Blues Guitar

[6string]

I sent an email to Tim but thought I would post here and see what everyone on the board had for suggestions.

I'm putting together a "blues" guitar that is made up of a MIM alder strat body with a maple neck and rosewood fingerboard.  It has an H-S-S routing but I could also do S-S-S.  Tone wise, I'm looking for that warm round blues tone that you would hear in a good slow minor blues tune to that woody strat tone that you would hear in the chucka chuck middle section of Voodoo Chile. Also the ability to go from sweet cleans to dirty SRV and fuzzed out Hendrix.  No icepick treble.  Round, full, warm.

[roland_rat]

Sounds like a fun project your doing.  Welcome to the forum.  Im sure you will get lots of different but good options for this.   Bridge wise I would go for a  pickup from the vintage range. Out of them I think the riif raff will be too bright sounding and maybe the stormy monday.  For me I would look no further that a  mule in  the bridge and maybe mothers milk for the middle and neck. The mothers milk certainly give you that nice woody strat tone.  Though for SRV maybe irish tours may be worth a look instead.

[AndyR]

My first thought was Irish Tours, no brainer...

Mine are in a 60s Roadworn Strat - alder body with maple/rosewood neck. For me, it does all the stuff you mention...  with the possible exception of "Round, full, warm". It does plenty of that for me, but your idea of this might be different, so...

Also consider Apaches. I have them in a 50s Roadworn strat (maple neck). It's quite similar when I get into "blues-mode", slightly less woody, but definitely more "Round, full, warm". I haven't tried them in another guitar yet, but I think that they would do a stirling job on a rosewood board as well.

I put off getting Apaches for ages, but now that I have them I've found they are just a superb all-rounder strat pickup. I don't think they'd disappoint anyone who wants to get "the strat" tone out of all five positions of their strat - I seem to be able to make this guitar go in any "strat" direction I want.

I've not tried Mother's Milks, I want to, but I always end up getting something else. However, everytime someone asks for woody, all of us on here say Mother's Milks, so you have to think about those. Note, though, if I want to do Voodoo Chile type Hendrix (either the long blues track or the Slight Return single most people know), I always reach for the ITs. For other Hendrixy stuff, such as Wind Cries Mary, Apaches seem to do it better for me.

I strongly suspect that Tim has said, or will say, Apaches. Do tell us what he says, but keep it from us for a bit otherwise we'll all go "well, get them, then!" :lol:.

I am a bit of an S-S-S "purist" for my strats, so I've not really got any sensible suggestions for H-S-S. But I'd guess that Stormy Monday might be a good call.

Welcome to the forum :D

[PhilKing]

For H-S-S and classic blues and rock, I would use AII Stormy Monday & 2 Sultans.  I have this set up and it gives me great sounds, nice harmonic feedback and drives enough when I need it.  Another option (which has a bit more push and is a little tighter in the sound), would be a VHII with mother's milks.  If you are sticking with 3 single coils, then an Apache set would work well (put a baseplate on the bridge if you want some more bass and a bit more 'Tele' sound).

[38thBeatle]

For S-S-S I'd say Apaches or Slowhands but can't answer for a HB.

[Telerocker]

Stormy Monday + Apaches.

[kevinr]

Stormy Monday AII + Mothers milk, or Apaches.

[6string]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions!  I listened to a lot of clips and read a lot of old posts prior to my post and then using your suggestions narrowed things down.  I really like the Irish Tours.  From the clips that i listened to, its exactly that biting gnarley hot Texas SRV sound but I was concerned that it wouldnt clean up well and give me that smoothness I wanted also.  Listening to the Mothers Milk, that had the smoothness and although I dont think it got as close to the ITs in doing hot Texas, I heard clips that showed it had heat when you wanted it.  So its a toss up between the MM and ITs leaning to MM.  How sensitive are the ITs and MMs to height?  I'll want to keep the middle pickup lower as sometimes I get caught up on the pickup as I'm picking.

I think I'm going to go H-S-S for a configuration.  I'm more of a humbucker guy and think I'll regret a single coil in the bridge.  I really like the Stormy Monday in clips I've heard but they've all been in LP type guitars.  I'll have to do another search and see if I can find examples of them in alder strats.  Gorgeous sounding pick up in a LP though.

Haven't heard from Tim yet but I'll let you know what he says.

[6string]

Searched high and low and couldnt find a Stormy Monday clip in a strat bridge.  I noticed Tim does H-S-S sets that have a Mule with a pair of MMs.  I'm guessing he thinks thats a good combo.  Didnt see a SM and MM combo though.  So its a choice between SM or Mule for the bridge of my strat.  What do you guys think?

[Telerocker]

I mentioned Stormy Monday and Apaches, cause they have everything for a great big blues sound. I really like the SM and Apaches are on my list for a future stratproject.
Another option: Crawler and IT's. I have them in a swampash customstrat and it's a great combi for blues and classic rock. Crawler splitted sounds very nice too and pairs very well with the IT's. Height: just fiddle around till you find the sweet spot on your guitar. I have them relatively low.   

[roland_rat]

Both the Stormy Monday and Mule  I think would be great. They both have superb cleans and overdrive  well.   As for the  mothers milk, irish tours or apaches.  For me mothers milk sound that little nicer clean than the irish tours.  Im sure I will be shot down by someone for that statement but it is just my opinion.   I would tend to go for the guitar with the mother milk in over the  irish tour (neck) one for most things, clean to mildly overdriven.  However for me the irish tours excel when  they are overdriven.  As for the apaches I only recently got one fitted and am still finding out just what i can and cannot do with them though the apache middle pickup is nice.

In terms of matching a bridge humbucker with the single coils. I would go for a mule and two mothers milk.  I tend to think stormy mondays are slightly brighter than the mule in tone. Though this could be a misconception on my part just from hearing them in different guitars.  I will be intrested to hear what Tim at BKP says.

[Telerocker]

However for me the irish tours excel when  they are overdriven.

Ah, that's funny. Had a big gig yesterdaynight and got many compliments on the clean sounds of the IT's.

[6string]

Is everyone ready to hear what Tim suggested?  He suggested the ITs if I went S-S-S and with a H-S-S config- Crawler and 2 MMs.  I was leaning MMs over the ITs but didnt consider the Crawler at first.  Listening to the clips on the site, its sounds like a great HB.  To be honest, I think all of the suggestions would be just as good.  Is there a bad pickup in the BKP family?!

[roland_rat]

Thats intresting!  I suspect pardon the phrase "there is more than one way to skin a cat" and a number of options would get you close to what you want. That said Tim knows his pickup's and if  he says crawler and two mothers milk that is what you should go for.  Dont forget to let us know how are when the project is finished. 8)

[Telerocker]

Yes, interesting indeed. He suggested me to go for Crawler/IT's. I don't know if this has to do with the difference between swampash and alder. Could be. I'm sure Tim knows best.