SC set for strat, any advice?

  • Hi,


    so maybe this is a bit off topic but seeing as I don't follow many forums I thought I'd ask here.


    I wanted to replace pickups in my 2022 am. std. strat, the guitar itself is a very good specimen but I always felt the pickups (I did some research and they turned out to be Tex Tex, the ones with the screws on the bridge pu) to be too punchy for my taste. They have high output and I'm looking for something vintagey. I play mainly blues/rock and the sound I'd like to nail is somewhere between Clapton and SRV (think Aynsley Lister's Purple Rain, or Dan Patlanski).


    After some thought I'd settle for something reminiscent of the early '60s, thing is.. there's a lot of choice and I wonder if you guys have had some experience with this.

    Also, I didn't want to break the bank, I've seen some Lollars I like (more than one, but maybe 64's is what I'm after.. maybe), but they cost like 340e ATM and it's a major expense. I would spend that though if it was really worth it.


    I've heard these Bare Knuckle Boot Camp Old Guard and they seem good and not too expensive, or the RadioShop ones.

    I like Texas Specials but I wouldn't want to fall in the high output again, I need to be able to have chimey cleans.


    So, anyone has had experience or has some advice?

    Thanks.


    PS: I found a nice deal on Lollar blondes, too.

  • Fingers crossed you'll find what you're after. Not really able to give you an advice on the more vintage tone areas as I'm more into the gainer stuff, 70s onward. But maybe you'll find that video series from Rabea helpful, he did a "Strat Tone Journey", four episodes. He tried a lot of different pickups in Strats and made the differences obvious...


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  • Here are the official videos that demo the different Fender pickups.


    Custom '69

    Fat 50's

    Texas Special

    Vintage Noiseless

    Tex Mex


    If you dont know what you want and are not real sure about what you have, it is best to start with a good reference point. Since I was looking for an SRV type sound I went Texas Specials. So I had a reference point I was sure of when trying to dial in the tone. If my tone was off, I knew it was the amp/setup and not the guitar.


    On my strat the neck pickup sounds very dark and bassy. The bridge pickup sounds nice and chimey. There is a large volume difference between the two. So it makes them not super useful for anything other than the SRV type sound. You need a high gain sound to smooth out the changes in volume and tone.


    If I recall, I think I liked the Custom 69s best when watching the vids.

  • For early Clapton... The pickups were all standard Strat pickups; two were original from the mid-50s, and a third was from 1970.


    SRV used Vintage Style Standard '59 pickups on his Number One Strat.

    Larry Mar @ Lonegun Studios. Neither one famous yet.

  • Maybe you’d consider the Fishman Fluence Single Set. there‘s a lot of Information available - I like them pretty much

    I've got a set of their Gristle Tones in my Tele. Best upgrade I've ever made.

    If I were going to replace the pickups in my Strat - these would be my first choice. Hands down.

    “Without music, life would be a mistake.” - Friedrich Nietzsche

  • +1, i did the same, and they don´t only give you 2 amazing sounds, but also they are quiet as humbuckers on stages, where you can´t use single coils.

    Stone quiet. So much so that it was disconcerting at first.

    “Without music, life would be a mistake.” - Friedrich Nietzsche

  • I don't know if Kinman is still selling pickups, but their Woodstock set is what ended up as my final set in my Strat. Just great and quiet, but expensive. They used to do more vintage sets as well.

    It's also hard to go past Lindy Fralin and Tom Anderson - they both make stellar single coils in various outputs.

  • I put a set of Bare Knuckle Mother's Milk in my Strat after being annoyed by the usual loud G-string for a year or so. It's a 60s spec Fender American Original.


    These things just sound killer. They are quite similar to the original pickups but with some more separation and without the string-inbalance. I'm getting great Knopfler and Frusciante-tones. The in-between positions sound a lot better. They manage to be more quacky and more balanced simultaneously somehow. If I really want some oumpff, I raise the middle pickup slightly and it does a decent SRV. If that sound is important to you, you could keep the Tex in the middle.


    I couldn't be more happy. If I want more output, I go for the Tele bridge pickup or just a Les Paul. They are a lot of bang for the buck as well. Especially if you are in the UK but even after duties and stuff they are high-value. That you can choose stagger and polarity also made it easy to get what you want.