Versatile Humbucker and Singlecoils for Fat Strat?

[Nephilim]

What would be my best bet in this situation? I have other guitars to do metal, but I want something slap bang in the middle. I know I'm not going to have a guitar that covers everything with perfect tone. There's going to be compromise if I play different genres. But I'm not really a "chase after this person's tone" kinda guy. I like to get the pickups that provide me with the feel, and then work on achieving the rest of the sound with amps and effect. So if it will play the styles I'm after I'm happy. I like to own my tone, rather than chase it. All I can say is I want a guitar to cover styles all the way up to 80s Rock. I have a guitar that can play 80s metal onwards.

Let us know your opinions and suggestions

Nephilim

[darrenw5094]

Abraxas bridge, although i bet most member here will advise the Crawler. Mothers Milk for the SC.

Funny enough, BKP don't have the Abraxas for sale in any of their HSS combinations.

[Nephilim]

Am I wiring with 280k or 550k pots? On the site the diagrams have 500k. I hear a lot of people rave about the 63 Veneer Board. How does that stack up against the Mother's Milk?

[Telerocker]

I have the Crawler/Irish Tours in a custom swampashstrat and with this combo you can cover nearly anything. I have 500k at the bridge and 250k for the single coils, following the Suhr-wiringdiagram (just Google a bit). The Irish Tours are more or less overwound Mother's Milk (which I have in a Fender Am. Series ash strat, paired with a VHII). They have more bass, more mids and a tad less highs than a Mother's Milk, which has a glassier, woodier tone. Turn down the volumeknob a bit and the IT gets into the Mother's Milk-terrority.
The Crawlers beefs up any alder/ash-strat. Solonotes are thick and creamy and keep weight above the 12th fret. This can growl really nice when pushed. Also, the Crawler splits very well and I have a nice F-quack on the fourth position. The Crawlers cleans up very well too. It's a fat allrounder with a round, but not dull topend. There is enough cut.
If you want a bit airier tone, less mids, a bit more chime, you could look at the Abraxas.

[seancorker]

What would be my best bet in this situation? I have other guitars to do metal, but I want something slap bang in the middle. I know I'm not going to have a guitar that covers everything with perfect tone. There's going to be compromise if I play different genres. But I'm not really a "chase after this person's tone" kinda guy. I like to get the pickups that provide me with the feel, and then work on achieving the rest of the sound with amps and effect. So if it will play the styles I'm after I'm happy. I like to own my tone, rather than chase it. All I can say is I want a guitar to cover styles all the way up to 80s Rock. I have a guitar that can play 80s metal onwards.

Let us know your opinions and suggestions

Nephilim

I'd go Slowhands for the SC's they're a little bit darker and rounder then the IT's and with more full mids then the MM's. I found the MM's a little thin and aenemic sounding.

[Nephilim]

My only worry with the Crawler, is that it may be too fat when it comes to playing lighter gained stuff from the sixties. And the Slow Hands, I'm worried they'll be too warm for when I need to play extremely clean music. Funk for example requires a nice bright tone.

The Irish Tours do seem nice though. I'm again just scared they'll have too much output for the really clean styles.

I could be wrong about all the above, but better to ask than not!

[Telerocker]

My only worry with the Crawler, is that it may be too fat when it comes to playing lighter gained stuff from the sixties. And the Slow Hands, I'm worried they'll be too warm for when I need to play extremely clean music. Funk for example requires a nice bright tone.

The Irish Tours do seem nice though. I'm again just scared they'll have too much output for the really clean styles.

I could be wrong about all the above, but better to ask than not!

First, the Crawler cleans up nice, it takes a bit of bass and lowmids away, secondly the Crawler splits are good, so splitted you got a tele-esque tone, and a good match with the middle singlecoil. Third: the IT's are very good clean, but if you want a glassier woody tone you can have a look at the MM's, Pat Pends, but also the Apache, which is a little fatter in the mids, but still very clean.

[fdesalvo]

Abraxas and 2 Pat Pending 63s.  I have high def samples of what these can do in my siggy.   Brutal to vintage sweetness in the studio.  Live? Vintage up through Metal. In both scenarios, these pickups deliver with authority and there is no sense that they are faking it or are coping the best they can.  They deliver the goods.  Caveat - not a good choice for drop tuning, however, as the low E can get a bit soggy.  Also, the Apache is a great pickup, but doesn't like OD the way the Pat Pend 63 Veneer does.


I don't think the Crawler will struggle with lighter - med gain tones, BTW.  I hear classic rock played through Gibson 498Ts all day long around here and they do a respectable job.   From what I've come to learn by hearing and reading, the Crawler will pull these tones with authenticity, as well as produce stellar saturated tones.


Coincidentally, I have a HS build that I'm working on and am finally straying from the above referenced pickups for some slightly different juju.  I'm going with Crawler and Mother's Milk, but I know I'd be perfectly satisfied with the Abraxas and Pat Pend, Apache, or even the MM single coils.  My pref would be with the Pat Pend 63 Veneers having experienced them, with the MM right behind based off of what I've read.  The reality of the MM may well exceed my expectations. 

[seancorker]

My only worry with the Crawler, is that it may be too fat when it comes to playing lighter gained stuff from the sixties. And the Slow Hands, I'm worried they'll be too warm for when I need to play extremely clean music. Funk for example requires a nice bright tone.

The Irish Tours do seem nice though. I'm again just scared they'll have too much output for the really clean styles.

I could be wrong about all the above, but better to ask than not!

I had a crawler / Slowhand combo in an HSH alder bolt on Pacer and it had both feet firmly in Nile Rogers territory in position 2.
 
For me the Crawler does 2 things fantastically: it gives your bolt-on 'strat' a Joe Bonamassa fatness for a lead tone and it splits with a single coil better then any other pickup I've tried for a clean tone.

[Slartibartfarst42]

I'd go with a Crawler/Slowhand set.

[Telerocker]

I'd go with a Crawler/Slowhand set.

That's also a good combination if you want the singlecoils to be bold and middy, but not as vintage (woody, a little scooped) as the Pat Pend's, Mother's Milk and Irish Tour.

[Slartibartfarst42]

I like mids 

[Telerocker]

I like mids 

Why did I guess so?

[Nephilim]

My only worry with the Crawler, is that it may be too fat when it comes to playing lighter gained stuff from the sixties. And the Slow Hands, I'm worried they'll be too warm for when I need to play extremely clean music. Funk for example requires a nice bright tone.

The Irish Tours do seem nice though. I'm again just scared they'll have too much output for the really clean styles.

I could be wrong about all the above, but better to ask than not!

I had a crawler / Slowhand combo in an HSH alder bolt on Pacer and it had both feet firmly in Nile Rogers territory in position 2.
 
For me the Crawler does 2 things fantastically: it gives your bolt-on 'strat' a Joe Bonamassa fatness for a lead tone and it splits with a single coil better then any other pickup I've tried for a clean tone.

I do really like Joe Bonamassa's tone. Is that Crawler then? Or can the Abraxas do that? It's the single coils that now have me wondering. I play mostly on the bridge. I tend to keep the neck for cleans. I rarely use the neck to let rip. It is very laid back styles

[fdesalvo]

If you are tasking your neck primarily with cleans, then I'd skip the Slowhand and go for the MM, Pat Pend, or Apache - all of which will balance with both Abraxas and Crawler.