Strat Pickup Recommendations?

  • Thread starter Thread starter TrentBizzle
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TrentBizzle
TrentBizzle
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A good friend of mine just loaned me his American Deluxe Strat for an extended period of time since he is no longer playing.
He's allowing me to change whatever I would like....so I'm in search of some pickup recommendations.
I've never owned a strat, or a single coiled guitar for that matter, so I have no clue what is good for such.
The guitar currently has the noiseless SC's that came stock on the A.D. Strats for a long time.

Any input would be much appreciated.
 
Bareknuckle pickups do a range of strat sets and tim over there is mega helpful, just tell him what you want.

i personally have Texas specials in mine, lot of people don't like them but there's a lotta love for them on my part
 
I'm sure any of the offerings from some great boutique winders (MCP, BKP) will sound awesome.

If you're on a budget, I happen to really like the Duncan SSL1 in the neck and middle, and an SSL5 in the bridge. That's a great bang for the buck setup that will cost you $150 or less.
 
RockStarNick":1qlgifj4 said:
I'm sure any of the offerings from some great boutique winders (MCP, BKP) will sound awesome.

If you're on a budget, I happen to really like the Duncan SSL1 in the neck and middle, and an SSL5 in the bridge. That's a great bang for the buck setup that will cost you $150 or less.
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Nick, is that an original deluxe you're playing?

he's right btw, those duncans are great on a budget, and pretty much any boutique winder will reccomend something awesome, BKP's just happen to be my pickup of choice
 
Thanks for the input, guys.
I didn't know if anyone would recommend any of the Suhr stuff....I've been on a bit of a Suhr fascination lately. Thanks to Mr. Thorn.
 
seems to be a lot of love for them, haven't tried them myself but am sure some of the guys will fill you in
 
I have the suhr FL set in one of my strats, they are very nice.

For noiseless options I would recommend the bill Lawerence L280's or L290's. I hear good things about the Dimarzio Virtual vintage pickups too....
 
I'm primarily a high gain/humbucker guy, but I've had an American Standard Strat for about a year now that has been a lot of fun. I've been through a few pickups on it:

- David Gilmour EMG pickguard (what it had when I got it) - very flexible, but after a little while, I felt that it didn't have a lot of personality.

- Fralin Blues Specials - these weren't my bag. To me, I wanted more of a Hendrix/Gilmour vibe than an SRV vibe.

- SSL5/SSL1/SSL1 - Love these. If you look around, you can pick them up for a song used. The SSL5 holds up really well under mid to high gain, still sounds good clean. The SSL1's have quite a bit of sparkle to them.

I haven't tried any of the boutique singles (except that Fralin set), and I had thought about building a dimarzio area pickguard before I picked up the SSL's on a whim. Now, I have no intention of pulling those pickups anytime soon. If anything, I would build a second pickguard for variety and just swap them out from time to time, but that's a pretty low priority for me now.
 
I have Suhr V60LPs in mine and they are great, traditional vintage 60s sounding Strat pickups. They are not a modern sounding pickup but if you are after a true 60s Strat sound they are killer.

Suhr's FLs came out after I put the V60LPs in and are universally praised.
 
The Dimarzio Virtuals are great and the price is right,the suhr V60lps are killer to,but I did replace the neck and middle of my suhr with MCPs and really thought they were an improvement.I just happen to have a neck and middle MCP up in the classifieds if your interested I would carve a sweet deal :D
 
jmgman69":u73g5g8k said:
The Dimarzio Virtuals are great and the price is right,the suhr V60lps are killer to,but I did replace the neck and middle of my suhr with MCPs and really thought they were an improvement.I just happen to have a neck and middle MCP up in the classifieds if your interested I would carve a sweet deal :D
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I also have a set of MCP's in SRV strat and they are great. I'm sure Jason would give you a great deal on them as well. :thumbsup:
 
I've tried tonnes... Duncans, dimmys, kinmans, Fenders.

The only ones I really really liked were the EMG S set (3 single coils). Quiet, dynamic and more stratty than any strat pickup, without the crappy noise.

Number 2 on my list (if I ever had to go passive) were the Fender Custom Fat 60s.
 
I HATED my Kinmans. Very shrill and thin, even for a Strat.
 
For the neck and middle (I prefer a full-sized bucker in the bridge) I like the Virtual Vintages, for no hum. For traditional single coils, I like the Fender Fat 50's and Rio Grande Muy Grandes. The Muys are a bit warmer and fatter than a more traditional glassy/chime single coil Strat sound.
 
blackba":35shb1ia said:
I have the suhr FL set in one of my strats, they are very nice.

For noiseless options I would recommend the bill Lawerence L280's or L290's. I hear good things about the Dimarzio Virtual vintage pickups too....
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Bill Lawrence (wildepickups.com) also offers the noiseless L200's (most vintage Strat-like tone of all his models) and the L45's (rails instead of individual pole pieces). And you absolutely cannot beat the price for the 'boutique' quality.
 
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