Strat bridge pup recommendations

[Jack_TriPpEr]

Strat brige pup recommendations...

Want it to sound Tele bridge pup like in Position 1... but want it to also be able to yield classic Strat Position 2 tones as well (bridge & middle in paralllel).

I've read comments online that while the SD Twangbanger is great at doing the Tele Bridge piup kind of tone in Position 1, it doesn't do so well in copping classic Strat Position 2 tones.

I want both tones done well.

 

[Mincer]

In this case, I think it is pick one or the other.

 

[eclecticsynergy]

You could order a partially tapped Twangbanger from the Custom Shop if you can afford to.
I'm sure it wouldn't be the first one MJ's made for someone.

The thing is, even the Twangbanger isn't really 100% Tele.

Depending on how elaborate you want to get, I'd go the Lowell George route and use an actual Tele bridge pickup.
That would likely require routing the body and modifying a pickguard or getting a custom one made.
But you could use a tapped Tele bridge pickup and have it autosplit in position 2.
That way you'd have nearly full-on Tele character in pos 1 (especially if it's a hardtail), plus usable quack in pos 2.

 

[Jack_TriPpEr]

I should add that if i have to prioritize out of the two, that having a Position 2 tone's quack is a slightly higher priority for me, than 100% full-on tele tone. So i'd fine with something that somewhat comes close to a Tele position 1, as long as my Position 2 is really quacking.

 

[eclecticsynergy]

A tapped Quarter-Pound Strat pickup is available as a standard model. It's beefier than standard Strat for sure.
Can't speak to the tapped tone but it's said to be pretty Stratty so it ought to give good pos 2 quack.
Never had a one with a tap myself, though I've been a big fan of the QP for close to forty years now.
Still, I bet somebody on the Forum has experience with them.

 

[eclecticsynergy]

I recall seeing a tapped version of the SSL-5 too.
Probably the same deal as the tapped QP - a less common iteration, but standard issue not Custom Shop.

 

[playas]

Or a strat bridge with a baseplate, I'm sure the custom shop would do that. There are also a few models from other brands that do something like that.

 

[Masta' C]

From a TGP post:

This may surprise many, but the best Tele-toned Strat pickup I have found is the Guitar Fetish GFS "Lil Killer" Lead 15K H67 [+$24.95]. The pickup sounds remarkably like a Tele single-coil bridge pickup when tapped. I use a push-pull DPDT 250KA pot/switch and wire it so that in the down position, it is single-coil, in the up position it is series/humbucking. The bonus here is that both modes sound "Killer"...and, they are cheap!

Other ones mentioned include the Fralin SP43 and the DiMarzio Red Velvet

 

[alex1fly]

If you believe the interwebs, you'll think that a crucial part of the tele bridge tone is the baseplate on the pickup and the tele bridge with it's massive plate.

However you have more options if you simply want a slightly-hotter-and-middier-than-a-standard-bridge-strat sound.

Your notch tone is dependent on your middle pickup, too.

Unless I had the time and initiative to try a bunch of pickups over several weeks/months, I'd choose pickups to nail the classic Strat tones and then use a boost/EQ pedal to finagle my bridge sound into a Tele-like tone.

 

[eclecticsynergy]

My experience with adding a Fralin underplate to a Strat bridge pickup was a bit underwhelming.
Added a slight touch of extra mids but the change was subtle, far less than I'd hoped.
Didn't increase output appreciably, and didn't seem to affect the focus or attack character at all.

 

[Demanic]

Here's something from left field. How about a vintage wound A3 bridge? Then combine it with a vintage RWRP A5 in the middle for the classic notch sound. It's very responsive to the middle tone control.

Sent from my SM-A115A using Tapatalk

 

[donaldr]

Never had a tele so I cannot compare. But the STK-S7, with it's own tone pot, stopped me for wanting a better bridge pickup on my Strat. But it's a noiseless single-coil so it might not be what you are looking for.