ImmortalSix
John Mayer's Mankini
I have.
Story:
I have this '96 American Standard Strat that my dad gave me as a gift, new in 1996. Some of you know it. 3-color sunburst + maple board, white on white plastic. Stock as your mom's Honda.
Well, I've never liked the pickups on it. I've been through 4 amps, thinking it was their fault, until I landed on my current best-thing-since-sliced-bread amp, the Valvetronix.
After I got my VOX amp, the neck+middle position started sounding like I wanted it to, which is my favorite position for solo / articulate / fingerpicking / anything that's not chords.
Regrettably, I could not find any pickup position, tweaking of the knobs, or tweaking of the amp that would give me a good rhythm sound, just playing chords.
I had been playing ALL of my other guitars because of this, including a Squier '51, a Jackson JS20, and I even went to the store and bought another guitar, an Epiphone Dot Studio, to try and get a good rhythm sound. The Dot got close, real close, but it doesn't play anywhere near the caliber of my MIA Strat. I wanted the playability of the Strat with the sound of the 335.
So I got an award at work, which included a $75 gift card, and I decided to use it to get a Lil' '59 for my Strat.
I fell in love with the old girl again.
I have been playing it non-stop.
I played the Strat at my church gig on Sunday, and it sounded great --- I got that responsiveness to volume and tone knob changes that the stock singlecoils just don't have. It's more well rounded than my bassy 335, and less trebly than my sharp '51, and definitely less gainy than my Jackson.
It's juuuuuuuuuuuuust right!
Cliffs: I hated the pickups in my Strat for 12 years until I put a Lil '59 in it, and now I'm good to go!
Ever have a pickup swap turn a guitar around for you?
Story:
I have this '96 American Standard Strat that my dad gave me as a gift, new in 1996. Some of you know it. 3-color sunburst + maple board, white on white plastic. Stock as your mom's Honda.
Well, I've never liked the pickups on it. I've been through 4 amps, thinking it was their fault, until I landed on my current best-thing-since-sliced-bread amp, the Valvetronix.
After I got my VOX amp, the neck+middle position started sounding like I wanted it to, which is my favorite position for solo / articulate / fingerpicking / anything that's not chords.
Regrettably, I could not find any pickup position, tweaking of the knobs, or tweaking of the amp that would give me a good rhythm sound, just playing chords.
I had been playing ALL of my other guitars because of this, including a Squier '51, a Jackson JS20, and I even went to the store and bought another guitar, an Epiphone Dot Studio, to try and get a good rhythm sound. The Dot got close, real close, but it doesn't play anywhere near the caliber of my MIA Strat. I wanted the playability of the Strat with the sound of the 335.
So I got an award at work, which included a $75 gift card, and I decided to use it to get a Lil' '59 for my Strat.
I fell in love with the old girl again.
I have been playing it non-stop.
I played the Strat at my church gig on Sunday, and it sounded great --- I got that responsiveness to volume and tone knob changes that the stock singlecoils just don't have. It's more well rounded than my bassy 335, and less trebly than my sharp '51, and definitely less gainy than my Jackson.
It's juuuuuuuuuuuuust right!
Cliffs: I hated the pickups in my Strat for 12 years until I put a Lil '59 in it, and now I'm good to go!
Ever have a pickup swap turn a guitar around for you?
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I don't even have to bother with thick strings anymore; 9-46 sound perfect. 
