SX SST57 Stratocaster pickups

[steocullen91]

Hi all. I have an sx strat from a couple of years back and since they're good for modifying I'm wondering what would be a good set of pickups for it? The guitar only cost me 120 and a lot of pickup sets cost more than the guitar so I'm wondering is it worth it and would it make a big difference in the tone. Thanks in advance.

 

[Clint 55]

Re: SX SST57 Stratocaster pickups

Welcome to the forum.

If you like the guitar, don't have any reservations about spending what you want on pickups. The best wood I have at the moment is a bullet strat for 130! I put $300+ of antiquities in it and it's unreal. Anyways. The standard set of a ssl2, ssl2 rwrp, and a hot bridge ssl6 is really nice! That's basically the standard strat set. if you are interested in another sound let us know. You can do almost anything with a strat.

 

[daenius]

Re: SX SST57 Stratocaster pickups

pickups make a HUGE tonal difference outside of your amp settings! Countless stories of great pickups just breathing new life to otherwise lackluster guitars. You can ask any Ibanez RG1570 owners who swapped the average stock pickups for a pair of Duncans or Dimarzios and turned their $700 value guitar with great craftsmanship into monster tone machines that rival boutique custom builds.

Paul Gilbert once said he loves putting awesome pickups into cheaper guitars. He said it's like trying to win the Indy 500 with a cheap Volkswagen but with a giant 500hp engine, and I couldn't agree more.

 

[Mincer]

Re: SX SST57 Stratocaster pickups

Pickups make a huge difference in sound, but won't improve the feel, obviously. Good pickups can eventually be transferred to a more expensive guitar, though, if you ever want to upgrade. However, if you love the feel and playability of the guitar, go for it! Hey this is a pickup forum, we love to swap pickups here.

 

[T-Bone-BBQ]

Re: SX SST57 Stratocaster pickups

That's about all I do is get nice, well made cheaper guitars and upgrade them with better pickups. I've got a little bullet Strat that's actually one of the best playing guitars I own and it's my beater playing at the house. I've tried different pickups in it, but right now I have a cheap set of AlNiCo V singles in the neck and middle and a Duncan STK-S9 in the bridge. The neck singles have the normal single coil chime with the A5's and the S9 is a beast of a pickup for higher gain stuff.

 

[steocullen91]

Re: SX SST57 Stratocaster pickups

Thanks for all the replies. I think what I'll do for now is buy myself a set of cheap wilkinson mwhs pickups since they're available here in Ireland for only 40 euro and I can have them in 2 days. People are saying they're actually really good for the price and I can always buy a bridge SD first and see how that is and upgrade one at a time. It's something to do I suppose and I can turn a decent guitar into a much better one. I don't mind spending money on the SD ones when I have a bit more money. I seen a second hand set of fender SCN noiseless pickups for 120 but people are not saying good things about them and clearly if I was to spend that it'd make more sense to pay the extra little bit for the SD pickups.