Pickups for a Fender Stratocaster (HB-SC-SC)

[Skaven]

Hi guys,

I've decided to change one of  my Strat's configuraition from SC-SC-SC to HB-SC-SC and i need some help, this guitar has an Ash Body with a mapple neck and luckly it has already routing for HB on the bridge.

I Have the Irish Tour Pickups on another Strat and I like them a lot but I would like to have a different (but close) set on this one, something that would allow me to play from clean to slight overdriven on the neck and middle (maybe Slow Hand?) and for the HB position since my ideia is to play Hard-Rock to Metal I thought about the Rebel Yell altough I don't know how well they will match in terms of volume and tone etc... .

I want this guitar to be versatile, so the main idea is to have something like the Irish Tour on Middle and Neck and something powerful on the bridge, powerful not talking about Thrash Metal, but something that would allow me to play from WhiteSnake to Van Halen to Mettalica to Satriani and Steve Vai, mostly for Lead Guitar.

Sorry for my English and ty very much for the kind help.

[darrenw5094]

The Slowhands were mentioned here today even though i have never tried them.
For the bridge, i thought of the Holydiver or Abraxas before you listed band names. I still think they would do a job for you, but the Miracle Man get suggested for Vai tones.

[Skaven]

Won't the Holydiver and Miracle Man be too much for the Slow Hands in terms of Output?

Can the Abraxas handle high-gain?

I know it's not possible to have everything but something that would do ok in terms of output with the Slow Hand that still allows me to go high-gain is what I'm looking for.

[Telerocker]

Crawler perhaps. Tight enoug for me, but not the tightest of the BKP-range. Nevertheless huge sounding.

[Skaven]

So Crawler and Slow Hand will match better than Rebel Yell and Slow Hand on a Strat?

[Telerocker]

So Crawler and Slow Hand will match better than Rebel Yell and Slow Hand on a Strat?

Rebel Yell: moderate bass, emphasis on uppermids, rockpickup that does metal too, a crossover between vintage and modern.
Crawler: über-PAF, quite some bass (more than the Diver), thick, creamy, round but not dull topend, enough cut there, more vintage than modern, but capable of hardrock/some metal. Splits good too.

[Skaven]

Well, Crawler seems to do the job better indeed.

Last one: (please)
Holydiver and Slow Hand?

[Telerocker]

HD is another good option. A little less bass than the Crawler, more modern sounding and with a lot of mids and creamy topend. It's got the eighties metal vibe going.

[Skaven]

ty Telerocker!

[Slartibartfarst42]

I think this depends where you want your focus to be. For a lot of the bands you mentioned, the Holydiver is the ideal bridge pickup and that would certainly be my first choice. It's perfect for that 80s Metal tone and is a superb lead pickup but for the neck and middle, you'd be better off pairing it with Trilogy Suites. They're more modern sounding but not excessively so in my opinion and have that distinctive single coil sound. It's a superb set. Conversely, if you're set on Slowhands for the neck and middle, I'd be inclined to look at either the Crawler or Abraxas for the bridge.

[Skaven]

HD might be too much to match with Slow Hand I guess?

[Telerocker]

HD might be too much to match with Slow Hand I guess?

Nope, I think that would balance quite nice actually. The HD is not superhot and the Slowhands have bold tone and more ouput than true vintage single coils like say the Mother's Milk.

Slarti has a point when it comes to determine the character of your HSS-set. The HD can be mixed with Slowhands, but if you want to go modern, the HD pairs good with Trilogies. Mind you that the Trilogies provide nearly a P90-tone. A Crawler/Slowhands-combo has more of the vintagevibe going. Personally I prefer more vintage oriënted single coils, bec of the sparkle/chime, but maybe's that not something you're looking for.

[Skaven]

I don't want to to  go modern on the neck and middle, just the bidge, the idea is to make this guitar versatile... .

I use the neck and middle for my blues (slightly overdriven sounds) and the bridge for Rock/Metal but I don't want a disparity in output between the SCs and the HB, that's the main issue for me.

One of the suggested HSS sets in the website is the HD+Irish Tour witch would be ideal for me but since I already have ITs on another Strat I would like to try different Single-Cols but ones that sound as close to IT's as possible, the Trilogy are totally out of the question it's too much power for my Blues, would you advice IT's+HD instead of SH+HD ? Would it be a better match?

I thought about SH because they seem very similiar to the IT's but with only with a slight boost on the midds, as a reference (might help) I like the Lollar Blackface a lot, which Single COils from BK will get me closer to them?

ty very much.

[Telerocker]

Slowhands: a tad extra mids and a little less hollow, compared to Irish Tours.
Mother's Milk, underwound version of the IT's, woodier and glassier, less bass than the IT.
The Pat Pend Series are quite close to the Mother's Milk.

That leaves the Irish Tour and the Slowhand if you need something vintagehot. Just get the Slowhands. They do fine for blues.

[Skaven]

That's what I thought (ty) and in terms of output, won't the HD be a lot louder than the Slow Hand?

If I ask Tim to calibrate the pick-ups to match the output (volume) as much as possible won't it somehow de-characterize the Slow Hands and make them a lot more powerful?