What is your favorite vintage Strat set?

[Aceman]

Doesn't have to be "pure" reproduction vintage, so like a Texas Special bridge with two standard pickups is cool.

Does have to be single/single/single - no blades, but stacked humbuckers ok. Not for or against standard singles. No brand preference.

What is your favorite classic Strat set

 

[jeremy]

do you want it to sound like a '63 strat? get a trio of neck model surfers.

my personal favorite is antiquity II jaguar neck, antiquity II jaguar bridge in the middle, and a antiquity II jaguar bridge with a baseplate in the bridge. basically a flat pole strat set with a very mildly overwound middle and bridge. neck is 6.4k, middle and bridge are 6.6k.

my favorite noiseless set is classic stack plus neck and middle with vintage hot stack bridge

 

[beaubrummels]

Seymour Duncan Antiquity Texas Hot bridge (9k) with two Fender grey bottom pickups (6k). I have one original vintage Fender grey bottom, and one "period-correct" reproduction. As long as it's around 6k, it does the job.

Another variant I discovered I like is a reverse output set. E.g. 5.7k bridge, 6k middle, 6.5k neck.

 

[Aceman]

do you want it to sound like a '63 strat? get a trio of neck model surfers. my personal favorite is antiquity II jaguar neck, antiquity II jaguar bridge in the middle, and a antiquity II jaguar bridge with a baseplate in the bridge. basically a flat pole strat set with a very mildly overwound middle and bridge. neck is 6.4k, middle and bridge are 6.6k. favorite noiseless set is classic stack plus neck and middle with vintage hot stack bridge

I want it to sound like a Strat
preferably a classic Starrt - 57-65ish
But can flex some

A good classic Strat - but maybe not too classic. Like hotter bridge is ok, or whatever you Strat people do...

 

[Mincer]

I love the Classic Stack set all around. It is fantastic. If I was going pure singles (which I wouldn't), I would go for the Five Twos or Surfers.

 

[playas]

Bareknucle apache set.

I opted for a baseplate on the bridge (only).

They are a fantastic strat set. They have a bit more mids than most strat sets which seems to help sweeten up the highs a little and avoid the ice pick that I feel a lot of strat sets have, especially the bridge.

 

[GuitarStv]

After trying a variety of different vintage and vintage inspired strat pickups, I keep coming back to SSL-2s with a tapped SSL-6 in the bridge. There's no weird string imbalance like I tend to get with staggered pole pieces and flatter fretboards, and the beefier bridge is much more usable for what I want when soloing. I use the tap in the bridge for decent sounding bridge/mid quack. This combo just works great.

 

[Chistopher]

Surfer with the Custom bridge

 

[donaldr]

my favorite noiseless set is classic stack plus neck and middle with vintage hot stack bridge

+1 for me, but no middle pickup and 3-way switch (ala Telecaster).

I have a set of Rose Rosetta (n+m) and Buff Beauty (b) that I really like for a more vintage classic sound. But Rose is out of business

 

[uOpt]

I use 2 Surfer Antiquities plus a Fender CS Texas Hot in the bridge (it isn't actually a hot pickup).

 

[Archer250]

I find every 5.9-6.5k Formvar A5 strat to be good enough that I actually... don't like or dislike one more than the other

 

[Artie]

As much as I like my noiseless STK set, I like my Livewire Classic II set better. (And no, I'm NOT trying to plug my Trading Post thread).

 

[nienturi]

Lindy Fralin Vintage Hot set is my personal favourite. Also i have TTS pickups Austin Flood set on my Nash S-57 which is a reproduction pickups of SRVs #1 and they are so great.

 

[Ascension]

Surfer with the Custom bridge

Yep, ran a number of different sets, but this one is by far my favorite. Have this set in my 94 Washburn USA Silverado with the Eric Johnson set up (300K Volume tones for the neck and bridge only and a 5 way). It's the single best sounding Strat I have ever played!

 

[Aceman]

This thread is moot. I went mono-modern; gen4 Noiseless and a Shawbucker

 

[playas]

How do you like the shawbucker split?

 

[Aceman]

How do you like the shawbucker split?

Irony - the S1 switching on this does not provide bridge split only! Pretty much everything but that.

 

[playas]

How about middle combined with split bridge?... probably more useful anyway.

 

[jeremy]

oh. thats unfortunate.

 

[Mincer]

Bridge split only might be the least useful sound on that guitar, though.