Pickup Help for my American Strat

[music_man_chad]

I'm new to the group and I would like some help in selecting the right pup's for my Strat. It's an American made with an Ash body and a maple neck & fingerboard. It has a HSS config. now but I'm not stuck on that. My other American Strat has 2 Fender Texas Specials and a SD Pearly Gates (which I LOVE) in the bridge. With the new Strat I would like a different sound than what I already have. My music style is good ol' rock & roll.

I was looking at a full size 59 for the neck, duckbucker in the middle, and a full size JB in the bridge. As I was researching I came across the "Everything" set, which has the single coil size humbuckers. Any thoughts on the diff. between the full size and the jr. size 59 & JB? Also, is the DB a good middle pup? lastly, what other pup combos would anyone recommend?

Thanks for the help!

 

[Robert S.]

Re: Pickup Help for my American Strat

My Strat has a JB in the bridge, a Hot Stack in the mid and a lil59 in the neck. I prefer the Hot Stack in the mid position over the DB or VR because the added output helps to keep up with the JB and the lil59 (or 59) in the neck.

The full sized HBs have more output and a stronger humbucker feel to them because of the larger coils, magnets and the larger apature (cross section of the string that the magnetic field covers). I find the lil and jr series pickups sound like a hybrid of HBs and singles. Its a very cool tone especially when combined with a single coil or stacked pickup but it is different than a full sized HB.

 

[JacksonMIA]

Re: Pickup Help for my American Strat

Welcome to the forum!

I'm a humbucker kind of guy, so I've got rails in the neck and middle positions of my Peavey and they sound great. My old guitar had a JB Jr in the bridge. They all have great tone and do their job at cancelling noise, but as Robert said, they aren't a perfect replacement for the full size. I'd definitely consider using them again.

 

[music_man_chad]

Re: Pickup Help for my American Strat

Thanks for the advice guys!

 

[Luke Duke]

Re: Pickup Help for my American Strat

A lot of guys also like a Custom Custom in the bridge of a strat, it really warms it up. Nice fat sound. In the neck you could go for an A2P, or a PG in a full size bucker.

My American strat started out with a 59, and a Pearly Gates plus, like your other strat. The closest pup to the PG+ is a 59 trembucker FYI. I put in 3 APS' and love the smooth sound. If I was goin HSS I'd go APS 1 for both neck and middle, and a CC for the bridge.

Luke