So many picups to choose from, only two guitars!

Looking for some advice on pickups. I own an American standard Fender Strat and I am looking for a more livelier pick-up setup but I do not want to lose that classic strat sound. Would I lose that classic sound by putting a single coil-humbucker in the bridge.

I also own an old Squire strat, my first guitar, with a humbucker in the bridge position. As being my "first" I cannot let it go and would like to use it again for the heavier music I play (Metallica, LP, etc.) but I need more crunch from the pickups. It has a humbucker and two single coils.

Any recommendations would be appreicated!

Strat6

u mean, "if u put a humbucker to the strats bridge..." eh?
yeah ur talkin about fat strat, sure they r not sounds like strat. but some people like it, because of the distortion capability. fat strats r not cool in clean tone. u can never get typical sweet tone of strat. but u wanna smthin "livelier", so go for it... ;)

i wish i can get a genuine fender btw. i dont wanna get squier axe. theyr ok in price/performance, but i dont like them...

So maybe I stick with the classic strat and improve the Squire. I can't let the Squire go because we've been through so much together! I haven't played it in years and I was even considering re-painting it, it's got this early 90's electric blue finish. I am also too cheap to but another guitar, so that is why I am look at a pick up solution.

Don't listen to that guy.

Putting a bridge humbucker into your Strat will still leave 3/5 of your "classic" Strat tone intact (the important 3/5, if you ask me) and putting a coil tap in for that humbucker will give you the option of letting the remaining 2/5 sound pretty close. As you know, Stratocasters are very versitile guitars to begin with and a bridge humbucker (especially one with a coil tap) would only increase that versitility.

You also might want to look into changing out the whole set of pickups for Texas Specials or Noiseless Singlecoils -- either would give you a very "traditional" Strat tone, but with more output and a "fatter" tone.

Since you do have a Squire that you can tinker on, you can always test out any ideas you get on that then transfer the electronics over to the American Strat if you like the results.

Originally Posted by: RaskolnikovDon't listen to that guy.

sorry if i screwed... :confused:

Originally Posted by: redspecialsorry if i screwed... :confused:

[font=trebuchet ms]Everybody has an opinion. It's up to people to decide on their own whether they agree or not. In this case, I agree with Raskolnikov.[/font]

Texas Specials are over wound hotter traditionaly single coils. There brighter and more hot or in your face. However they do command a bit more buzz. Although SRV didnt have texas specials, they were designed to sound like his sound, if u like that give em a go or go to harmony central and have a lookie.

I personally classify strat tone into a couple categories... you have your 1st generation tone... which is the 54-62ish tone. It's the basic classic tone. Then you have the 2nd generation tone... which is from mid 60's to about the mid 70's. This is the tone I got for. It's hotter than the 1st generation tone but it's not too hot to back off and get real classic tones just like a '57.... Also, if you need to get some crunch you can put the selector on the bridge/middle section crank up the distortion and you've got all you need. Next is the dead era strat pickups which cover pretty much the start of the 80's all the way until just recently. The tone isn't anything special... it's not hot and it's not classic tone. It's an average modern tone that you can get with any SSH Ibanez or jackson... or whatever... Then lastly... you have the specialty pickups. Which are the high-end pickups like the Tezas Specials and the Noiseless and the Vintage Noiseless pickups. The Texas Specials are wound way tight. They get more bite and they almost have a natural overdrive tone to them. The Noiseless pickups give you a strat tone in a hum free setup... They're basically minihumbuckers... After all that I would suggest what I call a 2nd generation tone... which is what I put into my American Strat. I bought a set of Custom Shop '69 pickups from Fender and they rock. I think that would give you your classic Strat tone and leave you with enough bite to play any type of music. I play hard rock, classic rock, and even metal... As for the other Strat... the Squire. I had a cheap Strat too... and it was also my first electric. After I lit on fire several times and drug it through gravel... and sanded it and then burned it several more times.... It was decommissioned for quite awhile. haha... I recently revived the little beauty with a whole custom setup. I bought a set of Bare Knuckle humbuckers from over in England and a double Fat pickguard... a three way les paul switch and 2 chrome knobs... one for tone and one for volume. I wired her up and she's screaming away. The total set-up cost about 250 dollars or so. You can do it for cheaper though. Have fun with it.

Thanks for the ideas. I'll play around with some configurations and see what I can come up with. Can't hurt the squire, anything would be an improvement.