Strat pickups with ebony fretboard

[Ariakos]

I know there are zillion similar topics, but bear with me. I'm having a customized strat built and I'm looking for a good set of single coil pickups. BKP, obviously.

The specs are going to be:
 -alder body with quilted maple top
- rear end routing
- U-shape maple neck
- ebony fretboard
- Wilkinson tremolo bridge
- TUSQ graphite nut

It's going to be quite a bright sounding guitar to begin with. This is my second strat ever, the first was Fender Jimmie Vaughan signature few years ago. It was ok sounding with the Tex Mex pickups, but not that special. I liked the quack sound of a strat though. Now I'm looking for quite a mixture to play with this new guitar: David Gilmour (Pink Floyd 70's era stuff), John Frusciante (RHCP stuff), some reggae also. So yeah, a bit of everything maybe even some gritty stuff but mostly clean lead sounds.

My mind is leering towards either Mother's Milk or '63 Veneer Board. But which one is better and if something else hits it better, what is it? I'm a bit worried that since my new guitar's woods (alder, maple, ebony) are all going to give very bright sound then I don't want my pickups to "overdo" that too much with extra brightness. I chose ebony as the fretboard material but I'm not sure how bright it is compared to maple, for example.

 I already contacted BKP sales and they reflected on my preferences saying both MM and '63 were ok for my setup, maybe even Irish Tours would be good. The fool I was! I probably shouldn't have said anything about my opinions before I heard their unbiased opinion first. Might have set me on a totally new direction. Oh well... probably can't go wrong either way. Just a matter of small details and reassurance before I order.

[AndyR]

Don't worry about having stated your opinions first - even before I got to them in your post I was thinking MMs/63 Veneer or possibly ITs :D

I can't tell you any differences between MM/63, but I do know that ITs are a slightly hotter version of MMs. They're slightly thicker in the upper mids and therefore capable of getting that woody gritty strat tone with less effort or gain. They still do the woody strat tone with the guitar volume backed off.

For "standard" strat, ie rosewood board and alder body, I'd be leaning towards MMs for what you describe. But I understand they are the brightest strat pickups. So, if you're making the guitar brighter, that's why I think ITs, with the little bit more body that they provide, might suit you nicely.

[Telerocker]

I have a HSS-swampashstrat with Crawler and Irish Tours. Fretboard is ebony, providing a clearer attack than rosewood. I think Irish Tours are the obvious choice here. There have more bottom, midrange and less highs then the Mother's Milk in my ash Fender HSS-strat. But, roll down the volumeknob on the guitar a bit, and you're close to that woody Frusciante-vibe. Btw, they handle gain very well.

[Ariakos]

Lots of love for Irish Tour here, I see. After some thought I ruled out Mother's Milk for the reasons stated before (IT's having a bit more bottom and thus being probably more balanced choice for my setup). Although I am still intrigued a bit by the '63s. They just have that beatiful clean tone in some Youtube clips I've found.

It's probably just some silly notion of prejudice but for some reason I like more the idea of full vintage pickups of the '63 in 5-6 ohms instead of tad hotter 6-7 ohms of IT. Silly, I know... I guess the most sensible choice in my situation would be the Irish Tour. But I'm still struggling between IT and '63... :)

[Telerocker]

I think you have to pick the right pickup for the right guitar.

[Ariakos]

I think you have to pick the right pickup for the right guitar.

Quite true. Sense (IT) versus sensibility ('63). My local BKP dealer has Irish Tour set in flat profile, cream covers and RW/RP so it's kind of a no-brainer what I should do next. :roll:

Oh well, I'll give it another day or two before I order. No reason to rush things before I'm content with my choice.

[Ariakos]

Allright, I just wanted to let you know that the order has been placed. Irish Tours. Thanks to both of you for your feedback and opinions! Withou any consultation I probably had gone with Mother's Milks and not think about it that much. Not a bad choice those either but now I feel more confident that I'll get the best result from my particular setup. I'll let you know in couple of months how it turns out since I'm not going to get the guitar in my hands before the beginning of December.  :D

[littleredguitars2]

Good luck!

[gwEm]

I have Sultans in an ebony board strat. They work well.

You can compare ebony to maple, they do sound a bit different though - I think maple has more attack. Similar ball park I would say.

[darrenw5094]

Ebony seems to be more snappier with the finger poppin' if you know what i mean. Slightly brighter than the maple board.

[Ariakos]

I finally got it. Feeling a bit excited and not very eager to drop the guitar off my hands but I managed to at least post a comment here.  :D

Irish Tours suit quite nicely this guitar. Neck PU is to die for, so creamy and yet such a clarity! Middle and Bridge PU's share the clarity of Neck but I need to fiddle with the Bridge PU a bit more since so far I've managed to get "just ok" tone out of it. Somehow it lacks punch. Maybe adjust it even closer to strings? At the moment all pickups have like 3-4mm distance to the strings.

[Slartibartfarst42]

I don't know so much about single coils but Irish Tours sound like a good choice to me. Moving them closer sounds like the way to go. I have my bridge humbuckers set to 2mm at the bridge so I can't see why you couldn't go to that with yours. Beautiful guitar btw.

[littleredguitars2]

definitely mess around with the pickup height. it certainly can make a difference. nice looking axe too. love the green

[gwEm]

Did you go for baseplates on any of the pickups?

[Telerocker]

Did you go for baseplates on any of the pickups?

That's what I tought. Baseplate and the right height can make a dramatic difference.