Neck Pickups For Blues On A Strat?

toneseekr

New member
I was wondering what pickups do you guys like on the neck position of Strats with Alder body, maple neck and rosewood fretboard guitar for blues/jazz/fusion?
 
Re: Neck Pickups For Blues On A Strat?

I'm a jazzy blues player and I use Duncan Antiquity Surfers.

That's what's in the white Strat in my avatar, along with a Duncan Custom Shop alnico 2 Tele Hot Tapped bridge pickup.
 
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Re: Neck Pickups For Blues On A Strat?

well rockstar216 as long as it doesnt have 60s hum it doesnt really matter to me.
and
lewguitar ive heard that Antiquities in general are good but havent tried them. any sound clips?
and
for everyone everyone else, Keep'em coming, thanks
 
Re: Neck Pickups For Blues On A Strat?

You can try a lil Screamin Demon in the neck or a parallel axis stack or the vintage rails. I use the demon in the middle and I love it. Any single coil will have that hum the demon is super quiet even with a lot of gain and very articulate
 
Re: Neck Pickups For Blues On A Strat?

there are heaps of sweet pickups...but if you want noiseless then i guess your options are a limited.
Personally im happy to live with the hum because true singles sound so sweet.
 
Re: Neck Pickups For Blues On A Strat?

Best pickups for traditional tones are traditional designs. I love the antiquity Texas hot, but mine are in a ash body maple fretboard strat. You may have better luck with the antiquity surfers in an alder/rosewood setup. Put some sheiliding in the cavity, and on your pick guard, and star ground I'd recommend. With your amp behind you, you'll be able to manage the hum quite well. If you really want noiseless, others will have recommends I'm sure.
 
Re: Neck Pickups For Blues On A Strat?

ExplorersRock yea ive seen a couple of youtube videos on them and they sound cool, have that texas raw sound.

Rockstar216 that sounds interesting. lil screamin demon huh? ima look into it.

Gibson175 yea i truly feel the same way about the fact that it does limit me but, i cant live with that hum, drives me crazy :smash: but, if i cant get a sound i like then i will openly give true single coils more chances.

jones yea i saw a couple of antiquities and dam they sound really nice. i might get a set just to try them out.

ok guys so from all the research and youtube videos and forums this is what i came up with that im most likely going to get first then later try other ones.

-Bridge: DiMarzio Vitural Vintage Heavy Blues 2

-Middle: DiMarzio Cruiser bridge pickup in the middle

-Neck: DiMarzio Area 67


thank guys and you guys are the best, keep bringing the magic to this forum and this post,
thanks
 
Re: Neck Pickups For Blues On A Strat?

I've just hunged a video yesterday, with an alder-body rosewood-fretboard strato loaded with antiquity II surfs. They cover everything, IMHO.
(warning, not a great player, just hear the pickups, not to me).


NOTES:
NO Noise-Gate in the pedalboard, neither in video edition.
NO EQ correction, NO further post-processing in Pro-Tools or any other DAW.
Image/sound recorded with a Zoom Q3HD. What you hear is what you would hear INSIDE the room.
Guitar electronics cavity is shielded so, very comfortable pickup noise.
 
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Re: Neck Pickups For Blues On A Strat?

the classic stack + pups are really nice sounding. i took them out for a while but ended up putting them back in. they sounds great and are noiseless
 
Re: Neck Pickups For Blues On A Strat?

I'm a jazzy blues player and I use Duncan Antiquity Surfers.

That's what's in the white Strat in my avatar, along with a Duncan Custom Shop alnico 2 Tele Hot Tapped bridge pickup.

If noiseless is a priority they aren't humbuckers. But what they sound like is a great, early 60's Stratocaster pickup.
 
Re: Neck Pickups For Blues On A Strat?

My fave Strat single coils are red, silver, blue sensors. My fave single coil sized humbuckers for Strats are the SD rails, hot, vintage, cool. I also have and like alot a Strat with a Hot Rails neck, Screaming Demon in the middle and a JB jr in the bridge. Hermetico's Strat sounds excellent too. So many pickups, so few Strats to put them in. I usually cut it down to master volume and tone with a push pull pots. I can coil split according to switch selection on the volume pot. The tone pull turns on bridge no matter switch selection. Wiring that way gives you N/B, N/M/B in HSS/HHH/SSS/ or whatever you have in the pick guard.

Laces:
IMG_1722.jpg

Before the Laces I had this in the blackie:

IMG_1361.jpg

That is a hotrails neck, JB Jr. Middle and a Gibson 2 conductor wire '57 classic in the bridge.

Kermie the Rails:

IMG_1386.jpg

The Mix:

IMG_1432.jpg

The Pearl pg has two PRails and a hotrails in the middle. The brass pickguard is presently in that TB Strat with the Hotrails neck, deamon middle and JB Jr. bridge.

IMG_0803.jpg

I love trying different pickups and pick guards!
 
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Re: Neck Pickups For Blues On A Strat?

When I hear the word "jazz/blues/fusion," I think "Jeff Beck." If that's the sound you want, try a set of Fender Hot Noiseless. That's what he uses. (NOTE: Hot Noiseless should not be confused with VINTAGE Noiseless - that's the older Clapton model, a completely different pickup.) The Hot Noiseless used to be called Ceramic Noiseless. You can get a used set on fleabay for under 100 bucks.
 
Re: Neck Pickups For Blues On A Strat?

My Fave noisless , The Bill Lawerences.... 200-200-290"s, best bluesy Jazzy pup's, and Won't break your bank Account !
 
Re: Neck Pickups For Blues On A Strat?

To the OP and with respect to ottomatic...id say steer away from the red, silver and blue lace set.
The blue is supposed to sound like a paf and the red is supposed to sound like a hot overwound pup. They are not a strattu or bluesy set of pups at all. I used them for nearly 10 years before i realized finally that all the killer strat blues sounds that i liked from records are impossible with this set. They are compressed, middy and lacking in anything remotely "stratty". They are good for high gain generic rock tones but that's about it.
People say good things about the hot golds, but i cant honestly say ive tried them. So to the op: see if you can get to a shop, try out a few strats and A/B some of the noiseless offerings from fender and some of the regular strats with singles. At least that will get you a chance to hear in the ballpark of what sounds best for you.
After that, you can narrow your search down to the subtler stuff once you are sure whether noiseless or true single is right for you. Given that you want a bluesy tone and bearing in mind that most classic blues recordings are made with lower gain and regular singles, you might find its worth living with the hum. If not, then no harm done - at least you will have tried out a bunch of nice axes.
 
Re: Neck Pickups For Blues On A Strat?

I like the Antiquity Texas Hots as well.

I would think that if you want humbucking tone, the Lil' 59, the Lil' Pearly or the JB Jr. Could all give you great bluesy tone in the neck position.

My favorite guitar for fusion jazz is my G&L Legacy Special. The Gotoh Dual Blades have a thick, paf-ish quality to them...but reducing the volume and adjusting the guitar's PTB tone controls can get me close to vintage alnico tone. Great guitar.

Bill
 
Re: Neck Pickups For Blues On A Strat?

I liked the Vintage Rails. Never was too impressed with any stacked pickups -but decided long ago not to spend a lot of $$ trying them out, so I have not tried the SD's (except for the LW Classic IIs). Surfers are pretty good, too. For me a matter of matching the pickup to the guitar.

I have this Strat that came to me without the stock pickups - I must have had 12 sets in that guitar before settling on Suhr V54's. The regular Antiquity 1 was an excellent bridge pickup in that guitar, FWIW.

Ilitch Electronics makes a backplate (and not think he can build into a pick guard) that will cancel noise that single coils picks up. Its pricey and you won't get full benefit using a set with middle RWRP.
 
Re: Neck Pickups For Blues On A Strat?

--hermetico thanks for the video those Antiquities sounds amazing, i really wants sum now. i think i might get one for the

bridge. im debating whether i should get a Antiquity Surfer or a DiMarzio Vitural Vintage Heavy Blues 2 on the bridge.

--jeremy really now? ima take a look at them. what wood combos do you have on that guitar with those pickups?

--lewguitar niiice i really think ima get one for the bridge.mmmaaybe im still debating.

--OttoMatick thank you vvery much for the photos.. very nice guitars indeed. um ive tried a couple of lace sensors but they just

dont do it for me. now those humbuckers in a single coil thing is cool and i shall give them a try. is that guitar with the Gibson

57 classic on alder body?? how do that sound just out of curiosity.

--tubecrunch out of those three i will give the vintage rails a try when i can. where do you prefer the vintage rails, bridge

middle or neck?

--dotsdad yea you know what ive thought about them but they are ceramic wouldnt that just sound not as sweet as alnico II or alnico V? its cuz im going for that really sweet, round sounds.

--gibson175 yea i agree with you in all aspects of all the things you said. even the golds werent really my thing, lace sensor is

just not for me i guess. i havent had the chance to try more single coil pickups but i will do so maybe tmrw i might be able to

go to guitar center. that hum thing is really something i dont like but you never know i can say that today and it be something

completely different tmrw :) whats your favorite single coil for the neck position? what wood combos are you using? amp?

pedals?

--Boogie Bill i do want to give it a try and see if that is what i want. i really do love PAF style sounds a lot. know of anymore PAF sounding single coils that you have tried?

-LReese how were the LW Classic IIs? Suhr V57s huh? so you replaced the Suhr 57 bridge for a SD Antiquity 1 on the bridge? what is RWRP?


Update on the gear I am really considering:

Neck: DiMarzio Virtual Vintage Blues(going to get in a trade sometime this week)
Middle: DiMarzio Cruiser(would be really nice for a build up)
Bridge: DiMarzio Virtual Vintage Heavy Blues 2 OR Seymour Duncan Antiquity Surfer
 
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