Bridge P-90

[Abadacus]

My beloved parts-built Jazzmaster was stolen a few days ago, and I've been looking for a replacement. I just got a MIM Fender Strat (Maple neck) to use as a platform for eventual upgrades, and I'm trying to get some advice on pickup choices.
First of all, MIM strats are routed HSS, so I can mount a regular single coil, reverse angle single, humbucker or humbucker-sized p-90 in the bridge position. I'm a HUGE fan of the Jazzmaster sound, so I'm strongly leaning towards the Stockholm or Mississippi queen HSP90 in the bridge, and off the top of my head I'm thinking Irish tour for the mid and neck, but I've heard Mother's Milk is perhaps more versatile.
The truth is, I need an extremely versatile tone, I play in an indie-rock band, mostly influenced by bands like Pavement, Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr. and The Pixes. With my last guitar using Curtis Novak Jazzmaster pickups I could get everything from classic fender cleans to classic Nirvana power chords to ballsy, bass heavy distorted tones and WONDERFUL noise. I don't really mind hum at all, but I do intend to shield the body cavity thoroughly.

Gear: My essential tone-affecting gear includes a 1996 Boss OD-2, NYC Big Muff, MXR Carbon Copy delay, EHX Holy Grail reverb all leading into a 1976 Fender Bassman 4X10 Combo. I'm planning on adding a compressor at some point, probably an MXR Super Comp.

I have to admit, I LOVE to go a little overboard with the gain sometimes. Don't think smooth humbucker distortion, think blistering, noisy, feedbacking saturated single coil decimation, a la Sonic Youth. Will "Vintage Hot" sound less sterile in this element than high-output singles? As much as I love this sound,  I don't want it to dominate my gear setup, so pickups that will maintain a favorable character with little or no distortion are needed.

Looks: The Strat is Alpine white, with a maple fretboard, and I'm going to put a red tortoiseshell pickguard on it ASAP.

Does the Mississippi queen come with a black pickup cover?
Are there any humbuckers you'd recommend for this style of music?
Anything special I need to do seeing as I play a lefty guitar?
What are shipping/handling/price conversion totals to get some BKPs to California?
Anyone know if the StepMax tremolo is any good?

[Telerocker]

Welcome here! The Stockholm P90 hb-size has way more output then the MQ. It's quite hot. For your style the MQ suits better, I think. Humbucker: Mules are versatile and sound open and balanced. They can handling everything from blues to even metal. Considering your amp The Mule would be a great bridgepickup. The MQ would deliver P90-ish-tones, but is a great bridge-pu too. I believe you can get 'm black. You can ask the BKP-team. Just send a mail.
The IT's are a little hotter then the MM's and handle overdrive/distortion very well. I have them in my superstrat and like them much. Turn down the vol.knob on your guitar and they clean up great. They do pristine cleans too. Instant Chili Peppers when your roll off the vol. just a bit. Just beware that with maple necks IT's can be on the bright side. MM's are a tad mellower.

[metale]

Sorry to bump an older thread, but I want to know if the OP ever went ahead with this project. Also considering the all maple neck, wouldn't slow hands on neck and middle be a better match to the bridge MQ, both volume wise and mid-content wise?

I've been toying with the ideia of an hsp90-s-s set for one of my strats. It would be cool if BKP would put some of this sets on the online shop in addition to the existing HSS sets. I think they would be up to some very interesting sets.

[ztikmaen]

Yeah that would be a neat idea to have some P90-S-S setups.
And also wouldn't the Mother's Milk be Brighter than the Irish Tours? By the looks of the EQ chart it seems the MM is quite treble based?

[AndyR]

I don't know whether MMs are "brighter" than ITs (I've not tried MMs). But do be aware that a bridge MQ is no slouch in the brightness department. If I switch from my IT'd strat (alder body, rosewood board) to my MQ'd Explorer (all mahogany, rosewood board), I usually have to turn the amp treble down.

Having said that, although I've not tried it, I do suspect that an MQ bridge and ITs would sit together pretty well in the same guitar.

[Telerocker]

I think the IT's and the MM's are brightsounding singelcoils, but in a good vintageflavoured way. They don't have an annoying topend and they handle distortion well. If you would like a bit more meat in the mids, look at the Slowhands. They have vintagecharacter with extra muscle.
THe MQ-bridge has a lot of highs. If they seem to much for your guitar (alder/mapleneck is usually snappy and bright) maybe ask the BKP=team for a special wind with some reduced highs.