Two vintage style Strats, complementary pickup selections?

[Lewguitar]

Re: Two vintage style Strats, complementary pickup selections?

Mine has a .01 cap and 3 pickups that are all the same...no RW/RP middle and no overwound bridge.

I do give in to one mod on my Strat...I move the middle tone control to the bridge pickup. I like having the middle pickup "wide open" as it makes it a touch brighter, which makes it usable for me on it's own and having the tone control on the bridge pickup peels just enough high end off to tame it a bit for me...truth is I almost always leave the tone control on 10...just having it inline does the job for me!

I agree...as you know!

However, using a 5 way switch is also a "mod" compared to vintage Strats since they had a 3 way switch. I use a 5 way on all of my Strats though - as do most people.

And the original value cap was .1...not .01. Was that a typo?

Also, removing the tone control from the middle pickup and moving it to the bridge pickup changes the sound when the middle & neck pickups are combined. It'll now be brighter and clearer and I like that sound better.

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Two vintage style Strats, complementary pickup selections?

I agree...as you know!

However, using a 5 way switch is also a "mod" compared to vintage Strats since they had a 3 way switch. I use a 5 way on all of my Strats though - as do most people.

And the original value cap was .1...not .01. Was that a typo?

Also, removing the tone control from the middle pickup and moving it to the bridge pickup changes the sound when the middle & neck pickups are combined. It'll now be brighter and clearer and I like that sound better.

Yep...typo!

I hear ya about the 5 way too...I go back and fourth about going back to a 3 way truth be told, not for vintage correct but because I rarely use the 2 and 4 positions but to be honest I'm too damn lazy to take it apart...maybe when I sweat through another set of pots and switch!

[Lewguitar]

Re: Two vintage style Strats, complementary pickup selections?

Yep...typo!

I hear ya about the 5 way too...I go back and fourth about going back to a 3 way truth be told, not for vintage correct but because I rarely use the 2 and 4 positions but to be honest I'm too damn lazy to take it apart...maybe when I sweat through another set of pots and switch!

You know something else I'm working through?

I removed the middle pickup entirely from one of my Strats and it sounds more like a Tele to me.

The neck pickup sounds different without the middle pickup in the guitar.

Seems like three pickups with three sets of magnetic pole pieces pulling on the strings is one reason the strings on a Strat ring the way they do.

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Two vintage style Strats, complementary pickup selections?

You know something else I'm working through?

I removed the middle pickup entirely from one of my Strats and it sounds more like a Tele to me.

The neck pickup sounds different without the middle pickup in the guitar.

Seems like three pickups with three sets of magnetic pole pieces pulling on the strings is one reason the strings on a Strat ring the way they do.

I buy that!!

Never tried a 2 pickups Strat however a 3 pickup Tele sounds "wrong" to me and a few years ago I put a Tele coil in a Strats bridge position and as cool as it was it was still very much a Strat...

[PFDarkside]

Re: Two vintage style Strats, complementary pickup selections?

Thanks guys! The more I listen the more I want to give the '69s a shot in the one Strat and something very authentic early 60's for the other. Along with cap choices that should give two great vintage type tones that complement each other.

Mine has a .01 cap and 3 pickups that are all the same...no RW/RP middle and no overwound bridge. My pickups of choice are Fender Custom Shop pulls...they are listed as "Custom Shop 1960" pickups. They are very hard to find as they only come in a few guitars and most players don't pull them however, as a bit of a heads up there is a set on TGP right now!

I thought those were "60's" not "1960", which I thought were two different sets?

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Two vintage style Strats, complementary pickup selections?

Thanks guys! The more I listen the more I want to give the '69s a shot in the one Strat and something very authentic early 60's for the other. Along with cap choices that should give two great vintage type tones that complement each other.


I thought those were "60's" not "1960", which I thought were two different sets?

The correct name for mine are the Custom 60's.

They are very low wind (5.7k or so) and use a different alnico 5 magnet than any other current Fender pickup. The magnets were clones from a set of vintage pickups that used a magnet formula that Fender used for a short time right around 1960.

They come in some CS Relic and reissue guitars but are most famously used in the Rory Gallagher tribute Strat.

Hard to find but worth the hunt IMO!

[Lewguitar]

Re: Two vintage style Strats, complementary pickup selections?

The correct name for mine are the Custom 60's.

They are very low wind (5.7k or so) and use a different alnico 5 magnet than any other current Fender pickup. The magnets were clones from a set of vintage pickups that used a magnet formula that Fender used for a short time right around 1960.

They come in some CS Relic and reissue guitars but are most famously used in the Rory Gallagher tribute Strat.

Hard to find but worth the hunt IMO!

The Klein 1962 Model Strat pickups I use in one of my EJ Strats supposedly do the same thing: use a formulation for the alnico 5 that Fender used around 1962 but which is no longer available. I dunno about that but the pickups are excellent and among the best I have ever owned.

But in all honesty, I like the strong sound of the Antiquity Surfers just as much.

I do not like the smoother, more polite sound of the Fralin Vintage Hots quite as much, but they have their place too. Especially if a guy is sensitive to what he hears as being the "ice pick treble" of some Strat single coils.

[JimmyO]

Re: Two vintage style Strats, complementary pickup selections?

Another set to consider is the Fender 57/62 set. They came stock in my 57 reissue and they are staying where they are. Low output with a sweet vintage tone and are usually overlooked. Great set if you get your overdrive from your amp/pedals rather than overwound pickups. Also not as pricey as the custom shop pickups. They compliment the Fat 50s I have in my standard strat. I have one strat for true vintage tones and then one for vintage inspired/contemporary tones.

[PFDarkside]

Re: Two vintage style Strats, complementary pickup selections?

How would you compare the Fat '50's to the 57/62s? (Or to the Custom 60's for that matter?) A little more output and mids?

[beaubrummels]

Re: Two vintage style Strats, complementary pickup selections?

For those with multiple vintage style Strats, what have you loaded your guitars with and why?

I've had 4 Strats and none of them sound the same. I've tried swapping pickups to get them to sound the same. I've found the same loaded pickguard swapped between Strats sounds different. Significantly different. For example, my Texas Hot Antiquities set in a 1966 Strat sounds fat, but even. Moving that whole pickguard and wiring over to a more recent Strat and much of the fat bass chunk goes out of it. Eventually, I resigned myself to let the Strats be different and each sound as good as it can in it's own right. I keep the Texas Hot Antiquities in the '66 which gives me Hendrix/Vaughn flavors and I keep lower output Fender '68s in a more recent Strat for twang, surf, some types of blues and everything else. (To get that twang, I have an 8K middle pickup in both the middle and treble positions)

[JimmyO]

Re: Two vintage style Strats, complementary pickup selections?

How would you compare the Fat '50's to the 57/62s? (Or to the Custom 60's for that matter?) A little more output and mids?

In my experience the Fat 50s do have more output and mids than the 57/62, however they still have a vintage flavor. They are really well balanced and no specific frequency seems to jump out at you. They sound really stratty, with a little bit extra push, but not too much that they sound high output or overwound. The 57/62 sound sweeter, but have less output. They are not calibrated and are not RW/RP in the middle. When you add overdrive they give this nice sweet compression rather than driving the front of your amp. The bridge gives you a great classic rock tone when wired to a tone pot, and run through a cranked JTM45. They won't be so good for hard rock or heavier Texas Blues as the Fat 50s but would do Surf and rock n roll a little better IMO, not saying the Fat 50s would sound bad as they are a great all round pickup.

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Two vintage style Strats, complementary pickup selections?

How would you compare the Fat '50's to the 57/62s? (Or to the Custom 60's for that matter?) A little more output and mids?

The fat 50s are lot like SSL-1s to me but so slightly thinner in the mids.

57/62s are cool too but to me lack any real character...sort if the taste like chicken of the Fender Strat pickups.


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