what PuPs do you suggest for H/S/S Strat?

[deftgala]

I am thinking of placing an f-spaced JB in the bridge position of my American Strat. (It does need to be f-spaced, right?) The tremolo is Fender stock. Is there a better suited humbucker made for strats?

Also, what model of Neck and Middle single coils are your choices for a strat? Why?

Signed,

:smack:
A confused LP player.

 

[Jag513]

Re: what PuPs do you suggest for H/S/S Strat?

The JB probably needs to be F-spaced, and it's a good idea to go with it if you're not sure. It's better to have an F-spaced pickup for a guitar that doesn't need it than to have a standard spaced pickup for a guitar that does need it. As for if there's a better humbucker for Strats? That's subjective. The JB is my favorite bridge humbucker, but everyone has their preference.

My choices for neck and middle pickups for a Strat are the Cool Rails and Duckbucker. But then again I'm not much of a Strat guy, and it'd be better for some of the other guys to help you out. What amp are you playing through, and what type of music do you play?

 

[Arkitkt]

Re: what PuPs do you suggest for H/S/S Strat?

It obviously depends on the tone you want. I have an SSL-1 in the middle position of my H-S-H strat and I love it. I rarely use it by itself, but in the 2 position, together with the split JB (screw coil) it sounds very strat-like.

 

[Edgecrusher]

Re: what PuPs do you suggest for H/S/S Strat?

How to tell if you need trembucker spacing or normal spacing is you measure between the centers of the E strings... if its 1.93 inches its normal spaced if its 2.07 is trem spaced... Most likely it will be trem spaced but measure just to be sure...

 

[Jocelyn]

Re: what PuPs do you suggest for H/S/S Strat?

Wht kind a tone u want? Thats the whole idea?

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: what PuPs do you suggest for H/S/S Strat?

A JB with 250K pots in a strat will cover a lot of bases. I would go with SSL-2's or APS-2 in the neck and middle. THe JB will overpower these other pickups if you combine the full humbucker signal with them, but if you split the JB when in the bridge/middle position, you will get some very good "notch" tones.

 

[deftgala]

Re: what PuPs do you suggest for H/S/S Strat?

Wht kind a tone u want? Thats the whole idea?

that a good point Jocelyn, I guess i am seeking:

Bridge: that hard-hitting humbucking sound. I've used the APHb and SH-5 in the bridge of my LP. And EMG's in a Gibson Flying V. So I'd like to get a strong Humbucker sound for hard rock from the bridge PuP of the strat. I've heard Lew mentioned that '59's balance best with Strat Single coils.

Middle: classic hendrix tone re: "Little Wing" and "Castles made of Sand"... a single coil that wont really be overpowered by the bridge humbucker

Neck: classic 60's tone, and if possible, one with hot output

:burnout:

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: what PuPs do you suggest for H/S/S Strat?

If you don't want your singles to be overpowered by the bridge, you will have to go with something lower in output than the JB. 59, Screamin Demon, APH, and Pearly Gates would all work for this.

For the middle, I stand by the APS/or SSL option. SSL if you want lots of glass and chime, APS if you want more mids, smotther highs, and a bit friendlier sound with OD.

As far as the neck: what's more important to you, high output, or vintage tone?

For vintage tone, another SSL-1 or APS-1 would work beutifully, albeit at a lower output than your typical neck humbucker. If you want output, the Custom Staggered would work, but you would be sacrificing some of the vintage voicing in favor of increased output.

 

[MikeS]

Re: what PuPs do you suggest for H/S/S Strat?

For the neck and middle don't overlook the rails pickups. The Hot Rails, Cool Rails, and Vintage Rails are all nice single coil pups, are slightly hotter than their single coil counterparts, and all sound pretty good in the neck (the CR being my favorite of the bunch. It's a very versatile pickup that can do everything from hard rock leads to no gain blues and everything in between - and it does them all well, IMO).

I do like the JB for the bridge position, but I do wonder how overpowering it might be. You can always split the JB with a switch to cut the output, which would also give you many possible combinations, and might give you a more favorable notch position tone. Also consider buying the bridge models of whatever single coils you go with. Bridge models are higher output and might help achieve better balance between the JB and the single coils.

 

[deftgala]

Re: what PuPs do you suggest for H/S/S Strat?

For the neck and middle don't overlook the rails pickups. The Hot Rails, Cool Rails, and Vintage Rails are all nice single coil pups, are slightly hotter than their single coil counterparts, and all sound pretty good in the neck (the CR being my favorite of the bunch. It's a very versatile pickup that can do everything from hard rock leads to no gain blues and everything in between - and it does them all well, IMO).

I do like the JB for the bridge position, but I do wonder how overpowering it might be. You can always split the JB with a switch to cut the output, which would also give you many possible combinations, and might give you a more favorable notch position tone. Also consider buying the bridge models of whatever single coils you go with. Bridge models are higher output and might help achieve better balance between the JB and the single coils.

yeah, I guess the JB would overpwoer the other single coils due to the output factor. There's gotta be the right humbucker for the strat! !!! :burnout: :smack:

 

[deftgala]

Re: what PuPs do you suggest for H/S/S Strat?

How would the Antiquity Texas Hots compare? to the APS-1. I've heard Lew say the Texas Hots are APS but slightly hotter.

The Texas Hots could balance well with the JB, but the JB would have to be split so that they dont overpower the single coils, I guess. Maybe a '59 in teh bridge would be best? But I am not sure that the output of the '59 is ballsy enough for modern rock tones. Any suggestions?

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: what PuPs do you suggest for H/S/S Strat?

How would the Antiquity Texas Hots compare? to the APS-1. I've heard Lew say the Texas Hots are APS but slightly hotter.

Did I really say that? If I did, I'm not certain it's true.

Just for the record, the APS-1 measures about 6.4K and the Texas Hots measure between 6.3K to 6.4K. So they're both alnico 2 pickups and very similar in terms of DC Resistance.

Lew

 

[Guitar Toad]

Re: what PuPs do you suggest for H/S/S Strat?

But I am not sure that the output of the '59 is ballsy enough for modern rock tones. Any suggestions?

I'm not sure how to say or ask this...but won't a good Jeckyl and Hyde distortion or the new SD TweakFuzz get you the rest of the way?

Should one rely on Pickups to get you all the way? It's one of those chicken and eggs questions.

 

[Guitar Toad]

Re: what PuPs do you suggest for H/S/S Strat?

Did I really say that? If I did, I'm not certain it's true.

Just for the record, the APS-1 measures about 6.4K and the Texas Hots measure between 6.3K to 6.4K. So they're both alnico 2 pickups and very similar in terms of DC Resistance.

Lew

Well, no what you said was: "The APS-2 has flat poles and is a little thicker, chunkier and smoother on top. Less glass. The APS-1 is the staggered polepiece version of the same pickup....kind of the production version of the Antiquity Texas Hots, in a way.

Lew

Well, Hot is one of those ambiguously subjective terms. The statement of production versus Antiquity = custom shop to me implied a degree of hot-ness, superior sounding pickup.

My apologies if I miss stated your meaning.

So, APS-2 and Texas Hots are comparable, though? Performance-wise and construction-wise? With Texas Hots assembled with superior quality control means?

Todd

Addendum:

I read an interview with Billy Gibbons and he said that Antiquity Pickups are hot. So, evidently I have picked up calling Antiquity Pickups hot. I am learning that I need to be careful with my words. Apparently, he meant to say that they are hot (I like ‘em), although they are not hot (high output). I will be more careful in the future.

 

[Luke Duke]

Re: what PuPs do you suggest for H/S/S Strat?

If you don't want your singles to be overpowered by the bridge, you will have to go with something lower in output than the JB. 59, Screamin Demon, APH, and Pearly Gates would all work for this.

For the middle, I stand by the APS/or SSL option. SSL if you want lots of glass and chime, APS if you want more mids, smotther highs, and a bit friendlier sound with OD.

As far as the neck: what's more important to you, high output, or vintage tone?

For vintage tone, another SSL-1 or APS-1 would work beautifully, albeit at a lower output than your typical neck humbucker. If you want output, the Custom Staggered would work, but you would be sacrificing some of the vintage voicing in favor of increased output.

Benji is right on, the APS or SSL will give you the vintage sound. I've got two APS1's (neck and middle) and one APS2 in my strat and they are very distortion friendly. If you get flat poles you can move the whole pup closer to the strings to mimimize dropoff.

As far as the JB goes I think with a good set up you can minimize the single coil drop off For me when I switch to the bridge pup I want it to be a cut above, but that's just me. I played an old Kramer with SSL-1's and a JB and the drop off wan't that bad, it also had a mini toggle where you could split the humbucker at will.

All that said I'm not a JB fan and think that you would be better served with a CC. Nice warm tone with lots of mids and great output.

Luke

 

[aestus]

Re: what PuPs do you suggest for H/S/S Strat?

I'd recommend a Custom Custom, 59, or APH for the bridge. If using the 59 or the APH besure to wire it up to a tone pot. Even if you keep it wide open, the connection to the tone pot will tame the ear piercing highs... (for me it does)

If using the custom custom, keep the stock strat wiring with no bridge tone control, otherwise it gets waay too mushy and dark. The APH has a nice grind to it and has good presence and has a very immediate attack. The custom custom will have a flabby low end and round top end with the lower mids focused. For blues, it's perfect. It can get too dark or mushy sometimes, however.

I personally don't use trem spaced humbuckers for my strat. I use the traditional spaced humbuckers and it works fine. I actually prefer them. Unless your strat has a really wide bridge, a traditional spaced humbucker will work fine.

Tom