Need recommendation for single coils for a Strat copy

[BetaCAM]

Hi,

I have an ESP S800 strat guitar. it's got a two piece beautiful swamp ash body, with maple neck and rosewood fingerboard.

I already replaced the bridge pickup with Hot Rails and it does its gig on the best side for me.

I'm looking for a Neck and Middle combo that will work together as well as with the Hot rails for split positions. I'm after the basic 5 way strat sound.

I want the neck and middle to be true single coils, because I feel that the rails and stacks don't give the same vibe, in bridge position that's just fine because I never liked the way a single coil sounds in the bridge position.

I'm not looking for a vintage output pickup but I guess I'm willing to put something in between to get better stratish clean tones. I'm not looking for metal type of sound, I got a metal guitar for this purpose, so this should go more towards the Fusion type of sound, or pop rock sound.

What are your suggestions?

Thanks!

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Need recommendation for single coils for a Strat copy

With swamp ash, I would recommend either the Alnico II Pro or Five-Two models. These will smooth out the high treble frequencies from the wood.

 

[BetaCAM]

Re: Need recommendation for single coils for a Strat copy

I've been doing some thinking and realized there's no way I can get my tone with regular non hum canceling pickups so I'd like to expand my options by asking for advice on some hum canceling strat replacements that could work for this case.

I don't want the guitar to sound too bright. but I can tell you that on my other guitar which is a Jackson Soloist XL, it has Cool rails in the neck and it doesn't sound bright but rather balanced but sometimes too thick for playing plain clean tones though it's very versatile setup.

Any other insights?