Help! pickup dilemma!

[Ammo_3000]

im looking to replace the pickups in my 62 vintage reissue strat (1998). i also have a 57 reissue strat (2001) both have fender 57/62 reissue pups in them but i know that they redesigned the pickups in 1999 to match an original 63 pup. i love the tone on my 57 but my 62 just feels and sounds simply s**t. ive been reading up on the mothers milks and thought they sound exactly what im after but after reading a few reviews im stuck. ive herd that the fender CS69's are better in some ways and i dont want to buy a set of MM's or CS69's and waste my money. if i were to get the MM's i would be adding the zinc baseplates to all three pups. im after that john mayer, jimi hendrix, john frusciante famous 60's tone. i hear in mayers sig strat the pups have dipped mids (Big Dippers). also i would appreciate advice on rw/rp if the only difference is hum canceling im not botherd 60's strats never had rw\rp right?

any help would be greatly appreciated
thanx

[BigB]

im looking to replace the pickups in my 62 vintage reissue strat (1998). i also have a 57 reissue strat (2001) both have fender 57/62 reissue pups in them but i know that they redesigned the pickups in 1999 to match an original 63 pup. i love the tone on my 57 but my 62 just feels and sounds simply s**t.

how does it sound and feel unplugged ?

[Alex]

The pickup might fix the sound, but not the feel. The 60s strat have different necks than the 50s.

[Ammo_3000]

Sorry I don't mean actual feel, the guitar sounds ace unplugged, really chimey. And the neck on the 62 is c profile and plays really well. To be honest I visit one of the local guitar shops a couple of times a week as I know the owner and I play diffrent strats all the time but none seem to feel a good and fit me personally as mine do so I feel quite blessed I picked the right ones when I brought them. The problem being I'm not getting the sound I want anymore and I know it's the pup's. Been reading some other posts and I hear about some custom 62's tim's doing if you ask him. Any info on them?

Thanx again

[Mr. Air]

I don't think there's any company released info on the '62 set yet, but you can search the forums and find some. I know there's some sound files as well.

[Nolly]

The Mother's Milks would be excellent for what you've described. I have played that set in several strats, mostly with the 60's style slab board, and all have sounded incredible - they have that clear and open top end, with a beautiful hollow and woody midrange and a percussive and deep low end.
An interesting idea that Tim does in his strats is to pair the Mother's Milk neck and middle pickups with an Apache in the bridge. While the Apache is lower in output than the MM bridge it replaces, its alnico III magnet means it has a decidedly fat tone that gives it a lovely smooth creaminess in the bridge position - a voicing you might expect from a higher output pickup, but without sacrificing dynamic range or closing up the midrange.

The new strat sets are designed to be accurate reproductions of the authentic pickups you'd find in vintage guitars from a given era. I believe the 62 set would give you a similar midrange and top end voicing to the Mother's Milks but with less low end and a cooler wind on the bridge unit.