Apache vs Mothers Milk

[Stimpy]

Currently in the process of building a new strat with an Alder Warmoth Body.
Currently I have a spare squire neck from the 80s that I like. Rosewood board
but with quite thin frets.
The strat will also feature a built in Mid boost.

Now the one sound I can nail with my other strat (with Texas Specials again a rosewood board) is that typical
Glimour Sound (pulse era) and the current Clapton tone.

So the a couple of questions which of the two Pickups would suits me best for the rosewood board.
Or should I go for a new maple neck (again which pickup).



Also on another note, anybody got any settings on a Sansamp PSA1 to get closer to the Gilmour sound.
(effects handled by G-system and voodoo labs univibe).

[38thBeatle]

Welcome. Conventional wisdom says Apache for Maple board (1950's) and Mother's Milk for 1960's (Rosewood). All I'd say is that I have a 1970's Strat with a Rosewoofd board with Apaches and it does the Strat thing for me. At the end of the day I think that either would be a great choice...but you might also consider Slowhands with their slightly more middly sound. I regret that that is the extent of my first hand knowledge of BKP's for Strats. I am sure that some others will put their suggestions in.

[Stimpy]

So have done loads of reading on this site.
If I use the rosewood neck, I'd need the MMs to counteract the warmth of the Rosewood.
The one thing I don't like about some 90s Fender Pick-ups I replaced (with Texas Specials) is the very top end you get with single coils. It just grates a little.
Would having the baseplate fitted get rid of this very top end zing but give me thost great high mids, low treble sounds that Mr Gilmour is famous for.

I'm putting an active mid boost in for the those Clapton sounds.

[AndyR]

Hi Stimpy :D

I recently asked this on another thread - do you use the guitar's vol and tone controls much? That's how I control the "zing".

I changed to wiring strats with a master tone years ago, so I have control over all positions with just 1 vol and 1 tone.

My heroes (mainly Rory Gallagher, but then later SRV, and to some extent Mr Gilmour and various/all classic rock strat players) all use/used the guitar controls a LOT. Take their guitars/amps and play full vol/tone on any pickup, even the neck, and you're likely to start splitting teeth with the top end :lol:.

Back in the early 80s, I read that Rory deliberately set his amps to do it that way and then used the guitar tone (wired as a master) down near 3-4 most of the time. So I switched to doing that - and it works. You've still got all that treble up your sleeve if you want it, but you're in control...

On the Gilmour neck tone, I get something similar by backing the guitar volume off (to 7 or 8 maybe) but turning the guitar tone up at the same time...

I'm not sure exactly how baseplates affect the tone, but I believe they "thicken" what's there already rather than removing any top end.

[Andrew W]

As well as what's already been mentioned there's a couple of other factors that might be worth bearing in mind.  I have one of the new Highway One Strats with the maple neck and I've now got a set of Apaches in it.  I get lovely warm mids and no ear-gouging shrill treble even on the bridge pick-up with the tone fully open.  I suspect that this is partially because I use 10 or 11 gauge strings which tend to fatten up the tone, to my ears at least.  Another thing I do is that I have trem flat against the body a la Eddie Van Halen so I can only push the trem down to lower the tone.  This too, I think, makes the sound a bit fatter and less trebly.  I suppose what I'm saying is that depending on how you set up your guitar your mileage may vary when it comes to the tone and trebliness (is that even a word?), even accounting for what wood is used in the guitar's construction.

[Stimpy]

This guitar will have a master Tone, a Single volume and a Mid boost gain control.

My other strat has Texas specials and a JB humbucker in the bridge and does not have that very top end zing.
On My Epi 335 dot studio I use the tone control alot, but for some reason hardly ever on the strat unless I need a Jazz tone.

I'll try the new guitar with a spare set of 90s Fender pickups first and then go from there regarding the sound.