When you already have an EQ and pedals galore and changed amps several times over there is usually only one other thing to do, change pickups. Do you really think most artists/guitarists use stock guitars? Maybe in the 50's and early 60's but pretty much starting in the late 60's there was always a tone to strive for. Albeit stock guitars will be worth more money in the distant future, we want to play them now.

I also plan on keeping all my stock parts just in case I want to go back to the orginal tone of the guitar. You cannot destroy the orginalality of the guitar when you can restore it back whenever you want.

RK

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RK

2007 Fender Highway 1
2012 American Deluxe
2015 MIM Dave Murray HHH
2010 Fender Blacktop
1987 Fender Avalon Acoustic
2012 Marshall DSL 15 watt head

Pickup choices are very subjective, IMO. That is, getting "the right" sounding pickup into your guitar depends on what sound you are after and what sounds good to you. There are pickup companies that are considered the holy grail of pups (Fralins, for example), and others that make better pickups than the stock Fenders (Seymour Duncan and Dimarzio). There are also budget companies (Guitar Fetish) that make great pickups on the cheap, and these are a step up from the ceramic MIM pups. What sound are you going for? A nice set up for a strat is vintage output pups in neck and mid (output around 5-6 dc), and a hot pickup in bridge (around 8-10). That's what I did with my Seymour Duncan ssl-1/ssl-5 set for my strat. If you are going to stay with the HSS configuration, think about a humbucker that will compliment the singles, like a Dimarzio PAF Pro or Duncan '59 (dc output around 8-9). Check out Duncan's website, there is a lot of information, FAQ, and a great forum for info. What I wrote above is a quick and simple and short intro to some things I've learned over the past few years of guitar modding.