Strat Pickups

[Slartibartfarst42]

As some of you may know, I've just acquired a Stratocaster with an SSS configuration. It's a Mexican Standard with a maple neck. I've never really used singlecoils before as I'm more of a humbucker man but with two guitars already doing that, I wanted something different. This guitar won't be used for anything Metal and probably won't even go that far into Rock as I envisage it as more of a Blues guitar. Having said that, I would like something that is pretty versatile so could run from more traditional Blues, through Blues Rock to perhaps Rainbow kind of material, though that end of things is less important because by the time I get to things like 'Man on the Silver Mountain', I will already have changed to a humbucker guitar. I'm not rushing into a purchase because I want to see how I get on with it for a while first and anyway, I need to save the money 

I thought I'd start by naming the Stratocaster users that I really like (which may cover a lot of ground) and go from there. My amp will be set up for my normal humbucker guitars and I'd rather not have to change the settings too much so something that responds well to the volume control would be essential. In no particular order:

Jeff Healey
Philip Sayce
Eric Clapton
SRV
Ritchie Blackmore

I'm guessing I'm looking at something between vintage and contemporary so I imagine it would be either Irish Tours or Slow Hands. Obviously Slow Hands seem the obvious choice for Clapton and I believe they also do a good Blackmore tone but based on nothing but my gut, Healey, Sayce and SRV seem more like Irish Tours than Slow Hands. Any thoughts on which one would be the best compromise for these tones? I accept that with very limited knowledge of singles, my assumptions about what I need may be well off the mark. 

[Alfi27]

If you are a humbucker man, like me, I would either go all Slow Hands, Irish Tour with Slow Hands in the bridge or maybe even Slow Hands with Trilogy Suite or Sinner in the bridge. My one and only strat has vintage singlecoils (not BKP) in the neck and middle and a baseplated Sinner in the bridge, and it is one of my most versatile guitars! I would very much like to change the neck and middle to Slow Hands myself, but I think the stock Fender 57/62s do the job nicely for now. And the Sinner is actually not crazy hot, it can do softer styles as well as 80's metal! Depending a lot on the amp, it still sounds very much like a single coil but in a good way.

[Dave Sloven]

If you want something that provides a lot of balls I would consider the tapped version of SD Quarter Pound in the bridge combined with some nice BKs for the neck and middle positions, running the QP in tapped mode when you want to combine with the sweeter sounding BKs (ITs or milder) and then bam! kick out the tap when you want pure balls.  You could even wire the switch so that the tap is on when the knob is down and then pull it up when you need that oomph

http://www.seymourduncan.com/pickup/quarter-pound-staggered-strat

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xO1gCMKPOA0

I've used a QP in a Tele before, you might want to use a 500K pot or set it up somehow that when the full coil is on that you run straight to jack.  Very powerful pickups but tapped they can sound sweet.

[Telerocker]

I recommend either a:

1. Slowhand-set, with a baseplate on the bridge for some extra beef and depth. Irish Tours are closer to Hendrix, SRV and Jeff Healy-thing, but the Slowhands won't leave you without the mids you're used to as humbucker-man. The IT's are definitely more scooped than the Slowhands.
2. The suggestion above for a hotter single coil in the bridge is a good one, unless you want that quack on the fourth position. With a Trilogy Suite or a Sinner in the bridge there will be some disbalance, but you can balance the pickups to a certain extend by raising/lowering the height. 
3. If your strat has a full cavity you could change the guitar to a HSS-strat. You can order a prewired guard. If not, I would stick to suggestions 1 en 2.

[Dave Sloven]

Well if going option three then could run a Nantucket or Supermassive HSP-90 and have more single coil character but with P-90 fatness

[Telerocker]

Well if going option three then could run a Nantucket or Supermassive HSP-90 and have more single coil character but with P-90 fatness

Or a Crawler. One of my bands plays Bonamassa, Beth Hart, Sass Jordan, Hendrix, SRV etc. The Crawler is really good for these styles (and of course Hendrix and SRV on the neck-IT).

[Slartibartfarst42]

Mmmmm, as I suspected, the Slow Hands do a couple of the guitarists I like while Irish Tours do the others. I'm definitely not putting a humbucker in it so it's staying SSS and I'm wary of going too far down the 'hot' pickup route as I'll just lose that 'Blues' feel I'm after. It seems I have a number of possibilities to think about:

1) Slow Hand set with a baseplate on the bridge
2) Irish Tour set with a baseplate on the bridge
3) Trilogy Suite bridge with either Slow Hands or Irish Tours for the neck and middle
4) Trilogy Suite bridge, Irish Tour middle and Slow Hand neck
5) P90 bridge (another company can make me one that is Strat sized) with IT/SH. The Quarter Pounder would be another option here as it does sound good.

[Dave Sloven]

I have used the Jazz bass QP set and the Telecaster bridge QP (the cheaper untapped model) and I have nothing bad to say about them except that they are hot pickups and if my friend with the Tele was not such a cheapskate he would have bought the tapped option and had a much more versatile guitar but he treats that thing as a one trick pony.  It doesn't even have a wiring harness, just the QP wired straight to the jack.

Compared to the P-90 that came in his Epiphone 50th anniversary SG the output difference is such that he simply stopped using the Maxon OD-9 he was using as a boost into his Mesa when using the QP guitar as without any pots it's got a very strong signal to the amp, much stronger than a regular p-90.

[Slartibartfarst42]

A coil tapped QP does seem like a great idea as you effectively get two pickups in one and both are genuine singlecoils

[Kiichi]

As said before, I imagine you would be best served with option 1 or 2, with position 2 and 4 in series and a baseplate one the bridge. That way the strat remains a strat and but goes more towards your sound preferences.
If you really want a fat bridge SH bridgeplate and then ITs for middle and neck. Or just an IT middle could work too to model it a tad more towards a HSH guitar and potentially improve position 2 and 4.


You have humbucker guitars and will hopefully get a P90 one in the future to round out the picture. ;)

[Slartibartfarst42]

This is true. I am perhaps getting too drawn towards a hot bridge when I already have PRS and a Les Paul for that. Perhaps I should simply focus on what's best for the tones of those guitarists I originally mentioned and let the other guitars do everything else.

[AndyR]

This is true. I am perhaps getting too drawn towards a hot bridge when I already have PRS and a Les Paul for that. Perhaps I should simply focus on what's best for the tones of those guitarists I originally mentioned and let the other guitars do everything else.

If you do want to embrace the "strattyness" rather than get a strat nearer to what you are used to so far... I would say go for the vintage end - that's what most of those guitarists were using (depending on what part of their career you're interested in). They used the amp/pedals etc to get close to the tones - the rest is in their fingers, the amount of attack they use, etc. If you go for the same sort of pickups, you'll have to learn how to force the tone out of the instrument same as they did. If you go for hotter/thicker options, you'll be able to use more of the techniques you use already with humbuckers - but you won't have to learn some of the stuff those other guitarists did. Really the choice is up to you, both routes are are just as right as each other...

... I'm actually learning the other way at the moment: I've spent all my life grinding into strats or teles. Now I'm having to learn how to be a bit gentler to get the most out of humbuckers, more range of expression or tone, I guess. (I must admit - it's changing my strat playing too.)

Oh, and one last thing - I've always wanted to use the same EQ etc on the amp between different types of guitar. Alas no... I'm closer now than I've ever been, but don't expect a pure strat and a humbucking guitar to both sound as good as they can through the same settings. Personally, I've got it down to mids - a bit more for a strat, a bit less for a humbucker (or a tele).

[Slartibartfarst42]

Oh, and one last thing - I've always wanted to use the same EQ etc on the amp between different types of guitar. Alas no... I'm closer now than I've ever been, but don't expect a pure strat and a humbucking guitar to both sound as good as they can through the same settings. Personally, I've got it down to mids - a bit more for a strat, a bit less for a humbucker (or a tele).

Which, to be honest, is one of the reasons the Slow Hands appeal; they have that bit more mids like humbuckers but I do recognise that most of the tones I've picked are more Irish Tour and vintage than Slow Hand.

EDIT: How could I forget!!! Dave Gilmour is another Strat tone I love 

[Kiichi]

Better not drag Gilmour into this, that guy is an enigma. He uses so many things to create his tone, pickups are the least of the issue there it seems. Heck, sometimes he apperantly did not even use a bloody amp, just played straight into the board. I mean...whut?

So that one is...yeah....maybe not go there.

All in all I am going to say Irish Tour (with possibly a Slowhand bridge). Seems to be the best ground to tread on here imho.

[Alfi27]

A few years ago I got myself a Fender American Deluxe Strat after a couple of years with humbuckers only, a Les Paul. I had an intense SRV-period and I really loved his tone (still do). At the time I had no clue how he got the tone, with his disturbingly heavy gauge strings and cranked Marshalls and Fenders. I asked Tim what he would recommend for that type of tone, and he probably recommended me the pickups closest to what he actually used, the 63' Veneer Boards.

Not to say that they sounded bad, but I thought they sounded really weak and anorectic compared to the fat Les Paul tone. I just could not enjoy the glassy highs and weaker, less present mid range. The guitar was meant to be a blues guitar like yours, but I felt the guitar was almost totally useless without any power or body especially in the bridge position. If you are used to humbuckers you will probably have the same experience, and because of that I do not think you will be really satisfied with something less hot/middy than the Slow Hands to be honest. Just my two cents, and worst case scenario you could always return the Irish Tours 

And one more thing: I would not totally dismiss HSS, but it might be an idea to try SSS for a while first to figure out if you really need it. I am strongly considering it for my strat. With a good splitting humbucker you will retain 4/5 positions and getting that sweet and thick humbucker tone instead of the weak, shrill and thin tone of a vintage single coil. Hell, you can even get that if you split the humbucker

You can consider this 4 cents