What pup should I get in the bridge?

[aequitas]

I have ssl-1 set in my strat. Very nice set of pickups. Neck and middle sound great.
But the bridge pup sound so ice-picky. I have wire it to the tone pot and lower the height but still not satisfy with the sound I get.

So, right now I'm consider to change by bridge pickup.
I have been consider twang banger and ssl-5 for the bridge position. But still not sure what should I get.

Anyone have anything recommand? Thanks!!

[Gearjoneser]

Re: What pup should I get in the bridge?

One place I like to start is by rewiring a strat to Eric Johnson/Jimmy Vaughan wiring, so the first tone is the neck, no tone on middle, and 2nd tone on the bridge, so you can set it at 8 or determine how much treble bite you want to hear.

Beyond that, move up to beefier true singles like Surfer Custom or SSL-5. When jumping to single sized humbuckers, it enters the realm of real humbucker tone. You have to decide if you want to stay with hot singles or a real humbucking tone in the bridge.

For me, it's a Surfer Custom with the tone rolled back a little. Then, the whole set seems calibrated, with the neck and middle ringing bright, and the bridge with it's highs tamed a bit.

[aequitas]

Re: What pup should I get in the bridge?

One place I like to start is by rewiring a strat to Eric Johnson/Jimmy Vaughan wiring, so the first tone is the neck, no tone on middle, and 2nd tone on the bridge, so you can set it at 8 or determine how much treble bite you want to hear.

Beyond that, move up to beefier true singles like Surfer Custom or SSL-5. When jumping to single sized humbuckers, it enters the realm of real humbucker tone. You have to decide if you want to stay with hot singles or a real humbucking tone in the bridge.

For me, it's a Surfer Custom with the tone rolled back a little. Then, the whole set seems calibrated, with the neck and middle ringing bright, and the bridge with it's highs tamed a bit.

Thanks for the reply!!

I'm still want true single coils bridge pup but with beefier tone. SSl-1's bridge sound thin and ice picky to me even under tone control.
Your wiring sound great but I don't usually use middle pickup and mostly use neck and bridge position anyway.

I just want something more in the bridge but I can't decide which one should I get.

[DeathMetalRob]

Re: What pup should I get in the bridge?

Thanks for the reply!!

I'm still want true single coils bridge pup but with beefier tone. SSl-1's bridge sound thin and ice picky to me even under tone control.
Your wiring sound great but I don't usually use middle pickup and mostly use neck and bridge position anyway.

I just want something more in the bridge but I can't decide which one should I get.

Try wiring a capacitor directly after the pickup and see how that works out.

[LReese]

Re: What pup should I get in the bridge?

I second the EJ/JV wiring. The load of the tone control on 10 takes a little of the shrill off.

I typically like all to avoid the hotter bridge pickup option typically available in pickup sets. They balance well enough without it.

Re-reading the OP, if you are looking for something hotter, maybe a little 59 or a PAF strength humbucker if you have the routing.

[jimijames]

Re: What pup should I get in the bridge?

FWIW, my experience with single coils has been farther away = brighter tone

Have you tried raising it to where it nearly touches the strings? For me at least that results in a fatter tone with more output. YMMV though.

edit: My best example of this is I have had a jerry donahue and a rio grande dirty harry in the tele bridge position with 500k volume and tone controls, and a .022 cap, and I can still leave the tone on 10 without being ice picky. Now, it helps having a rosewood fretboard, because my strat with 500k tone controls is complete ice pick above 6 or so on the tone control and that has a maple board and a thinner neck. And brass saddles.

[aequitas]

Re: What pup should I get in the bridge?

Thanks for all your reply!!

The things is I don't sure if I like the ssl-1 bridge pickup. So I thought about changing it.
I setup guitar myself and play with the pickups height a lot and have no problem to get a good sound out of neck and middle one.
But I can't get the tone I want from bridge pickup at all no matter how I set it up. That's why I thinking about changing the bridge pickup.

[AlexR]

Re: What pup should I get in the bridge?

A2 helps with bridge pickups. The texas hot ant is quite nice......thicker than an A5. Then turn down the tone too.