Well, I've just pulled the trigger on Sultans, vintage stagger, stock middle. They're a birthday pressie from the missus, so I won't be able to comment on them until March (and they're going in a warmish strat with alder body and rosewood board, so not entirely relevant to your situation...)
BUT, I did a lot of research on here yesterday, searching old posts etc.
I still suspect the Apaches are your best bet.
I now understand why the ITs work better, for me, in my bright sounding Roadworn. They were designed to be "thicker" than the vintage range and give slightly more punch. I found several posts from Tim (did a search in Pickups for "Sultans") which gave me this info. He explained that he'd designed them to give a "standard player" a pickup that would approach the Rory Gallagher and SRV type tones. Those guys achieved these tones with lower powered pickups, but with heavier strings than average and with potentially very aggressive left/right hand techniques - you've got to work hard with your fingers to get those tones. The ITs are designed to get a player with a lighter touch into that ballpark without changing your style.
Aha! :lol:
I already have that aggressive left/right hand technique - just ask my fretboards - I've been trying to sound like Rory since 1980, and I was already a bit heavy-handed on an accoustic at that stage. And I use heavier strings than Rory did.
So in my warmer CIJ, I suspect that my standard mode of playing made the IT tone even thicker... Sometimes I was struggling to get enough top-end out of them(!).
In my brighter/thinner/harder Roadworn, the ITs, the guitar, and my playing, all complement/compensate each other to give me a slightly hotter than vintage pure woody strat tone... (by the way, this has put a temptation to try to improve the tone with a steel block right out of the window!! :lol:).
On the Sultans, the impression I have come away with (and there are some fairly conflicting views expressed on here over the years :lol:) is that they are possibly slightly smoother than the Apaches, and that they are slightly brighter by adding top end rather than losing anything else. The extra brightness is sometimes described as sweeter than the ITs brightness.
I found something new about Apaches that I didn't know: they are apparently "hotter" than the "average 50s pickup" was - they're like the odd set that would crop up with a few more windings and sound utterly fab... And this means they can snarl as well as do the other stuff you'd expect from a 50s strat pickup.
I was already aware of this one: Unless it's changed, and I doubt it, the Apaches are also apparently Tim's favourite strat pickup (I even read that he's rumoured to have used them in Ozzy tribute band).
Anyway, I finally went for Sultans on the CIJ because:
a) Apaches, I believe, will be more rounded than I want (at the moment) given my technique
b) Mother's Milks, although I would love to get a set, and would sound fabulous, would make the CIJ sound a little bit close to the IT'd Roadworn
c) I'm not after an "allround" strat at the moment - for me, that's my Roadworn - I want the CIJ to do a completely different job, a "classy", clean, percussive strat tone, with good bottom and detailed mids, probably to be used without a pick much of the time... kinda fits the Sultans descriptions a bit too close for comfort if I'm ruling out the Apaches :lol:
I'll post a thread when they're in...
