Getting more beef out of Strat bridge pickup

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blackba

blackba

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I love strats, but I have long disliked the bridge pickup alone. Generally sounds too thin and piercing. So 2 of my strats I put humbuckers in the bridge. On my third MIA strat, its a SSS with Suhr FL standard pickups. I am not getting along very will with the bridge alone position and would like some more versatility out of this guitar. The only bridge SC sound I have liked in a strat is the Fender cobalt noiseless SCN bridge, but that pickups was a stacked SC and super hot at 12K, but that set has long been sold and the SCN bridge did not get along well with the other SCNs in the neck and middle.

I was thinking of trying one of these Lindy Fralin Bass plates. Any one tried one? http://www.massstreetmusic.com/store/show_item/5022

Or should I just trade this strat for a Tele. :)
 
I´m much in the same boat, and I´ve found a solution with the Dimarzio Virtual Solo. Sure, it´s a hot and fat stack but it still retains a very nice singlecoil vibe.
 
check out the new duncan yjm bridge. Its nothing like the domarzio hs-3, very full sounding and almost sounds like a real humbucker. I also think the Kinman Blues Bridge has a pretty beefy sound as well.
 
APC 400 bridge or Fralin SP42 or 43. That'll bring the beef while you will still know its a SC.

Also, what worked for me as I was in the same boat as you was the Super Midrange kit I bought from Torres Eng. years ago. If they are still around, they should still have it. If not, I'm sure you could find the plans for these somewhere. It's just an inductor and resistor. Turning this thing up adds a bit of mids and smooths out the highs. I wired it directly to the bridge pickup so it's only on that pickup, but you could wire it for all (the standard way). This is nice because you can turn it down when you want to get clean and still get some twang if you want. All the way up is a mid boost, middle is stock tone, and lower than that pulls some mids out.

The effect is subtle, but is all you really need. Just take the edge off that SC. A regular tone control didn't do it for me, but this did. Cheap too so if you don't like it, you're not out much. Passive also. If you like the Fender noiseless it's worth checking it out on that pickup before swapping to something else. May be all you need.
 
I'm getting along swimmingly with the Texas Special set that came in my American Special. I was intending to swap it out for a Dimarzio Air Norton S, but every time I play it, I never find myself wishing it was any different... it just sounds great, and I've had three people comment that if they weren't looking at the guitar they would swear it was a humbucker...
 
I have a set of single coils that Lindy wound for my Burton Tele, which is essentially a Tele shaped Strat. I had him add the bass plate to the bridge and although it fattens things up a bit but its not a huge difference. Something like the Duncan JB Jr or Lil Screamin Demon might be closer to what you want.
 
Stacked singles will yield plenty o' beef - Hot Rails, Tone Zone, Lil' 59 etc....

but if you want to keep the single coil I have had great luck with a Seymour Duncan Booster pedal. Resonance switches and boost. You can make a single sound fatter and like a humbucker......
 
racerevlon":2478s02x said:
I'm getting along swimmingly with the Texas Special set that came in my American Special. I was intending to swap it out for a Dimarzio Air Norton S, but every time I play it, I never find myself wishing it was any different... it just sounds great, and I've had three people comment that if they weren't looking at the guitar they would swear it was a humbucker...
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I agree!

I bought an American Special (Candy apple red :thumbsup: ) and those pickups are really cool.

One of my all time favorite pickups is the Di Marzio FS-1. It is a single coil, but its killer, you should check that one.
 
The most important thing to do is make sure the rear tone pot is wired to the bridge pickup. Makes all the difference. Roll it back to about 7 and you'll be shocked at how fat a stacked bucker sounds. I like the Dimarzio Virtual Vintage Heavy Blues 2 and my new favorite is the Dimarzio Paul Gilbert Injector. Very big, ballsy, loud and open. GREAT pickup. :rock:
 
My buddy has a JB Jr. in the bridge of his and sounds pretty damn good.
 
here's a curve ball

lawrence 280L bridge pickup. ceramic and not as sweet for clean, but one of the best lead single coil bridge pickups i've heard.
 
+1 on the Dimarzio Injectors... so far I've only tried the neck model but it sounds GREAT!!!
 
racerevlon said:
I'm getting along swimmingly with the Texas Special set that came in my American Special. I was intending to swap it out for a Dimarzio Air Norton S, but every time I play it, I never find myself wishing it was any different... it just sounds great, and I've had three people comment that if they weren't looking at the guitar they would swear it was a humbucker...[/qu

what ohms is it??
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PM Yngzaklynch...whatever he has in the bridge of his strat, sounds amazing :thumbsup:
 
Badronald":1n3jbmja said:
The most important thing to do is make sure the rear tone pot is wired to the bridge pickup. Makes all the difference. Roll it back to about 7 and you'll be shocked at how fat a stacked bucker sounds. I like the Dimarzio Virtual Vintage Heavy Blues 2 and my new favorite is the Dimarzio Paul Gilbert Injector. Very big, ballsy, loud and open. GREAT pickup. :rock:
Click to expand...

I already have the tone pot wired to the bridge pickup, that does help some, it just still sounds a bit thin and weak for my liking. The point of having this strat is having one with 3 single coils as I have other strats with humbuckers in the bridge. I want this one to be different in that way as I like the middle/Bridge setting a lot.

If I change out the bridge pickup to a noiseless SC, I am going to change them all. I see the issue I am describing is common on strats. Even though I consider myself a strat guy, I always felt like I was cheating by having humbuckers in the bridge. That is why I bought this SSS strat in the first place.

Here is a picture of my strat family. The One in the middle is the SSS obviously....
strats_02.jpg
 
jcj":yzzcjkou said:
PM Yngzaklynch...whatever he has in the bridge of his strat, sounds amazing :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestion, I will send him a message.
 
I see what looks like a SD Hot Rails in that one strat. I replaced my SD Hot Rails with the APC 400 and Torres mid control and never missed the SD. SC sound, only bigger and fatter without the mud of the SD.
 
blackba":232wy7xu said:
Badronald":232wy7xu said:
The most important thing to do is make sure the rear tone pot is wired to the bridge pickup. Makes all the difference. Roll it back to about 7 and you'll be shocked at how fat a stacked bucker sounds. I like the Dimarzio Virtual Vintage Heavy Blues 2 and my new favorite is the Dimarzio Paul Gilbert Injector. Very big, ballsy, loud and open. GREAT pickup. :rock:
Click to expand...

I already have the tone pot wired to the bridge pickup, that does help some, it just still sounds a bit thin and weak for my liking. The point of having this strat is having one with 3 single coils as I have other strats with humbuckers in the bridge. I want this one to be different in that way as I like the middle/Bridge setting a lot.

If I change out the bridge pickup to a noiseless SC, I am going to change them all. I see the issue I am describing is common on strats. Even though I consider myself a strat guy, I always felt like I was cheating by having humbuckers in the bridge. That is why I bought this SSS strat in the first place.

Here is a picture of my strat family. The One in the middle is the SSS obviously....
strats_02.jpg
Click to expand...

I'm a hardcore Strat guy and I've never had a real single coil in the bridge position of a Stratocaster for longer than a week. They don't work for me. They never will. I don't feel like i'm "cheating".

A guitar is a tool and it needs to do a job. Do whatever you need to do to it to get the job done. :yes:
 
boost":1jwulu2k said:
I see what looks like a SD Hot Rails in that one strat. I replaced my SD Hot Rails with the APC 400 and Torres mid control and never missed the SD. SC sound, only bigger and fatter without the mud of the SD.
Click to expand...

That one of the left is my MIM strat (first guitar) and yes it has a SD hot rails in the bridge. Never had trouble with mud on the hot rails. Fairly recently I rewired the 2nd tone push pull pot to make it a series/parallel and loved the parallel mode.

I googled the APC 400 and amp not sure who makes that pickup, nothing came up.

I am actually kicking around just selling the MIA SSS strat in the middle.
 
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