What humbucker for most/all tones in Strat?

[Red_Label]

Wow... haven't been here in years! Didn't even know if my account still worked. Luckily, it did. ;-)


Anyways... I play in a classic rock and country cover band. I've been using a G&L Legacy and ASAT for the country, and several ESP Ltd EC-400s for the rock stuff. The ESPs have the JB/59 combo and that's my all-time favorite setup for rock. The G&Ls have stock pickups in them.

Last weekend I picked-up a mint Fender MIM H-S-S at a pawn shop for $200. I've been playing it a LOT this week and and growing to love it. I even like the stock single coil pickups for that clean, quacky, stratty sound. But the stock bucker has GOT TO GO. It's fine for the same clean, quacky, strat sound. But the overdriven tones are obnoxious.

What pickup should I put in there? I'd like to make this guitar an "all night" guitar, so I only have to switch to other guitars if I feel like it. So I want the bucker to give me good rock tones, but I don't want to give-up the quacky strat tones at all. Is a JB too much for that? How bout a '59 at the bridge? I need a pickup that can do hot, rock tones, but also glassy, clean strat tones.

Sorry for the long-winded post but I wanted to pop back here and get input from the experts on this. Thanks.


ETA: If at some point I decide to replace the stock single coils, what would you recommend for that? Still want that clean, quacky strat sound. Noiseless would be nice.

 

[Red_Label]

Re: What humbucker for most/all tones in Strat?

BTW... bit more info on the guitar/rig. Honestly, I don't know what the wood is. Whatever a late model of Standard MIM strat is I guess. Neck is rosewood. Running it through "ultimate mod" TS9, Visual Sound Route 66 and Liquid Chorus/Echo, and BBE wah... into a pair of Traynor YCS100H tube heads. These heads get a great, glassy clean tone, great Marshall Plexi/JCM800, and even do a decent job at the scooped Mesa tone. So my rig is plenty versatile... I just need my strat to be.

 

[Crazy_Guitar]

Re: What humbucker for most/all tones in Strat?

Stick to the JB. It's perfect.
In alternative, try a OEM Fender SD Pearly Gates Plus!

 

[Red_Label]

Re: What humbucker for most/all tones in Strat?

Stick to the JB. It's perfect.

Been a long time since I had a strat with a JB at the bridge. Do you think that such a setup is up to the task of providing those quacky, Strat tones? I know that Strats can be made to sound metal enough with humbuckers in them (Iron Maiden), but I know that on my mahogany-bodied guitars, even when I split the coils my JBs never get that stratty quack thing going.

 

[Agileguy_101]

Re: What humbucker for most/all tones in Strat?

Been a long time since I had a strat with a JB at the bridge. Do you think that such a setup is up to the task of providing those quacky, Strat tones? I know that Strats can be made to sound metal enough with humbuckers in them (Iron Maiden), but I know that on my mahogany-bodied guitars, even when I split the coils my JBs never get that stratty quack thing going.

I have a Tone Zone in my Parker Nitefly, and when I split the coils on that, it gets really stratty. Works well with the single coils in there. In a Strat, a split-coil humbucker will sound more Strat-esque than if you had the same split humbucker in... say, a Les Paul or something like that.

 

[Rowan]

Re: What humbucker for most/all tones in Strat?

Look into the Custom Custom. In a strat, its versatile enough for most any sound.

 

[Red_Label]

Re: What humbucker for most/all tones in Strat?

Look into the Custom Custom. In a strat, its versatile enough for most any sound.

The only three non-OEM pickups I've ever used have been the JB, the '59, and the Tone Zone. I've got Tone Zones in a couple of cheap Peavy Raptor strats (that I gave to my kids) and though good for metal, I don't care for the Tone Zone for clean and classic rock/country.

So I will admit that I have been curious about these newer pickup models out there for a few years. What would the Custom Custom gain me over say... the JB or '59? How bout the Custom 5 SH-14? I just read something about one for sale on Ebay that sounded like it might be a contender.

 

[Red_Label]

Re: What humbucker for most/all tones in Strat?

Been chomping at the bit to get a pickup on its way, so I just grabbed a Custom Custom in red (strat is red too) off of ebay. The part that I kept coming back to in the description was where it said made for bright-sounding guitars. So I guess I'll find-out how it sounds now. ;-)

 

[Rowan]

Re: What humbucker for most/all tones in Strat?

Been chomping at the bit to get a pickup on its way, so I just grabbed a Custom Custom in red (strat is red too) off of ebay. The part that I kept coming back to in the description was where it said made for bright-sounding guitars. So I guess I'll find-out how it sounds now. ;-)

I don't think you'll be disappointed. Its a humbucker that sits really well in a strat. The lead tone is awesome too!

 

[Despair]

Re: What humbucker for most/all tones in Strat?

Been chomping at the bit to get a pickup on its way, so I just grabbed a Custom Custom in red (strat is red too) off of ebay. The part that I kept coming back to in the description was where it said made for bright-sounding guitars. So I guess I'll find-out how it sounds now. ;-)

If you are a fan of early 80s Van Halen, you'll likely love the Custom Custom. If not and you can't make the pickup work for you as is, I'd suggest getting replacement magnets and playing with swapping them. A lot of people who find the bass too squishy on the CC love the Custom with A8. Or you might prefer the sound of the original Custom. Swap for a ceramic magnet and you're there. Or you can try an A5 magnet, but a lot of people find the Custom 5 a bit lacking in mids in strat-style guitars.

For noiseless single coils, check out the Stack Plus line from Seymour Duncan. Classic Stack Plus are pretty nice. There's also the Vintage Hot, Custom and Hot Stack Plus models to cover the gamut.

 

[Red_Label]

Re: What humbucker for most/all tones in Strat?

If you are a fan of early 80s Van Halen, you'll likely love the Custom Custom. If not and you can't make the pickup work for you as is, I'd suggest getting replacement magnets and playing with swapping them. A lot of people who find the bass too squishy on the CC love the Custom with A8. Or you might prefer the sound of the original Custom. Swap for a ceramic magnet and you're there. Or you can try an A5 magnet, but a lot of people find the Custom 5 a bit lacking in mids in strat-style guitars.

For noiseless single coils, check out the Stack Plus line from Seymour Duncan. Classic Stack Plus are pretty nice. There's also the Vintage Hot, Custom and Hot Stack Plus models to cover the gamut.

Cool. Looking forward to hearing it. Also ordered red pickup covers for the singles and red vol/tone controls. Should be a spiffy looking axe after I'm done. I do like early VH for that tone (who doesn't?). So as long as I can coax some nice, clean stratty tones out of it as well, I'll very very happy.

 

[Despair]

Re: What humbucker for most/all tones in Strat?

You might also find you prefer AlNiCo 2 polepiece strat pickups alongside the Custom Custom with it's A2 (Or possibly that you prefer A2 in general). Seymour Duncan offers a few interesting choices there, including the SSL52-1 Five-Two (A5 under wound/bass strings, A2 under high strings) and the APS-2 Alnico II Pro for strat.

Unfortunately, neither of those are offered in Stack Plus versions, have to contact the Custom Shop for a noiseless in that vein, if noiseless is a requirement. I'd wait and see how the CC behaves alongside your current single coils, which are likely A5.

Given you already have G&Ls for twangier sounds, you might find a sweeter A2 variation on the strat tone handy. Or you might want more of a contrast with the bridge pickup than that offers. Personal tastes and playing style quirks are hard to predict...

 

[Red_Label]

Re: What humbucker for most/all tones in Strat?

You might also find you prefer AlNiCo 2 polepiece strat pickups alongside the Custom Custom with it's A2 (Or possibly that you prefer A2 in general). Seymour Duncan offers a few interesting choices there, including the SSL52-1 Five-Two (A5 under wound/bass strings, A2 under high strings) and the APS-2 Alnico II Pro for strat.

Unfortunately, neither of those are offered in Stack Plus versions, have to contact the Custom Shop for a noiseless in that vein, if noiseless is a requirement. I'd wait and see how the CC behaves alongside your current single coils, which are likely A5.

Given you already have G&Ls for twangier sounds, you might find a sweeter A2 variation on the strat tone handy. Or you might want more of a contrast with the bridge pickup than that offers. Personal tastes and playing style quirks are hard to predict...

Thanks for the info. And I totally agree with that last part. So far I do like the stock pickups in this thing. They sound very "stratty" to me. So it will be a question of how they interact with the new humbucker. Though I do like great tone, my ears have never been like Eric Johnson's, so I'll probably be plenty happy with the combination. The only real reason that I'd want to change the stockers that I can see is if I wanted to go noiseless. We'll see about that. I do like the tone on my G&L ASAT Special. Love the thickness of those P90 style pickups. But I don't care for the dead sound of the strat pickups in the Legacy at all. I may have to eventually look at putting some different pickups in that guitar. It's swamp ash (I think) and very heavy. I just never really have dug its sound that much. Weird how some guitars speak to you and others are just dead. I could probably hand it to someone else and they'd love it.

 

[UberMetalDood]

Re: What humbucker for most/all tones in Strat?

My strat has a Custom custom. It is the best. Still have not found single coil replacements to go with it.

 

[Empty Pockets]

Re: What humbucker for most/all tones in Strat?

Had a CustomCustom in my strat for what...five years?

replaced it with a Phat Cat a few months ago

replaced the Phat Cat with my CustomCustom last week.

that's THE humbucker for rock, blues et al in a Strat. What sold me on it was how somebody (Gearjoneser maybe?) described it in a post a long time ago...paraphrasing here but i remember it being close to:

The Custom is for metal, the Custom 5 is for vintage rock, and the CustomCustom is for bluesy rock.

I'm like...all good rock has it's roots in the blues...right? :smokin:

and it doesn't slouch for metal either. It's not an EMG-81 but through the right amp it gets heavier with less gain.

 

[rts99]

Re: What humbucker for most/all tones in Strat?

Check out the P-Rails. HB, P90, & SC all in a convenient HB package. I think it's tailor made for the HSS strat. That's what's going into the HB in my HSS strat.

 

[Red_Label]

Re: What humbucker for most/all tones in Strat?

I got my Custom Custom today. That was FAST shipping from PA to MT!

Anyways... I started a new thread about it here because I'm getting as much noise from it as the stock singles. I think I really like the tone of this thing (clean and overdriven), but the noise is not making me happy. I've wired a lot of pickups over the years (lots of Duncan JBs, 59s and several DiMarzio Tone Zones). So I know what I am doing and I followed the diagram from this site. Made sure I kept the unshielded lengths of wires as short as possible and that my work was clean. Hmmm...