Strat pickup swapping question

OctopusRider

OctopusRider

New member
I have a stock bridge pickup from a 2000 Strat ‘62 Reissue that I upgraded years ago to a S.Duncan. Can I put that stock pickup in the neck position of a MIM Strat or is the bridge pickup especially made for the bridge position? Thanks in advance.
 
You can totally do that. It might have slightly more power than the current middle position pickup in that guitar, but just lower it a little, and all will be fine.
 
I just read this about my Strat ‘62 Reissue.

DC Resistance: Neck / Middle / Bridge: 5.6K

It looks like the bridge pickup is different. Any idea how this will affect the sound if used in the neck position?
 
OctopusRider said:
I just read this about my Strat ‘62 Reissue.

DC Resistance: Neck / Middle / Bridge: 5.6K

It looks like the bridge pickup is different. Any idea how this will affect the sound if used in the neck position?
Click to expand...

It might be a little louder than the other 2, but you can balance the volume with pickup height.
 
i believe what its saying is all the pups are the same 5.6k. back in the day fender made a strat pup and put it in all three positions. it wasnt till the 70s that people started putting hotter pups into the bridge and those were aftermarket pups. this pup will sound great in the neck
 
Awesome! Thanks for clarifying.

Now I just need to figure out what to put in the other slots. I’m thinking a Fender ‘69 Custom Shop (Middle) and ‘59 Custom Hybrid (Bridge). Should I start a new thread with this question?
 
wouldnt hurt but i think that would be a fine set. not sure the polarity the 5.6k pup in question vs the 69 but you can get them in phase no matter what, you may just not be able to get humcancelling
 
You better check under the pickguard that the body is routed for HSS or HSH (MIM are typically routed HSH these days) before buying a 59/Custom hybrid for the bridge. You didn't say what model strat this is going into or what's in it now.

FWIW '62 RI pickups are comparatively weak/low output and none are RWRP in mine.
 
Fender Player Stratocaster HSS Maple Fingerboard Limited Edition Electric Guitar Black

If the ‘62 is so low output maybe I should rethink that. What should I put in this? I’d like noiseless but I don’t know if I can get noiseless in a HSS configuration.
 
Yes, you can. I dis Hot Rails bridge / Classic Stack middle / Classic Stack neck in my LTD ST213A, and I'm about to do a '59/Custom bridge / Vintage Hot stack middle / Vintage Hot Stack neck in my new Ibanez SEW761FM.
 
do you like the neck pup tone in your 62 ri?

noiseless is easy these days. the classic stack plus pups are very close to an early 60's strat sound but without the hum
 
I love my ‘62 reissue pups. I swapped out the bridge some years back for a SD Alnico Pro II hence the extra ‘62 pup now. I love the vintage sound but I’m experimenting on the MIM to get less noise for recording. Ultimately what I’m going for is something between Gilmour and Garcia. Both of their Strats were a little noisy in the 70s while playing live. I got the HSS configuration because I never use the bridge pup anyway. I thought I’d use it more if it were a ‘59 (my favorite pup ever).
 
Keep in mind that Duncans and Fenders are out of phase, so you might have to swap the hot & ground on the Fender.
 
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