What are the best pickups for blues to put in my MIM Standard Fender Strat? Looking for somthing a little nicer sounding than whatevers in there. Hoping to find somthing under $100

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Epiphone Les Paul 100
Custom-Made Craig Telecaster
Custom-Made Craig Stratocaster
Epiphone Les Paul Special II
Ibenez Artcore Hollowbody
51 year old Silvertone Electric-Acoustic
Older Model Fender Acoustic
Alverez Acoustic
Bugera V5

hi , i love fender usa std pups , a big improvement over the mim ceramic pups and if you have a look on ebay you should find a set for roughly what your willing to spend , hth , cheers
Alan

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Can't go wrong with Texas Specials. They sound like a mix between SRV and baby Jesus.

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Heilly
"That's thirty minutes away. I'll be there in ten." --W. Wolfe


09 Am Special Strat
01 Corona Strat
99 Sq Std Strat
95 MIJ TL-52 Tele
95 MIJ Sq Strat
93 MIJ FotoFlame Strat

Sorry, just read your ENTIRE post. If you can get Texas Specials for under $100, scoop 'em up. It is a sure sign that Jesus is taking a break from helping Tim Tebow, and is giving you a sign. Go Broncos.

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Heilly
"That's thirty minutes away. I'll be there in ten." --W. Wolfe


09 Am Special Strat
01 Corona Strat
99 Sq Std Strat
95 MIJ TL-52 Tele
95 MIJ Sq Strat
93 MIJ FotoFlame Strat

Hmmm...I also own a MIM Standard Stratocaster (mine is 2009)...and I am learning/play/love the blues..so I hear ya!

You say you want to spend under $100? I'd say you're limiting yourself, you may end up choosing pickups you don't love and spending more in the long-run. I love my modified guiatar so much so that I wouldn't sell it for under $1,000 since it would take about that much along with luck to find one that plays, feels and sounds as sweet. But in retrospect, I should have waited and bought a Deluxe Players Strat or an American Standard and upgraded to noiseless pickups. Lessons learned along the way. I'd continue researching, trying out guitars with different pickups if possible at guitar stores etc AND saving to get exactly what I want.

There are a lot of great pickups out there, especially for the blues.

Because the blues is typically played clean but sometimes with a little distortion and gain, single-coils WILL be the best...you'll get sweet sweet tone, but you'll also get that annoying HUM. Yes, its the appeal of a Stratocaster, its classic etc...no doubt, but in my case because of where I live (a mile from an airport combined with electrical interference within my condo) I went the noiseless route with Fender SCN's.

I'll be the first to admit that the first time I played my Stratocaster after the upgrade (which currently costs about $140- online price but may be less at stores or with special offers) I was quite pleased by the noiseless quality of these pups, however at the sacrifice of the sweet and unique tone that ONLY true single-coils give. However, when I use my Digitech Screamin' Blues pedal (AMAZING pedal that I absolutely love, read some reviews!) along with it, I regain a lot of that sweetness that I was missing without that hum that was driving me absolutely crazy.

IMHO, first see if you can acheive the sound/tone you're looking for without the pup upgrade (since the Standard Stratocaster's ceramic pickups are really not that bad at all) by simply purchasing a blues pedal ($49.95 online, maybe less: $25-$30 if used). But if you're like me and want great tone without the hum, the SCNs and Digitech's Scramin' Blues or something like it are a great combination. In addition, SCNs can play anything (compare the detailed specs to Texas Specials etc and read reviews)...but you do get a little bit of that "modern sound" but you can also get that "vintage sound" by turning town the volume and tone a bit on your guitar.

In the end, its all in your hands...a great guitar in average hands will sound average, an average guitar in hands like SRV, Clapton, Rorry Gallagher or Yngwie Malmsteen will sound GREAT! Find YOUR OWN unique sound...its all about what YOU like.

Take care and keep playin'!

What amp do you play through? That's really more important than the pickups. In my opinion, you're better off with the stock pickups and a decent tube amp (Vox AC4, Fender Blues Jr., etc). You can upgrade your pickups, but until you get a tube amp, you're not gonna get anywhere close to the blues-y tone you're looking for.

As for the pickups, if you wanna spend less than $100, go for the Tex-Mex pickups. There are tons of others out there if you wanna spend more money, but for under $100, that would be my choice.

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Tune Low, Play Hard & Floor it!

I actually have a very nice Bugera V5 and it sounds amazing with my tele for the blues and twang but its a little stiff for the blues because of the bridge so I wanna use my Strat and I actually wasnt completely honest when I said it was MIM Fender Standard because I built the guitar but it has all the specs and the same pickups as the MIM. I just want somthing a little bit more bluesy than the stock pickups but dont wanna go all out on brand new pickups. And I actually found some Texas Special pickups for less than $100 so im gonna go with those. Thanks for the help everyone! I love this forum!

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Epiphone Les Paul 100
Custom-Made Craig Telecaster
Custom-Made Craig Stratocaster
Epiphone Les Paul Special II
Ibenez Artcore Hollowbody
51 year old Silvertone Electric-Acoustic
Older Model Fender Acoustic
Alverez Acoustic
Bugera V5

Amazon has 57/62's for less than $100. I recently installed them and am quite pleased with the tone.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss? ... &x=12&y=19

I have one of those myself and love the tone I get out of it in my living room.

Outstanding amp for the money.

As for pickups, I've been hearing great things about Don Mare's hand-wound pickups. At $239, they're a bit more than $100 but I figure that quality is remembered long after price is forgotten (plus I won the company football pool!)

http://www.buckcannon.com/pickupsforstrat.html

If you have to stick with under $100, you can't go wrong with a set of Tex-Mex pickups. They far surpass anything else I've heard in that price range. I have Texas Specials in one of my Strats, but honestly I like the Tex-Mex pickups just about as much as I like the Texas Specials.

They're a little cleaner and brighter than Texas Specials, but they have a great classic blues sound. Texas Specials are a bit more on the blues/rock side. They seem a little edgier.

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I like Dimarzio Virtual Vintage Area pickups; i have one guitar with Area 58/58/61, and another with Pro54/area 61/heavy blues