Strat pup favorites?

[Steinmetzify]

Tentatively picking up an 87-88 MIJ Strat tomorrow......figuring I'm gonna have to change pickups eventually, and wondering about people's favorites....mostly looking at preloaded PGs, as I'm not that handy and I don't want to mess with different outputs/manufacturers....this is mostly gonna be used for blues/mellower stuff, but I want some heat sometimes. Couple examples:

I know this is a low output humbucker set, but I'm digging the cleans and that breakup he's getting at 1:25...that just kills me, and I WANT it.

I really love the articulation here.....dude has some great bluesy stuff going on and it flows free and easy.

Would be going into clean channel of my modded Single Rec (which is one of the best I've played) or vintage/raw on the Red channel, with some delay thrown in on both.

TL;DR: Give me Strat preloaded PG recommendations for cleans on the neck and some heat on the bridge.

As always, thanks guys. RT is the KNOWLEDGE.

 

[glpg80]

Novak pickups. He was trained in the fender shop and winds to fender original specs. His vintage winds are by far the best single coils in terms of dynamics i have ever played. SD and Dimarzio have nothing on this guy. He made an allparts strat sound better than a fender standard.

http://curtisnovak.com/pickups/stratocaster.shtml

He sells a drop in kit.

I have plans to own a fender strat with his pickups, and another strat for the shredder type stuff.

 

[H Golf Sport]

Van Zandt v+ are nice as are fender cs, Duncan antiquity or Duncan alnico2's
Acme pickups sells prewired guards.

 

[Badronald]

Dimarzio VV Heavy Blues
Injectors

 

[Steinmetzify]

Novak pickups. He was trained in the fender shop and winds to fender original specs. His vintage winds are by far the best single coils in terms of dynamics i have ever played. SD and Dimarzio have nothing on this guy. He made an allparts strat sound better than a fender standard.

http://curtisnovak.com/pickups/stratocaster.shtml

He sells a drop in kit.

I have plans to own a fender strat with his pickups, and another strat for the shredder type stuff.

Much thanks, man.....I've read a bunch of your posts, and you're knowledgeable beyond belief....checking into his stuff now.

Van Zandt v+ are nice as are fender cs, Duncan antiquity or Duncan alnico2's
Acme pickups sells prewired guards.

Checking out the VZs!

Dimarzio VV Heavy Blues
Injectors

Injectors sound killer, man.

 

[glpg80]

Much thanks, man.....I've read a bunch of your posts, and you're knowledgeable beyond belief....checking into his stuff now.

I beg to differ on the knowledge - i know for a fact many other members would argue as well

I do not support the custom stuff often - normally i use and recommend SD or Dimarzio's for just about anything. But with the strat tone and scatter wound dynamics, there are many picking dynamics that come alive that other pickups just fail to re-create. Novak does not get much love on RT but i have been pressing his pickups for years. I had a the chance to meet him and his shop before he moved to CA - great guy and very knowledgeable - highly recommended dude

 

[racerevlon]

You want the Dimarzio Injector pre-wired pick guard (FG2108A9). If you want hotter, go with the high output model (FG2108A7--one of my personal favorites... Humbucking bridge but still classic hot strat sounds), or if you want lower, more Classic output go with the Area pick guard (FG2108A4). The others will be too weird and no matter what the description says the HS-3, at only 93mV of output it's not a candidate for, "classic metal tones." The Billy Corgan is a mud factory and the Classic, while sounding classic strat doesn't hum-cancel or have the oomph to get you where you want to go.

Hope this helps. If you decide on a different configuration and you're in the LA area let me know... I'll do a solder job for you

 

[Mudder]

If I want hot I get Rio Grande muy grande balanced set. If I want quiet but not sterile I get Wilde L280/298 set.

 

[blackba]

Not sure if you want straight singles or noiseless.

For straight singles I really like the suhr ml set.

For noiseless the dimarzio areas and bill lawerences are nice.

I am not a fan of the rwrp middle pickup, to me while it does kill the hum, it also kills the quack of thos positions.

 

[Steinmetzify]

Checking em all out guys......keep em coming...that's 2 votes for the Areas, which were on my radar. Race, I wish I was, but alas not yet. Hoping sometime in the next couple years...I really want to be able to walk into the Luxxtone/Tone Merchants and buy their stuff in person.

Reza, was hoping you were gonna chime in; you got sick tone...thanks man. Those sound great.

 

[Red_Label]

Got a friend who recommended Duncan Hot Stack (bridge) and Cool Stacks (middle and neck). They sounded awesome in his Strat. And they sound awesome in mine! After years of trying so many singles/stacks, these are my favorite. I can get that traditional single-coil quack, but with extra bite when I want it and without the hum. They are slightly fatter than traditional singles, but still have the quack. I love 'em and will be putting another set in my other Strat before long. In fact, I went head to head with an Anderson Classic strat over the weekend that I was demo'ing, and though I prefer the Anderson over my Fender and G&L Strats... I prefer the Cool Stacks in the middle and bridge positions to the stock Anderson singles. If/when I end-up with the Anderson, I think I'll buy some Cool Stacks for it.

 

[shgshg]

My faves, depending on the tone of the guitar of course:

Lace Hot Gold 6k set
Muy Grande Dual Calibrated set
Fender Texas Specials - OEM not Custom Shop because the CS models have a crappy magnet stagger
The ever-reliable Seymour Duncan SSL-2, SSL-2, SSL-6 set

 

[fishyfishfish]

Harmonic design

 

[SFW]

I'm a big fan of Fender's Fat 50s pickups. You can get a loaded pickguard with them for under $200 on eBay all day long.

 

[luxxtone]

For noiseless, I really like the DiMarzio stuff. A heavy blues in the bridge with Area '61 or '67's in the neck and middle sounds great.

For standard, there's so many good ones. I've had great luck with Fralin, Van Zandt, Klein, Bare Knuckle…… A Fralin set with a Blues Special in the bridge, and 2 vintage hots in the neck and middle is always a fantastic go-to combination. I can custom load up a pickguard for you with any of these if you want. There's also some other places that will do the same.

 

[AmpliFIRE]

Fender CS '69 pickups are my favs followed by Fender Fat 50's. No need to look at any high dollar or boutique strat pups, Fender's are still great.

 

[Steinmetzify]

For noiseless, I really like the DiMarzio stuff. A heavy blues in the bridge with Area '61 or '67's in the neck and middle sounds great.

For standard, there's so many good ones. I've had great luck with Fralin, Van Zandt, Klein, Bare Knuckle…… A Fralin set with a Blues Special in the bridge, and 2 vintage hots in the neck and middle is always a fantastic go-to combination. I can custom load up a pickguard for you with any of these if you want. There's also some other places that will do the same.

Nice Jerry.....thanks for the offer. I go that way, I'll be in touch.

Fender CS '69 pickups are my favs followed by Fender Fat 50's. No need to look at any high dollar or boutique strat pups, Fender's are still great.

I've heard they're the bomb....just looking at all the options, you know? That's the RT way!

Thanks guys.....enough research here for a day or so.