I've got a American Standard HSS Strat. The pickups are stock (Humbucker is a Diamondback, the single coils are Tex Mex). The guitar has never sounded as glassy-bell like to me as I'd like. So, I'm considering changing out some or all of the pickups to get that tone.

Can I get that bell-like tone with only having to change one or two of the pickups vs. all three? Which ones and what Brand/Model pickups do you recommend.? And, when considering options for the bridge humbucker: if you feel that I can't get bell-like tones using a true humbucker, I am willing to install a humbucker-sized single coil in that slot, although I'd prefer not to, especially since this Strat has the S-1 switching system that allows me to split the humbucker.

I should mention that the body is Ash vs. Alder - I believe that could be making the sound warmer than I prefer, yes? To round all the applicable details, the fretboard is maple (vs. rosewood).

Thanks!

Looking for a bell tone?

Forget that humbucker for a start, and the Tex Mex p/ups are too powerful. I would suggest a single coil p/u (of course) with a more vintage level of output. There are loads of these from various manufacturers, but you might try a Seymour Duncan SSL1..

I am pretty sure Seymour knocks the Gauss off the magnets a bit, therefore some treble will be reduced and it sounds a lot warmer.

In your situation, I'd recommend the Texas Specials, as if you were to get low-output pickups, they wouldn't sound balanced with the humbucker in the bridge.

However, if you don't have a problem with that, you can get 57/62s or CS '69s or '54s.

I know a guy who can custom wind pickups to your specs, and he wound mine, and they are absolutely fantastic. You can check out his site here.

Good luck, man!


-The Screamin' J

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CURRENT RIG:
2008 Squier bullet stratocaster modified with Rumpelstiltskin pickups -> Dunlop GCB-95 Original Crybaby -> Fender Vibro Champ XD

"Could you take the stain from this pair of pants, and put in on this pair of pants?"

Youve ripped my heart out, I thought all strats had the bell sound. Soon they will sound like Les Pauls and that will be really interesting

Hi floyds_chili: I think you'll find the amp is far more important in capturing those "bell-like" tones. Put any lowish output single-coil pickup through a Fender type amp with plenty of headroom and you'll be in the ballpark.

If you really want to get into it then there is almost no limit to the money you could spend chasing that sound, but the above advice will get you a long way down the road. Try that before you worry too much about what wood the guitar is made of and other such details...

Now watch as this thread fills up with folks recommending one model of Fender amp over another...

Cheers - C

Ceri is bang on. I often try to direct people to look at their amplification before modding their gear.

As for one fender amp over another, I certainly have my preferences, but What you need to look at is, what your needs are.

Most Fender amps will be able to give you your ballpark tone. That is, they tend to share a certain part of the tonal landscape. So then you need to look at how they differ. Maybe you want a bit more gain, or a bit less. maybe you want a lot of headroom on your clean tone, that means how loud does your amp get before the clean tone starts breaking up (where it starts breaking up seems to be my happy place.)

What size rooms are you going to play in, like how much air do you need to move to project your tone. This matters more than a lot of people think. When I first started gigging, I had a monster amp, but it was way too much for most rooms. I couldn't get it turned up loud enough to get into my 'happy zone' Too little power you are lost.

If you are only playing at home, alone, in a small(house sized rooms are all small for this discussion even a garage, or a full unfinished basement,) then you will deafen yourself with a big amp.

wow I ramble. But I think people need to consider their whole tone chain before gutting what they have.

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I'm not an expert, but I play one on the internet.

From the Fender line, i would check out something from the blackface line for that classic clean tone.You can probably do ok with the texmex if you lower them a bit.As far as the humbucker, they arent really known for glassy clean, split or not .I have a texas special strat that i converted from a fat strat to a s s s configuration, but thats just me.You can try lowering it as well and see how it sounds to you.

I've had very good experiences with putting humbucker sized P90's in strats. It retains the bell-like tones in position 4, and it not very different from single coil tones. The tex mex pups may not be providing you with the tone, either. I think they might be darker than you might like (based on my experiences with them). Maybe some Texas Specials or 50's styled pups?
The other option is to get a hotter humbucker and put a coil split in it so you can get that position 4 tone. But....try the Humbucker sized P90 strategy, you'll be surprised how cool this is.