I'm a long time Strat player/fan and this is my first time on the forum. Please abe gentle...

I have a 2007 Guitar Center Special Edition American Deluxe HSS. Mahogany body, maple neck w/rosewood board.

I am not quite happy with the sound. it seems dull to me with out the snap and chime of the strat I have come to love. The bridge 'bucker sounds really thin to me.

I'm the only guitar player in a classic rock and blues band and I want to use this guitar to play some of the cleaner stuff that my other strats are not set-up for. Tunes like Sultans of Swing, Robert Cray stuff, Wind Cries Mary, Skynrd, etc.

I am playing through 2 amps; Dr Z Z28 and Dr. Z Ma Jr.

I am leaning toward Lollar Vintage Blond or Vintage Blackface but the Fralin's and Amalfitano's look interesting.

I have no clue for the 'bucker - P90 maybe?

Suggestions for single coil replacements and the bridge humbucker for this set-up would be greatly appreciated.

Welcome to the forum. I suppose that you have SCN's in the middle and neck positions. I don't know what you have in the bridge, I have a 07 MIA ash Deluxe SSS with SCN's in all three positions. I like them plus the S-1 switching. But you don;t like what you have so , I have another strat that has a CS Fat 50 in the neck,CS 69 in the middle and a Semour Duncan SSL-5 in the bridge. This strat has a very different sound to the Deluxe. I hear a lot of posters here like the 69s. AS far as the bridge position I don't know what to suggest as I've never been a humbucker man.
There is a poster on here called Martain that is well versed in all things about pups. Maybe you can contact him today on the forum. Try the pick up and accessories forum. Good Luck!

BTW, how do you like your DR.Z amps? I've never played on one but would like to!

fhopkins,
thanks for the reply and the welcome.

Yes they are SCN's. Sorry, should of posted it.

I've read a lot on the SCN's and it seems they are really liked so I guess my issue could be related to the mahogany body on this Guitar Center edition and/or possibly my old, daft ears.

Hmm...CS Fat 50 in the neck & CS 69 for middle. That sounds pretty good. Do you know if the CS69's the pup's in the CS '60 time machine relic? I had a chance to play a surf green example at a the CS Showcase Dealer, Huber-Breese, last week and came uncomfortably close to walking out with it.

Maybe I should start a poll.... Have you ever seen a poll for replacement strat pup's on the forum?

I don't know the answer to your time machine question, but there are plenty of knowledgeable posters on this forum and I'm sure they can answer you. They are just not signed on yet but... Sure go ahead and do a poll and get some opinions!

Dr Z amps....
Where do I start?
I had been chasing that tone in my head for years (I'm 53 now so that'll tell you something, "what it is ain't exactly clear")

I got more amps than Carter's go little pills:
Peavey Classic 50: didn't do it
Mesa Stilleto Ace: No Joy, sensetive to enviornment, needs volume, rocket scientist IQ to dial in.
Fender Princeton, bassman: not gonna happen
Old Supro stuff: gretsch, Silvertone, Supro. Nope

Found out about them online somehow (don't remember how), then I was driving through Cleveland one day, called the Dr., had a nice chat, visited one of his boys (I happened to have one of my strats and old guild bluesbird with me) and from the first power E chord, I was hooked.

You gotta check these amps out! I purchased a Maz Jr combo first (EL84). This amp is only 18 watts so you can get it to flat our sing at comfortable volumes and it has enough to play with a heavy handed drummer at a smaller clubs. It can get wonderful sounds from vintage fender, vox to classic driven marshall.

I then got a 22 watt, Z28 (6V6) to play in stereo with my live rig to get a litle more clean head room. This is now my favorite amp. Again you can get the sweet singing/sustaining tone at reasonable volume.

Motto on the Dr. Z forum: Dr Z amps, betcha can't have just one.

I know I'm on the fender forum and this is probably blasphemy. Please forgive me for I am new..... Should I be concerned?... you know, code of conduct and all.

I have only seen about 1000 polls on this topic

That being said if you look around a bunch, you will find A LOT of talk about pickups.

I like Texas Specials but that is just me!

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No, have no concern. We talk about all kinds of different products. I've visited the Zamp site several times and fell for them on line sort of speak! I've also heard some of my favorite players using them. Would love to own one. Right now my main amp is a CS 57 Twin Tweed. Like you say you can't have just one of anything !!

This is true there is a lot of existing info on pick ups that you can do a search on here!

Thanks all,
I know that pup performance is subject to many things including body & neck composition. fret board, amp, strings, etc.

I was wondering if anyone had some personal experience with a mahogany strat and replacements for the SCN pup's or possibly done enough screwing around with pups on different guitars.

I did an initial search on the forum for info but did not find what I was looking for. But again I only had time to sift through 5 or 6 pages out of the hundreds that came back from my search string. Time to refine the search string with magical encantations...

Not that I'm lazy, but if anyone know of a specifc post/thread to point me to, I would greatly appreciate the time and effort savings.

I feel a poll comin' on.... Hang Man, Hang Man......

If there are a 1000 poll already I don't see the harm in another. I am not sure there has been one on the particular wood species of your strat. If you ask a generic question about "what is your favorite pup" that's different. That's not what you are asking, so go for it!

Maybe you can just add it to this thread and not rephrase your question?

You can search the pickup forum area (scroll down from here) and find a lot more info from some guys that are pickup gurus.

I like the CS69s and also the hot noiseless :

http://www.fender.com/products/search.p ... 0992105000

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Don't leave home without it!