Help me with pickups for an HSS Strat (looking for twang/jangle)

[PRW]

I have an '85 Tokai AST-56 maple neck, might as well be a Strat. It's been upgraded to GFS Vintage Alnico V pickups and a Mojotone wiring harness (CTS 250k split shaft pots, new switch and jack, Vitamin T Paper & Oil .047uf capacitor plus it's had the tone control wired into the bridge pickup.

I'm bored with it and want to try something that's easily reversible if I don't like it (another guitar not happening right now).

I'm interested in trying a humbucker in the bridge, and what I was thinking about was a TV Jones Classic because I'm into jangle and twang. (I know a Strat isn't an optimum guitar for that, but it's the most comfortable kind of guitar for me to play now because of arthritis issues in fingers; I also know much of jangle is the way you pick and I stick close to the bridge with a lot of arpeggio stuff.)

I'm also interested in upgrading the single coils.

Am I out in the ether with the idea of the TV Jones? If that's feasible, what will I have to do to the wiring and pots to make it work? (Which might defeat the purpose of easily reversible, I know.)

Any suggestions on replacements for the single coils, or other possibilities for the bridge humbucker? Or is there a good set anyone would suggest to keep it an SSS. Like I said, I'm just a little bored with the guitar and want to shake things up a bit.

 

[SJ318]

Re: Help me with pickups for an HSS Strat (looking for twang/jangle)

I'm a long time novice -
But I'll start, what I know so far is a good start would be 500K volume and tone pots (more high end-helps jangle). Also A5 poles are best for jangle in single coils from what I hear in my pickups, an SSL-1 or SSL-2 set would be a touch louder than normal, but still have that great sparkle they are famous for. A bridge humbucker I've tried is a low wind, but very treble oriented, (lots of high frequency for a humbucker) is a Jazz neck pickup in the bridge position. Yes, the neck.
The Jazz neck is only wound to 7.5K or so, but that is fairly low for a humbucker. Keep the p'up low and the screw poles a little high, and that sounds great, to me, as I am using one as we speak. In bed, right now. I always play it before I nod off. I have several Strats that I use and swap pickups around, and this is my bedtime Strat for a while now.
I have read here that paper in oil caps are good, and a .022 cap is best for high end. I like TwangBanger p'up's, but I think they would be too loud and not sparkle as much as you want. They work for me in the neck, but that is me. YMMV.
A "Little '59 for Strat" might be a great mini humbucker for the bridge. As the magnetic field is smaller, it might be a better all round jangle pickup. Thinking of trying one myself. Really.
OK, time for more knowledgeable folks to chime in. Good luck. Oh, was gonna mention maybe a lower wind single coil might be better, like a Jimi Hendrix style I have is only wound 5.8, so with a tweak of volume on the amp, a set like that may be better. Still, I defer to the rest of the forumites. They know a lot!
Steve Buffington