Strat Pickup Ideas?

randomhandclaps

OK, I am in the process of putting together a number one/workhorse strat. The pickups are really causing me issues. Despite strats being my favourite guitar I have only kept two over the years. One has vintage pickups and the other is the first run Jeff Beck with the 'Dually' in the bridge. Supposedly IIRC rather than being a straight humbucker it is supposed to be two single coils wire in series. For the new build I was going to go with a good classic set as the tones out of my other strat are lovely. However the flexibility of the H/S/S is both appealing and at points a necessity so it makes sense to head that way BUT I want the look of a classic S/S/S layout. Cost isn't really a worry within reason. 

So in short I want something that looks like a single coil, performs like the "Dually" or more likely a powerful SC or a HB, would sit well with two more classic neck and middle pickups and if it's a HB it could be coil split without sounding awful that would be handy too (but not a necessity).   Any suggestions?

markslade07

Will be watching with interest, very similar to what I'm thinking of doing

ICBM

Get an Oil City tapped single coil.

It won't actually be hum-cancelling in the 'full' mode, but it will be a lot hotter and fatter. In the tapped mode it will sound almost exactly like a normal single coil.

Philly_Q

randomhandclaps said:

So in short I want something that looks like a single coil, performs like the "Dually" or more likely a powerful SC or a HB, would sit well with two more classic neck and middle pickups and if it's a HB it could be coil split without sounding awful that would be handy too (but not a necessity).   Any suggestions?

You want the Moon on a stick.

Could the bridge pickup be a single-coil sized humbucker (Hot Rails, JB Jr, Fast Track or something) or does it actually have to look like a regular single-coil?

If it's the latter, there are powerful single-coils around (including maybe some tappable ones) but I can't think of any stacked humbuckers which would give good split sounds.

steamabacus

Sounds like you want some kind of overwound single coil with a coil tap to something more vintage.

meltedbuzzbox

talk to Marc @Mojopickups

he is the daddy

digitalscream

I've got an Irongear Steel Twin II in my Tele (I believe they do a similarly mental pickup for the Strat). They say it's "dual coil", but it's actually a tapped single. Full-power is about 16k in the Tele version and 18k in the Strat one...they're bonkers, and great fun. They've got the definition of a single coil, with all the madness of an overwound humbucker, and the advantage that just rolling off the volume makes them into a progressively more sensible single coil.

Oh, and they're about £22. You can't go wrong just trying one.

stickyfiddle

Rothwell Hot Little Knob. Replaces your middle tone with a push-pull knob. Down, it's completely stock, but engaged, it gives you various humbucking options using the bridge and middle pickups in series.

I use it with Rio Grande Midbottoms (vintagey neck and middle and hotter, fatter bridge) and I wouldn't be without it.

frankus

I agree with @ICBM about Oil City Pickups, and I agree with @stickyfiddle about the HLK, I love the HLK and Oil City repaired one of my Jess Loueirro Pickups and rewound it, if I had cash I'd be buying some of his pickups for my G3T right now

I use the HLK with a Mojo Pickups version of a Dirty Blonde swapped for the Suhr V60s I had in. Meant I had to lose the SSSC in the Suhr too, worth it for the fat sound of the HLK

Also I hate tone controls on the bridge pickup for some reason.

Joesa

I had a BKP Sinner in the bridge of one of my Strat's and that was a cracking pickup for rock/blues.

ThePrettyDamned

frankus;665817" said:

Also I hate tone controls on the bridge pickup for some reason.

Smart man. I like my bridge to be bright and cutting, if I want something warmer there is the neck pickup or middle.

Started, worryingly, enjoying the middle pickup now...

Oil city could prolly wind you up a tapped pickup.

He's also finalising the design of his first rails single coil sized pickup... Could be very exciting.

randomhandclaps

@ICBM do you know if that's the Rock Splitter? Really tempting. @TheGuitarWeasel if you're around how do you reckon it'd compare with the Dually output and can it be worked into an otherwise 62 sounding set?

grungebob

I've put a Dimarzio BC2 in the bridge, its a rail humbucker tweeked along the lines of the air norton, this thing has huge ammounts of beef and mid range and really works well with gain, the other two singlecoils are stock USA singlecoils and it works very well with them, its 4 conductor too so you could split it in the in between position if you wanted. in short its the best bridge pickup i've ever had in a strat.

IanSavage

digitalscream said:

I've got an Irongear Steel Twin II in my Tele (I believe they do a similarly mental pickup for the Strat). They say it's "dual coil", but it's actually a tapped single. Full-power is about 16k in the Tele version and 18k in the Strat one...they're bonkers, and great fun. They've got the definition of a single coil, with all the madness of an overwound humbucker, and the advantage that just rolling off the volume makes them into a progressively more sensible single coil.

Oh, and they're about £22. You can't go wrong just trying one.

This is almost exactly what I was going to say, love the Steel Twin I've got in my Esquire-alike - although are you sure it's a tapped single Lee? Certainly doesn't hum as much as any single-coil I've come across....

digitalscream

IanSavage said:

This is almost exactly what I was going to say, love the Steel Twin I've got in my Esquire-alike - although are you sure it's a tapped single Lee? Certainly doesn't hum as much as any single-coil I've come across....

Yup. From their site:

Note that this is not a humbucker, or a "noiseless" pickup. It's a true single-coil in both low and high output modes and gives all of the clarity you'd expect from a Telecaster® pickup.

http://www.irongear.co.uk/irongear_pickups_015.htm

IanSavage

digitalscream said:

IanSavage said:

This is almost exactly what I was going to say, love the Steel Twin I've got in my Esquire-alike - although are you sure it's a tapped single Lee? Certainly doesn't hum as much as any single-coil I've come across....

Yup. From their site:

Note that this is not a humbucker, or a "noiseless" pickup. It's a true single-coil in both low and high output modes and gives all of the clarity you'd expect from a Telecaster® pickup.

http://www.irongear.co.uk/irongear_pickups_015.htm

Something new every day! It's REALLY low-noise for a single-coil then; and I might need to check if I've wired my coil-tap on it backwards, what I'd assumed to be the tapped position has a little more hum than the other...

randomhandclaps

Just realised I got Ash's tag wrong in my previous post. @TheGuitarWeasel

Chalky

I like a SD Lil 59 in the bridge.

musicegbdf

Kinmanns with k9 switching...excellent system. No soldering and quality parts.. Great pickups , noiseless. You can deal direct with Chris kinmann in Australia.

guitarcookie1

I have a set of Di Marzio Shockwave pickups that may well be heading to the classifieds soon that might do what you're after?

They're Malmsteen's signature pups from a (good) few years back and are apparently similar to their HS3's. Can be used with or without the jack socket that has a switchable gain/mid boost in it, meaning they can cover both single coil and humbucker tones. 

Roland

ICBM said:

Get an Oil City tapped single coil.

This.