Neck Pickups For Blues On A Strat?

[stratneck2]

Re: Neck Pickups For Blues On A Strat?

My Fave noisless , The Bill Lawerences.... 200-200-290"s, best bluesy Jazzy pup's, and Won't break your bank Account !

[Chickenwings]

Re: Neck Pickups For Blues On A Strat?

To the OP and with respect to ottomatic...id say steer away from the red, silver and blue lace set.
The blue is supposed to sound like a paf and the red is supposed to sound like a hot overwound pup. They are not a strattu or bluesy set of pups at all. I used them for nearly 10 years before i realized finally that all the killer strat blues sounds that i liked from records are impossible with this set. They are compressed, middy and lacking in anything remotely "stratty". They are good for high gain generic rock tones but that's about it.
People say good things about the hot golds, but i cant honestly say ive tried them. So to the op: see if you can get to a shop, try out a few strats and A/B some of the noiseless offerings from fender and some of the regular strats with singles. At least that will get you a chance to hear in the ballpark of what sounds best for you.
After that, you can narrow your search down to the subtler stuff once you are sure whether noiseless or true single is right for you. Given that you want a bluesy tone and bearing in mind that most classic blues recordings are made with lower gain and regular singles, you might find its worth living with the hum. If not, then no harm done - at least you will have tried out a bunch of nice axes.

[Boogie Bill]

Re: Neck Pickups For Blues On A Strat?

I like the Antiquity Texas Hots as well.

I would think that if you want humbucking tone, the Lil' 59, the Lil' Pearly or the JB Jr. Could all give you great bluesy tone in the neck position.

My favorite guitar for fusion jazz is my G&L Legacy Special. The Gotoh Dual Blades have a thick, paf-ish quality to them...but reducing the volume and adjusting the guitar's PTB tone controls can get me close to vintage alnico tone. Great guitar.

Bill

[LReese]

Re: Neck Pickups For Blues On A Strat?

I liked the Vintage Rails. Never was too impressed with any stacked pickups -but decided long ago not to spend a lot of $$ trying them out, so I have not tried the SD's (except for the LW Classic IIs). Surfers are pretty good, too. For me a matter of matching the pickup to the guitar.

I have this Strat that came to me without the stock pickups - I must have had 12 sets in that guitar before settling on Suhr V54's. The regular Antiquity 1 was an excellent bridge pickup in that guitar, FWIW.

Ilitch Electronics makes a backplate (and not think he can build into a pick guard) that will cancel noise that single coils picks up. Its pricey and you won't get full benefit using a set with middle RWRP.

[toneseekr]

Re: Neck Pickups For Blues On A Strat?

--hermetico thanks for the video those Antiquities sounds amazing, i really wants sum now. i think i might get one for the

bridge. im debating whether i should get a Antiquity Surfer or a DiMarzio Vitural Vintage Heavy Blues 2 on the bridge.

--jeremy really now? ima take a look at them. what wood combos do you have on that guitar with those pickups?

--lewguitar niiice i really think ima get one for the bridge.mmmaaybe im still debating.

--OttoMatick thank you vvery much for the photos.. very nice guitars indeed. um ive tried a couple of lace sensors but they just

dont do it for me. now those humbuckers in a single coil thing is cool and i shall give them a try. is that guitar with the Gibson

57 classic on alder body?? how do that sound just out of curiosity.

--tubecrunch out of those three i will give the vintage rails a try when i can. where do you prefer the vintage rails, bridge

middle or neck?

--dotsdad yea you know what ive thought about them but they are ceramic wouldnt that just sound not as sweet as alnico II or alnico V? its cuz im going for that really sweet, round sounds.

--gibson175 yea i agree with you in all aspects of all the things you said. even the golds werent really my thing, lace sensor is

just not for me i guess. i havent had the chance to try more single coil pickups but i will do so maybe tmrw i might be able to

go to guitar center. that hum thing is really something i dont like but you never know i can say that today and it be something

completely different tmrw whats your favorite single coil for the neck position? what wood combos are you using? amp?

pedals?

--Boogie Bill i do want to give it a try and see if that is what i want. i really do love PAF style sounds a lot. know of anymore PAF sounding single coils that you have tried?

-LReese how were the LW Classic IIs? Suhr V57s huh? so you replaced the Suhr 57 bridge for a SD Antiquity 1 on the bridge? what is RWRP?


Update on the gear I am really considering:

Neck: DiMarzio Virtual Vintage Blues(going to get in a trade sometime this week)
Middle: DiMarzio Cruiser(would be really nice for a build up)
Bridge: DiMarzio Virtual Vintage Heavy Blues 2 OR Seymour Duncan Antiquity Surfer

[ItsaBass]

Re: Neck Pickups For Blues On A Strat?

Any good quality '50's or early '60's style repro. CS 54's, '57/'62's, SSL-1's, etc. But my favorite Strat pickups I've ever played are the '84 AVRI pickups that I have. They are insanely great sounding Strat pickups. They easily match the best sounding vintage pickups I've played, and they are even better IMHO.

[toneseekr]

Re: Neck Pickups For Blues On A Strat?

ItsaBass do you have any samples or links that can refer me to the sound your talking about, i am very interested in hearing what your talking about

[Lake Placid Blues]

Re: Neck Pickups For Blues On A Strat?

You really need to decide if you want/need noiseless or not. If not, then focus on Surfers or SSL-1s, perhaps with a hotter A2 bridge SC pickup. In my opinion and experience regular single coils gets you the true tone your after, and its usually not a problem with the noise once you start playing and the drummer is bashing away. Noiseless can get you close but to most musicians ears they still don't get you all the way there. I have one guitar loaded with noiseless SC pickups as a alternative if I'm in a situation (lights,...ect..) where I really need noiseless SCs. But my number one uses just plain old SSL1s in the neck and middle and sounds great. It's the true sound. (My number 1 is HSS with auto split.)

If you going to use some noisless and some not noiseless in the same guitar you want the noiseless in the bridge position usually. It's the one your probably going to use with a boost or high gain where any noise can be greatly amplified. That's what a pickup like the Dimarzio Heavy Blues is designed for.

On edit: I forgot to add if you decide you need/want noiseless, then the Classic Strat + is probably the way to go, and if you want a hotter noiseless bridge pickup the Heavy Blues may work for you there. Also 500k pots may help a noiseless set retain some of the upper order harmonics better.

[toneseekr]

Re: Neck Pickups For Blues On A Strat?

Lake Placid Blues yea thanks for your input, I do prefer noiseless but im open-minded to try everything on my Tokai Strat.

I got the DiMarzio Virtual Vintage Blues for the neck position today in a trade.
I also got a Lace Sensor Hot Gold for the middle and a Lace Sensor Holy Grail for the bridge(funny cuz I didnt expect me to get them, prior to a recent reply in this post but I had a Active EMG S single coil laying around that was collecting dust and my friend wanted to trade two Lace Sensors for it so I went for it)

Keep them coming guys I would still like sum more feedback on pickups.

[mojosman]

Re: Neck Pickups For Blues On A Strat?

To the OP and with respect to ottomatic...id say steer away from the red, silver and blue lace set.
The blue is supposed to sound like a paf and the red is supposed to sound like a hot overwound pup. They are not a strat or bluesy set of pups at all. I used them for nearly 10 years before i realized finally that all the killer strat blues sounds that i liked from records are impossible with this set. d

I agree. I once had a strat Plus with Lace p/ups. I loved the guitar other than the pickups. They just didn't have it. Not a fan of their tonal qualities.

[Chickenwings]

Re: Neck Pickups For Blues On A Strat?

whats your favorite single coil for the neck position? what wood combos are you using? amp? pedals?

SSL-1. Strat Plus deluxe (alder/rosewood). twin reverb. Fuzz face.
But:

Any good quality '50's or early '60's style repro. CS 54's, '57/'62's, SSL-1's, etc.

Is pretty much on the money. Its just subtle fine tuning from there.

[toneseekr]

Re: Neck Pickups For Blues On A Strat?

mojosman yea i totally agree. lace sensors dont really work for me either, EXCEPT on one occasion, the holy gail doesnt sounds that bad on the bridge, still gonna change it out when i get the chance so i can put a DiMarzio Virtual Vintage Heavy Blues 2.

gibson175 thanks that all sounds awesome.

ok guys today i got my Seymour Duncan Antiquity II Surfer RW/RP Middle pickup today.. WOW!! this thing sounds really clear and has that strat-ish tone. but you know what guys.. I think its not for me, i think im going to go with a set of DiMarzios for my strat just SEEM a BIT more musical, i know i know sum of you guys are gonna be like and ima be like lol and sum of you are gonna be like and ima be like lol so im happy i had the chance to try it first hand and now i know that im getting closer to my sound so keep rockin on guys!

[Chickenwings]

Re: Neck Pickups For Blues On A Strat?

like wow!

[toneseekr]

Re: Neck Pickups For Blues On A Strat?

have you guys ever tried a seymour duncan antiquity II Rw/Rp middle pickup on the bridge position?

[Frogman]

Re: Neck Pickups For Blues On A Strat?

(warning, not a great player, just hear the pickups, not to me).

Don't fish for comments like a f*cking female. That video was excellent.