Here's the issue.
My guitar has blues wound pickups in all three positions. I love the tone i get in the 2,4, and 5 position-their great with the treble a little rolled off.
My 1 position, though is useless to me because while it is sharper than the others, I would like a much higher output pickup there, such as a Quarter Pounder. If I installed the high output bridge pickup, and left my other pickups the same, would that screw up my awesome 2 position? also, would the pickup be much louder than the others?
Thanks

I'm not exactly sure which specific pickup set you have, but I will try to help.
If your bridge pickup is sounding much too brittle, you might try a change in the wiring so that the bridge pickup has it's own tone control, and the other tone control works for the other positions.
If you do change that pickup it WILL affect your 2 position tone. Even changing the hight will affect the 2 position tone.

And since higher output does mean louder it will be louder if you change to a higher output. If your using overdrive however the differences in level are not that aparent because you will be clipping the signal and the bridge will just sound more overdriven.

I hope this helps.

You would certainly affect the sound of position 2 if you do anything to the bridge and mid pickups. Obviously that includes replacing (either of) them!

I too would suggest that you consider a slight wiring mod to use the 2nd tone control to affect the bridge pickup. Depnding how you bridge the switch, you could have the tone control on both the mid and brdige pickups together or just the bridge.

But even that modification would slightly change your all important position 2. At the moment your bridge pickup has no extra loading on it, ie the sound of that pickup goes straight through to the volume pot and out of the guitar. By adding it to a tone pot, even one thats left fully turned up, you'll be sending it through the extra circuitry and this will inevitably have some effect. Also you'll be changing the loading on the mid position pickup..

I used to worry that I should be able to use all the pickups on a Strat and that they should all sound great. But now I think it's entirely valid to have middle and bridge pickups that sound great together for position 2 even if I don't particularly like the sound of either pickup on it's own. It is this flexibility and option set that makes the Strat such a wonderful tone machine.

Like you, my important positions are 2 4 & 5 so I dont have to mess too much with what I have as standard. If you do need all 5 positions to sound equally great, well you have a lot of experimentation and potential expense ahead of you and you still might not get there.

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To answer these questions directly, yes it will "change the sound" of your two position. That two position is obviously a combination of the sounds produced by your bridge and middle pickups...change one of those pickups and you -will- change the sound. That said however the real issue here is "will it screw it up" and the answer to that is a bit more subjective. Changing the sound isn't always a bad thing...most folks who upgrade their pickups do so because we feel that changing the sound is often a good thing. In this case you didn't mention what the guitar actually is or even what the pickups really are other than "blues wound" (?). If we're talking about a guitar such as an MIM Standard or pickups that are even something like "Tex/Mex" then chances are that putting that Quarter Pounder in there will not only sound better with the bridge position but it will also make your #2 position sound better as well. However, as always tone in and of itself is always a subjective thing...what may sound "better" to any one of us may sound like complete crap to you (and vice-versa). In other words, there's really only 1 way to find out...try it. Of course that's one of the lovely things about a Strat...if you decide you don't like it, you can always put the original pickup back in.

Also, yes, putting a hotter pickup in any one position while leaving the others the same will mean that one pickup is going to be louder than the others and any switch combination that uses that pickup will also be a bit louder as well. This too however is a subjective thing...some folks like to have their pickup output perfectly "balanced" while other's like to have a little "punch" in a certain position...say you're going in to a lead, instead of having an extra pedal to boost your gain, you just slap your switch down to that hotter pickup. There's no real right or wrong there...just personal preference.

The one thing I will say from personal experience is that it -can- lead to a whole new set of pickups! LOL!!! With my '96 MIM for example, I had put a pair of Fender VN's in the neck and middle position with the bridge pickup being stock and at the time I was really blown away by the difference. The Fender VN's just sounded soooooo sweet compared with the stock MIM pickups. However I later added a Duncan Performer to the bridge position because the stock MIM in the bridge just sounded really "lacking". The problem was that now the Duncan just sounded sooooo much better than the VN's! LOL!!! So that guitar now has a full set of Duncan's in her and I finally picked up another VN to complete the set and those are now in my '85 MIJ Squier.

Now I will also add that it does really seem to depend on the guitar as well. As I said, I had those VN's in my '96 MIM and they sounded good at least until I put the Duncan in...then after putting the Duncan's in the '96, I first put the VN's in my '08 Squire Standard and I honestly didn't care for them in that particular guitar. Just didn't sound as good as even the original Squier pickups did there. In the '85 Squier MIJ however they sound -fantastic-...even better than they had sounded in my '96. Again however you simply never really know until you try...and only -you- can decide what sounds best to your ears.

Peace,
Jim

In light of all the aforementioned, your best bet is to leave your guitar's electronics alone and buy an EQ pedal. This way, you can tailor your bridge pickup to the sound and volume you require on command and by then shutting off the EQ, your position #2 is left totally intact. Chances are, you might even like position #2 with the EQ boost. It will sound the same but as if 'on steroids', so to speak.

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Well said and to the point Martian!!!!

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

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I thank you!

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Haha the EQ pedal is a cool idea.
My pickups are just 'blues wound' very similar to texas specials-high output, quite gritty, great for a Knofler sound. Hope this info helps your answers