Pick Up EPIPHANY!!!!!!

[strat_master]

Guys i used ot be the standard one pick up guy, i used to only use my hotrial in the bridge of my strat.....but today while i was playing along to some bryan adams song i was getting annoyyed witht he crappy cleans of the hotrail so i switched to my neck pick up which is a stock single coil probably ceramic. And it sounded GOOD. I know its probably no where as nice as an alnico 2 pcik up but still it was nice playing with nice warmer cleans rather than a high pitched distorted clean tone im used to.

So what pcik ups would be good for my neck? it does not have to be hum cacnelling in fact i wnat the neck pick up to look as stock as possible while the hot rail kidna stick out like a sore eye. Now all i need to do is learn to use the middle pick up....

Plans for gear:
New Amp.....and a neck pick up for my strat

Next year: Gibson LP studio!

[Curly]

Re: Pick Up EPIPHANY!!!!!!

APS-1 or 2, depending on your neck radius

[Biu]

Re: Pick Up EPIPHANY!!!!!!

Haha, I'm sure all of us rockers have been in that position at one point or another. For the first year I played guitar, it was like there was ONLY a bridge pup.

If you dig DiMarzio's, I would recommend a Blue Velvet. It's very bright, but definitely the sweetest and most singing neck single-coil I've ever had the privilege of hearing. I have two in my Ibanez SA160QM. If you're going Duncans only, I'd say Alnico Pro's because they seem to be all the rage.

[xerxes]

Re: Pick Up EPIPHANY!!!!!!

i love my stock neck pup in my strat, same with the middle pup, same with the bridge

[strat_master]

Re: Pick Up EPIPHANY!!!!!!

I'd stick with my stock but i know they could be beter as my neck pick up is a stock MIM pick up not the american one.

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: Pick Up EPIPHANY!!!!!!

SSL-1's and APS-1's would be very good for that.
Keith uses stock strats most of the time, he also uses LP's and a 70's strat with a PAF in the bridge, also sports a Tele custom for summer of 69 with nice bindings and a sunburst finish.
He has fairly big strings 0.12-58 GHS if I am not mistaken, tunes normally and lower the strings as much as they can without the rattle and bending out.

[vegetablejoe]

Re: Pick Up EPIPHANY!!!!!!

strat master,

Since you say you like the sound of your stock ceramic single-coil, an inexpensive first approach would be to start out by looking at other stock s.c.'s from guys who have swapped out theirs for boutique stuff and now selling the pups they no longer want on ebay...

...such as stock pups from various MIA or MIJ configurations? For that matter, some folks swear by the pups on their stock MIC Squier Affinity's, or MIK Pro-Tones.

And besides the Seymour Duncan and DiMarzio models the other guys have mentioned, don't forget to check out the various Fender pups, from their Tex-Mex through the Custom Shop models: 57/62, '54's, Fat 50's, Texas Specials.

I guess what I'm saying is half the fun is doing the research, so I'm just throwing out stuff to keep you busy for the next few weeks, lol! These all sound great, and finding the one you like is a matter of personal taste (music genre and application), time, and actual testing.

Have fun! I'm going thru four sets of pups myself and can't decide which to stick with, but I sure as h____ am having fun deciding.

Good luck!

Jaime

[kmcguitars]

Re: Pick Up EPIPHANY!!!!!!

Switching from the Hotrails to any single coil your gonna hear a major
contrast in tones. The trick here is to hone in on the sound your looking for.
The APS II is gonna be warm and round sounding,Where as the SSL is
Brighter and vintage sounding. Best bet is to go to Seymours tone chart
and let your ears be the judge. I set my Strats up with a APH-II in the
neck,SSL in the mid and humbucker ( X ) In the bridge .

[Bludave]

Re: Pick Up EPIPHANY!!!!!!

I have a 57 reisuue strat, and I blew out the bridge pup a few years ago. I replaced the whole set with Fender Tex Mex. I absolutley love the clean crisp sound I get with these pups. What led me to these pups was I bought a Tele that had them. They sound a little better in my Tele than my Strat, but over all real nice Pups. I also have a set of Lindy Fralin Bluse specials on the way for another Tele I just got. These Pups came highly recommended on this forum for Tele's. Fralin does make these for Strats as well. Much of the decision has to come from what you want the guitar to sound like.

[jeremy]

Re: Pick Up EPIPHANY!!!!!!

if you already have a humcanceliing hot rails, id go for a classic stack. killer single coil tone and no hum also looks like a stock strat pup

[strat_master]

Re: Pick Up EPIPHANY!!!!!!

hmm a ht stack does sound interesting, but would it still be warm sounding? i am looking for something with vedry nice cleans.