I've been thinking about replacing the SCNs in my American Deluxe Strat so I've been looking at the data for various Dimarzio single coils.

I want a tonally balanced set with a little more kick than the SCNs so here's what I've settled on:



I'm not concerned about the middle pickup having just a wee bit more output than the bridge because it's only a 2 mV difference and I will be able to compensate for that by setting the middle pickup height a little lower than the bridge.

Anyone have any thoughts on this combo?

You'll get a significant difference in output with the DiMarzios vs. the SCNs. Your chosen combination is one step up across the board from what I use: 67/58/61. I had toyed with the idea of your combo but settled on mine because I found the 58 in the neck a little bit farty. I like my neck pickups crisp and clean, that's why I went with the 67. As to why I didn't go with the 54, it was because the magnet strength was different from the other three and so, I'd have a tonal shift and a difference in attack rate with the 54 vs. the other two.

Notwithstanding, try your combo. You have 30 days with DiMarzio to exchange them if they aren't working out as you conceptualized.

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You dig?

That's what I've read so it's good to receive further confirmation.

I'm used to working with humbuckers so I think the 58 will be crisp and clean enough for me.

Interesting. I want a little more bass and mids in the bridge and I'm not concerned about the natural compression of the 54. I play with a heavy pick and pick a lot so that should help to soften up the bridge a bit while still giving me some treble twang.

Eh, I've never not like a pickup in 30 days. It usually takes me longer than that to figure out whether I like a pickup or not. I've bought around 30 different Dimarzios over the past 27 years and I've only not liked 3 of them before I learned how to pick the right pickup.

Thank you for the reply. Now I think I'll order a replacement pickguard and electronics so I can leave the original intact, just in case.

They don't have to be 3 differen't ones.

You have 3 identical pickups going into most strats, and you get a pretty wide variety of tones that way no?

I'm putting

Bridge: DiMarzio '54
Mid: Area '58
Neck: Area '58

in my classic 50's.

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-Kc
"Payin' dues."

No they don't have to all be different but there's no reason why they can't be either. I've put together sets of pickups for guitars with HSH arrangements so I'm going for the same thing here - a set that goes from darker to brighter from bridges to neck.

So you have not purchased or installed them yet then?

I have not put them in.

I want this guitar to be bi-polar, not tri-polar so far as personality.

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-Kc
"Payin' dues."

Well I am not a big swapper of pups though my Dimarzzio Fast Tracks have served me well in my Tele for ages. If I was going to try anything like that with a Strat I would take any words of advice from Martian as gospel.

Thank you so much! I call them the way I hear them.

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You dig?

Eh, no offense but I don't take anyone's opinions on pickups as gospel but my own. Pickups are highly subjective and there are a myriad of mitigating factors that contribute to the final sound.

I appreciate, respect and will consider everyone's opinions but ultimately the only person who can choose pickups for themselves is themselves.

I think you'll love them. Im personally not a huge fan of mixing too many different pickups on one guitar, I find they make getting the tone you want more difficult, giving that you have so many choices to go through, but the setup you talk about is everywhere. I would suggest trying the 67 @ the neck, 58 in the middle. Generally, you want the lowest output pup at the neck. I have the 58/58/61 in a strat, and I want to build another with a 67/58/pro54. I went through 6 different sets of singlecoils over the year, CS 57/62's, Texas Specails, Vintage noiseless(couldnt change those out fast enough), SCN's, Rio Grande Vintage tallboys, and Area 58/58/61, and to me, the Dimarzio's where just what i wanted.

I ended up going with a Virtual Vintage 54 Pro in the bridge and a pair of Area 67s in the neck and middle. After playing with them for a week, I'm really,really happy with this set. The bridge pickup still sounds like a Strat but as the specs indicate, the VV 54 Pro has a little more oomph, it's not tinny but it still sounds like a Strat to my ears. The Area 67s are glassy and bright but never harsh and they sound great clean or with pretty heavy distortion. I also like the middle pickup by itself which for me is a first. Thanks to everyone for helping me get to this point.

Yeah, these were the 1st pickup Ive installed where I actually use the middle pickup alone also.