Strat pickup advice needed

daveyh

So, my strat (swamp ash, maple fingerboard) has BKP Mothers Milks fitted. Whilst they’re brilliant, I do hear a harshness in the top end, particularly on the bridge pickup. The BKP site says the Irish Tours are the equivalent for maple boards, I’m also thinking SD SSL1’s maybe with a SSL5 at the bridge. 

Any other suggestions? Use this for Southern rock

sweepy

Try fitting a metal baseplate to the bridge pickup, works on some andnot others but it’s cheap and worth a try

menamestom

I found Mothers Milk nice enough but a bit thin.

I have an SSL6 bridge which is fat sounding, so assume the SSL5 would be very similar as only the pole stagger is different.   

finest1

have you tried rolling the tone off a bit? I've never liked the strat bridge tone, too spiky for me, that's why I always the tone off

crunchman

finest1 said:

have you tried rolling the tone off a bit? I've never liked the strat bridge tone, too spiky for me, that's why I always the tone off

If it's traditional Strat wiring then the bridge pickup isn't wired to a tone control.  It's easy to modify to put the tone on the bridge, and it may well help.  Even with the tone on 10, it will still tame it a bit.

Whitecat

Fender Pure Vintage 59s are about my favourite Strat pickups at the moment precisely because the top end on the bridge is remarkably dark. 

Flame_Guitars

So many Strat players tell me that they find the bridge pickup "brittle", "harsh" or "spiky". Before going to the expense of changing pickups it may be worth modifying the tone pots so that the pot nearest the volume pot controls the neck and middle pickup and the second tone pot controls the bridge alone. There are no right and wrongs here, more about the type of pickups you have fitted and how much you use the tone controls. An even easier option is to set the profile of the bridge pickup profile flat. By that I mean lower the treble side of the pickup and raise the bass side. This gives a bit more mid and bass to the pickup.

timmypix

If you want to stay BKP, baseplated Irish Tour would do it, or if you want something a bit sweeter a baseplated Apache - the idea is generally Apaches for maple, Mother's Milks for rosewood and Irish Tour for more mids and output.
If you're exploring other brands, there are so many options - can't go wrong with Duncans.

daveyh

I have it wired with the tone to the bridge, with a treble bleed on there too. I do use the tone, but don’t want to use it to correct the sound, want the pickups right to start with.

MichaelAT

It's your guitar of course, but I really wonder why you don't want to work the volume pot. If you check out what many successful players do, they constantly tweak vol+tone. That's why these things are on a guitar! It is common wisdom that it's easy to tame the highs of a bright guitar/pickup, but you cannot add sparkle and chime to a dark pickup. FWIW, I have my bridge tone pot on 5-6ish most of the time.

When you say you play Southern Rock, would you consider using a HB as the bridge pickup? I think that would make a lot of sense if you really want to swap.

paulnb57

A little radical perhaps, I have a bit of a thing for BK Sinner at the bridge then for the hell of it tried a BK Sinner neck pockup, at the bridge location, works an absolute treat, its 15k with a baseplate rather than the 21.5k of the dedicated bridge pickup. IMO both are nowhere near as hot as the output suggests, neck pickup at the bridge loses the lack of body and shrillness inherent in many Strat bridge pickups without the higher output of the bridge Sinner...

Funkfingers

daveyh said:

swamp ash, maple fingerboard … harshness in the top end, particularly on the bridge pickup. 

No surprises there, then.

What strings are you using on your Stratocaster? It might be possible to tame some of the harsh treble by changing to mellower-sounding strings.

daveyh said:

I’m also thinking SD SSL1’s maybe with a SSL5 at the bridge. 

Of the Duncan range, for your brief, I suggest either the APS-1 Alnico II Pro or SSL52-1 Five-Two models for neck and centre positions. Plus, something in the 9 to 11k range for the bridge position. If you want an SSL-5, I suggest ordering the coil-tapped version.

Other replacement pickup brands are available.

richardhomer

Funkfingers said:

daveyh said:

swamp ash, maple fingerboard … harshness in the top end, particularly on the bridge pickup. 

No surprises there, then.

Depends on the guitar....

I had a Pure Vintage 59 Reissue (alder body/rosewood board) which I moved on in favour of a 56 CS Relic (Ash body/1 piece maple neck).

In spite of having fitted a baseplate to the bridge pick-up of the 59 - it was thin and bright in every position. The 56 played back to back - through the same amp on the same settings - was thicker with far greater depth.

thegummy

Isn't the idea that there's enough difference between maple and rosewood fretboards to make a pickup harsh on one and not the other a bit far fetched?

FastEddie

Staying with BKP and sharing your view on the spiky nature of the bridge, I have the 63 Veneer Board (with metal base plate) set as well as the tone mod for the bridge pup, in my Delux. 

Sounds just awesome. Rich but trebly (is that a word?). Takes drive with ease.

daveyh

thegummy said:

Isn't the idea that there's enough difference between maple and rosewood fretboards to make a pickup harsh on one and not the other a bit far fetched?

Well, I’m finding it harsh and perusing the BKP site they specify a difference, so I’m happy enough with that.

daveyh

FastEddie said:

Staying with BKP and sharing your view on the spiky nature of the bridge, I have the 63 Veneer Board (with metal base plate) set as well as the tone mod for the bridge pup, in my Delux. 

Sounds just awesome. Rich but trebly (is that a word?). Takes drive with ease.

That sounds promising!

daveyh

MichaelAT said:

It's your guitar of course, but I really wonder why you don't want to work the volume pot. If you check out what many successful players do, they constantly tweak vol+tone. That's why these things are on a guitar! It is common wisdom that it's easy to tame the highs of a bright guitar/pickup, but you cannot add sparkle and chime to a dark pickup. FWIW, I have my bridge tone pot on 5-6ish most of the time.

When you say you play Southern Rock, would you consider using a HB as the bridge pickup? I think that would make a lot of sense if you really want to swap.

I do work the volume pot, and the tone too. But I use them to extend the tonal options, not correct them. And sparkle/chime isn’t what’s happening, it’s a harshness to the sound quality that hopefully can be corrected by a pickup swap.

robgilmo

Can you drop the height a tad?