Strat conversion to HH

[darkbluemurder]

A heavy ash bodied strat with a rosewood board is normally the ticket for a very very bright sounding guitar. On the other hand, many of the tones you mentioned are on the bright side. Hence, my Abraxas recommendation is still valid, although I would consider the Crawler for this wood combination.

Cheers Stephan

[Gary_Goo]

Purely from the fact that you say the guitar isn't as lively as you think it should be and you don't want a mid focus or scoop I would probably say a Riff Raff set may be a better option for you. I have an alder/maple neck/rosewood fingerboard Fender Custom Shop tele that although great sounding unplugged was really picky with regard to pickups and the solution was to put a slightly brighter punchier pickup in there, hence the recommendation of the Riff Raff. I don't agree with Stephan about heavy ash and rosewood being a recipe for a bright guitar. Generally heavier ash guitars tend to push the mids a bit more and not ring as much in the top end and rosewood fingerboards tend to take a bit of top end off a guitar (warm it up as is often said). I've had a couple of Fenders with exactly the same woods as yours and they had a similar slightly less lively quality like you say your guitar has. Putting in a brighter punchier pickup like the RIff Raff makes sense and where I think the Abraxas bridge would suffer with its rolled off smoother high end and why I would avoid it.
The Riff Raff can also do metal and still has that classic rock sound you're after. It is the go to pickup for the Angus Young tone in an SG after all.
If you're in any doubts though ring or email BKP and ask. I've recently spoken to Ben at BKP at length about some pickups and he's full of options and opinions and may have a suggestion that nobody here has thought of.

[Telerocker]

My experience with HSS-strats (i have two: ash/rosewood board and swampash/ebony board, both maple necks) is that vintage pickups can make them sound thin and too bright. I can see a RiffRaff being a great balanced pickup for a big mahogany lump like an SG. A friend of mine has the Crawler/Mother's Milks combi in his strat. Het tried a Mule and went back immediately. Mule was too bright in that guitar and didn't push enough.
Imho strats need a bit extra midrange (and a bit more push) from the pickup to get some beef, especially higher on the neck. I'm with Stephan and others that suggest the Abraxas or the Crawler. They split good too (you get a tele-esque tone). 

[Gary_Goo]

All things as always are very much the individual and guitar dependent. The fact that Sothoth has said his strat doesn't sound lively, not wanting a mid centred sound and his leaning to playing classic rock tones that are more at the vintage/brighter/bitier end of the spectrum gives me the impression that he's not looking to make his guitar sound overly big and fat, just fatter than the single coils that are currently in it. To me that rules out the Crawler as its more middy and less classic sounding. I don't disagree that the Abraxas might work, but if the guitar sounds a bit dull unplugged (Maybe Sothoth can let us know this) then adding the smoother Abraxas bridge to that could just mean that the guitar will be fatter but will still feel less lively and lacking bite. Heavy ash can be in some ways like mahogany in that its heavier because its more dense which tends to mid focus more and soften the top end. I made a tele from Fender parts that had a really heavy ash body and with a set of Brown Sugars in it was halfway to a Les Paul.
if it sounds dull unplugged I'd maybe try Riff Raffs or even Mules over the Abraxas. I'd even thought VHII's might be another option as they straddle vintage/contemporary line and are a bit fatter than a Mule while still being clear.
Tone is very subjective though and one persons "open sounding" is another persons "thin" and a lot of people find vintage PAF style pickups overly bright as theyre looking for a more modern thicker rounded tone, but 99% of classic rock tones aren't really that "big" sounding. Angus tone is punchy and bright, a lot of Led Zep was recorded on a telecaster, Townshend's tone has a big treble/high mid focus and the Creedence tone would be regarded as quite thin by some.

[Brow]

I have 4 Strats with humbuckers in the bridge:

Crawler/IT/IT - Alder Body, Rosewood fretboard
VHII/VHII - Alder or Basswood (not sure, its an 84 Jap Strat), Maple Fretboard
Cold Sweat - Ash Body, Rosewood Fretboard
Non BKP (PM if you want more info) - Agathis body, Maple Fretboard with Kahler Trem

In my opinion, any of these combinations would get you to where you want to be tonally as I play similar stuff to you myself so can speak from experience.

The Crawler is essentially a PAF on steroids so is very versatile and can cover a lot of ground and isn't too in your face. The VHIIs sound alot more open than the others, still very versatile and I find running them in Parallel also gives good single coil-ish sounds. The Cold Sweat isn't that great on cleans, not sure if that matters, but really excels with gain. Quite an aggressive sound, but not too much so that it pulverises everything else but it's also nice and full.

[Gary_Goo]

I'd still rule out the Crawler I think from Sothoth's description of what he's after. Too hot, not bright enough, not open enough and doesn't sound vintage enough. I'm really not a fan.
VHII's I can see as an option. I'm actually getting a set for a Les Paul as we speak. Ben BKP described them as "a pro option" in that a lot of pro/session players use them as they are quite versatile and cover lots of ground, plus they straddle the vintage/modern line in terms of tone. They also split well to give good single coil sounds. Fatter, but not mid heavy like a Crawler and without the rolled off high end of the Abraxas.
My money is still on something in the vintage range, or something like the VHII or even Black Dog from the vintage hot range though, unless its a particularly bright strat and then all bets are off.

[Sothoth]

Why not a Black Dog bridge and VHII neck?  Too hot?

[Gary_Goo]

I think the Black Dog bridge could be a good option for a chunkier sound. Still a good vintage PAF style tone. The VHII neck will be nicely open and clear. Both the Black Dog and VHII aren't overly hot, but have a little extra oomph compared to something like a Mule or Riff Raff.
I think it's a really useable set to be honest.