Fat (HSS) Strat Buckers

[sigep79]

I am currently having a DiMarzio Air Zone bucker put into my HSS in the bridge. Does anyone play an Fat Strat and what do you think of the stock bucker?
For my tastes, it's too bright. I am going for a mellow blues tone.

[johnreardon]

I have a Deluxe HSS with S1 switch and it's great for the mainly Blues stuff I play. Wouldn't dream of replacing the pickups. I just use the neck pickup, if I want a more mellow sound, same as with any Strat

[sigep79]

Mine is not a Deluxe though, it's MIM. I also had the tech re-wire so I had tone control over the bridge pup when it is the only pickup selected and a push pull tone pot installed to go from bucker to single coil. A neat little mod I must say.

None the less, a little tweaking by a pro tech made a huge difference in tone.

[johnny rotting]

Originally Posted by sigep79

Mine is not a Deluxe though, it's MIM. I also had the tech re-wire so I had tone control over the bridge pup when it is the only pickup selected and a push pull tone pot installed to go from bucker to single coil. A neat little mod I must say.

None the less, a little tweaking by a pro tech made a huge difference in tone.

i have the mim fat strat and the tone of the bridge was way to bright. i also added tone control to the bridge pup. much thicker sound. but swapping it out for a duncan invader set it on fire!!

[bek]

I just put a set of low-output VintageVibe singles in the neck and middle of my Squier while changing pickguards and setup to make it a Fat Strat. Deaf-Eddie put them in for me with a switching scheme we worked out together. I tried a Fender Atomic humbucker and it was too bright and flat, real toneless compared to the worderfully complex single-coils. I swapped in an SD 59 which is much better (lower-output, more vintage-sounding), but I decided to contact Pete Biltoft himself and he is making a humbucker for me with the others in mind to give me the best result. I expect it to be as much better than the 59 as the 59 was better than the Atomic.