My Texas Special Dilemma (tone is apparently not only about pickups) - advice needed

[PFDarkside]

not significantly better. Only a tiny bit - still bad to be honest.

Ok. Might need to swap to the STK-S7 then...

 

[alex1fly]

It sounds like what you have is an HSS, and what you want is an HSH. Leave the middle Texas, find yourself a full size humbucker or single coil sized humbucker to go in the neck spot.

 

[alexreinhold]

Ok. Might need to swap to the STK-S7 then...

Trying the STK-S4 first. Wish me luck

 

[Teleplayer]

I hope you will keep us updated when you try the new pickups in the Charvel. I'm interested in your plan to use more vintage-sounding pickups in a 22 fret modern guitar. Did you order a complete set of STK-S4 or just the neck and middle?

 

[Mincer]

I was just playing my Strat with the Classic Stacks, and I smile every time I am finished playing.

 

[alexreinhold]

So here's what happened. I ordered the classic stacks neck and middle and was super excited. I installed them, soldered everything and when i wanted to adjust pickup height, I noticed that the charvel dk cavities are not routed deep enough for them - the poles were on string level at the lowest height. For a moment i considered deepening the cavities but since I don't have the tools and experience, I thought that'd be an overkill.

I returned the Classic Stacks with a heavy heart and thought hard about alternatives. What I know now is that I can rule out all SD pickups with the Classic Stack height and pickups with staggered poles. So after a lot of reading in other threads and forums, I asked my US friend who's coming to Germany in 2 weeks to bring me Dimarzio Cruisers (currently sold out in Germany). I'm aware of the potential output imbalance with the Hot Rails but given that they are very Straty (though not fully vintage) and optimized for 500k pots, they are alluring to me + i love the Timmons sound. Will update the thread once they arrive.

 

[Mincer]

Oh man, sorry that didn't work out. I hadn't run into a routing that wasn't deep enough, but I guess they are out there.

 

[alexreinhold]

Oh man, sorry that didn't work out. I hadn't run into a routing that wasn't deep enough, but I guess they are out there.

Yeah, i was confused as well. I kept screwing and nothing happened. I did however put the bass E string on and it did sound just the way i like it. Will definitely get them for my next strat build. Will keep you updated on the Cruisers.

 

[alexreinhold]

Quick update. The Cruiser pickups work like a charm, am really happy. I can see why some warned me that the output is too low compared to the Hot Rails but I can only hear the difference when playing clean. Given that I never play my humbucker clean that doesn't pose any problem to me.

Next pickups will for sure be the Classic Stacks though.

 

[Mincer]

Happy you found something that works in that guitar- thanks for the update!