what to do with a jap strat

[bandmaster188]

the singer in our band has asked me to beef up his strat a bit. it currently has j.b. junior in the bridge and stock pups in middle and neck.
we were just discussing a full size humbucker for the bridge and i was thinking of a vhII. also i was wondering what a mississippi queen would sound like in the neck, and now i've just looked at the humbucker size p90's i might talk him into a pair of them. (just so i can have a try of course)
what say you lot. what strat concoctions have you got!

[Telerocker]

I have two HSS-strats (ash and swampash) with VHII and Crawler in bridgepositions. The VHII is really a great rockpickup. Due to the offsetcoils this one doesn't sound thin or weak. It's a very articulate and dynamic pickup, which cleans up beautiful. With drive/distortions it crunches and screams in the best way. Harmonics pop out with ease. My VHII is paired with two Mother's Milk.

The Crawler excels imho in bolt-on guitars. This one has serious mids, but the balance is nice. It's a bit compressed, which is nice for solo's. It still has PAF-character, only fatter and hotter. The Crawler can growl like a bear. Cleans up great too and splits very well with the middlesinglecoil for quacky Fender-tones. Mine is wired to have full humbucker and middle-sc and one coil of the Crawler and middle-sc (by push-pull). The first position provides a very full dynamic tone, which you even could use for jazzy stuff. I paired the Crawler with Irish Tours.

There are more good bridge-hb's for strats like the Holy Diver, Abraxas (a bit like the Crawler with quite some mids, less hot, more airy in the upperregister) or a Nailbomb (quite modern, to me this one sounds like 90's-metal).

The humbuckersized P90's will do great in HSS-strats too. P90's are midrangey and will beef up a strat.

Choiche is a matter of taste and the music you play.

[bandmaster188]

he probably needs to buy 4 strats and then we can make combo's for all ocassions.
i don't think he will appreciate that suggestion though.

[Telerocker]

he probably needs to buy 4 strats and then we can make combo's for all ocassions.
i don't think he will appreciate that suggestion though.

Hahaha, I guess not, but it's always fun to have four totally different strats  :)
Nevertheless it's good to look at some options and pick the pickup that will do best the music you play.

[darkbluemurder]

I second Telerocker's suggestion of the Abraxas bridge in strats. I just tried it two days ago and was simply blown away. Actually the JB marketing narrative "You get the best of both worlds - from sweet warm tones to raw rock and roll" describes the Abraxas bridge perfectly.

I have not yet played a VHII bridge but I definitely will at some time.

Can you please elaborate a bit more about the musical style(s) the band is playing and in what way the singer wants to beef up the guitar?

Thanks, Stephan

[bandmaster188]

hi stephan.
we play blues, rock and southern rock stuff, allman brothers, taj mahal, skynyrd and 9 below zero to name a few.
he plays mainly rythm but does take an occasional solo.
the strat in question is one of the jap 60's reissue models and is quite a nice guitar. gear wise he is playing through a laney lc 30 and a lazy j cruiser pedal.
check us out on you tube. the swamp city shakers
 http://youtu.be/1hOZpGLriXY   he takes the first solo in this clip so will give you an idea of his current sound.
http://youtu.be/nPphTnilPpQ
http://youtu.be/j50DE7Q-hv8
p.s. he doesn't play on the 2nd and 3rd clips, just thought i'd put them out there.

[darkbluemurder]

Well that's not too far away from what I play. For a HSS set up I would go Abraxas bridge and two Irish tours. I will set up the strat I mentioned earlier with the Abraxas bridge plus two single coils from another manufacturer with specs very close to the ITs.

Cheers Stephan

[Telerocker]

I would say Abraxas for classic rock and blues. If you can go a little more vintage/real PAF-tone, even a Mule can do the trick. The Abraxas is a sort of hotrodded Mule, both are alnico IV. For the same money you could give the Missisippi Queen a shot. A P90 will cover blues and classic rock very nice too. I'm with Stephan for the single coils: Irish Tours definitely.

[bandmaster188]

cheers guy's.
either of you got any thoughts on putting say abraxas bridge standard single coil middle and p90 (mq) in the neck.
not sure how that combo would balance out or would it be too much going on.

[darkbluemurder]

cheers guy's.
either of you got any thoughts on putting say abraxas bridge standard single coil middle and p90 (mq) in the neck.
not sure how that combo would balance out or would it be too much going on.

I am fine with the bridge and middle pickup selections - do an autosplit in the #4 position (bridge + middle) and you should get the typical strat quack - and without hum if the middle single coil is RW/RP - which BKP will do as a default if you order the pickups as a set. The neck pickup selection depends on what is more important to you - a strong fat neck pickup tone, then go P90 in humbucker size. If the #2 position (neck + middle pickup) tone is important to you - go for two single coils. If you want a Hendrix/Gallagher/SRV tone in the neck position - go for two single coils.

So in essence - both options would be good. Which is better is pure personal preference.

Cheers Stephan

EDITED for typos

[Telerocker]

Like Stephan says, for the neckpickup it's a matter of preference.

[bandmaster188]

just thought i'd give you a jap strat update.
myself and the owner of said guitar went to see jonathan at feline guitars on saturday to see what pups he had to go in the strat. after a quick chat about putting either a vhII or an abraxas in and realising that they would have to be ordered, my impatient pal asked jon what he had there and then. A white f spaced short leg mule was the answer. so thats what he bought and thats what i fitted on saturday afternoon. and the result;
OMG! i know i'm too old to use the omg thingy but omg!
but in his hastiness to buy a pickup there and then he missed the vhII which came up on ebay that evening which i have now bought and will be putting in my strat this saturday. happy days!
hope mine will sound as good as his does.

[gwEm]

or keep the SSS arrangement and go for a set of Sinners?

[Andrew W]

I used to have a Stratish (Ibanez Sabre) guitar with a VHII in the bridge and a Mississippi Queen in the neck and I thought they complemented each other very well. The MQ is very thick sounding which contrasted well with the cut of the VHII. Good combo I thought.

[bandmaster188]

cheers andrew,
i'm gonna stick this vhII in at the weekend, (perhaps while the kids are opening their presents!!) see how it sounds with the stock pickups and then i might take the jump into p90 territory.