Thickening the pridge position in a Strat

G

Guitar90

New member
Hello guys,

I'm in need of an advice from the community.
I recently had the luck of purchasing a 2010 Fender American Standard Stratocaster from a friend of mine for VERY cheap (part of the deal was that the sum must remain undisclosed), and I decided to challenge myself into a project of turning it into the best possible pro gigging guitar (it will become my backup for my n.1 Strat) for as little money as possible.
I'm very busy these days so haven't had the opportunity to properly test the stock pickups (it's one of the early American Standards without the Custom Shop Fat 50s pups), but I was thinking, giving my style preferences and my former experience with Strats, of swapping the bridge pickup for something bigger sounding, but still balanced with the other pups (I use the neck position a lot as well and I tend to avoid the "volume jump" in the bridge position).
Right now, the models that I currently have the opportunity to acquire for cheap (I live in Italy and I'm looking for local deals) are the Lil' 59, the JB Jr., and the Dimarzio Chopper and Virtual Solo (I found good deals on the Hot Rails and Dimarzio Fast Track 2 as well, but I'm afraid they might be too powerful compared to the pups in the other positions).
Based on your experience, which of the ones I mentioned do you feel fits my needs best? Is there any other model you recommend, assuming I can find it for cheap?
Thank you all for your precious advice!
 
Re: Thickening the pridge position in a Strat

Stevie Ray seemed to get a pretty big tone with some stock Fender 59 single coils.
 
Re: Thickening the pridge position in a Strat

he also played big bottle amps turned up loud which helps a lot. i would play the guitar first before you swap pups. the lil 59 neck model works very well in the bridge with vintage single coils if you want a little more thickness but minimize volume jump
 
Re: Thickening the pridge position in a Strat

oh and a hat! need a hat. no hat=no big tone from vintage single coils
 
Re: Thickening the pridge position in a Strat

Dimarzio once told me the Chopper is a good in between single and humbucker option if you are wanting decent cleans and to play with high gain.
 
Re: Thickening the pridge position in a Strat

try a pase plate for the pridge position. Helps peef things up.
 
Re: Thickening the pridge position in a Strat

You don't ever have to worry about a bridge pickup having too much output for the other pickups. The only time I've had to set the bridge pickup lower that the neck was when I had a surfer measuring 4.75k in the neck and a C5 measuring 14k in the bridge. Even then by adjusting the heights I got them even volume wise. All you have to worry about is what sound you want.
 
Re: Thickening the pridge position in a Strat

Clint 55 said:
You don't ever have to worry about a bridge pickup having too much output for the other pickups.
Click to expand...

I wish that were the case. With single coils, maybe, but I have two HSS guitars with the same single coils (5.7k PE A5). The humbuckers were 9.5k and 16.6k (both A5).

In both cases, the humbuckers were noticeably louder than the single coils unless adjusted lower than the single coils.

Of course, the point of HSS loadouts is to have a thicker, louder bridge.

- - -

One thing that can thicken up a single coil is to install a copper base plate.

Sent from my EVA-L19 using Tapatalk
 
Re: Thickening the pridge position in a Strat

darthphineas said:
wait.... did Yngwie wear a hat before he started swapping pickups?
Click to expand...

duh!
32289596-swedish-hat-isolated-on-a-white-background-Stock-Photo.jpg



i do sometimes use a baseplate on my vintage type bridge single coil. there is a subtle subduing of the highs which is enough for me, might not be for you.
 
Re: Thickening the pridge position in a Strat

Your 2010 American Strat should have the pickups with plastic bobbins and removable magnet rods. Swap the stock Alnico 5 rods for a set of Alnico 2. It will smooth out the icepick treble andcgive you a warmer tone. $5-$10 USD should do the trick for the A2 magnets.
 
Re: Thickening the pridge position in a Strat

that is true but the a2 will have noticeably less volume than the a5
 
Re: Thickening the pridge position in a Strat

P.s. If you add a base plate as others have suggested, be careful not to melt the plastic bobbin when you solder the baseplate to ground. I Can tell you from experience that it is very easy to destroy those plastic bobbins with too much heat - and it stinks to hig heaven when they melt.
 
Re: Thickening the pridge position in a Strat

Thank you all for your responses, both the advice and the hilarious posts!

I will evaluate all the options, and of course I will try the stock pickups extensively before doing any modification. The lil' 59 seems the most plausible option though.

...and by the way I agree: the amp contributes more to the overall tone than the guitar or pickups, but I'm positive that it's the player that comes first :14:
 
Re: Thickening the pridge position in a Strat

I like the Lil '59, but after getting a Lil Screamin Demon I've noticed that it seems to be thicker sounding than the Lil '59. Another good option to try without having a large volume increase is a YJM Bridge pickup. Either way, I'd make sure you wire the bridge pickup to one of the tone controls. That way you can roll off a little bit of the highs if you need to.
 
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