Tele Pickups in a Strat?!!

[TwilightOdyssey]

Don't know if anyone out there knows the answer to this, but ...

In the video for "Wrathchild", it looks like Dave Murray is playing a Strat with what appear to be two Tele Thinline humbuckers in it. The bridge pickup is slanted, and the neck pickup is straight. They are also nickel covered. The body & pickguard are black, and the fingerboard is maple. The headstock is the big, vintage Fender one with the wrap-around (curved) logo. The neck is very wide, so it's gotta pre-date the 70's, imo, but I'm definitely not sure Fender had a pre 3-bolt Strat with dual HBs ...

Does anyone know if this is a stock Strat, and what the pups are in this guitar? The video is from 1980. Is there a 1980 guitar that matches these specs? The tonal quality of the guitar/amp combo Murray got is MONSTROUS. BTW, this is a live video, so it's not an arbitrary guitar played for the video ...

 

[Hellion]

Re: Tele Pickups in a Strat?!!

Murray at that time was using a Fender Strat that he'd gotten from Paul Kassof, who apparently was a big influence on him. He'd modified it to have humbuckers in it. I don't know what he actually loaded in the guitar, but considering it was early 80's and the pickup manufacturer explosion hadn't occurred yet, my guess is that they're Gibson Super Humbuckers or something of that ilk.

 

[Hellion]

Re: Tele Pickups in a Strat?!!

Iron Maiden was featured in Guitar Player Magazine in 1983 (I think it was around September or October of that year), but I don't remember Dave going into a lot of detail regarding the instrument other than where he'd gotten it. I'll try to find the issue in the next few days.

 

[kmcguitars]

Re: Tele Pickups in a Strat?!!

I Believe Dave used dimarzio' in his Kossoff strat and they where uncovered.
I guess you could put Tele thinlines in a strat if you want to. It would
sound unique. I never saw a pic of him with such a guitar, But if I hade
the money (like I'm sure he has) I would have a strat setup with
thinlines.

 

[Boston Joe]

Re: Tele Pickups in a Strat?!!

I recorded with an old Tele that was outfitted with a Parsons/White string bender and it really added to the overall brilliance and dimension of the guitar's sound. I would imagine that since the Telecaster was chambered and housed steel rods and springs, a Strat may prove the equivalent. In fact, I've debated the idea of installing the Twangbanger in a Strat to capture that sound.