Wow, I am impressed with the range of knowledge in this forum! On to my subject:

My main guitar is an American Strat, which I love.

As a second guitar I have an HSS Mex Strat ($499). The humbucker on this thing has a good solid hot tone. The middle and neck pickups are blander than warm milk on white bread. I'm looking for something a little hotter (more umph, more character).

What have you tried? Did you swap them out individually, or did you buy a complete replacement set? How did it work out? Are you satisfied? What kind of money did you spend?

I'm anxious to listen your suggestions.

denny- this weekend i am probably going to order lace sensors for mim mim hss strat. i am probably going with the blue for the neck , and silver for the middle, keeping my humbucker.
you can find out more at the lace website, or hit up youtube for videos.

of course, there are many great choices, but here's a start

good luck , and keep all of us posted

Spend disgusting amounts of time on pickup manufacturer websites and youtube demos looking for sound samples. Try to find as diverse a selection of videos as you can - every type of guitar, every playing style, every amp. Find a couple you think you might like, then figure out which guitars ship with those pickups and go play one in your local store. Try to mimic your setup as much as possible so you're only evaluating the pickups. Then buy and swap.

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[08 MIM Standard Arctic White] > [Danelectro Fish n Chips EQ > Radial Texas Bones OD > Tonerider British Distortion > Electroharmonix Russian Big Muff Pi > Vox V847 Wah] > FM65R

Texas Specials, great pickups, have that extra oomph needed to go with that hot humbucker!

I have two MIM Strats (50th Anniversary Aztec Golden Strat and a 60s Classic series in CAR) and Both have TS in them...the stock pickups were not bad, just like the tone and extra bite in the TS. Here they are...




HTH

T2

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What time is it? It's Fender Time.

I don't know what kind of music you play, or what amp you play this guitar to, but I own a mexican strat, replaced my texas specials (neck and middle) with the RioGrande Vintage tallboys, they are at 7.2Ω quite hot and with a CHARACTER. They make a good match with my stack-on humbucker Dimarzio Virtual Vintage Heavy Blues (DP409). So if you need a match to your humbucker that sounds solid and has character, try them. Or try the Dimarzio series of stack-on humbuckers (the size of a single coil PU).

Texas Specials are a good choice for single coils, but there are also single coil sized humbuckers. Not sure what's under the hood, but have you checked to see the pickup routing? If it has a "swimming pool" or HSH configuration, you could always make it a double Fat Strat. (Two Humbuckers).

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"Epitaph on a blues musician’s tombstone: “I didn’t wake up this morning”" Davy Knowles


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I play this through a Vox 15watt tube amp. The music I'm playing with this setup is pop and classick rock from the 1960s and 70s.

There are a lot of good ideas here. Thanks for yours!

I have modded 2 of my Strats. One is a 2002 MIM strat which I completly revamped with Texas specials and a Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates Plus humbucker virtually making if a Lonestar strat. I really like the sound of this guitar and It's a bit aggressive.

My 2nd Strat mod is a 1999 Affinity strat which I stripped of all the chineese parts and put on American parts. I then added Lace Sencor pickups to. I went with a red humbucker in the bridge and Gold singles in the bridge and the neck. Not the Hot Gold just the regular Gold. This guitar sounds amazing. I really love the lace sensors and there so quiet.

What I did was try like other here have mentioned and try to play guitars that have the equipment in them that yiour looking for. Play through the same amp that you have if you can and make your judgments accordingly.

Hope this helps.

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Thanks Ron
1991 American Standard Stratocaster SSS
2012 American Standard Startocaster HSS
2002 MIM Standard Stratocaster HSS
1999 Squier Affinity sratocaster HSS
2006 Gibson Premium Plus Studio Les Paul
2007 Ibanez Prestige Rg1570
2007 Peavey EXP HP

X3 on the Texas Specials.

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Gary

Also have a MIM HSS strat, and I swapped the single coils out for Texas specials, more heat and better sound!

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Fender Standard Stratocaster
Maton ER90C

I know that you're asking about pickups, but a mod that will really make a difference for not a lot of money is replacing the trem block with something more substantial. GFS sells a solid steel or brass trem block for around $25.

I also upgraded my Bridge and block from GuitarFetish.com with a brass block on my MIM strat. I then added graphtech string savers saddles on both my modded strats. I went with a steel block on my Affinity strat. the difference is very noticeable. The steel block is adds more treble and the brass is more warm to my ears.

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Thanks Ron
1991 American Standard Stratocaster SSS
2012 American Standard Startocaster HSS
2002 MIM Standard Stratocaster HSS
1999 Squier Affinity sratocaster HSS
2006 Gibson Premium Plus Studio Les Paul
2007 Ibanez Prestige Rg1570
2007 Peavey EXP HP