Help me decide on a bridge single

[BlueStrings]

Sometime in the next week I will buy a better guitar with money from my internship, the dream came true! (insert happy crying here)
I am considering going with a Strat because first, the body just fits right, and second, I am on a 'lighter' moodier phase, and singles can sound incredible with light/medium drive. They can have a zing, and instead of a wall of sound they give a spanky distortion. Kinda like hendrix, a rather strong distortion that has a swing to it, it's bouncy!
I already have a LP. It's cool, I like the neck(and would prefer a shorter scale), but it just doesn't sit well with me and is too muddy sounding.

Problems:
Single coils can sound great, but can also sound brittle/shrill, and plinky. So I am thinking I will probably change the stock cheap pickups for somenthing darker/stronger as I am quite sensitive to shrillness.
Seymour Duncans would cost quite a bit over here(more than the guitar I am looking at, for a 3-set), so I am going with a national brand. They have a rather big selection, but I narrowed it down:

For the neck probably a 6.5k single 'Custom Blues', suppossed to be a bit stronger but similar to a Texas Special, peak at 8KHz. Would give me beautiful cleans, and sweet leads. I pass most of my time on the neck pickup on any guitar as I find most bridges weak and 'weird', like a moaning, not like a cool grunt/scream. (think andy timmons, but his tone is a bit muffled even for me)
For the bridge I can either go with the bridge Blues at 7.5k, or a hotter version at 8.8k (Custom Red) with a peak at 6KHz.

That's the dillema I have been stuck at, for the last 3 days.
I can only try and compare reviews/audios of pickups I think are similar, like the Fender Texas Special, or the Duncan Surfers or BKPs Slow Hands or Lollar Specials.
The brand does have a good reputation over here, the problem is the country has a weird culture, seems like even people with money prefer spending it on gear than getting a proper camera + audio capture setup. One guy even says that's more "truthful" *sigh*

What I need is some ideas on how I could better choose what would work for me and avoid making a bad purchase. I am afraid of the bridge either sounding too muddy or unbalanced(unlikely, but possible) or too bright(a common thing to me). My focus is get a great light/medium gain lead tone, I probably won't be using the bridge for cleans.

About middle pickup, my priority is neck then bridge. If somehow the middle doesn't sit well I can change it later.
I will however change neck and middle positions in the selector, so I can have neck + bridge. Will need a reverse polarity neck and normal polarity middle right?
Will keep 250k pots. Will use 0.10 but might try 0.11 strings later.

Random samples of sounds I am going for:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCJcfmyRjLU (Smooooth leads!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toLsIe5EQqQ (that bridge lead is unnnnngh so good, smooth and commanding)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhT0Av6w5no (Funk-ish distortion, love it)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cnyFnbH2Qo (smooth but also raunchy/angry)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5u9lM8JpBXM (sweet and crystalline)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j271v-UZqeg (a clean bridge that doesn't sound puny! I can have my clarity from the neck)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LK_nD8APOLM (that ain't blues, but still sounds great to me)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmMApH_oNmo (a bit thin, but still cool)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnEWFJ7gt-k (I love how a tele sounds, specially the smooth neck pickup. Alas, I've played one and hated the control plate... sue me :\)

Thanks once more, pardon my weird and long questions again haha.

 

[chadd]

Re: Help me decide on a bridge single

If you are sensitive to high end, you might want to look at something with A2 magnets.

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: Help me decide on a bridge single

Sometime in the next week I will buy a better guitar with money from my internship, the dream came true! (insert happy crying here)
I am considering going with a Strat because first, the body just fits right, and second, I am on a 'lighter' moodier phase, and singles can sound incredible with light/medium drive. They can have a zing, and instead of a wall of sound they give a spanky distortion. Kinda like hendrix, a rather strong distortion that has a swing to it, it's bouncy!
I already have a LP. It's cool, I like the neck(and would prefer a shorter scale), but it just doesn't sit well with me and is too muddy sounding.

Problems:
Single coils can sound great, but can also sound brittle/shrill, and plinky. So I am thinking I will probably change the stock cheap pickups for somenthing darker/stronger as I am quite sensitive to shrillness.
Seymour Duncans would cost quite a bit over here(more than the guitar I am looking at, for a 3-set), so I am going with a national brand. They have a rather big selection, but I narrowed it down:

For the neck probably a 6.5k single 'Custom Blues', suppossed to be a bit stronger but similar to a Texas Special, peak at 8KHz. Would give me beautiful cleans, and sweet leads. I pass most of my time on the neck pickup on any guitar as I find most bridges weak and 'weird', like a moaning, not like a cool grunt/scream. (think andy timmons, but his tone is a bit muffled even for me)
For the bridge I can either go with the bridge Blues at 7.5k, or a hotter version at 8.8k (Custom Red) with a peak at 6KHz.

That's the dillema I have been stuck at, for the last 3 days.
I can only try and compare reviews/audios of pickups I think are similar, like the Fender Texas Special, or the Duncan Surfers or BKPs Slow Hands or Lollar Specials.
The brand does have a good reputation over here, the problem is the country has a weird culture, seems like even people with money prefer spending it on gear than getting a proper camera + audio capture setup. One guy even says that's more "truthful" *sigh*

What I need is some ideas on how I could better choose what would work for me and avoid making a bad purchase. I am afraid of the bridge either sounding too muddy or unbalanced(unlikely, but possible) or too bright(a common thing to me). My focus is get a great light/medium gain lead tone, I probably won't be using the bridge for cleans.

About middle pickup, my priority is neck then bridge. If somehow the middle doesn't sit well I can change it later.
I will however change neck and middle positions in the selector, so I can have neck + bridge. Will need a reverse polarity neck and normal polarity middle right?
Will keep 250k pots. Will use 0.10 but might try 0.11 strings later.

Random samples of sounds I am going for:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCJcfmyRjLU (Smooooth leads!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toLsIe5EQqQ (that bridge lead is unnnnngh so good, smooth and commanding)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhT0Av6w5no (Funk-ish distortion, love it)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cnyFnbH2Qo (smooth but also raunchy/angry)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5u9lM8JpBXM (sweet and crystalline)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j271v-UZqeg (a clean bridge that doesn't sound puny! I can have my clarity from the neck)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LK_nD8APOLM (that ain't blues, but still sounds great to me)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmMApH_oNmo (a bit thin, but still cool)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnEWFJ7gt-k (I love how a tele sounds, specially the smooth neck pickup. Alas, I've played one and hated the control plate... sue me :\)

Thanks once more, pardon my weird and long questions again haha.

What brand pickups are you looking at?

 

[BlueStrings]

Re: Help me decide on a bridge single

I thought about Alnico 2, but from then I would be mixing A2 and A5, more variables. Also they don't make A2 singles in production, I'd need to custom order.

The brand is Malagoli.
https://www.captadores.com.br/loja/produto-34302-1095-custom_blues
As mentioned, those are supposed to be a bit thicker than texas specials, while the Custom Red are kind of putting a Custom Blues bridge in neck/middle, then wind a thicker one for the bridge.
He does also have an option to build a pickup to your own specs. I could go for a quarter-sized A5 if I needed the power, or order 2 Alnico 2/3 singles for a sweeter sound.

Taxes make imported goods quite expensive, hence I am going with national products that have acceptable reputation(the guitar I am looking at is a Tagima brand).
To give some picture, the guitar will go on a local store for around 1350 reals(around 345 dollars), a Squier would go for 1400-1500(around 370 dollars). The next level of price is around 3000 reals, I'd rather not go there, not yet.
A Seymour Duncan SSL1 would go for 400-500, a 3piece set for 1000-1200.
Meanwhile a Malagoli single will go for 161-180 the piece. I would buy the guitar and a case now, then pickups + setup at a luthier next month.