3 different pickups in 1 Stratocaster
- Thread starter Otisblove
- Start date
somebodyelseuk
Strat-O-Master
That's how they did it in the 50s and 60s... and that's why no-one can make a guitar/pickup set today that actually is something special.
Back then Fender made one Strat pickup. The spec wandered a little. They pulled three randomly from a bucket and soldered them where they landed. Some guitars sounded ordinary, many sounded stellar.
Today, they make them to a formula. They all sound the same and they all sound 'close, but no cigar'.
OnlyRevolutions
New Member!
The pickups in my 2006 MIM strat are all different. I just wanted variety since I was playing all different kinds of music and loved various tones.
Neck - some small-house blues pickup supposedly based on a John Mayer tone I bought back in 2011 or so. Could just be a regular old strat replica for all I know, but backing off some of the tone makes a great, fat bluesy tone.
Mid - DiMarzio chopper - single-coil-sized humbucker. Full-sounding is how I would describe it. It doesn’t bite like the SH-4 (which is a little too bright for my tastes), but it has a much more even sound, which is great to my ears. I’ve never liked some of the very trebly, jangly, or shimmery pickups, so I imagine most folks here might find it too bass-heavy for a band setting.
Bridge - Duncan SH-4. Again, bright for my tastes, but a great rock sound. Fits in pretty well with a mix, though, which is why it’s so favored, in my experience.
I most prefer the mid position.
Neck - some small-house blues pickup supposedly based on a John Mayer tone I bought back in 2011 or so. Could just be a regular old strat replica for all I know, but backing off some of the tone makes a great, fat bluesy tone.
Mid - DiMarzio chopper - single-coil-sized humbucker. Full-sounding is how I would describe it. It doesn’t bite like the SH-4 (which is a little too bright for my tastes), but it has a much more even sound, which is great to my ears. I’ve never liked some of the very trebly, jangly, or shimmery pickups, so I imagine most folks here might find it too bass-heavy for a band setting.
Bridge - Duncan SH-4. Again, bright for my tastes, but a great rock sound. Fits in pretty well with a mix, though, which is why it’s so favored, in my experience.
I most prefer the mid position.
bobbybro
Strat-Talk Member
I've taken my strat apart so many times I stripped the threads on some pickguard screws and some neck screws. I used the next size up on the screws and kept having issues with the 5 way. Finally I brought it to the shop. They filled the holes, changed back to the standard size screws in both the neck and pickguard. I now want another set of pickups. Every time I get in my guitar, with all these operations, I wonder if it"s going to be ok. But it keeps going. I've been at these shenanigans for the last 10 years.
IronSchef
Senior Stratmaster
WireLine
Strat-Talker
Groundwire
Strat-O-Master
I’ve not done too many pickup swaps in my Strats, but I do have an SG that has been through about 10 sets of pickups and has no original hardware left. I kinda feel like everyone needs one of those guitars.
Is this setup noise cancelling in positions 2 and 4?
But sometimes it can also be bad. In 2004 I bought a HSS Strat (MIM) and wanted to replace its single-coils with noiseless pickups, as I didn't like the buzz I was getting with the single coils by themselves. At first I tried a couple of Fender Vintage Noiseless, but the middle with the stock bridge humbucker on the guitar didn't sound good at all (I remember it sounding a bit low-volume/muted). Then someone suggested Kinman, so I bought a pair of their hum-canceling pickups and put them in, and the middle-bridge sounded great on that guitar (and I think the Kinmans sound great too).
Intune
Senior Stratmaster
I’ll let you try my custom shop 54 strat and my broadcaster with pickups made by Alan Hamel. You may change your mind. I find them to be really special of all the guitars and pickups I’ve had. Also the set of ancho poblano pickups I have are something else, they are really special.
So yeah don’t really agree with “no-one can make a guitar/pickup set today that actually is special.” You could just be buying the wrong gear?
I wondered that myself. The first Gen 4 just stopped working. I tried to resolder it. If there was a break in the copper wire somewhere, I didn't see it and certainly at the time didn't know how to fix it. The one that got weird the other day I just didn't even feel like dealing with it, but I know that if I kept it in there it would annoy me until I took it out.
Since I happened to have that black pickup handy, I did a quick fix. So quick in fact that I didn't even consider putting the cream cover on it so that it would match the other two.
I think about 9 of the 11 pickguard screw holes are stripped in my pink Strat. When I put the black pickup in the neck the other day I dropped small pieces of toothpick in each hole. Worked like a charm.
Intune
Senior Stratmaster
That’s probably how pickups just fail. They are kind of fragile so handling and removing pickups many many times is probably the reason. Same with the stripped screw holes in the body. It’s the price we pay to tinker or mod.
xpatUSA
Strat-Talk Member
Got two Seymour Duncan mini-humbuckers on my Yamaha Pacifica.
Jeff Beck at the bridge
'59 something at the neck
Original Yamaha in the middle.
Best yet!
Before that I had Schaller Golden 50's at the bridge & neck ... not so crisp.
This $4650 Custom Shop 57 is rocking 3 different pickups.
" The three onboard pickups are some of Fender Custom Shop’s most popular electronics: a Texas Special, a Fat '50s, and a '57 Strat. This collection is less like a sampler platter and more like a passionately assembled 3-course meal. The bridge Texas Special delivers razor-sharp midrange that’s great hefty rhythm playing that’s heard; a Fat '50s in the middle position delivers beefy tones with enhanced bass response and ample midrange that’s hot but never shrill; the downright hypnotic '57 Strat in the neck position is ripe with thumping lows, round mids, and smooth high end. Each pickup is hand-wound by the Fender Custom Shop, which means they feature period-accurate components like vintage fiber bobbins, wax potting, and more."
" The three onboard pickups are some of Fender Custom Shop’s most popular electronics: a Texas Special, a Fat '50s, and a '57 Strat. This collection is less like a sampler platter and more like a passionately assembled 3-course meal. The bridge Texas Special delivers razor-sharp midrange that’s great hefty rhythm playing that’s heard; a Fat '50s in the middle position delivers beefy tones with enhanced bass response and ample midrange that’s hot but never shrill; the downright hypnotic '57 Strat in the neck position is ripe with thumping lows, round mids, and smooth high end. Each pickup is hand-wound by the Fender Custom Shop, which means they feature period-accurate components like vintage fiber bobbins, wax potting, and more."
Quikstyl
Strat-Talk Member
I like your set up. I took out the stock neck and middle p-ups in my 89 HM but left the Super 3 in the bridge. Put a blue Lace Sensor in the neck and a silver in the mid right after I bought it in 89. Replaced the Kahler with a Floyd original as well. Just found the original p-ups the other day and was thinking about putting them back in.
не знаю, уважаемый.
этот инструмент я придумал и собрал полностью сам; проводка была сделана для меня специально моим любимым специалистом в Портланде. но есть ли там отмена сопения я не уверен. знаю, однако, что с сопением проблем нет и как букер, так и п90 во 2-й и 4-й позициях сочетаются с односпиральным звукоснимателем в середине превосходно. у меня никогда не было стратокастера с таким доказуемым разнообразием звуков. многие члены этого форума лезут на стены от таких заявлений, но этот мой самодельный страт лучше чем ампро2 который я не так давно продал.
кстати, все 3 снимателя Тонрайдеры
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