Beefing the smeg out of a Fender MIJ 1957 Reissue Strat...

[Mr Ed]

Hey guys and gals. :)

I have the above mentioned guitar and it comes fitted with a trio of Texas Special pickups which, while they're good, are too wussy for me.

I would class myself and my band as "alt rock" and I'm a whore for gain and volume. My amp is a JCM900 4100 and my main guitar is a Fernandes Ravelle powered by an SD JB in the bridge.

So, I contacted the guys at BKP and the recommendation that's been made to me is:

B: Trilogy
M: Trilogy (it'd be rw/rp, natch)
N: Mother's Milk

I'd really appreciate some feedback on this if possible. Basically, I want true singlecoils but with a bit of extra output but don't want to sacrifice THAT Strat sound that we all adore.

Thanks in advance, much obliged.  :D

[38thBeatle]

Oh blimey, I can't help with the hot pickups but good luck. If the BKP guys said trilogies, I would go with that. What about Irish Tours?

[Mr Ed]

Oh blimey, I can't help with the hot pickups but good luck. If the BKP guys said trilogies, I would go with that. What about Irish Tours?

They look good, yeah, but they're barely any hotter than what I already have.

[TwilightOdyssey]

Don't go by measurements or DC readings! They are (near) worthless when it comes to assessing how powerful a pickup really is.

Trilogy/Mothers Milk will be a rocking set! (Personally, I would go with 3 Trilogy Suites)

[MDV]

Trilogies are my favourite single coils for pretty much what you describe: sounds completely single coil, but has serious gain and balls.

[Mr Ed]

Trilogies are my favourite single coils for pretty much what you describe: sounds completely single coil, but has serious gain and balls.

Thanks buddy, that's pretty much THE sentence I wanted to read.

Nice one, I think my mind's made up... now, to get £180...  

[Chris1974]

I have a set of Irish tours on my 57 reissue MIJ strat and they are great............ you can get all the classic Gallagher, Hendrix, srv tones out of them but can also produce a much more aggressive harder sound if you crank up your amp, use them with pedals etc.  they really drive your amp with a great edge to them, my strat sounds like an SG with the bridge pickup selected and tone rolled back + they do really great cleans for those classic chimy bell like strat tones.

They're definatley worth considering for more contemporary heavy rock if you still want to retain the classic strat sound.

[Mr Ed]

I have a set of Irish tours on my 57 reissue MIJ strat and they are great............ you can get all the classic Gallagher, Hendrix, srv tones out of them but can also produce a much more aggressive harder sound if you crank up your amp, use them with pedals etc.  they really drive your amp with a great edge to them, my strat sounds like an SG with the bridge pickup selected and tone rolled back + they do really great cleans for those classic chimy bell like strat tones.

They're definatley worth considering for more contemporary heavy rock if you still want to retain the classic strat sound.

Really?! Now it gets interesting... what pickups did your Strat come fitted with?