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Post subject: Mex 70's reissue Strat Pickups
Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2009 6:59 am
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Who can help me?

For Christmas I had me a new Mexican 70's reissue Strat with rosewood neck.
It's great, Plugged into Guitar Rig 3 it's awsome. I love it so much I figured it deserved a good tube amp to get the best out of it.
Hence the arrival of a Blackstar HT-5 mini stack. I also own a PRS Santana SE and hooked up to the Blackstar it sounds sublime, however when I plug in the Strat it sounds awful.
I have to turn the bass right up and the treble right down on the amp!
It's weak and shrill, the neck pickup is just about ok, the middle pickup a touch too squealy and bridge pickup is way too sharp. Also they're unbalanced, the neck pickup is way louder than the bridge one.
To get it sounding half decent I have had to rewire the bottom tone control so it controls the tone for the bridge pickup and I use it turned half way.

Now I assume all this is because these pickups are vintage in construction, they are about 5.5k each and maybe Alnico 3 magnets? I'm thinking I should be getting myself a hotter, more balanced set of Pups with
Alnico 5 magnets and higher DC resistance. I'm looking for a similar output to my PRS but with that distinct single coil strat tone ( think Blackmore - Made in Japan ).

I want that neck pickup to be warm and juicy and the bridge pickup to give me that bite only a Strat can give. I don't use loads of gain, just
enough to make a solo sing yet retain that natural strat tone.

I have been eyeing up the Bareknuckles Trilogy suite set but they are a bit expensive. Maybe that would be a step too far because they are about as hot as you can get ( bridge pup is 15k ).

Any suggestions?


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Post subject:
Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2009 9:53 am
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Welcome to the Forum.


Do a search on the Forum for my "Nickel Method" to adjust your pickups. After you have them adjusted that way you can move them closer or farther away from the strings to change how they sound/respond. I would try that first before you go looking at replacing them.

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Post subject:
Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2009 3:41 pm
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I'd say replace em, there are lots of good pickups to get you what you want. A Strat is definatly a different sound than your PRS, it will need set up and eq'd differently and require some learning to get the tone you want. Search the site and see what pickups people are using. Good Luck


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Post subject:
Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2009 6:07 pm
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CAFeathers wrote:
Do a search on the Forum for my "Nickel Method" to adjust your pickups. After you have them adjusted that way you can move them closer or farther away from the strings to change how they sound/respond. I would try that first before you go looking at replacing them.


I agree. First, tweak your pickup heights and amp settings to see if you can find the sound you are looking for.

A Blackmore sound? Can you get a Marshall tone out of that new amp of yours? Have you found the "UK" settings that they promise?

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Post subject:
Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2009 8:06 am
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I have just been tinkering with the pickup height, got them sounding more uniform but I still have a harsh trebly edge on all three. I need something a bit hotter and warmer. I was considering trying some Tonerider Classic Blues http://www.tonerider.com/pickups/stratpickups.html. Anyone tried these?


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Post subject:
Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2009 9:36 am
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Another thing I've just learned is that if I replace the tone capacitor for one of a higher value ( don't know whats in mine ) I will lose some the treble. Anybody tried this?


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Post subject:
Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2009 11:01 am
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It sounds like the pickups are indeed repros of early 70s fender pickups :)
(They had a lot of high end)

Yes if you use a higher value cap that might help.
I highly reccomend you go with a Paper In Oil (PIO) cap like a vitamin Q otherwise it tends to muddy your sound.
I really like the Jupitor Beeswax caps for strats as well. They warm things up nicely but it still sounds clear and crisp.

As for a pickup change, you might like the Dimarzio Area 61. They are a bit more midrangy and have very low magnet pull, so you can get them very close to the strings when trying to match output.


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