Bridge Pup for my '62 Reissue Strat?

OctopusRider

OctopusRider

New member
I want to upgrade the bridge pickup in my '62 Reissue Strat (2000). It is much weaker in volume than the other two pups and too trebally to my ears. I do not want to get away from the classic Strat sound so I'd like something to match the other two pups. Of course I love the few Duncan's I have (d.hum's) but I have heard great things about the GFS single coils as well. I like to keep my tone around that of David Gilmour, Clapton (Dominos) and Hendrix.

Any suggestions?
 
Re: Bridge Pup for my '62 Reissue Strat?

If you get a Strat bridge pickup that is a lot stronger and has less high end you will loose the classic Strat tone.

Before you swap pickup have you tried to lower the neck and middle pickups and raise the bridge pickup pretty high??

In the end thats where I wound up with my Strat...I tried hotter pickups in the bridge, boosters, base plates almost everything and while MANY of those things worked I felt like i lose the sound of my Strat when I went to the bridge pickup.

If you have tried that and/or are un interested and are set on a hotter pickup I will gladly suggest the SSL-5...I used one for a while and it was the best thing I had tried until I went back to a correct/weak bridge pickup.

I will also suggest the tapped version and a push/pull for the tap so you can have a more classic sound if you want it...it's not dead on but for a few bucks more and a push pull pot it is a good option IMHO.
 
Re: Bridge Pup for my '62 Reissue Strat?

SSL-1 should do it. Those Fender pickups iirc are pretty weak so I don't think I would attempt a SSL-5 (maybe a tapped version).

I think you might be due for an adjustment before you do anything else - I typically use all 3 pickups the same and it balances pretty well - even better with no tone control on the bridge PU.
 
Re: Bridge Pup for my '62 Reissue Strat?

What happened here? 3 people roughly in agreement... Its probably a 1st!

LOL.
 
Re: Bridge Pup for my '62 Reissue Strat?

Definitely start with a used SSL1. Cheap and easy to resell if it doesn't work out.
 
Re: Bridge Pup for my '62 Reissue Strat?

I like using fairly balanced pickups on my real strat. I use height adjustments to balance them out and use a tone control on the neck and bridge only.
 
Re: Bridge Pup for my '62 Reissue Strat?

the guy who invented fire said:
If you have tried that and/or are un interested and are set on a hotter pickup I will gladly suggest the SSL-5...I used one for a while and it was the best thing I had tried until I went back to a correct/weak bridge pickup.
Click to expand...

+1, I completely agree (and from ssl5, the best hot sc I've found for strat, I got back to weaker standard sc too)
 
Re: Bridge Pup for my '62 Reissue Strat?

I recommend the Antiquity Surfer II Hot Bridge Pickup !! Or better yet get the whole set with RW/RP middle pickup. You will thank me !!! and Seymour !!!!
 
Re: Bridge Pup for my '62 Reissue Strat?

I'll throw out another one I really liked - Antiquity Texas Hot (in the bridge position)
 
Re: Bridge Pup for my '62 Reissue Strat?

Not all of us are so keen on RWRP either - I like a quiet Strat too (I've spent $$$ for some of the Suhr and Ilitch systems), but RWRP makes the combo positions sound thinner and lose a little output to my ears.

I don't tend to use those positions with overdrive or a lot of compression - so there's really not much benefits the noise level won't be that high.
 
Re: Bridge Pup for my '62 Reissue Strat?

Hi guys! I've gone back to using almost stock wiring and almost stock output bridge pickups in my Strats....and using a clean boost or Klon instead of a hot bridge pickup.

I'd consider keeping the existing pickup.

If the second tone control is on the middle pickup maybe move it to the bridge pickup.

Adjust the bridge pickup closer to the strings for more volume. You can move the bridge pickup much closer to the strings than the neck pickup without inducing "Strat-Itus" - that out of tune thing you get when the neck pickup is to close the strings and the magnets start pulling the strings out of tune when you play up high on the neck. EXPERIMENT!

And for under $200, consider the purchase of a Piedmont Custom Electronics AF1 Klon Clone while they're in stock and on sale: https://www.facebook.com/PCE.Effects or http://pce-fx.myshopify.com/

I'd get the large enclosure AF1 just because I own one and know how good it is.
 
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Re: Bridge Pup for my '62 Reissue Strat?

yladrd61 said:
I recommend the Antiquity Surfer II Hot Bridge Pickup !! Or better yet get the whole set with RW/RP middle pickup. You will thank me !!! and Seymour !!!!
Click to expand...

+1. The Antiquity custom hot bridge pickup is nice alternative to going all the way to the SSL-5. The SSL-5 is 12.9k with an inductance of 4.9h (inductance being a measure of output). The Antiquity Hot bridge is 9.7k with a 4.08H. So its strikes a nice compromise between a conventional strat bridge and a really hot single coil like the SSL-5.
 
Re: Bridge Pup for my '62 Reissue Strat?

I fed my AVRI '62 a Twangbanger. The Antiquity Texas Hot for Bridge position would liven things up. (In both instances, electrical phase and/or magnet polarity could be an issue.)

Two low budget suggestions that you could try before junking the stock pickup.
1) Get the bridge pickup into the tone circuit.
2) Try one of those add-on metal baseplate thingies.
 
Re: Bridge Pup for my '62 Reissue Strat?

My tone knob is already set to the bridge p/u. All three stock pickups are balanced as well as they can be without the magnets being too close to the strings causing out of tune notes. I had it set up like that for years but now prefer no tuning distractions.

I've gone through all the samples and really like the APS-1. Would this overpower my stock neck and middle pickups? Am I way off course with this p/u? I noticed nobody suggested the APS-1. Marc Ford uses it!--that's almost enough for me to want to try it.
 
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Re: Bridge Pup for my '62 Reissue Strat?

I use APS-1 and Five-Two pickups in different Stratocasters. The Twangbanger is an A2 pickup. I also like the Fender C.S. Fat Fifties bridge position pickup.
 
Re: Bridge Pup for my '62 Reissue Strat?

I'd recommend Antiquities. One thing I've done in the past is try the hot Antiquities pickup in the treble position, and when I needed more twang, just put a middle Antiquities pickup in the treble position. It was more awesome than I expected. It wasn't weak or thin. It had a thick ballsy twang, somewhere between Dick Dale and a rockabilly Link Wray kind of tone. And yes, in my experience that will get you Gilmour, Clapton and Hendrix tone, if you plug into the same model amps they were using.
 
Re: Bridge Pup for my '62 Reissue Strat?

OctopusRider said:
My tone knob is already set to the bridge p/u. All three stock pickups are balanced as well as they can be without the magnets being too close to the strings causing out of tune notes. I had it set up like that for years but now prefer no tuning distractions.
Click to expand...

sounds like you might lower your neck and middle pups a touch, makes a world of difference.


I've gone through all the samples and really like the APS-1. Would this overpower my stock neck and middle pickups? Am I way off course with this p/u? I noticed nobody suggested the APS-1. Marc Ford uses it!--that's almost enough for me to want to try it.
Click to expand...

i love marc ford too. the aps1 is a great pup, i use the aps2 in one of my favorite strats. it isnt very high output though. might be enough if the stock pups are really weak. do you know what they read on a meter?
 
Re: Bridge Pup for my '62 Reissue Strat?

I think the key thing is balance...

Start with your bridge pickup and get it up fairly high so you have a nice sound with it alone. If that sound alone is too sharp then move the middle tone control to the bridge pickup, just be aware that adding a tone control to it will reduce it's gain a bit.

Once you get the bridge dialed in start on the neck...lower it in the pick guard until you can switch from neck to bridge w/o a big volume jump on the neck pickup.

Then do the same with the middle pickup.

If you are using 3 pickups that are pretty much the same spec this should result in a neck and middle pickup that are about the same height and a bridge pickup that is noticeably higher.

If at that point you need more output overall you need a set of hotter pickups OR (and this is what I'd do) a boost pedal of some kind to use with the Strat.
 
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