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?
My muse is not a horse and art is not a race.
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"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
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.
I use it with Rio Grande Midbottoms (vintagey neck and middle and hotter, fatter bridge) and I wouldn't be without it.
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.
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.