Help Me Choose a PU for My Strat!

O

oceantracks

New member
I just got a special order Custom Shop Strat. It has CS 69s in it, and it's my first experience with them. Until now, the only Strat I had around here was a little Mexican Strat (that actually sounds pretty good!).

So I didn't know that C69 pickups sounded like this. Clear and glassy, but WAY too thin for me, with hardly any output. I do only recording, and use a lot of amp modeling plug ins and I am finding that in a busy track filled with other guitars pounding away, you can't even hear this guitar.

So without screwing the whole Strat sound up, what would suggest (particularly for the bridge) that would have a little more output and a little more body to the sound? I don't play blues, I'm usually playing very clean, or just crunchy stuff. Pop and country a lot.

I did grow up with The Beach Boys and Beatles and their Strats sure sounded like they had more "body" to the sound than this ...

Thanks for any advice...

Tom
 
Re: Help Me Choose a PU for My Strat!

you have adjusted the height of the pickups, right?

they should sound fine

hmmmmm
 
Re: Help Me Choose a PU for My Strat!

yeah the CS69's are supposed to be kinda bold sounding for vintage spec singles. My first question is also "how do you have the pickup height?"
 
Re: Help Me Choose a PU for My Strat!

Hardly any output? Are you sure they, or the pots or wiring, are not actually faulty?
How does the guitar sound through an amp?
 
Re: Help Me Choose a PU for My Strat!

Its a Custom Deluxe, so it's rosewood/alder.

I don't know I've done a bunch of searches on the net and there are a lot of posts from people saying the same thing about these being really too thin sounding. The whole guitar sounds like "Little Wing" ...which is a good thing if that's the sound you want. Sounds just like that.;)

I tried it through my son's Marshall JCM2000, which isn't a great choice for cleans...and for kicks I compared it to the Mexican Strat. Mex Strat had way more bottom to it and was louder. Not WAY louder, but a bit. Maybe the extra lows and mids in the Mex made it sound louder.

I didn't think of the pickup height as I assumed the CS set it up right. I just looked at the bridge PU and it's almost flat on the bass strings with a gentle rise toward the top strings. Mid and neck are pretty low too.

I read a thread up here somewhere from a long while back that the SD Surfer pickups are more true to an early Sixties Strat vibe and aren't as icey sounding. True?

I know these 69s a highly regarded pickups, and there's nothing WRONG with them, they are just a really thin sounding PU...I may need to try better modelers and more amps I guess...

Thanks for any suggestions.

Tom
 
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Re: Help Me Choose a PU for My Strat!

Flat with the pickguard? They should be much higher, at least the bridge. raise it as much as possible without inducing wolf tones, keep the mid pretty low, and raise the neck to taste. This should help.
 
Re: Help Me Choose a PU for My Strat!

Benjy_26 said:
Flat with the pickguard? They should be much higher, at least the bridge. raise it as much as possible without inducing wolf tones, keep the mid pretty low, and raise the neck to taste. This should help.
Click to expand...

Well the bridge isn't FLAT, but it's real close to flat on the LEFT side (looking at the guitar) and gentle rise to the right side...even if raised should they always be at an angle like that? Can't remember what most Strats look like there..

Tom
 
Re: Help Me Choose a PU for My Strat!

oceantracks said:
Well the bridge isn't FLAT, but it's real close to flat on the LEFT side (looking at the guitar) and gentle rise to the right side...even if raised should they always be at an angle like that? Can't remember what most Strats look like there..

Tom
Click to expand...

Yeah, lots of guys angle them like that. The treble strings are quieter than the bass ones, so angling the pups like that balances it out a bit.
 
Re: Help Me Choose a PU for My Strat!

Benjy_26 said:
Flat with the pickguard? They should be much higher, at least the bridge. raise it as much as possible without inducing wolf tones, keep the mid pretty low, and raise the neck to taste. This should help.
Click to expand...

You like the middle one pretty low, eh? I've heard of people doing that before to increase the quackiness of the notch positions. Is that why you suggest having a low middle pickup, or some other reason?
I think when the middle's proportionally the same height as the other ones the notch positions don't get such a drop in output, and they sound better when you're overdriving the amp.
 
Re: Help Me Choose a PU for My Strat!

VintageToneGuy said:
I use this as a point of reference for pickup height and it works for me.



60th_mexstrat_1280x960.jpg
Click to expand...

just to clear it up for the rest of us
 
Re: Help Me Choose a PU for My Strat!

Texas specials will give you more midrange grunt and more output if you want to keep it all fender. They still sound like a strat - just a little less well mannered....
 
Re: Help Me Choose a PU for My Strat!

gibson175 said:
Texas specials will give you more midrange grunt and more output if you want to keep it all fender. They still sound like a strat - just a little less well mannered....
Click to expand...

Thanks all. I'm also getting interested in this Twangbanger bridge PU...sure keep hearing a lot about it. How would that compare to the Texas Special?

PS..my bridge PU is much lower than the one in the picture above..

Tom
 
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