Strat Players - Pickup Selections and bridge/trem preference

ash · Post by **ash** » Tue May 09, 2006 11:26 am

Strat players of NZG!

Tell me about your bridge pickup usage. (and below, bridge preference)

I'm contemplating the possibilities for a so-called "ultimate strat", and the thing that vexes me currently is the bridge pickup. The way I see it, to truly be a strat it needs all three pickups to be single coils. The only concession to that would be to fit a single coil sized humbucker like a JB Jr or similar with coil splitting switch.

Basically, I want to know what STRAT GUYS are most interested in hearing from their bridge pickup position. Pure vintage single-coil tones, a more aggressive, modern SC tone or a ballsy humbucker tone?

If you're not really a 'strat guy', then qualify your comments as such. What LP or Ibanez guys want from a strat is not neccesarily true to the strat ethos. "Strat Guy" meaning those (of whichever gender) who would happily own a strat for no other reason than its inherent strattiness.

My current line of thinking is to run traditional single-coils in the neck and middle positions, maybe one being slightly hotter or fatter sounding. And in the bridge to run something like a JB Jr or lil' 59 with a coil-split to give the option of beastbucker and crisp SC. C^8's mustang has shown that these two pickups do quite well in single-coil mode.

Other possibilities include the various "noiseless SCs", which are actually stacked humbuckers, having a SC sized HB in the neck too for a hidden HSH setup, having all HBs - like Vintage Rails and Duckbuckers or having all true single-coils but with some kind of series wiring arrangement to give the beastbucker options...

Remember we're talking ultimate classic Stratocaster, not Strat that wishes it was a LP or Strat-o-Jackson...

Thoughts?

Gelato · Post by **Gelato** » Tue May 09, 2006 11:45 am

I'm not really known as a "Strat guy" it would seem, but I am

Although my YJM Strat isn't typical of strattiness I suppose

I prefer a stacked HB in the bridge position for sure. I've always found a single coil in the bridge to be too weak if you are using overdrive (maybe true strattiness only involves playing clean though?). My Strat has a SD Cool Rails in the bridge currently, and I think it mixes well with the DiMarzio HS-2/3's in the neck and middle.

I think the main thing I look for in a bridge pickup is a lot of "thick bite" for rhythm playing especially. Standard Strat bridge single coils do the bite bit, but they just sound thin to me. I find that I use the neck pickup a lot more for lead because of it's strattiness.

Strattiness, strattiness, strattiness. I like that word, I'm going to use it more in everyday conversation

abigblackman · Post by **abigblackman** » Tue May 09, 2006 1:01 pm

i personally break out another guitar if i'm going to be doing some fuzzy stuff. have a set of texas specials in it which i find great for almost everything

machina · Post by **machina** » Tue May 09, 2006 4:42 pm

Well, as you know Ash, I have lace sensors in my strat, with a red in the bridge position. It's a bright sounding pickup, and I think it's fairly versatile. It's not necessarily a classic strat sound, but it its pretty ultimate in its own right, and it covers a lot of turf. Oh yeah, it's quite hot as well.

crushing day · Post by **crushing day** » Tue May 09, 2006 5:46 pm

I love inherent 'stratiness', but it's not for the bridge pickup alone.
I've always found the bridge single coil alone as too bright for my liking. The no 2 position is where its at for me. (ooer missus)

My latest regular gigging strat has the Tallboy Humbucker, which when split gives you a Tallboy Single Coil. Gives me maximum stratiness in the 2 position, and a bucker in the bridge.

I've also found the Dimarzio HS 1 , 2 and 3 stacked single coils are good for retaining true strat tones, with less noise and a little more output.

slash-ed · Post by **slash-ed** » Tue May 09, 2006 8:05 pm

i am nowhere close to being a strat player, but i do love their clean single coil sounds (position 2 and 4!)... but for dirty i'd definitely need a humbucker in the bridge position.

Post by Bg » Tue May 09, 2006 8:11 pm

Classic strat tones = 3 single coils, no humbuckers, stacked humbuckers, lace sensors or anything other than one set of windings and lots of hum..... I'm not a purist thankfully - though I love the CS54's I've got in number 1 strat, the noise is tamed with a dummy coil in parallel with all three pups, it kills the noise but the tone is still there. I use all the positions regularly

Kerchang · Post by **Kerchang** » Tue May 09, 2006 9:47 pm

I have my bridge pickup wired in series with the neck - so I hit the bridge switch position (I use a 3 position on my strat) and end up essentially with a big humbucker sampling the strings at the neck and bridge. The result is choice, it sounds big and open - bitey like a strat bridge should be but plenty of volume and fattened up a bit from the neck pick up. I used to have it wired so I could choose between standard bridge or enhanced bridge - but I never really used the standard bridge sound that much again. And hey, it still sounds very much like a strat.

Sicklehut · Post by **Sicklehut** » Tue May 09, 2006 11:00 pm

It all depends on the music being played ... I have had HS3s, Texas Specials, PAF Pro, standard and Seymour Duncan HBs in the bridge ...

The HS3s need plenty of overdrive to make it sound great, as does the HBs
For standand SCs I prefer the 2 and 4 positions for clean sounds, with the bridge SC it sounds too bright unless its overdriven well - and then it becomes the ultimate blues machine

B45-12 · Post by **B45-12** » Wed May 10, 2006 2:34 am

I just use the bog standard pups that come with the guitars (Mexican standard strats, Chinese Squire strat)0 like the trebly bite they have - if I want to thicken them up I use a Marshall style amp boosted in the midrange (turn the trebles down on the amp a bit) and that seems to fatten the sub harmonics or whatever - think Bachman Turner Overdrive, Cold Chisel (star Hotel) etc.

Jenesis · Post by **Jenesis** » Wed May 10, 2006 9:48 am

I just use the bog standard pups that come with the guitars

Yep, me too. Any sound adjustments I want can easily be done with a few knob tweaks (oo-er), plus I'm far too lazy to bother swapping out pickups.

I mostly use the neck pickup on my Strat for that fatter sound. I use the bridge 'un rarely, usually only if I'm doing some Robert Cray icepick blues.

grolschie · Post by **grolschie** » Wed May 10, 2006 11:40 pm

I love the standard strat sounds (I have 80's Standard Fender USA pups), but would love a humbucker in the bridge so I don't have to keep swapping back to my Les Paul so often. However, I don't want the lose the quack/bite/twang of the middle/bridge position, so would need a convincing splittable humbucker.

Any suggestions? I hear of the SD Screamin' Demon, JB Jnr, or Lil '59. Reviews seem to vary among them all though.

ash · Post by **ash** » Thu May 11, 2006 10:06 am

As noted above, I was really impressed with the JB Jr and lil'59 split sounds in the Mustang. I suspect those skinny humbuckers with individual poles are the ones to go for. Probably something medium-high output, prefereably with alnico magnets. The only problem with those individual pole ones is that in the bridge position of a strat, they don't line up with the strings very well when split.

I haven't heard any rail pickups that sound as good when split so far. They don't have that alignment problem though. Half-rail pickups like the Duckbucker and Vintage rails can't be split, because each coil only listens to half the strings.

Probably the most useful for a strat with a full size humbucker in the bridge position is the SD stag-mag or Rio Grande Muy Grande thing that BG has. They are just like two single coils joined together.

I'm seriously considering making my own pickups for my guitars, so I will be trying those kinds of things myself.

ash · Post by **ash** » Thu May 11, 2006 10:15 am

Thanks for the input, guys. Your comments have mostly confirmed my preference for something a little more versatile in the bridge position.

I have another question for you:

Again in the context of classic strattiness, what is your bridge preference?

There are three reasonably authentic, classic stratty options: Vintage 6-screw trem, Hardtail or Modern 2-point fulcrum trem like a Wilkinson VS100 or similar....

No, Floyds are for super strats, not classic strats.
My current preference is for a wilkinson with some kind of locking mechanism to fix the trem when its not being used or when a string breaks. Hardtail is very tempting though.

How say you, savages?

crushing day · Post by **crushing day** » Thu May 11, 2006 11:12 am

I always fix my strat bridges down hard against the body, so either that option or hardtail

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Strat Players - Pickup Selections and bridge/trem preference

Strat Players - Pickup Selections and bridge/trem preference

My 2 cents