Stratocaster pickup recommendations

guitarfishbay

Hey guys.

I'm looking to move back to real single coils from Dimarzio Areas on my 06 Alder body / Rosewood board US Standard Strat.  The Areas work as advertised for high gain but I don't feel that they represent my Strat properly with clean and mid gain sounds.  For reference, the set I have is a '61 in the bridge and '67s in the middle and neck.  The only other mods the guitar has is a Callaham block and saddles.

I'm not sure where to start, my budget would be around £200, but I would prefer to spend less if possible.

I just want a set that sounds 'like a strat', which I'm aware isn't very helpful at all.  I thought the stock pickups were decent, if a bit flat sounding.  I wouldn't want to go much hotter than what they were.  

The Strat tones I most enjoy are Hendrix and John Mayer.  I'm not worried about trying to cover high gain tones with a Strat any more as I've decided I prefer using humbuckers for those sounds.

I know I don't want something spikey, hard, gritty, or edgy.  I would love something with smooth overtones that has a recognisable quack in positions 2 + 4.  I like my neck pickup to sound deep and I don't want my strat pickup to be all teeth (it is hooked up to a tone control too).

I'll be using it with a Mesa Roadster and most likely V30 cabs.

Thanks

nickp

http://www.oilcitypickups.co.uk/strat.html

i've got em - why not ask @theguitarweasel which ones he recommends to get the sound that you want

certainly the neck and middle on mine are fab.  Ive gone for the ironman in the bridge which might be a bit full-on for what you are after

if you are anywhere near bristol you would be welcome to have a play

nick

impmann

Paging Ash... Paging Ash...

EdGrip

There was a guy on the old MR forum who was regarded as something of a strat pickup whizz... Can't remember who. If Marc at Mojo pickups makes start pickups like he makes tele pickups, he'd be worth talking to!
- Ed

OilCityPickups

Calling Elvis?????
If you were going for my pickle-pups you'd have a choice of two flavours ... before going fully custom of course .
My Rocket 55s which are alnico 5 and at the lowest wind that could be considered standard. Quite woody, with a slightly hollow mid (these are not RWRP middle as standard) ... but these may be too toppy for your tastes.
My Triple Blues is my most popular set, and equates to a late sixties type of sound. At the top end of what would be considered a standard wind in output 6.5k, 6.5k 7.2k with again alnico 5 ... but these have a lot more detail and 'wood' than machine winds of this power due to a wide scatter pattern ... flush poles come as standard. There is a nice demo of that pickup set here by one of the forum chaps.
Either pickup set is available with flush alnico 2 or 3 magnets or any combination at no extra cost ... though at the moment for a few extra days wait

Kebabkid

Fralin Blues are good and combine well with humbuckers.
I think Suhr MLs (Standards) are also good and you might find that you don't miss a humbucker with these and they're very glassy and quacky.

bandmaster188

How about a set of bare knuckle slow hands all fitted with base plates for a touch of extra fatness . Just taken a set out of my strat, nudge nudge, wink wink

mike_l

A mate of mine had Texas Specials in his old Strat, they sounded awesomes.

The Duncans which came as standard in my Koa Strat are loverly (I can't remember the model though)

Failing that, giving Ash or Hayden a call would be a worth while action.

meltedbuzzbox

I would strongly recommend Bare Knuckle Mothers Milk

To be honest everything in their range seems great and I don't think you would go wrong.

There is always oilcity as stated above. Ash has a very, very good reputation on here for great service and delivering a great product.

steamabacus

guitarfishbay said:

I know I don't want something spikey, hard, gritty, or edgy.  I would love something with smooth overtones that has a recognisable quack in positions 2 + 4.  I like my neck pickup to sound deep and I don't want my strat pickup to be all teeth (it is hooked up to a tone control too).

I have a set of Seymour Duncan Alnico II Pros in an Ibanez Blazer. I would say they fit that description pretty well.

exocet

Can recommend Ozones from Wizard Pickups for Mayer type tones . There's a clip somewhere on Youtube that shows them.

crunchman

Got Fralin Vintage Hots in mine. Very happy with them. I do have a baseplate on the bridge pickup to fatten it up a bit.  Neck pickup is stunning. 

exocet

stickyfiddle

+1 for Mothers Milks with the caveat that the vintage staggered ones have a weak B string if your strat has a 10"+ radius. They're great pickups for the Hendrixy thing.

BUT... I'm currently using Rio Grande a Midbottom set. That comes with a Halfbreed in the bridge that has wider polepieces to give extra fatness- *just* enough to stop it being thin and shrill while keeping it sounding like a proper Strat. It's absolutely the best Strat set I've ever used.

monquixote

@TheGuitarWeasel and @Van_Hayden would be my first two ports of call. 

I've tried a lot of pickups and these guys are both up there with the best and unlike going with someone like SD you can talk to them.

I have Sweet 62s in a Strat and they are probably close to what you describe very mellow and vintage. 

I would avoid Texas Specials or the many similar types as they are very ice picky and also the Fender noiseless as they don't sound like proper strat pickups to me.

hywelg

I had Texas Specials before swapping them out for Fralin Blues Specials, like night and day, the Texas Sp's just do not compare.

When I put together my hotrod strat I took the Blues Specials out of the neck and middle and installed Vintage Hots. I like that combination better, bridge is not as quacky. I now have the Blues Specials in Neck and Middle and a Fralin Unbucker in the bridge of the Hot rod strat. Again, a great combination I reckon.

crunchman

monquixote said:

I would avoid Texas Specials or the many similar types as they are very ice picky and also the Fender noiseless as they don't sound like proper strat pickups to me.

+1

exocet

I was going to say in my empty post above that I preferred Wizard Pickups Ozones to either Fralin Blues Specials (with Bridge Base Plate) or Lollar Dirty Blackface...but as Andy has hung up his Winding gear (see other post on Wizard), they're no longer available

jmaster

I have bare knuckle Irish tours in mine which I'm really happy with, they're on the hotter end of things, especially the bridge pickup, but they don't lose any of that strattyness (which is a word now.) 

guitarfishbay

Thanks guys.

As I expected, lots of different options!  I will be youtubing and googling this weekend to check them out.

noisepolluter

I recently installed a set of Oil City Triple Blues in a Schecter strat-type guitar to replace the stock pickups which were quite hot but lacking in sparkle. I'm extremely pleased with the Triple Blues.