My Fender strat needs some upgrades (little help needed)

[Chickenwings]

Re: My Fender strat needs some upgrades (little help needed)

gotoh make drop in replacements with the big saddles and a steel block. top shelf engineering snd smooth under the palm. maybe raise your action a touch. also dont overlook maybe a hot single coil in the bridge (perhaps ssl5) so you can have all 250k pots and everything working in harmony across all three pickups. if you are running two humbuckers then a custom custom bridge and pg or aph neck is strong loose ballsy and fun to play.

 

[DankStar]

Re: My Fender strat needs some upgrades (little help needed)

the guitar fetish saddles were just what the doctor ordered - no more cheese grater on my hand. stainless steel, nice price to boot. I still need to dial in the intonation later but I was able to match the height of the previous ones exactly with some careful measurements.

 

[eclecticsynergy]

Re: My Fender strat needs some upgrades (little help needed)

Nice finish. I dig sparkle Fenders.

 

[Securb]

Re: My Fender strat needs some upgrades (little help needed)

I love that Strat it looks great.

 

[ehdwuld]

Re: My Fender strat needs some upgrades (little help needed)

Mmmmm nice shiny mmmmm

 

[Detroitblues]

Re: My Fender strat needs some upgrades (little help needed)

Fender used to put in Pearly Gates in the bridge. I know it sounded good in a Les Paul. Most Stratocasters sound good with single coils. You could also try mini humbuckers. Those are epic cool too.

'59 is a PAF style pickup. However, more period correct would require a weaker magnet, say Alnico 2 or 3. Might want to try that too.

Of course nothing beats a good spin of the tone control.....

 

[DankStar]

Re: My Fender strat needs some upgrades (little help needed)

Nice finish. I dig sparkle Fenders.

Yeah I really wanted to get this more comfortable to play cause I love the rootbeer sparkle. I'm not usually into too flashy guitars, but this one has a more 70's diner booth thing going on.

 

[eclecticsynergy]

Re: My Fender strat needs some upgrades (little help needed)

Fender used to put in Pearly Gates in the bridge. I know it sounded good in a Les Paul. Most Stratocasters sound good with single coils. You could also try mini humbuckers. Those are epic cool too.

'59 is a PAF style pickup. However, more period correct would require a weaker magnet, say Alnico 2 or 3. Might want to try that too.

Of course nothing beats a good spin of the tone control.....

If you like the 59b except for the slightly scooped sound, it's worth trying an unoriented A5 magnet in it. Richer mids, a less aggressive attack, and a "chewier" vintage feel overall- the UA5 is magic mojo for bridge pickups in general, and especially for the 59b. For higher output including more mids and bigger bass, an A8 could be the ticket, while still being more open sounding than the heavier wind of a Custom. Both the 59b and 59n, like the Custom, take really well to various different mags.

Another thought, prompted by the suggestion of a Pearly: the Pearly Gates Plus is fabulous in a Strat- my Fender Showmaster has one and I've never been tempted to change it. The design is tweaked to produce classic PG tone in long scale bolt-on guitars. They aren't available separately but they do come up on eBay once in a while. Great pickup for vintage output in a Strat.

I still say the Demon is a great choice but it's more of a modern sound & feel than a vintage one.

 

[Mincer]

Re: My Fender strat needs some upgrades (little help needed)

I also love that finish.
I also hate saddles that cut my hand. But I dig GraphTech saddles, though I know many don't. They seem to deaden a frequency I find offensive, or something.

 

[tabeck5]

Re: My Fender strat needs some upgrades (little help needed)

The SD 59 is a great little pickup, I would see what pots you have and tinker with the height before deciding to remove it, as for the bridge, the Babicz looks great, although I have never owned one.