Recently just snagged this 1986 or 1987 Contemporary Standard Strat with stock Kahler bridge with I believe Alnico staggered pickups.

Sounds great with the middle and neck...but as usual I'm not keen on the bridge pup of a strat (don't like too much tremble) I would like a replacement pickup to go in there....assuming I can't tweak the settings on the stock one to my liking. I need a slightly fatter sound that can handle distortion and sound nice clean.

Who's got recommends as far as Seymour Duncans go? I've heard mention of the Lil 59 and Cool Rails before. Any input would be cool.

Does the '86/87 have the TBX tone control? If not, this may seem like a dumb suggestion but you could try wiring the mid pickup's tone control to the bridge pickup as well to allow you to roll off some of the highs. I have my 70s Strat wired like that and it definitely helps get rid of some of the less-pleasing trebly aspects of the bridge p/u when, say, playing power chords with a lot of overdrive.

It may very well have a TBX. Idk. How do you engage this feature?

If it's an MIJ Contemporary 22 Strat, I don't believe there was a tbx option. Also, pups for the that model were ceramic, not Alnico's.

The official name is "Treble Bass Expander." Basically, the lower tone knob functions like a regular one from 0-5, then you'll feel a detent in the middle, after which it will boost the treble and bass frequencies, although to my ears it's mostly a treble boost. I actually just did some looking and it seems Fender introduced it in 1988, so I'm guessing your guitar doesn't have it, but if one of the previous owners hasn't done it already, it's very easy to mod the lower tone control so it controls the bridge pickup too. I know it's not as exciting as a new pickup, but I figured it would be worth throwing out there, and hey, who knows, it may mellow the bridge pickup out enough to work for you.

http://www.premierguitar.com/Magazine/I ... ntrol.aspx

Too many options out there to give a specific recommendation and there are a million threads on the forum regarding pu recommendations.

Is there a certain artist tone you are trying to replicate?

Also recommend checking out duncan and dimarzio websites. Get a good set of headphones or speakers and check out sound samples.

Thanks for the info

I took this source as showing Alnico vs. Ceramic magnets. http://www.stratconnection.com/fenderguitarsinjapan.htm

It stated: "> The pickups used in the Contemporary models were manufactured by Fujigen.
> All the pickups used on the Contemporary models are Alnico and not ceramic
pickups. The humbucking pickups used in the Contemporary models have a DC
resistance which is approximately 7.6 kiloohms. The single coil pickups used
in the Contemporary models have a DC resistance which is approximately 5.6
k"

My Strat is not in line with the other contemporary strats that lost their old school looks, so maybe my magnets are ceramic. I need to pull the pickguard off to clean the switch later this week. If they are ceramic they should have a bar magnet on the bottom?

Thanks for the link! For sure worth trying before swapping a pickup.

When I got home I checked for a TBX. No detent on either tone knob.

I did find some info on my guitar though , suggests my guitar is likely a derivative of this model (difference is mine has a Kahler trem)
ACCORDING TO WIKIPEDIA: model 27-4300: 3 single coil pickups, 5 position selector switch, 1 volume, 2 tones, System I tremolo, rosewood fingerboard, 25.5" scale length, top mounted output jack.

HOWEVER in a link I found here http://homepage.ntlworld.com/john.blackman4/cont.htm you can download a Fender Contemporary Standard manual pdf file. Seems there is an printing error in which "my model" was given the wrong model # . But I'm sure the
Wikipedia 27-4300 is correct as the Fender manual lists the maple fretboard version of my guitar as model # 27-4302.

Well no particular artist comes to mind. But would prefer a medium output pickup as opposed to high output. I would like to have a versatile bridge pup that can get heavy sounding with pedals and also get bluesy cleans when I dont use pedals.

Basically I just can't stand the high treble on a Strat. Guess I'm more mid focused.

I already have a Tokai strat that is setup for the vintage strat tone and that bridge pup can be a biter when I hit the treble strings. lol

Still hard to recommend without a baseline. How do these sound?

SL59-1 Little '59
http://www.seymourduncan.com/audio/support/stratocaster/Track37.mp3

SSL4 Quarter pound
[url]http://www.seymourduncan.com/audio/support/stratocaster/Track12.mp3/url]

SSL5
http://www.seymourduncan.com/audio/support/stratocaster/Track16.mp3

Tone Chart
http://www.seymourduncan.com/comparetones

The TBX tone circuit has been introduced in 1983.

Try a set of Hot Noiseless pickups or Lace Hot Golds with the hot bridge pickup.

Yeah I'm digging the Little 59. For some reason my other computer wouldn't play the sound clips, but now I'm listening to them. Been checking on youtube as well.

I'm going to try Exile's suggested mod to piggyback off the middle tone control http://www.premierguitar.com/Magazine/Issue/2008/Dec/Strat_Bridge_Pickup_Tone_Control.aspx and if not satisfied I might spring for a Little 59

Good Luck! let us know what you end up doing.