Upgrading my Strat pickups... again. Need advice.

O

onlytwin

New member
Hey everyone. I have a MIM Strat (SSS) that I upgraded a while back, but I'm not entirely happy with it. My current configuration is:

N: Texas Special
M: Texas Special
B: Dimarzio FS-1, wired to tone
Stock 250k pots.

The Dimarzio is an improvement, but I want it to be closer to a humbucker - maybe a Chopper? Something full-bodied that cleans up well.

The Texas Specials are decent (I may keep the neck, we'll see) but I'd like to experiment with something else. I want the neck pickup to be slightly warm and compressed, but still sound like a Strat. The middle just needs to match with it. I don't like positions 2 and 4 as it stands. For reference, I'm not going for a classic Strat sound - I play more modern Indie music. Less quack is fine.

Also, I'd prefer to not change pots. Dimarzio, Seymour, anything works. I've also looked into Lace Sensors.

Thanks :)
 
Re: Upgrading my Strat pickups... again. Need advice.

An Injector Bridge in the Bridge. The Satch Track is another great option for the bridge if you want a humbucker.

For the neck: the Virtual Vintage Blues or Virtual Vintage 54 Pro for more compression.

For the middle add the Area 61 to the options listed for the neck.
 
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Re: Upgrading my Strat pickups... again. Need advice.

gregory said:
An Injector Bridge in the Bridge. The Satch Track is another great option for the bridge if you want a humbucker.

For the neck: the Virtual Vintage Blues or Virtual Vintage 54 Pro for more compression.

For the middle add the Area 61 to the options listed for the neck.
Click to expand...

I haven't considered the Satch Track. Looks like it's listed as a neck pickup, but can you describe the tone in the bridge position?
 
Re: Upgrading my Strat pickups... again. Need advice.

A bright, weaker humbucker but with a narrowed focus because of the form factor. It will still plenty of output with nice cleans. The Chopper is a good choice too, but I think the Satch Track is better.
 
Re: Upgrading my Strat pickups... again. Need advice.

For a side-by-side humbucker in the bridge position from Duncan I'd look into the Little '59 Bridge model, Cool Rails Bridge and Neck models, JB Jr. Neck and Hot Rails Neck. The resonant peak of the Li'l Screamin' Demon Neck and lower DCR also make it an interesting choice.

From the 2009 Catalog:
Code: 
[COLOR="#000000"]                      Model	  DCR	Peak(kHz)
Hot Rails Bridge            	16.90	      3.5
JB Jr. Bridge               	16.09	      3.6
Li’l Screamin’ Demon Bridge	13.35	      4.5
Little ‘59 Bridge          	11.78	      4.6
Hot Rails Neck          	10.80	      4.8
Cool Rails Bridge       	10.30	      4.0
Little ‘59 Neck          	 9.86	      5.8
Li’l Screamin’ Demon Neck	 9.72	      4.6
JB Jr. Neck             	 9.60	      5.0
Cool Rails Neck          	 9.40	      5.2
[/COLOR]

My Hot Rails Neck measures 10.43k and my two JB Jr. Necks measure 9.53k and 9.85k. All measurements were done out of circuit.
 
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Re: Upgrading my Strat pickups... again. Need advice.

gregory said:
For a side-by-side humbucker in the bridge position from Duncan I'd look into the Little '59 Bridge model, Cool Rails Bridge and Neck models, JB Jr. Neck and Hot Rails Neck. If the resonant peak numbers are to be believed, the Li'l Screamin' Demon Neck might be an interesting choice.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll have a look at those ones. The Screamin Demon looks interesting - the name makes you think it would be a metal pickup, but it looks fairly tame.
 
Re: Upgrading my Strat pickups... again. Need advice.

You might consider the Quarter Pound. Tone is almost into P90 territory. Not humbucking though, if you often play with tons of gain. It's a true singlecoil and has authentic bite when you dig in.
 
Re: Upgrading my Strat pickups... again. Need advice.

onlytwin said:
Thanks for the suggestions, I'll have a look at those ones. The Screamin Demon looks interesting - the name makes you think it would be a metal pickup, but it looks fairly tame.
Click to expand...
The bridge model sounds quite a bit like the full-size version: lean and bright. I didn't mention it because I don't believe it will clean up as well as the others.

The Li'l Screamin' Demon Neck doesn't seem to sound much like the bridge model. It's resonant peak and DCR stand out from the rest of the SC-sized humbuckers. The Cool Rails Bridge is another oddball (also based on the numbers).
 
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Re: Upgrading my Strat pickups... again. Need advice.

eclecticsynergy said:
You might consider the Quarter Pound. Tone is almost into P90 territory. Not humbucking though, if you often play with tons of gain. It's a true singlecoil and has authentic bite when you dig in.
Click to expand...

I'm a bit worried that one might overlap with the FS-1. Maybe someone can correct me if I'm off base.

I like a hotter single coil more than the stock one, but it's a bit of an awkward middle ground for me. I'm definitely trying to get closer to an HSS layout.
 
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Re: Upgrading my Strat pickups... again. Need advice.

I'd have a listen to demos of the Injector bridge played in a Strat (as opposed to an Ibanez Fireman).
 
Re: Upgrading my Strat pickups... again. Need advice.

gregory said:
I'd have a listen to demos of the Injector bridge played in a Strat (as opposed to an Ibanez Fireman).
Click to expand...

It sounds pretty good from the few demos I've found, although most are cellphone recordings. Is there anything about the Injector you prefer to some of the others you recommended?
 
Re: Upgrading my Strat pickups... again. Need advice.

I suggest the chopper as its more balanced and versatile than the injector. IMO The injector gets too thick when the gain is slightly turned up. The chopper has more definition and can also give good mids when its close to the strings. At lower height its more vintage sounding and will balance well enough with texas special neck, Area 58 or Area 61. I would try it with texas specials as you already have them. I tried the chopper with two area 58s. The balance was good but position 2 was uninteresting. Probably the area 67 middle would quack more. The texas specials are likely to work better as well.
 
Re: Upgrading my Strat pickups... again. Need advice.

onlytwin said:
Is there anything about the Injector you prefer to some of the others you recommended?
Click to expand...
I don't find a single sized humbucker in the bridge position to be as rewarding as a stacked single coil.

To me the Chopper in the bridge just sounds just a little odd: a bit too focused in the upper mids. That can be a good thing depending on what is needed, of course. I like it better in the neck, but really just for a specific type of sound. The Satch Track won't be so quirky. I mentioned all the Duncans that I thought would satisfy your criteria that they clean up well. I don't think the more powerful ones I suggested will sound as quirky as the Chopper, at the same time I also don't think the weaker ones will sound as full as the Satch Track.
 
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Re: Upgrading my Strat pickups... again. Need advice.

Teleplayer said:
[...] Area 61. I would try it with texas specials as you already have them. I tried the chopper with two area 58s. The balance was good but position 2 was uninteresting. Probably the area 67 middle would quack more. The texas specials are likely to work better as well.
Click to expand...
I was hesitant to even recommend the Area 61, let alone the Area 67...

onlytwin said:
The Texas Specials are decent (I may keep the neck, we'll see) but I'd like to experiment with something else. I want the neck pickup to be slightly warm and compressed, but still sound like a Strat. The middle just needs to match with it. I don't like positions 2 and 4 as it stands. For reference, I'm not going for a classic Strat sound - I play more modern Indie music. Less quack is fine.
Click to expand...
 
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Re: Upgrading my Strat pickups... again. Need advice.

gregory said:
I was hesitant to even recommend the Area 61, let alone the Area 67...
Click to expand...

If the OP is going to buy new pickups its better to be aware of whether they will quack or not. I did read the first post so I understand if the OP may choose on some other critiera!

I think we can agree that the Area 67 is a bright sounding hum-cancelling strat pickup. I was suggesting it can be used as a middle pickup for more quack in position 2 when combined with the chopper or injector. Its the same middle pickup that is recommended for the Injector set.

For the Neck pickup I suggest Area 61 or Area 58 as alternatives to the Texas specials. Area 61 has a kind of bright midrange emphasis - even though it has moderate/high output. To my ears its not smooth sounding like the Area 58 and 54 Pro. It think some blues players probably like edgy tone, and the bite and punch from the Area 61 in the neck position. Please let me know if you agree or not.
 
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Re: Upgrading my Strat pickups... again. Need advice.

I agree. It was only for the middle that I mentioned the Area 61 (in addition to the VV 54 Pro and VV Blues), based on the understanding that classic quack wasn't desired.

For the neck I recommended only the VV Blues and the VV 54 Pro.

I don't consider the Area 58 to be particularly warm.
 
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Re: Upgrading my Strat pickups... again. Need advice.

Duncan STK-S7s may also fit the bill for the neck and middle spots.

An STK-S4B could go in the middle if a weaker pickup is desired for that position.
 
Re: Upgrading my Strat pickups... again. Need advice.

So right now I'm considering..

Neck: VV 54 Pro
Middle: Area 61, or same as above?
Bridge: Injector, Chopper, Satch Track, Lil 59

Definitely have to sort through bridge options. I'm also looking at Lace Sensors, since I've always been curious about them. Hot golds? Just a thought.
 
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