Recommend me a set of pick ups?

C

charliebrown

New member
I have a a 40th anniversary strat which I am looking to replace my pickups with and was wondering if any one could give me recommendations on what would work good? I play mostly worship music and am looking for a new set of pick ups with preferably a mini-humbucker for the bridge pick up. Being able to do coil-taps would be a big added bonus.

Thanks.
 
Re: Recommend me a set of pick ups?

charliebrown said:
I have a a 40th anniversary strat which I am looking to replace my pickups with and was wondering if any one could give me recommendations on what would work good? I play mostly worship music and am looking for a new set of pick ups with preferably a mini-humbucker for the bridge pick up. Being able to do coil-taps would be a big added bonus.

Thanks.
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I thought there were 40th Anniversary models by Fender (I assume it is a Fender) do you have any pics?

What is it currently loaded with?

Why do you want to change them–too thin in the bridge, too noisy, too bright, etc.

I play a lot in Churches so for Worship and have done many many styles depending on the Church...what type of "Worship" are we talking about here–Contemporary Christian, Traditional, Gospel, etc.
 
Re: Recommend me a set of pick ups?

We do mostly contemporary Christian as well as Traditional stuff. I find the current pick-ups generally too bright (like 'em fat and warm), and the bridge too thin-sounding. Found a picture of how it looks like on the Internet.

big%20fender%20strat%20am%20std%20sbDSCN9038.jpg
 
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Re: Recommend me a set of pick ups?

charliebrown said:
We do mostly contemporary Christian as well as Traditional stuff. I find the current pick-ups generally too bright, and the bridge too thin-sounding. Found a picture of how it looks like on the Internet.

big%20fender%20strat%20am%20std%20sbDSCN9038.jpg
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Sweet guitar, I love my Fender Strat!

Telecasters are becoming very popular in CCM, but I still rock it with a Strat. lol I use Fender Fat 50s in mine and was going to change out the Bridge (here's my thread on it) for being thin but after I got a MP Golden Cello I kept the bridge (I run through a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe.)

What are you running through? Tube Amp+Pedals, Pedals only, Processor?

The mini-humbucker is an interesting idea and I have zero experience with those in Strats–I will leave that for others.

Have you considered a set of Rail pickups? Hotrails are my favorite but Cool Rails and Vintage Rails have quite the following on this forum. I used a Jackson Soloist as my main guitar for a long time–it was loaded with a JB and two Hot Rails...the JB in the Bridge is probably not what you are after as it is bright but your guitar would not be thin. :)

The Hotrails are not bright at all but some say they are too warm...so Cool Rails may be the best choice (the Rails are single coil sized Humbuckers so you can coil tap but I've heard mixed reviews about doing it on single coil sized humbuckers.)

I never caught on with SD Single Coils, not a knock against the Company, currently all of my Humbuckers are SD. Other members will hopefully chime in and give some advice as well.

Best of luck!
 
Re: Recommend me a set of pick ups?

I would go with the Everything Axe! No need for a custom pickguard, and everything is wired already for a set of really great, versatile sounds. If you want to roll your own, I would suggest a Cool Rails/Vintage Rails/ Custom Mini Humbucker. The mini humbucker can be split (most can't) and you will have a unique, versatile axe that is ready for anything you throw at it.
 
 
Re: Recommend me a set of pick ups?

treyhaislip said:
If SSS would need to make some room for the mini humbucker...
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Not certain but I think the OP may have meant a Strat-sized HB rather than an actual rectangular mini HB.

The JB would definitely be beefier than a factory Strat bridge pickup, but if it might be too bright for the OP there's always the Little 59 as an option. Like the JB it has 4 wires for coil split or series/parallel switching.
 
Re: Recommend me a set of pick ups?

the jb jr is significantly less bright than a typical fender single coil. does the everything axe setup have a tone on the bridge pup?
 
Re: Recommend me a set of pick ups?

You may also wanna wire your bridge pickup to a tone control so you can darken it up some as well.
The Eric Johnson and Jimmie Vaughn wiring works well for this and you can alse add a jumper to tie your middle tone knob to the bridge pickup.
 
Re: Recommend me a set of pick ups?

From what I remember, it is wired like a typical strat- regular 5 way, tone on neck and middle (Liberator for volume). You could switch out the 2nd tone to work on the bridge, or just build your own pickguard. BTW, the JB Jr is not as trebly as you might think.
 
Re: Recommend me a set of pick ups?

I personally don't have any experience with the SD rails/SC-sized humbuckers (I go full-sized for humbuckers) but I have had a SD SSL-4 Quarter Pounder and it's absolutely amazing - for me anyways. Despite it's high output, it's very versatile. Clean: very fat and warm, yet very clear, articulate, and punchy. Dirty: it has a bit more treble detail than most humbuckers so it can really scream in leads, yet maintains enough fatness so it doesn't give you that ice-pick-in-the-ear Strat bridge sound. But it also gets really heavy and crunchy for rhythm playing. It also doesn't have any more hum than a regular SC, if anything, it's quieter.

Only concerns I can think of is that it might be a tad too fat for some. And purists will complain that it isn't authentically "Strat" sounding. To my ears it sounds like a bit like a mix between a P90 and a Strat pickup because of its fatness, which I personally like.

As far as coil tapping goes, they sell a version of the Quarter Pounder with an extra lead that enables you to tap it to roughly half of it's output to reach normal Strat SC specs. I believe it's called the SSL-4T. They also sell a version with staggered poles instead of flat, if that's your preference, the SSL-7 and that also has its own coil tap variation, SSL-7T.

Anyways, the Quarter Pounders are definitely worth checking out, sounds like something you may enjoy.
 
Re: Recommend me a set of pick ups?

Have a look at The Creamery Strat-90s. Single coil size P90s. A few clips on youtube. I have those in my neck and middle with. HB in the bridge. If I ever want new pickups I'll buy a new guitar, because these are keepers. In saying that, I'd probably own about 20 guitars if I did that because there are so many configurations I want to try. The demos for ssl-1 and antiquity ii surfers almost had me clicking the buy now button.
But at the end of the day the Strat 90's and HB do it for me. Bought a Wampler compression pedal and Paisley drive pedal instead.


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Re: Recommend me a set of pick ups?

If u absolutely have to have humbuckers with coil splitting try little 59th from Seymour Duncan.

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