Hi Folks
I need a some advice regarding a change of pickups. I currently have a set of Irish Tours fitted to my MIJ Fender 57 reissue strat. which has an Alder body and maple neck. The guitar is very resonant acoustically.
I love the ‘Tours pickups and they do exactly what it says on the tin, however, I’ve recently started using a treble booster pedal plugged into the clean channel of my Vox AC30 , and with this set up it can sound a little harsh/brittle in the top end, especially with the volume backed off for clean tones, and playing busy strumming patterns. I think even without the treble boost pedal my guitar can sound a teeny tiny bit harsh in the top end.
I am assuming this is down to the treble boost pedal accentuating an already bright sounding set of pickups which are sort of emulating a treble boosted strat. tone (early Rory Gallagher with rangemaster pedal).
I’m considering changing to a pickup set that is not wound quite as hot and not as bright so that I can get away with using the treble boost pedal, ideally a pup set that’s near to that of a stock early 60’s era strat. Having searched around the forum and read similar threads I’m thinking of going for a Mothers Milk set which I’m thinking shouldn’t be quite as bright and biting in the top end as the ‘Tours but still have a bit of meat and balls to them when I need it to cover old school blues to more contemporary rock.
I’m aware that the guitar neck contributes to the overall tone of the instrument and that the general consensus is that Maple is slightly brighter than rosewood, but when listening to the tones players like Hendrix, Gilmour and Clapton got on their maple necked strats. I think I should be able to take the edge off my guitars’ tone by changing the pups. and not changing to a rosewood necked strat.
I have also experimented with adjusting the pickup height but as yet I can’t get the sound that I’m after.
Anyone got any thoughts on this ?
