Bridge pickup for Strat similar to Lil' 59 for the Tele?

[deanproxy]

I recently got a Tele and put a Lil' 59 in the bridge. Wow. Seriously, this is the tone I have been looking for. Sounds amazing to my ears. Wonderful snarling growl to it when driven. However, lately I have been loving my Strats. Just out of a playability thing. I feel more comfortable playing my Strats than anything else. I want to get that same punchy growl that Tele's Lil' 59 is giving me.

I have tried a few pickup changes on my Strat. First, I of course tried the Lil' 59 for the Strat. While there are some similarities, it's just not as punchy and it's much brighter to my ears. Second, I went for a JB Jr. I just couldn't get into this pickup. It just wasn't the sound I was looking for and didn't sound like the Tele "growl" at all. 3rd, I tried a full sized humbucker, particularly the SH-5. It's still just not hitting it for me though... Something is off.

I'm starting to realize that there is just that special thing about the Tele that cannot be reproduced in the Strat, however, I'm still trying for the fun of it and because I love playing the Strat so much, but certainly enjoy the Tele sound more...

Any suggestions from experience?

 

[jeremy]

Re: Bridge pickup for Strat similar to Lil' 59 for the Tele?

teles and strats are different beasts. even if you put a lil 59 for tele into your strat, it wouldnt sound the same. you did get the bridge version of the lil 59 for strat right?

 

[deanproxy]

Re: Bridge pickup for Strat similar to Lil' 59 for the Tele?

Yes, I definitely have the bridge version.

Yeah, I'm kind of figuring that out now even though I knew it to begin with.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Bridge pickup for Strat similar to Lil' 59 for the Tele?

what didnt you like about the lil 59 and the jb jr?

 

[deanproxy]

Re: Bridge pickup for Strat similar to Lil' 59 for the Tele?

what didnt you like about the lil 59 and the jb jr?

I liked the Little 59 for what it was, but it didn't give me the sound I was looking for. I assumed this was due to its lack of output being that its only around 11k and the one for the Tele is 17k, but it also sounded a lot brighter to my ears. I can roll the tone down some, but that just seemed to take the bite away and muffle it more.

The JB Jr just wasn't pleasing to my ears. It actually sounded good clean, but when ran into some overdrive, things just didn't seem as clear as the 59. I'm having a hard time explaining how it sounded to me, but chords just didn't ring out with as much clarity or growl as they did with the 59.