Strat pickup advice

[Guitar90]

Hello everyone, I've just registered.

I need an advice over which pickup could fulfill my needs.
I recently received a Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster as a gift, and while the stock Fender N3 noiseless pickups are truly excellent and wonderfully balanced, I feel I need more power and versatility in the bridge position (I'm the kind of player that finds most Strat bridge pickups painfully bright).
Since I don't want to alter the appearance of my guitar, I will stick to single coil sized pickups, but I need a model that, while providing me more humbucker-like sound and handling heavy distortion well, it must also blend nicely with the other pickups, BOTH tonally and volume-wise (I don't want the “volume jump” when I switch to the bridge position).
Long story short, I need a single coil sized humbucker that blends well with single coils (or single coil style pickups, as the N3s are technically humbuckers).
If it helps, the stock N3s' DC resistance, taken from Fender's website, is 6.8k ohms for all the three positions.

Also (this is a separate question unrelated to the previous), do you know if it is possible to remove the external cover of a SSL-5 Custom Staggered and swap it with another color, or is it sealed?

Thank you in advance to whoever will answer :headbang:

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Strat pickup advice

The N3 are my least favorite Fender pickups. lol I do believe you can switch the covers on them--not 100% though (correct me if I am wrong)

I would recommend the following:

* Hotrails - warmer sounding pickup, packs a punch
* Lil Screamin Demon - potential to be bright but it's a Strat Bridge position...handle cleans and any gain you throw at it
* Lil Pearly Gates - I think this would solve your problem; however, it is a custom shop pickup


Hopefully others will chime in as well, best of luck!

 

[Mincer]

Re: Strat pickup advice

Welcome to the forum!

I would suggest looking at the Little 59 for the bridge (although it doesn't look like a single coil). The SSL-5 is cool too, but it is not hum cancelling, so you will get some hum there. The one I had had a cover that came off.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Strat pickup advice

you can swap covers on the ssl5 without issue

more power and a fatter tone without a volume jump in the bridge can be tricky. the lil 59 is a good suggestion. the custom stack + looks like a single coil, is noiseless and sounds similar to the ssl5 so might be a good option

 

[darthphineas]

Re: Strat pickup advice

If you don't want to alter the appearance, take a look at the DiMarzio Injector line, which can address the "single coil look" as well as provide a bit more of a humbucker-like vibe and can handle high gain well.

 

[Guitar90]

Re: Strat pickup advice

Thank you all for the good suggestions!

Just for the record, the SSL-5 would be a gift for a dear friend. He's a huge Gilmour fan and I want to suprise him (I hope he doesn't read this thread otherwise, based on what I wrote, he would recognise me instantly!).
His Strat is a '14 American Standard which sports a stock set of cream Fender Fat 50s (I recently took a look at it with an excuse).
Since the SSL-5 is sold only with a white cover, I was wondering if I could purchase it and then swap covers without issue, or if otherwise I had to order a cream one from the Custom Shop.

Regarding my new Strat, I will consider all your suggestions, especially the lil '59, although I own another Strat with a Dimarzio Pro Track in the bridge (which should be similar to the lil '59), and the Fender Hot Noiseless in the neck and middle can barely keep up with it output wise (and, if I'm correct, those have higher output than the N3s).
Also, what do you think of the Cool Rails? I purchased one many years ago for my first Strat, and even if I removed it I should still have it somewhere... do you think it could do the trick?

Thanks again!

 

[jeremy]

Re: Strat pickup advice

i think the cool rails is a great pup, the output is a touch less than the lil 59. fat tones usually come with more output which will make getting what you want a little tricky but by keeping the bridge pup low you should be able to get it to work.

have you tried lowering the pro track to lower the volume? it will change the tone too which you may not like but its worth experimenting

 

[toneupnorth]

Re: Strat pickup advice

Hi Guitar90,
I'm a new forumite myself and joined to get some advice on Strat bridge pickups, but can offer some direction instead. Fender produced a '57 Hot Rod Strat 5 years ago or so and it came with a DiMarzio Tone Zone S in the bridge with the same noiseless pickups (middle and neck) as your Deluxe. No direct experience with the guitar, but worth looking into.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Strat pickup advice

I like the Cool Rails. It is big and open, like the small version of the Jazz. It doesn't really sound like a single coil, but it is good for everything up to metal levels of gain.

 

[KNUCKLHEAD]

Re: Strat pickup advice

I would use a Cool rails b4 ANY stack , I've Never heard Any Stack that I like

 

[jeremy]

Re: Strat pickup advice

have you tried the new stack + pups? i do like them, they arent the same as a vintage fender pup or antiquity but they are still good sounding pups

 

[Laughing Kookaburra]

Re: Strat pickup advice

I had a DiMarzio Chopper some years back, and I liked it. A bit less output than the Pro Track, although I don't know if it would be sufficiently less for your needs.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Strat pickup advice

The Classic Stack Plus is one of my favorite Strat pickups of any design. So are the YJM Furys. Stacks can sound so much better than they used to.

 

[Guitar90]

Re: Strat pickup advice

Hi Guitar90,
I'm a new forumite myself and joined to get some advice on Strat bridge pickups, but can offer some direction instead. Fender produced a '57 Hot Rod Strat 5 years ago or so and it came with a DiMarzio Tone Zone S in the bridge with the same noiseless pickups (middle and neck) as your Deluxe. No direct experience with the guitar, but worth looking into.

Yeah, I remember that guitar... weird pup combo in my opinion, and it wasn't a grat move marketing-wise, because I think that guitar was too much of a compromise for both the purist and the forward-thinking Strat player...

By the way, thanks again to you all for your valuable input: this thread is getting REALLY interesting!

I have nothing against stacks: in fact, the N3s are stacks themselves, moreover, while I do believe that they still are a long way from sounding just as good as true single coils, with the amount of gain I use I simply have no choice but using noiseless pups.
I once had a set of Lollar in my first Strat that, quite frankly, were the best single coils I've ever used (and possibly the best pups ever, at least among those I tried), but despite the fact that I loved 'em, I had to take 'em out and put the noiseless in again because the hum skyrocketed as soon as I kicked in some good ol' drive :headbang:

 

[Progbusters]

Re: Strat pickup advice

dimarzio injector. i might have bridge for sale soon

 

[Kruspe]

Re: Strat pickup advice

Have you considered the Kinman noiseless avg -69 woodstock pickup ?

its a single but far better than the N3 noiseless pickup.

Me personally, i love single neck pickup sound, its just so huge and so better that any humbacker sound (maybe gibson les paul is excetion)

 

[TNTales]

Re: Strat pickup advice

I had a Dimarzio Chopper in my strat with vintage noiseless pups. You won't get as big a volume jump but it pairs nicely and gives you a thick bridge tone. Right now it's in the neck of a super strat style guitar with an SH 5 Custom in the bridge.

Sent from my VS985 4G using Tapatalk

 

[Guitar90]

Re: Strat pickup advice

Have you considered the Kinman noiseless avg -69 woodstock pickup ?

its a single but far better than the N3 noiseless pickup.

Me personally, i love single neck pickup sound, its just so huge and so better that any humbacker sound (maybe gibson les paul is excetion)

I only heard good things about Kinmans so far, but honestly I'm quite happy with the N3s and I'm going to stick with them.
What I need is just a thicker bridge pickup that can blend with them tonally and output-wise

 

[Guitar90]

Re: Strat pickup advice

I had a Dimarzio Chopper in my strat with vintage noiseless pups. You won't get as big a volume jump but it pairs nicely and gives you a thick bridge tone. Right now it's in the neck of a super strat style guitar with an SH 5 Custom in the bridge.

Sent from my VS985 4G using Tapatalk

Yeah, Richie Kotzen (one of my favourite players, I'm listening to the Winery Dogs as I'm writing this :headbang: ) uses it in his signature Tele, and he indeed goes for a thicker yet clear sound.
I think it might do the trick... I believe it is similar to the Cool Rails, as the Pro Track is similar to the Lil '59...

 

[KNUCKLHEAD]

Re: Strat pickup advice

have you tried the new stack + pups? i do like them, they arent the same as a vintage fender pup or antiquity but they are still good sounding pups

Actually Jeremy No , because I kinda gave up on that Config a while back - Would like to Hear without $ outlay though ( I really am Open Minded