Strat Pickups

[Kiichi]

One more thing, come to think about it, and itīs a potentially weird one. If there is one weird addition I could add to all of my guitars it is not some sort of wiring, but the addition of a build in Zvex Super Hard on. That baby is an incredible clean boost that literally just feels like it sucks more out of the pickup. I feel no coloring, no nothing, just more in the best way.

I know that baby usually is a padle, but the scholar, gentleman, and all around amazing guy Juan Solo once glued that pedal to a push pull poti (cause it is simple and tiny to begin with and then Juan Solo happened). I currently own three of those, with only one installed sadly (due to reasons that will follow) as of now.

Essentially if you have the space for a 9v battery and a push pull pot you can have an on board perfect boost making for THE plug and play guitar.

If I had the coin right now to add these to all my guitars (student life still....) I would. Especially to SC guitars though, or P90s for that matter.

Everything Juan Solo builds has been awesome so far, but the "Solid Snake" mini Super Hard On, and, of course, his Klon(e) are just right up there.

[Dave Sloven]

I'd rather have it in a pedal, that way I could just plug in into my power supply and not worry about batteries ...

[Kiichi]

I'd rather have it in a pedal, that way I could just plug in into my power supply and not worry about batteries ...

I usually would tend to agree, but due to the powerdrain of this one that is a small concern for me. Plus I donīt have a power battery.

Perhaps I just like the thought of being anywhere on stage or anyhwere and being able to pull a pot and go. No board no nothing. Just go. Not a switching type.

However, even beyond that, I can just highly recommend that pedal to hell and back. The original is brilliant but overpriced, even though I love Zvex, but cause it is so simple great clones are everywhere. Either get one or build one yourself if you can put 2 and 2 together with a soldering iron. Seriously simple. Yet brilliant.

[Slartibartfarst42]

There's a lot of food for thought here. I'm inclined to agree with Alfi27 that vintage pickups just won't do it for me, even though they're what these guys used. I think I need something hotter and fuller sounding, even if they will still sound weak and thin in comparison to the humbuckers but that's fine as I do seriously want this guitar to be different and retain a 'Strat' feel and a 'single coil' feel. When I had Trilogy Suites in the neck and middle of an HSS Jackson I thought they sounded distinctly single coil in character and I got none of the 'P90' sound that is referred to on the website. I suspect that should tell me something. I think the best thing for me to do is to spend 2-3 months playing around with the stock pickups that will be weak as anything and see how I adapt before making a decision but at the moment I'm inclined towards one of two routes:

1) Put a Trilogy Suite in the bridge but I might make it the neck model as I imagine that will allow it to mix better with my other pickups and take the bass down a tad while maintaining the mids. I'd then put an Irish Tour in the middle and a Slow Hand in the neck. I'm not sure if I should make them neck or bridge models.
2) As above but with a Strat-sized P90 made for the bridge.

[Telerocker]

Vintage single coils will always sounds brighter and thinner than most humbuckers. You use them for different purposes. I use IT's for SRV/Hendrix/RHCP. A humbucker won't do that (right).
Anyway, a change of puppies will be a leap forward, since I don't hold much of those ceramic stockpickups in MIM-Fenders.

[38thBeatle]

Just a thought: it isn't only the pickups that make up the tones . It is the quintessential "strattiness" that you  need as a basis to reach what you are looking for and to that end, I would be looking at going back to what that is. My opinion would be to go for a vintage set though I fully appreciate what you have said and I get it that some people don't like the apparent weakness. But we are talking about amplifying what is always going to be a (comparatively) weak signal, whether single coils or humbuckers for that matter.  Its just the origins of that signal is what matters. I only speak what what I find: I have two guitars that have  vintage type pickups, Apaches and Country Boys. My band isn't particularly loud but we have been known to get a bit carried away and the sound that comes out of my amp, albeit cranked, is anything but weak. Now I am no great guitarist but I know more than a few players who are (imho). Those that use Strats and Teles have nothing but either standard or BKP vintage pickups. If you sat and listened to them play, they have ballsy classic blues tones ( the two I am thinking of do anyway). For sure they do use pedals for a bit of extra oomph and colour but then they are not playing huge stadiums and it is not easy to sound like one is so doing--not that I am necessarily saying that that is what you are after.
Ok I am stating the bleeding obvious I know -feel free to flame/disregard/deride if you so wish.

[Slartibartfarst42]

Oh to be thinking of humbuckers where I feel I'm on more solid ground! I wholly anticipate the stock pups to be rubbish (guitar not arrived yet) but even though they're cheap pickups, I don't expect them to be a hot wind at all because I assume Fender still want this model to sound like a Strat. I can't find the specifications of the pickups that come stock but surely they're no more than a vintage wind and if that's the case, they might at least give me a broad feel for what I want.

[Slartibartfarst42]

Just a thought: it isn't only the pickups that make up the tones . It is the quintessential "strattiness" that you  need as a basis to reach what you are looking for and to that end, I would be looking at going back to what that is. My opinion would be to go for a vintage set though I fully appreciate what you have said and I get it that some people don't like the apparent weakness. But we are talking about amplifying what is always going to be a (comparatively) weak signal, whether single coils or humbuckers for that matter.  Its just the origins of that signal is what matters. I only speak what what I find: I have two guitars that have  vintage type pickups, Apaches and Country Boys. My band isn't particularly loud but we have been known to get a bit carried away and the sound that comes out of my amp, albeit cranked, is anything but weak. Now I am no great guitarist but I know more than a few players who are (imho). Those that use Strats and Teles have nothing but either standard or BKP vintage pickups. If you sat and listened to them play, they have ballsy classic blues tones ( the two I am thinking of do anyway). For sure they do use pedals for a bit of extra oomph and colour but then they are not playing huge stadiums and it is not easy to sound like one is so doing--not that I am necessarily saying that that is what you are after.
Ok I am stating the bleeding obvious I know -feel free to flame/disregard/deride if you so wish.

Far from disregarding you, you've actually given me a lot to think about and since I last posted on this thread I've been doing a lot of thinking and listening to a load of clips. It seems to me that it would be a mistake to chase a really hot and fat tone with my Strat and instead I should accept it for what it is - a guitar with singlecoil pickups. I should also accept that it will have its own job in my collection and that role won't be Heavy Rock or Metal, it will be Blues and Blues Rock mainly with perhaps a little Jazz and Funk thrown in on occasions. Furthermore, because my amp will be set up for what I mostly play (Rock, Heavy Rock and Metal), it will usually have quite a bit of gain dialled in so having comparatively weak pickups may actually be an advantage. Having listened to all of the clips I decided I liked the Slow Hands, Irish Tours and Apaches. My natural instinct is towards the Slow Hands because of the three, they're  the closest to my humbucker tones so that's why I've reluctantly decided to dismiss them. To me, it's between Irish Tours and Apaches. The tone on the Apaches is beautiful while the Irish Tours certainly have a bit more grit in them that I like but I'm not sure if that's because the clip for the Irish Tours was using a bit more gain on the amp. Now again, my instinct is to go towards the Irish Tours because they're hotter, fatter and grittier but it strikes me that it might be a bit more complex than that. The extra mids on the Apaches makes me think that the notes should have a reasonable amount of body to them and if they can take a lot of gain, would I effectively end up with an Irish Tour kinda feel anyway if I go through the high gain channel of my amp? Is it easier to move Apaches into Irish Tour territory than move the Irish Tours in the other direction? Would Sultans be a middle-ground between the two? Unfortunately there's only one review on the forum for Apaches and nothing for the Sultans so it's difficult to tell.

[AndyR]

I had a feeling you'd go this route (or wanted to in your heart!).

Funnily enough, I have ITs, Apaches, and Sultans.

I would say that Sultans are the "softer" of the three sets. More polite and refined. If I want to play Mark Knopfler, Sultans of Swing, I feel a lot happier on Apaches. All three will do it, but Apaches just feels right to me.

I would also say that Apaches, in my experience, will travel more into IT territory than IT's will into Apache territory. The Apaches seem more versatile to me - and they've got plenty of honk when you need it (I bought them expecting to have to get used to weedier/thinner - no way, they are pretty ballsy).

BUT - when playing, I feel happiest and most at home on ITs. I have a feeling you might as well.

One last thing, though, I've never put ITs with a maple board - when I got them into my Roadworn 60s it was a match made in heaven, so they've never been moved. I've not even touched the height screws since I first set it up (in case I lose the mojo!!). But I've heard some don't like ITs with maple - too bright apparently. Not sure myself, in my experience, how that can be, because I find ITs don't have loads of brightness. But others were fine with ITs and maple. My Apaches have been with both, works real nice with either.

[Telerocker]

IT's are well balanced, not earpiercingly bright and do also clean stuff amazingly well. They handle gain with authority, yet retaining the vintage vibe. I would say that Mother's Milk are quite a bit brighter, but I have them in another guitar (ash/rosewood). The IT's perform well in my swampash-strat with ebony fretboard. Ebony is little snappier and not quite as warm than rosewood. Despite the percussive character of ebony the IT's are at their place in this woodcombination, providing fullbodied single coil-tones on the neckpickup, which has significantly more bass than a MM-necksinglecoil.
The second position is the most hollow sounding, ideal for funky chops. The middle pickup is surprisingly useful for clean, blues and pop. I have the Crawler in the bridge. Splitted you get great quack on the fourth position. Crawler unsplitted + middle-IT provides a chimey layer on a fat sound of the Crawler. Most pleasant.

[Slartibartfarst42]

Because Irish Tours seem a bit darker than some pickups it never occurred to me that they wouldn't suit a maple board. Does anyone else have any experience of this?

[38thBeatle]

Hi Slarti, I can only compare the Apaches with Slowhands. The latter have a little more mids I would say. Both can form the basis of a great traditional Strat tone but I'd say that the Apaches edge it for me in terms of roundness . I can't help with the Its but Andy as always comes up with an articulate analysis.

[Slartibartfarst42]

Ben at BKP suggested Irish Tours. His point was that as my amp often has a fair bit of gain dialled in, the Irish Tours would cope with that better while still giving me a definite Strat tone at lower gain settings. As a result of this I guess the best option is to go with Irish Tours and I'll put a baseplate on the bridge. My Strat has a 9.5" radius neck so I'm guessing that a vintage stagger would be best, though being a humbucker man this doesn't mean much to me other than the fact that if it was a 14" or 16" neck I'd need to go with flat poles. Once I get them installed I'll leave it a few weeks before writing a full review, which seems to be needed as Kiichi is the only one to have written a review so far and his is only the middle pickup.

[Telerocker]

Ben at BKP suggested Irish Tours. His point was that as my amp often has a fair bit of gain dialled in, the Irish Tours would cope with that better while still giving me a definite Strat tone at lower gain settings. As a result of this I guess the best option is to go with Irish Tours and I'll put a baseplate on the bridge. My Strat has a 9.5" radius neck so I'm guessing that a vintage stagger would be best, though being a humbucker man this doesn't mean much to me other than the fact that if it was a 14" or 16" neck I'd need to go with flat poles. Once I get them installed I'll leave it a few weeks before writing a full review, which seems to be needed as Kiichi is the only one to have written a review so far and his is only the middle pickup.

Flat polepieces are ok on a 9,5 inch radius board, but the staggered ones do no harm either.