Strat pickup gurus......Bridge pickup question.....Surfer content

[bungalowbill]

Re: Strat pickup gurus......Bridge pickup question.....Surfer content

I gigged with it last night and when playing country and blues.....it is awesome....unfortunately, I use my bridge pickup by itself a lot for rock tones and it is a little thin for stuff like Alice In Chains and such....if I didn't play that kind of stuff regularly i would leave the Surfer in. Going to reinstall my SSL-5....it covers the gig better....might try a humbucker again if I can find one that behaves with the middle pickup.

Tone psychosis sucks....luckily I don't get it often.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Strat pickup gurus......Bridge pickup question.....Surfer content

cant say im surprised but it was worth a shot. a lil 59 with auto split for notch position with the middle pup works decently well or i love the pearly gates in the bridge with single coils in the neck and mid if you want full size

 

[bungalowbill]

Re: Strat pickup gurus......Bridge pickup question.....Surfer content

cant say im surprised but it was worth a shot. a lil 59 with auto split for notch position with the middle pup works decently well or i love the pearly gates in the bridge with single coils in the neck and mid if you want full size

Almost always worth a shot. Every pickup that I have put in the bridge of this guitar has always been a compromise. I play quite a bit with what I consider to be high gain, that I will need to sacrifice a little quack in the 4th position for a nice fat bridge tone. it is tough when you rely on a single guitar to cover so many genres.:boggled:

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Strat pickup gurus......Bridge pickup question.....Surfer content

My Texas Special almost turns into a faux-bucker under high gain with the tone rolled back.

What about a pedal like the Duncan pickup booster with the switch to make singles sound like buckers?

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: Strat pickup gurus......Bridge pickup question.....Surfer content

My friend, now you know why they make multiple guitars...

That being said, my "compromise" Strat has Injectors. Enough girth and punch to do hard and more modern rock while still sounding a bit like a Strat (and being noiseless). But for those true Strat tones, I've got 2 guitars with vintage type pickups, nothing else will do!

 

[bungalowbill]

Re: Strat pickup gurus......Bridge pickup question.....Surfer content

My Texas Special almost turns into a faux-bucker under high gain with the tone rolled back.

What about a pedal like the Duncan pickup booster with the switch to make singles sound like buckers?

My SSL-5 will do the faux-bucker thing pretty well...had a texas special and it will do what you say.

My friend, now you know why they make multiple guitars...

That being said, my "compromise" Strat has Injectors. Enough girth and punch to do hard and more modern rock while still sounding a bit like a Strat (and being noiseless). But for those true Strat tones, I've got 2 guitars with vintage type pickups, nothing else will do!

Very true....I only have 2 guitars...My Strat and a Tele as a spare.....just tools for me. At my age, the less I haul, the happier I am.

 

[crusty philtrum]

Re: Strat pickup gurus......Bridge pickup question.....Surfer content

it is tough when you rely on a single guitar to cover so many genres.:boggled:

If the single guitar is a Strat, indeed it is difficult, often for more than one reason ... the S/S/S pickup configuration allows for the best and most classic Strat tones, but will be somewhat limited for beefier rock tones as usually heard from humbuckers. Also, if using a Strat with a working vibrato, you can't even finish a song if a string breaks because the entire instrument goes out of tune. Even trying to drop the bottom E down to D will destabilise the tuning.

I can understand why many players, esp. those in cover bands, opt for Strats with a humbucker in the bridge so they can cover a wide range of material with just one instrument. Personally, I usually take two guitars whenever I leave the house, a Strat and something Gibson-style .... mahogany hardtail with a pair of humbuckers. The latter will of course cover harder rock sounds, but also cope with different tunings during the gig, and provide a backup if a string should break on the Strat.

In my 40+ years of being involved in music, there have been many guitars in that time (going all the way back to the Ovation electrics back in the '70s) that have claimed/ attempted to be able to sound like both Fenders and Gibsons via various pickup and switching configurations, but to my ears, they usually ended up sounding like neither, falling into some kind of bland tonal no-man's-land.

To my mind, the choice seems to be ... for authentic F and G tones, two guitars are needed. For the convenience of toting only one instrument, there will always have to be some degree of sonic compromise(s).

I should qualify my opinions by saying this applies to a traditional guitar > few pedals > amplifier setup. The use of modelling rigs may be different ...

 

[bungalowbill]

Re: Strat pickup gurus......Bridge pickup question.....Surfer content

If the single guitar is a Strat, indeed it is difficult, often for more than one reason ... the S/S/S pickup configuration allows for the best and most classic Strat tones, but will be somewhat limited for beefier rock tones as usually heard from humbuckers. Also, if using a Strat with a working vibrato, you can't even finish a song if a string breaks because the entire instrument goes out of tune. Even trying to drop the bottom E down to D will destabilise the tuning.

I can understand why many players, esp. those in cover bands, opt for Strats with a humbucker in the bridge so they can cover a wide range of material with just one instrument. Personally, I usually take two guitars whenever I leave the house, a Strat and something Gibson-style .... mahogany hardtail with a pair of humbuckers. The latter will of course cover harder rock sounds, but also cope with different tunings during the gig, and provide a backup if a string should break on the Strat.

In my 40+ years of being involved in music, there have been many guitars in that time (going all the way back to the Ovation electrics back in the '70s) that have claimed/ attempted to be able to sound like both Fenders and Gibsons via various pickup and switching configurations, but to my ears, they usually ended up sounding like neither, falling into some kind of bland tonal no-man's-land.

To my mind, the choice seems to be ... for authentic F and G tones, two guitars are needed. For the convenience of toting only one instrument, there will always have to be some degree of sonic compromise(s).

I should qualify my opinions by saying this applies to a traditional guitar > few pedals > amplifier setup. The use of modelling rigs may be different ...

You are correct...a Fender will never sound exactly like a Gibson, but most folks in the audience probably couldn't tell the difference between a Strat with a Humbucker and a Les Paul.

If I had the money and roadies I would go total Eric Johnson....lots of guitars and 3 different amp rigs.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Strat pickup gurus......Bridge pickup question.....Surfer content

I have used a (humbucker) 59/Custom Hybrid, and split it for good beefy Strat tones, and it works well. But this is the compromise every guitarist has faced. I don't use specialized guitars either, so my guitars have to do everything well. Maybe it doesn't sound 100% like a Tele, but that is what technique, pedals, and amp are for, I say!

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Strat pickup gurus......Bridge pickup question.....Surfer content

I love Surfers. Use them in my own Strat.

But I don't use the Surfer Custom bridge with them because it's too bright and even at 10K lacks the output I need.

In one Strat with the Surfers I have a MJ wound alnico 2 Hot For Tele Telecaster pickup from the Duncan Custom Shop.

In my other Strat I have Surfers and a Lindy Fralin Steel Pole 43, which is sort of like a P90.

For a while I used an Antiquity Texas Hot Custom Bridge pickup, which is an alnico 2 pickup.

Didn't have quite enough of the output I wanted though.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Strat pickup gurus......Bridge pickup question.....Surfer content

those 10k numbers are a little misleading since the custom bridge isnt wound with #42 wire like the neck and middle. i kinda wish they made a bridge pup with as much #42 as they can fit on the bobbin for the bridge as an option. 6.5k neck and middle with a 7.7k bridge or something like that

 

[bungalowbill]

Re: Strat pickup gurus......Bridge pickup question.....Surfer content

I have used a (humbucker) 59/Custom Hybrid, and split it for good beefy Strat tones, and it works well. But this is the compromise every guitarist has faced. I don't use specialized guitars either, so my guitars have to do everything well. Maybe it doesn't sound 100% like a Tele, but that is what technique, pedals, and amp are for, I say!

You use the approach that I do...I go from Johnny Cash to Allman Bros. to Alice in Chains in the same set....I use 3 dirt boxes and a boost

I love Surfers. Use them in my own Strat.

But I don't use the Surfer Custom bridge with them because it's too bright and even at 10K lacks the output I need.

In one Strat with the Surfers I have a MJ wound alnico 2 Hot For Tele Telecaster pickup from the Duncan Custom Shop.

In my other Strat I have Surfers and a Lindy Fralin Steel Pole 43, which is sort of like a P90.

For a while I used an Antiquity Texas Hot Custom Bridge pickup, which is an alnico 2 pickup.

Didn't have quite enough of the output I wanted though.

those 10k numbers are a little misleading since the custom bridge isnt wound with #42 wire like the neck and middle. i kinda wish they made a bridge pup with as much #42 as they can fit on the bobbin for the bridge as an option. 6.5k neck and middle with a 7.7k bridge or something like that

I didn't feel the Surfer Custom was very beefy...but it has a beautiful sounding top end....very sweet.