Single coil neck-middle recommendations to match with Phat Cat bridge?

[Jimi D]

I've got an Ibanez SA1260 Prestige I picked up recently; it's a mahogany bodied pseudo-strat with a nicely designed two-post standard trem, and it has a great neck and it just rings like a bell acoustically, but plugged in it's plagued by the trad IBZ overwound pickups (S1 singles in the neck and middle, and a V2 supposed-to-be-based-on-a-super-distortion in the bridge)... As I have a Phat Cat bridge lying about and no actual Strat on hand, I thought maybe I'd try something here using that, but I don't think I want to keep these S1 single coils - the singles on this guitar mount directly to the body, and even cranked down as low as they go, these Ibanez singles seem strong and kinda harsh... I have an old Duncan single-coil in the parts bin - marked "SD 2 95" on the back, I think it's an SSL1 - and figured I might be able to use that for the either the neck or the middle, but I don't know... Playing through Mesas (Mark V, Express+ and TA15) - classic rock, growly blues, country and pickup funk/jazz when I feel like it... Anyone ever pair any singles with a Phat Cat bridge before? Any and all recommendations and observations appreciated...

Thx :wave:

 

[jake_xms3_punk]

Re: Single coil neck-middle recommendations to match with Phat Cat bridge?

I have a phat cat (A5/A8) in a strat with an ssl-1 in the neck and a aps-1 in the middle. It's a really versatile setup and probably the guitar that gets used the most in the studio. The notch position with the phat cat and aps-1 is almost strat like quack which is great for when I need more of a strat treble tone. The phat cat is great on its own and handles all levels of gain really well (it was a little weak and flabby with the stock A2 mags hence the mag swap) the ssl1 in the neck is your typical vintage strat neck tone, which I love. This setup could definitely handle all the music you want to play and more

 

[Jimi D]

Re: Single coil neck-middle recommendations to match with Phat Cat bridge?

Thanks for the input Jake... an aps1 for the middle sounds good... I don't want to mess with the magnets if I can avoid it so I'll try the Phat Cat stock first and see if it works for me - this sounds like a pretty articulate guitar, so we'll see.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Single coil neck-middle recommendations to match with Phat Cat bridge?

i used a phat cat bridge with a 5/2 neck and aps2 middle and i liked it a lot