Pickup Recommendations for Indie, Alt Rock. Any Ideas welcome.

[OG-Spiderman]

Hello I'm starting to put together a whole new set off pickups for my Stratocaster guitar and I'm having some trouble deciding. Not all the pickups have sound files so I can't hear them compared to some of the others.

I play mostly Indie or Alt Rock music like Last Dinosaurs, Coin, Hippo Campus, CRUISR, The Strokes, Two Door Cinema Club, boy pablo, Tipling Rock, Young the Giant, Foster the People, Circa Waves, Vampire Weekend, Gold Motel, Echosmith, Colony House, Bad Suns, Keane and Vacation Manor.

Hopefully that puts an idea in some people. I'm looking for nice sustain, and clarity, I'd prefer single coils based off what most of them sound like but I'm open to many other options. I was looking at the Y.J.M. Fury for the neck, and maybe for the bridge the Twangbanger or APS-1 or Lipstick. There isn't that many listening options for the middle pickups so I'm really looking for recommendations there. But as I said before I'm open to anything because these are gonna be my first full set of pickups so I'm not very experienced.

Thank you so much for any help you can provide.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Pickup Recommendations for Indie, Alt Rock. Any Ideas welcome.

Welcome to the forum!
Another thing to decide (since you like the YJMs) is if you want the rest of the set to be hum-cancelling. A whole set of YJMs would be a good choice, as well as the STK-S4 set. I am thinking the lipstick option might be too low of an output for what you like.

 

[TVFV]

Re: Pickup Recommendations for Indie, Alt Rock. Any Ideas welcome.

Maybe two SSL-1's in neck and middle and a surfer bridge.

Sent from my SM-A205U using Tapatalk

 

[OG-Spiderman]

Re: Pickup Recommendations for Indie, Alt Rock. Any Ideas welcome.

Thanks I really like the STK - S4 after listening to them. I'll try to avoid the lower output pickups then. I've had my eye on the Surfer for a while but I feel like the Twangbanger does a better job based off the recordings. I don't know if that'll translate in real life.

 

[RevDoom73]

Re: Pickup Recommendations for Indie, Alt Rock. Any Ideas welcome.

I've got the STK-S4 set in an old Japanese strat and they sound great. I mainly used it for a project where we were basically doing '90's/'00's alt-rock, and the tones I was able to get worked perfectly for it. Being noiseless and easy to install was definitely a bonus for me. I like the tone of the lipstick pup but I couldn't get it to really give me the output needed for more aggressive parts and it was harder to control when I added FX. Also, the Twangbanger could be an awesome option for a middle pickup. Being noiseless does give it a different characteristic than the typical single coils you might be used to, but to my ears it works really well.

 

[CK71]

Re: Pickup Recommendations for Indie, Alt Rock. Any Ideas welcome.

I love my APS-II (flat pole pieces). In my strat I have one in the neck and bridge with an SSL-52 in the middle. The SSL-52 brightens up the 2 and 4 position. Another option to consider is a boost pedal. I use a wampler euphoria that has a great bass response and really fattens it up especially the bridge pickup. There is also lot of love on this site for the SD pickup booster. But you have a lot of options.

 

[OG-Spiderman]

Re: Pickup Recommendations for Indie, Alt Rock. Any Ideas welcome.

Are there any good pickups that are able to easily be controlled for a wide variety of music. Cause that sounds like something I'm all for.

 

[CK71]

Re: Pickup Recommendations for Indie, Alt Rock. Any Ideas welcome.

I am not sure about "controlled". However, all the pickups listed, and many others, can be very versatile. Of the bands you listed I am most familiar with the Strokes, Vampire Weekend, and Young the Giant. A quick internet search of these bands gear show they use a variety of Gibsons and Fenders with tube amps and a good amount of pedals. Honestly you have a nearly endless amount of choices that could get you where you want. You may want to further research the gear of these bands and try to emulate your favorites. Hope that helps!

 

[Mincer]

Re: Pickup Recommendations for Indie, Alt Rock. Any Ideas welcome.

Are there any good pickups that are able to easily be controlled for a wide variety of music. Cause that sounds like something I'm all for.

I think pickups that are on the lower end of the output scale can do more stuff well. You can always choose to boost them after the fact, yet they retain their dynamics. Perfect for styles that rely on touch-sensitivity, like those you mentioned.

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: Pickup Recommendations for Indie, Alt Rock. Any Ideas welcome.

Thanks I really like the STK - S4 after listening to them. I'll try to avoid the lower output pickups then. I've had my eye on the Surfer for a while but I feel like the Twangbanger does a better job based off the recordings. I don't know if that'll translate in real life.

The Twangbanger is really cool, but not noiseless. If going with STK-S4 for the neck and middle, either the STK-S7 or STK-S6 would be a good match.

 

[OG-Spiderman]

Re: Pickup Recommendations for Indie, Alt Rock. Any Ideas welcome.

After thinking about it, I was thinking about doing a YJM as a neck and Twangbanger as the bridge, any middle pickup reccommendations, or should I just not be mixing noiseless with True single Coil. I just really liked how the YJM and Twangbanger were sounding on the sound files.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Pickup Recommendations for Indie, Alt Rock. Any Ideas welcome.

You can mix whatever you want. I dig the Vintage Rails or Duckbucker for the middle, or another YJM.