can i put gibson pick ups in a strat?

[fatstrat****]

is it even possible to take my friends:

gibson 490R alnico magnet humbucker at the neck

and

498T alnico magnet humbucker at the bridge

-and put it in my fat strat

or is it even worth the effort. ive researched it and i cant find anything about it

 

[jeremy]

Re: can i put gibson pick ups in a strat?

welcome to the forum!!

itll work ok. string spacing may be an issue? but they should work fine.
i used to have a strat with a pair duncan 59's and it sounded really nice.

 

[revolution]

Re: can i put gibson pick ups in a strat?

Can you say Eddie VanHalen? He's the man that wrote the book on it! What's already in your fat strat? If it's Duncan you won't want to put those Gibsons in there. If not...they should sound really good. They're not bad,I can just think of a whole lot of others I'd rather have. DO IT! You wont regret it.

 

[Mike M.]

Re: can i put gibson pick ups in a strat?

I was going to try those same Gibson pickups in mine, but I could'nt do it. Reason being was the legs for the mounting tabs were to long. Even if I were to have mounted the pickup directley to the bottom of the pickup cavity the pickup itself would still have been too high. The pickup would have been making contact with the strings and then some! The only way it would have worked would have been to route out some more wood at the bottom of the pickup cavity for the mounting legs and tabs to fit into. But offhand I don't know how much further you'd have to go before coming out of the back side of the guitar. Can't be that hard to figure out, though.

 

[dr.barlo]

Re: can i put gibson pick ups in a strat?

Very good point!

That is why I generally swap the baseplate rather than drill holes into my strats.

If you are gonna get it done and don't have much experience routing guitars with dremels, I suggest that you get professional help!

B

 

[MikeS]

Re: can i put gibson pick ups in a strat?

Routing issues aside...

The 490/498 set works better in brighter, snappier guitars than in Les Pauls. Not that this is anywhere near the same, but the 490/498 that came out of my LP eventually found a permanant home in a maple neck-through BC Rich Mockingbird. My Mock has a TOM, so that may be why I got away with fitting the long tabs in the guitar.

 

[fatstrat****]

Re: can i put gibson pick ups in a strat?

its not a duncan...just a standard humbucker. but thanks alot ill let yall know if it works. any advice in trying to do this myself though?

 

[ratherdashing]

Re: can i put gibson pick ups in a strat?

Other than the legs issue, I see no reason this won't work. The Strat is the one guitar you can put pretty much any pickup in with a good guarantee of success.

 

[MikeS]

Re: can i put gibson pick ups in a strat?

Was it always a double fat strat? You may need to replace the switch if it currently has a five-way if they are not aftermarket Gibson pickups. Gibson uses 2 conductor braids in their Les Pauls that are not splittable.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: can i put gibson pick ups in a strat?

It's actually a good idea, because strats often sound more Gibson-like when you use actual Gibson pickups. They sometimes sound harsh in LP's, but add some much needed character, if you use them in a Fat Strat.
I think the poles on Gibsons are in between the specs of regular and trem Duncans, so they line up surprisingly well.

I'm not much of a fan of 498T's on Gibsons, but I put one in my G&L Legacy Deluxe (maple on basswood), and the guitar never sounded better. It actually surprised me.