H/S combo that works well together

[Nerd]

Hi there. Im new here so please be easy on me ;)

I got myself new Fender American Pro, maple fretboard. Its my first strat since forever. Im not the greatest fan of stock pickup so Im consider a swap. Im a meat and potato typ of a guy so I have already modyfied the switch to 3 way, mid pickup is disconnected and flat on pickguard level. I dig neck single coil but I guess Im more a HB for bridge lover.

I had a chat with BKP customer support and Im quite there decision-wise with The Mule. Initially I wanted to go with Kinman for the neck but I cant complain on noise level with stock Fender pickups and Im not expecting worst with BKP.

Im not new to BKP, I had 2xnailbombs in past, neck cold sweet and RiffRaff but I want something with low signal this time.

So here's the question - what bridhe HB and neck SC will work well together both signal and tone-wise? And IYO why?

Thx
Nerd

[stratguy23]

Some more detail on the tones you are looking to achieve here would be helpful. It’s hard to recommend pickups without a tonal reference to go off of. Why are you looking for low output for this guitar?

I have used a Crawler neck in the bridge of a Strat (long story on why the weird usage), and it is a similar spec to a Mule as far as I can tell, and it was a bit on the bright side. I worry a Mule could be too bright in a Strat. I’ve not played it but the VHII is the hottest pickup wound with vintage spec and wire and obviously has a great rep in a Strat, maybe that is worth a look for you. The only Bare Knuckle Strat pickup I have used was an Irish Tour neck in an HS Strat paired with a Holy Diver bridge. The Irish Tour sounds like a Strat with just a little extra output and midrange. It definitely can cover classic Strat tones for blues like SRV. The Holy Diver bridge does all the hard rock stuff from 70s to 90s, so this guitar has proven to be very versatile for me. Might be worth a look as well if you’re okay to go up in output.

[darkbluemurder]

With a PAF type pickup in the bridge I would go for a low output single coil in the neck so I would consider one of the ones in the vintage category.

[Telerocker]

If you go Mule, a logical partner would be something like a Pat Pend 63 Veneer Board or 59 Slabboard.