Strat pickups- guidance please !

[Strummer07]

A first BKP forum post and .............Yup ! fraid so , Its another one of those .......Help please !!
There seem to be a lot of threads which focus on Humbuckers and way fewer which focus on the differences in the BKP's single coil range
I am not overly knowledgeable about pick-ups, but do know a decent tone when I hear one - and right now I don't own a BKP pickup ....yet!!  - but am very much in the market and the brand is at the top of my list.
Great write ups / reports and they are a UK brand ! not bad to start with !!

My dilemma..............
I want to upgrade a really nice American Standard Strat - lovely guitar , Charcoal Frost, visual viagra !!  and a good set up
But !
the standard pick-ups, whilst OK are not what I wanted a Strat for.... generally very lightweight................
the Bridge pick-up is almost not worth havin , and the neck lacks real tone and depth ( too light and weedy) .

Now,  I still want the guitar to sound like a Strat .. but I want a bridge pickup I can really use, not a humbucker by any means but a pickup with some balls and I need a lot more presence and clarity from the neck and middle.

As a predominantly Blues / Country Rock enthusiast and would be player.........................
I want a pick-up that gets my Strat (Played through a Fender NOS Tweed Blues Junior) into a  John Mayer / Steve Winwood  / EC /Buddy Guy kinda zone.

From the BKP website I think I am looking at the main options being :-

• Mothers's Milk
  Irish Tour or
  Slowhand 
  

However .................. right now I can only opt for one choice  ............

So, which set would be the best place to really dig the BKP experience and get a great blues crunch alongside some glistening cleans as and when they are needed .

Your experience and input is much appreciated  :band5:
   

[tomjackson]

Hi mate, welcome to the forum, you have come to the right place!

I have tried Mothers Milk and Irish Tours. The Mothers Milk are fairly lean, beautiful for clean twang and chord embellishments aka John Mayer.  All pickups are very usable which as you say, they are not on a AS Strat.
The Irish Tours are a bit jucier, for me they are a better all round pickup, with the bridge being quite fat.  They are great clean but in an ideal world I'd have a MM strat for the pure clean, and the IT's for everything else (i.e. nearly clean+).  The IT neck is amazing, but it is also nice to flick to the brdge pickup and have a sound just as fat but that cuts too, really, this is the best bringe single coil sound you would get without a telecaster.

I've just upgraded my usa strat to IT's but I also upgraded the saddles and sustain block to Callaham which made just as much as a difference.

No Idea what Slowhands are like but I'm sure some of the other guys will chip in.  By all acounts, Apaches should be on your list also.

[_tom_]

I think when I asked tim about this for my own strat, he recommended me the Slowhand bridge, I think it has more mids than all the others so it sounds a little more humbuckery but still retains the strattiness. May be wrong though, that was a long time ago. I had a Trilogy in the bridge of my strat for a while (well it was a neck one but i put it in the bridge slot anyway as it was too smooth in the neck), and found it to be a bit too scooped, had enough power though. I preferred another brand of pickups I ended up putting in there but I Cant really say which brand on this forum.

You may want to consider a p90 of some kind (some companies make singlecoil size ones) in the bridge, they sound awesome :)

[38thBeatle]

Have a think about Apaches too-they are not hight powered but have the classic tone.Conventional wisdom suggests putting them on a maple fretboard guitar with the Mother's Milks for Rosewood. Personally I would not get too hung up on that as I have a Rosewood board Strat with Apaches which sounds excellent-just got back from a gig where she performed with her usual great tone. As Tom has said, the Slowhands have a touch more in the mids. I have not tried the ITs. My own choice is to go for a pure classic low output Start tone and crank the amp but obviously others might pefer pickups with more punch. Welcome to the forum by the way.

[Antag]

As a dyed-in-the-wool metaller, I can't comment on the bridge models.  However I do have Irish Tour & Slowhand neck pickups.

The Irish tour is reasonably hot - certainly doesn't get overpowered by the Holy Diver bridge I use.  It has a lot of top end "sizzle" - there's a real "snap" when you first sound a note or chord.

The Slowhand is more "rounded" in the top end with fuller mids.  Actually I was a little surprised by the output level as it seems to have slightly less output than the IT.  But generally speaking, it's smoother than the IT.

Just for interest's sake, why not Sultans'?  We've mentioned every other Vintage & Vintage Hot strat pickup.  I have sonme & they have a really nice bright jangly sound.  Then again, I'm not really a strat expert so perhaps there's an obvious reason... :)

FWIW, check out my neck clean shootout in Players to hear the IT & Sultans.

[Strummer07]

Wow - this is a great site - both a welcome and several responses inside 12 hours - on many of the other sites I'd be waiting a week to get a couple of responses ...so thanks Tom j /Tom /38th Beatle and Antag.

I found the sound clips that Antag posted especially useful and really like the sound of the Sultans ( Aaarrgh! another option to consider !! Just when I was trying to narrow things down !! :lol:  )

Having had a listen to a few of the BKP options on an old thread - I think I am now in
Sultans / Mother Milk territory with Irish Tours at the top end  and perhaps a bit too hot an heavy .... so I have a zone to aim at ...I feel Apache is probably just too clean and I am not after a Hank Marvin sound (which is what "Apache"  says to me!)
Right now I am leaning towards a set of Mothers Milk - just looking at the specs and the DC ratings there is not a lot of sepc difference between the MM's and The Sultans ..is the sound noticably diferent ? 

[badgermark]

Just to confuse matters further, you can always mix and match pickups. I tried a Slowhand bridge with Mother's Milk neck and middle, and it sounded pretty good. Didn't last long as i quickly realised strats aren't for me.

Your best bet is to email the BKP team directly, don't get me wrong, experience from us is all well and good, but Tim and the boys who make the pickups are rarely wrong with their recommendations.

Oh and welcome! Don't be afraid to jump in, we're a close bunch, but if you contribute you wont be ignored (unlike other forums out there!)

[Strummer07]

Thanks Badgermark - my e-mail for guidance from the BKP guru's is, I hope sitting on their machine awaiting opening hours on Monday.

But I really wanted some sound advice from real product advocates - folk who have paid their hard earnt cash and have real experience of the tone / build quality and what works well in various combo's 

In that respect this forum is ace !! 

The idea of  mixing is a good one  I was kinda contemplating a pair of MM's with an IT in the bridge perhaps

I wonder how different this would be to getting an overwound MM for the bridge ???

I shall be placing my order before the week is out - so any further thoughts much appreciated.

[Philly Q]

The idea of  mixing is a good one  I was kinda contemplating a pair of MM's with an IT in the bridge perhaps

I wonder how different this would be to getting an overwound MM for the bridge ???

Don't forget that all the BKP single-coil sets already have the bridge pickup wound hotter to compensate for the naturally thinner tone in that position.

Which isn't to say don't mix & match, but you may not need to  :) .  You might also consider a metal baseplate for the bridge pickup, for a bit of extra grunt.

[Elliot]

Well i'm not a metal head so I would say Mother's Milk - if only because you say Mayer, EC, Buddy Guy - Mothers have that clear mid 60s strat sound, but if you have prob with weedy pickups ITs have the overwound sound. 

As to Apaches - don't let the Hank Marvin image put you off.  If anything, Apache have a meatier sound than Mothers Milks as their construction allows for a thicker sound (in my mind anyway)

[38thBeatle]

Elliott has said what I would say about the Apaches. They are definately not just for the Hank tone. I get a wonderfuil stratty tone from mine. To be honest you will enjoy any set you get because they are so well made and you will notice a difference for sure. BKP's do have an exchange facility in the unlikely event that you are not grinning like an idiot whenever you play your guitar. The Sultans look like a good set but I can only comment upon those that I have.

[Philly Q]

As to Apaches - don't let the Hank Marvin image put you off.  If anything, Apache have a meatier sound than Mothers Milks as their construction allows for a thicker sound (in my mind anyway)

That's always been my impression from sound clips, although I was reluctant to comment since I don't own either set.

[Strummer07]

Just had an e-mail back from Tim ( on a Sunday too - so I am well impressed) he says that in view of the fact that I have a Start with a Maple board and the original pickups give a lack of presence to go with a set of Irish Tours ...seems to make plenty of sense.

Having listened to several of the sound clips.......... all the BKP pickups seem to be pretty versatile - good cleans and with a bit of gain / dirty channel ( I only have the one on the blues junior )  and the Apache's are definately an impressive sound ( no disrespect to any Hank fans!!) 

I'm thinking It's ... but still have a slight hankering for MM's ......
Again I appreciate the comments and input
We shall see............and I will keep you posted !

[Scotty477]

An interesting thread this, as I'm looking to do the same thing as Strummer.

Hi Strummer BTW  PDT_002

This is a very friendly forum indeed. I'm a returning member, and it looks very likely that I'll be dropping a set of Irish Tour's into my Strat Plus.

Looking forward to it  :D

[PhilKing]

Hi - another welcome, I'm coming in a bit late as I am travelling and only just logged in again today.  I have all the pickups you are looking at and so can probably give you a feel for them all:

Sultans - very underrated pickup - I have them in an HSS set so I can't comment on the bridge, bit the neck and middle have a great tone - obviously you can get the Mark Knopfler tone, but you can get Hendrix, Blackmore and your John Mayer tone too.  They are an AII magnet, and so have a little softer top end, but sound to me like a nicely aged strat set
Irish Tours, I am one of the few people who finds them too bright.  This is partly my own fault because I got them with a reverse stagger on the pole pieces!  I have them in a semi hollow strat and they sound good in it, but I have to say that for Rory Gallagher I prefer the Apaches!
Mother's Milks - again in an HSS set.  The neck and middle sound really nice, there is more power there than the Sultans and they have more of the older strat tones that I associate with Clapton, Buddy Guy and sometimes Robin Trower.
Slowhands - they are very smooth and have quite a mid push.  They are a great sounding pickup if you want that little extra mid that moves the strat into Gibson Melody Maker territory
Apaches - I have these with and without baseplates (and I also have an AV set coming in a bit - they are going into a custom built guitar and so I haven't heard them yet).  Possibly the mose versatile strat set around.  With the baseplates you can get the David Gilmour tones as well as some great clean and driven sounds that are thicker than you would expect from a single coil pickup (think tele tones).  Without the baseplates they can be anything from Little Wing to Tin Pan Alley. 

That probably doesn't help you a lot, but whichever set you pick, I'm sure you will love the sound.