Looking for a strat set --

[Grim]

Hi all,

I have a beautiful 2011 Ash Deluxe Strat (maple board) which I love, but I always find the bridge pickup in strats to be rather useless. I love the N3s in the neck & middle, but if I replace the bridge I might as well replace the set. I like vintage neck and middle tones, so I was thinking Apache or Mother's Milks or maybe the 57 or 63 sets (don't know much about them though). I'd love a tele bridge sound out of the bridge position, as it's a different animal and totally usable. Is that possible at all? What wold be my best bet?

Thanks,

G.

[38thBeatle]

I would say Apaches for your set up though  I also don't have experience of the 57 or 62 sets but the Apaches are classic Strat  pickups that will get you the great tones that I am sure you will love. I can't comment on a pickup to provide Tele tones on the bridge because the layout is different and I am not sure that a Tele bridge pickup would give you what you want if installed in a Strat. The bridge pickup in my Apache Strat is anything but useless.
I am sure others will chime in and offer their thoughts in due course.

[Telerocker]

Good advice so far. Apaches will sound like a fifties strat, thicker and rounder then the MM's. Apaches are capable of doing lots of styles. The MM's are genuine early sixties in tone. Order a baseplate for the bridgepickup from some Tele-oomph.

[AndyR]

I haven't got much to add over "what set" other than what you have already. I too suspect that Apaches is what you need - that's what I'd want to put in there... but I don't really know much about the 57 or 63 sets either.

I do wonder whether Mother's Milks might be a little bright in an Ash/Maple strat - I suspect they would be for me. They are apparently the brightest, but I've not actually tried them.

On the "tele in a strat" tone. I'm not sure how close you can get to it (even with putting a tele bridge pickup in), acoustically my strats sound like strats and my teles like teles - so I always tend to think it might be asking a bit much of the design :lol:

However, liek Telerocker says, you can get a base-plate installed on strat pickups. Lots of people seem to go for this option on the bridge pickup in strat sets because they find strat bridge pickups almost unusable on their own. It apparently pushes it more into tele territory, adding a bit more body to the existing strat bridge tone. I used to find strat bridges a bit hard to get on with myself. But after I got my first BKP strat set without a base-plate (I have ITs, Apaches, and Sultans), I found I use the bridge alone an awful lot - and that applies to all three sets.

And I have to say I find the Apache bridge (no plate) rather yummy, I personally wouldn't want to mess with it

Actually, I can add that out of the three strat sets I have, the Apache set is the one most capable of getting nearer to tele bridge tone (I have the old Blackguard Flat 50 sets in ash/maple teles and Yardbirds in alder/rosewood to compare it to). My experience seems to be that tele bridge positions kick out a fair bit more than strats do, though. I can play my teles through the same amp settings as humbucker guitars and not feel too confused. If I plug a strat in, I have to push the gain up a bit if I want the same raunch. If a base-plate on a strat does that, then it could be what you want, but for me it would mean I'll have lost my strat bridge tone! :lol:

[TheyCallMeVolume]

Definitely Apaches

[Gizmo]

have a look at the official Bare knuckle youtube channel and the with/without baseplate strat set demo. v good demo to show how this affects the tone.

[AndyR]

have a look at the official Bare knuckle youtube channel and the with/without baseplate strat set demo. v good demo to show how this affects the tone.

+1

I'd forgotten this. I watched it a few weeks back, and it confirmed for me that I don't really need any base-plates myself. It didn't really seem to make a strat start behaving like a tele though, just moved it a little in that direction.

Definitely give it a watch, though - it will give you very good idea of what the baseplate does.

[Telerocker]

have a look at the official Bare knuckle youtube channel and the with/without baseplate strat set demo. v good demo to show how this affects the tone.

+1

I'd forgotten this. I watched it a few weeks back, and it confirmed for me that I don't really need any base-plates myself. It didn't really seem to make a strat start behaving like a tele though, just moved it a little in that direction.

Definitely give it a watch, though - it will give you very good idea of what the baseplate does.

Yes it doesn't turn your strat into a tele, but adds some extra lows and lowmids.