Pickups for my Deluxe Strat

  • Thread starter Thread starter ibanez4life SZ!
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ibanez4life SZ!

ibanez4life SZ!

Well-known member
Hey guys!

Time to make some changes on this guitar. I love the guitar itself, but hate the pickups...I've given it some time, in hopes of them finding a place in my playing, but I find myself not ever plugging the guitar in because of them.

Here is the guitar in question...is the body wood swamp ash? I've never been 100% sure...yes, it does have a route for a bucker under the pickguard.

100_0245.jpg


My other guitars all carry fairly high gain pickups...though I don't need this one to be CRAZY hot (like my PRS Tremontis, for example) I would like it to keep up in the high gain department.I should mention that I HATE when pickups have too little output, making it hard to get any fluidity or sustain.

I believe I'd like to go with a humbucker in the bridge, and a stacked single in the neck. Looking at guitars like this brought me to Andy Timmons and Joe Satriani...both strat style guitars loaded with Dimarzio pickups in this configuration.

Any good ideas for pickups here? From my research looking into Dimarzio, the cruiser bridge, air norton S, or Pro Track seem to be popular for the stacked neck pickups...as for the bridge, the breed, fred, Timmons AT-1, or mo' joe seem pretty cool. On the duncan camp, the Custom Custom seems to be like a cool choice for a hotter strat.

Another option all together is drop a Suhr Aldrich in the bridge of the strat...had one of those before, and that is a COOL pickup!

I'm completely open to ANY ideas, so I'd love to hear what you have to say!

Eric
 
I had an ash-bodied ESP strat with the following:

Bridge: PAF Pro
Middle: Cruiser bridge
Neck: Fast Track 1

It was one of the best sounding guitars I ever owned. I endorsed ESP for many years and recently switched to another brand... so I sold off the ESPs... I wouldn't be getting any use out of it so there was no sense for me in keeping it.

Anyway, my point being these are the pickups I'd recommend in an Ash/Maple HSS strat.
 
That's definitely ash although you really can't tell by looking at it if its swamp or northern. Typically swamp ash will be much lighter in weight than northern...if your guitar is on the light side its probably swamp.

I have a swamp ash Anderson Classic that sounds amazing. Swap in a loaded pickguard with an H2+ in the bridge, an SA1R in the middle, and an SA2 in the neck and you'll be very happy...everything from funk and blues to rock and metal will be at your disposal. If you try it and don't like it, I'll buy those pickups from you.
 
It's Swamp Ash.
I have the exact same guitar bought it new in the mid '90s.
Had tons of pickups in it over the years. Still trying to find a neck/ middle pickup I like for it.
Currently have a mini JB in the bridge with a 250k pot w/no tone control wired to it. Really liking the JB/ 250k pot in it for the past year or so.
Now I'm looking for a nice liquid-y QUIET neck single coil for it.
 
glad to see you've still got that guitar :)
someday i'll have to find another one. good luck with the pickup selection!
 
tone zone has nice mids and a full sound. good luck on your choice. :thumbsup:
 
ibanez4life SZ!":2ldn307f said:
Hey guys!

Time to make some changes on this guitar. I love the guitar itself, but hate the pickups...I've given it some time, in hopes of them finding a place in my playing, but I find myself not ever plugging the guitar in because of them.

Here is the guitar in question...is the body wood swamp ash? I've never been 100% sure...yes, it does have a route for a bucker under the pickguard.

100_0245.jpg


My other guitars all carry fairly high gain pickups...though I don't need this one to be CRAZY hot (like my PRS Tremontis, for example) I would like it to keep up in the high gain department.I should mention that I HATE when pickups have too little output, making it hard to get any fluidity or sustain.

I believe I'd like to go with a humbucker in the bridge, and a stacked single in the neck. Looking at guitars like this brought me to Andy Timmons and Joe Satriani...both strat style guitars loaded with Dimarzio pickups in this configuration.

Any good ideas for pickups here? From my research looking into Dimarzio, the cruiser bridge, air norton S, or Pro Track seem to be popular for the stacked neck pickups...as for the bridge, the breed, fred, Timmons AT-1, or mo' joe seem pretty cool. On the duncan camp, the Custom Custom seems to be like a cool choice for a hotter strat.

Another option all together is drop a Suhr Aldrich in the bridge of the strat...had one of those before, and that is a COOL pickup!

I'm completely open to ANY ideas, so I'd love to hear what you have to say!

Eric
Click to expand...

I don't like to recommend ANYTHING as far as amps or guitars without hearing someone play because a yumyum can make a $3000 guitar and $4000 amp sound like shit and there will always be someone asking the world famous, "cANSz tHISZ aMPS d0ES the METAelz". If they're stupid enough to think certain amps were made to only play certain music..then how do you advice or help someone that stupid? By you saying: "I should mention that I HATE when pickups have too little output, making it hard to get any fluidity or sustain". That sounds suspect to me..I don't get that statement at all, I must have not read the "GAIN and Sustain MUST come from pickups", memo. Gain comes from AMPS and/or Pedals, Sustain comes form AMPS and/or PEDALS yes some pickups have more gain/output than others but if you rely on pickups to get gain, output or sustain then you need to learn how sound, guitars and amps work. Always get the cleanest pickups you could get and then use amps and pedals to get everything else. You'll learn why one of these days, to long to explain and if you've never recorded then you won't understand. You don't have to get Jazz or Blues clean pickups..sure you want good output but 98% of pickups available have more than enough already. The Lil' 59s for Strats are the perfect pickups for them especially in Ash bodies. Go for the frequencies or EQ you want not the output. Looking at that grain, it looks like Ash.

I have 2 Deluxe Strats that I love and to me they're the perfect guitar. One I have with 2 Pearly Gate HBs and the other one with 59s all around. You name it, they can play it. "mETEALzs", 80s Metal, Blues, Rock..all of it.

Forgot to add, beautiful guitar..you'll never go wrong with it. Keep it and master it, it'll reward you. Nothing like a Strat or a Les Paul! :rock:
 
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