Broken pups in strat.Need new ones

Zacker

New member
I recently got a MIM strat for RM670(roughly 200 usd) and it came today. With the neck pup broken.And the bridge sound like total ****.
I want this guitar to have a rock tone to it rather than my usual thrashy stuff.
I was thinking about hot rails/vintage rails/cool rails as replacement pups. Are they great for classic/hard rock?
 
Re: Broken pups in strat.Need new ones

Roughly how old is your Fender MIM Stratocaster? Quality has varied over the production life of these instruments. No amount of money spent on pickups can rescue a body with lousy natural acoustic tone.

Assuming that you have found a fundamentally decent guitar, yes, your suggested pickups will work nicely for classic/hard Rock music plus a whole lot else besides. The rail polepiece design means that you will have no string alignment issues.
 
Re: Broken pups in strat.Need new ones

PU's don't break, unless there's some serious abuse and violence involved. Sometimes a jolt can make wires come loose at a soldering joint.
 
Re: Broken pups in strat.Need new ones

Are you sure its the pickup thats broken and not the switch or something? If it was me i would probably make the seller eat it.

Not a fan of Hot rails... they are loud but thats about it. Would rather do like a little JB with cool rails neck and mid if your dead set on a noiseless set up...

If ordinary singles are cool i would go with a pair of 5-2's with a quarter pounder in the bridge... but thats just me.
 
Re: Broken pups in strat.Need new ones

$200 isn't a bad price at all for a strat neck and body. I'm guessing that you are in Malaysia, based on the currency conversion, that may limit your options with pickups. That said; the hot, vintage, cool rail set would work pretty well for just about any music that you want to play. You should have no problems at all with classic and hard rock tones. As the others had mentioned, there could be other issues with the electronics, I would plan on replacing all of the wiring when you swap out the pickups. For another $25-$30, you can make sure that you are getting the most out of the guitar and your new pickups.
 
Re: Broken pups in strat.Need new ones

I recently got a MIM strat for RM670(roughly 200 usd) and it came today. With the neck pup broken.And the bridge sound like total ****.
I want this guitar to have a rock tone to it rather than my usual thrashy stuff.
I was thinking about hot rails/vintage rails/cool rails as replacement pups. Are they great for classic/hard rock?

I'm not a fan of single coil sized humbuckers for "rock", they just don't perform like full sized humbuckers with heavy overdrive. I like them for clean and light dirt, though. The Hot Rails would get the closest, but they're mediocre compared to a full size, and the cleans are not so good. IMO a hot single coil like the SSL-3, 4 or 5, or DiMarzio Red Velvets are more versatile. Maybe consider getting an HH or HSH pickgaurd if the MIM body is routed for it, and put in full sized humbuckers.

If you're bent on getting blades/rails, I'd also look at DiMarzio as they have a bigger selection of blades. The Air Norton S is my favorite.

PU's don't break, unless there's some serious abuse and violence involved. Sometimes a jolt can make wires come loose at a soldering joint.

I had a set of old Texas Specials spontaneously die while inside a mint Strat that's still mint.

No amount of money spent on pickups can rescue a body with lousy natural acoustic tone.

A caveat to that is that hotter pickups are thought to be more forgiving of crappy wood, while lower output pickups will more readily reveal a flawed acoustic tone. This burns me because I have a rather bad sounding Strat that looks very vintage and mellow, I could put higher output pickups in it, but it wouldn't fit the look at all. I keep it around for collector purposes, otherwise I'd dump it.
 
Re: Broken pups in strat.Need new ones

My strat's body is routed for HSH, but I might get it routed with the swimming pool style rout. Oh and it's a 2006, at least what the seller said. Oh and for the RM 670($200), it was a really tough negotiation.
 
Re: Broken pups in strat.Need new ones

$200 for a 2006 MIM Strat is a great buy. It will sound amazing with a good set of pickups. mine does :)
 
Re: Broken pups in strat.Need new ones

I have a Squier Strat with a set of the hot livewires for Strat that I've had for about 12 or 15 years. If you are looking for high output, and you can find them, they will do the trick for you. They might be even a bit much, but you can roll the volume back a bit for rhythm then up for solos. Honestly, they are not truly a "Strat replacement" but they are probably as close as you can come in an active pickup.

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I wired them up for 18 volts and dropped a StewMac double battery box in.

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