So whaddya think of the pickups I want for my 62 Hot Rod?

75lespaul

New member
I don't like the pickups in the 62 Hot Rod RI strat I recently got. I want to try the Antiquity Surfers in the neck/middle and the Antiquity Texas Hot in the bridge. Anyone got this setup and how do they like it? I play mostly rock n roll, hard rock, and SRV or old ZZ type blues with the strat. When I record I now also use the strat as a track on everything I record, even metal stuff. The stock pickups definitely have a stratty sound, but I don't like something about them. Too bright? Kinda thin? They don't stand up at all compared to my custom Mooretone pickups in my parts strat. Those are $300 for a set now, and from the comments, the Duncans are the same kind of pickup. I don't know if the Mooretones are A2 or A5 though. I guess they would be A5 as he claims to reproduce the early 60s strat pickups. Best set of strat pickups I've ever heard in person--so far--and I'm hoping the Duncans are just as good if not better.
 
Re: So whaddya think of the pickups I want for my 62 Hot Rod?

I have 2 Strats with Antiquities. I have a full set of Texas Hots in a 57 RI. and I I just got through putting together a new Strat which is set up with Surfers. I can't say what they would be like to combine them. I would recommend getting a RW/RP middle though. I have this in both and when necessary the hum is gone. Both of these pickup sets are awesome. I am also a Rock Blues/rock kind of player. I love bothe of these guitars with the Ants in them. Hard to pick which one I like better.
https://forum.seymourduncan.com/showthread.php?t=121881

This link has pics of my new Strat that has the Surfers.
 
Re: So whaddya think of the pickups I want for my 62 Hot Rod?

i really like the custom texas hot bridge with surfers in the neck and middle. a really good combo.

the surfers are south polarity while the texas hot is north. so if your bridge pup is north you want your middle pup south which is a normal surfer. to get humcancelling in the neck and middle position you want a north neck pup which is a rw/rp surfer. i believe that youll want to flip the colors on the hot/ground wiring for the bridge pup so its in phase with the middle.
 
Re: So whaddya think of the pickups I want for my 62 Hot Rod?

I have 2 Strats with Antiquities. I have a full set of Texas Hots in a 57 RI. and I I just got through putting together a new Strat which is set up with Surfers. I can't say what they would be like to combine them. I would recommend getting a RW/RP middle though. I have this in both and when necessary the hum is gone. Both of these pickup sets are awesome. I am also a Rock Blues/rock kind of player. I love bothe of these guitars with the Ants in them. Hard to pick which one I like better.
https://forum.seymourduncan.com/showthread.php?t=121881

This link has pics of my new Strat that has the Surfers.

My god, that strat is just perfect. Thanks man.
 
Re: So whaddya think of the pickups I want for my 62 Hot Rod?

i really like the custom texas hot bridge with surfers in the neck and middle. a really good combo.

the surfers are south polarity while the texas hot is north. so if your bridge pup is north you want your middle pup south which is a normal surfer. to get humcancelling in the neck and middle position you want a north neck pup which is a rw/rp surfer. i believe that youll want to flip the colors on the hot/ground wiring for the bridge pup so its in phase with the middle.

Yeah, I've seen Lew post that that's his favorite setup. I like the idea of the 9.5 bridge as well. Thanks for the installation tips man. For something that's not quite straightforward I would just have a tech install the pickups. I WILL print this up for him though, ha ha. Thanks Jeremy.
 
Re: So whaddya think of the pickups I want for my 62 Hot Rod?

I haven't heard the Duncans and I can't comment. I have the Blues in my strat and I have played many times a strat with the Hank Marvins so I suggest the Kinmans because they are just amazing pickups, no noise and full of authentic strat tone.
http://www.kinman.com/html/myProducts.htm
 
Re: So whaddya think of the pickups I want for my 62 Hot Rod?

I've seen a few things on the Kinmans, but I'm going to stick with Duncan. Only because I trust SD but I've never heard anything in person from Kinman.
 
Re: So whaddya think of the pickups I want for my 62 Hot Rod?

When you go with RW/RP, does it affect the traditional strat "quack"?
 
Re: So whaddya think of the pickups I want for my 62 Hot Rod?

i really like the custom texas hot bridge with surfers in the neck and middle. a really good combo.

the surfers are south polarity while the texas hot is north. so if your bridge pup is north you want your middle pup south which is a normal surfer. to get humcancelling in the neck and middle position you want a north neck pup which is a rw/rp surfer. i believe that youll want to flip the colors on the hot/ground wiring for the bridge pup so its in phase with the middle.

That's exactly the question I have. But if you're not a tech at a shop, who would know about that? I would think a lot of guys trying to drop in pickups would have phase issues. It happened to me when I put an antiquity bridge in my tele. I had to go get an Ant neck pick up too. But I am so glad that I did. I don't miss those Fender TX specials at all.
 
Re: So whaddya think of the pickups I want for my 62 Hot Rod?

the problem comes from fender changing things over time. at some points the pups were north, sometimes south so when people create pups from a certain period they go with the polarity of that period. kinda silly but if you are buying a surfer to repalce a pup in a '63 strat its cool that it has the same polarity
 
Re: So whaddya think of the pickups I want for my 62 Hot Rod?

i really like the custom texas hot bridge with surfers in the neck and middle. a really good combo.

the surfers are south polarity while the texas hot is north. so if your bridge pup is north you want your middle pup south which is a normal surfer. to get humcancelling in the neck and middle position you want a north neck pup which is a rw/rp surfer. i believe that youll want to flip the colors on the hot/ground wiring for the bridge pup so its in phase with the middle.

That's right. That's just how I have my Strat with the Surfer/surfer/texas hot custom wired.

I use the Surfer "middle" as the neck pickup, the surfer "neck" as the middle pickup and then I reverse the black and white wires on the Texas Hot. It's my favorite set of Duncan Strat pickups.

Additionally, I have a master volume and master tone with a .02 orange drop cap soldered with one lead on the middle terminal of the volume pot and the other lead on the middle terminal of the tone pot: the 50's mod. The remaining hole on the pickguard has a blender pot instead of a tone pot.

Lew
 
Re: So whaddya think of the pickups I want for my 62 Hot Rod?

I really like the Texas Hot Custom bridge in my alder/maple Strat, but I would consider sticking with a complete Surfer set with Ant II Custom Bridge in an alder/rosewood Strat. It really depends on the acoustic tone you hear when you play unplugged, and what you want to bring out or mask.

Some people claim that RWRP alters the tone, and perhaps it does, but it is certainly less noisy than the combined tones without it. I'd go for RWRP more often than not.
 
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