SSS?

[dasazo]

Done some research and....


Sinner (Bridge) would seem to go well with overwound Trilogy Suites(Middle and Neck)
Also some have suggested Sinner with Irish Tours for more traditional sounds.

Warpig seems to pair well with Trilogys and Irish Tours well.

I have heard some clips from sinner pickups and with decent high gain amp(/modeler) it can sound brutal. I like the idea of having single coil clarity and the similar power which I can have from humbucker. I think it could be something refreshing for my sound.

[AnnunakiMassacr]

Yeah I don't see why not; but just remember, whilst it may sound good to your ears, the feel of it may be a completely different experience. I've had pickups where when I've recorded a song, I think it sounded pretty good. But by god, was it tough to play with them. I just felt like I had no control over my style with them. Just have a good think before parting with your hard earned cash.

[gwEm]

I like the Sinner - it has a load of output whilst maintaining clarity and articulation.

Its also quite transparent from the tone, you can use it in quite a few styles - I use it for hard rock myself since the mids are good and chunky.

With the Tokai have a look at the tremolo as well - does it have steel saddles and a trem block with a good weight to it? Cheap upgrades that will help too!

[dasazo]

I have upgraded the saddles to fender stainless steel saddles. The tremolo block with new springs(5) is the next upgrade as I don't use the tremolo. Would be nice if it had fixed bridge, but it would need too much effort to glue wood and attach new bridge..

Personally I think that I can achieve better metal tones for my liking with single coils than humbuckers. I really like the clarity of single coils and the way thei behave. Transparent single coils make excellent metal pickups when used with little extra gain from high gain amplifier. Also the sound characteristics are a little bit different and single coils seem to stand out from mixed music a little bit better than humbuckers. Of course these thoughts represent just my liking and opinions.

How about a little vote?

Sinner/Sinner/Sinner vs. Sinner/Trilogy/Trilogy vs Sinner/Irish Tour/Irish Tour.
Positive and negative thoughts on there combinations?

[AnnunakiMassacr]

How about a Sinner in Bridge, Trilogy in Neck, with either an Irish Tour or Slow Hand in the Middle Position? It would give you great versatility :)

[Telerocker]

I think a calibatred set is the safe way to go. BKP doesn't offer them when it wouldn't be a balanced set. I don't see much advantage of a TS-neck and the IT in the middle would outputwise and voicingwise not be a balanced match with neck and bridge, unless you want to use the IT as a standalone pickup. I think you can achieve a lot of sounds with the Sinners by using the vol.knob.

[AnnunakiMassacr]

I think a calibatred set is the safe way to go. BKP doesn't offer them when it wouldn't be a balanced set. I don't see much advantage of a TS-neck and the IT in the middle would outputwise and voicingwise not be a balanced match with neck and bridge, unless you want to use the IT as a standalone pickup. I think you can achieve a lot of sounds with the Sinners by using the vol.knob.

Tim actually recommended me the Holy Diver with a Trilogy Suite Neck and the choice of either Slowhands/Irish Tour (depending on the sound I wanted) in the Middle, when I said i wanted some versatilty :)

[Telerocker]

If you go HSS there are def. more options for ultimate versality. If you split the HD a vintagehot-middlepickup delivers good balance in position four. If you stick to SSS I would stick to a Sinner-set. Just my my idea.