I was eager to change my Standard Stats pups too. I have a Blues Jr NOS amp and swapped out the "special" speaker for a Cannabis Rex. While this helped tame the shrillness of the tone it did not take it away completely, especially on the bridge.

I was torn between CS69 and Fat 50's. I ended up going with the CS69 pickups and while I was at it I swapped out all the whole pick guard with better quality components. I also completely shielded the entire cavity, including underneath the pup covers. I added a blend pot to the second tone control allowing me to blend in the neck with the bridge for a neat tele sound and also to blend in all three pickups on position 2 and 4.

I was completely surprised at the results. I never expected such a night and day difference. About the only negative thing I can say is that my curiosity with the Fat50s remained. Fortunately my wife and kids helped out on that one when they got me the new American Standard for Fathers Day.

I would suggest that whatever you put in remember that your tone chain will only be as strong as the weakest link. I am not sure that my Standard would have sounded the same without the shielding and pot change out. Also, consider the type of music you play. I play a lot of country and blues. The blend pot I added real adds a new dimension to the strat letting me twang out with the teles our other player uses.

Also, I was completely surprised by the original pups. The pole pieces are not pole pieces. They are merely conductors. The pups have two magnets laying on either side of the windings.

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http://www.facebook.com/UCtheband
2012 American Standard Strat Charcoal Froast
2009 Standard Strat Sunburst Brown
Blues Junior Tweed NOS
2007 Line6 Spider Jam

OK so thanks for all the responses and different opinions. A user asked what amp do I use, I have got a Mustang 1 but I use different amp systems depending on the concerts. I don't usually bring my own amp. And for the music genre that I basically play, I mainly play blues but it can vary. I have wide range of genres, like funk, rock or even grunge or some hard stuff like that. So I don't want to specifically play a type, I want pickups that have wide ranges, so Fat 50s are the closest, I believe. I'm gonna check my local guitar dealer one more time and am going to share my experiences and my pickup choice then. Thank you all once again !

PS: I don't hate my MIM pickups, I just want to upgrade them. I love them a lot, too. But I think I can't get enough of the guitar...

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Rockinfreakapotamus

The Mustang I is a small solid state, practice amp. It is limited as far as tonal capabilities.
Solid States enhance shrillness at higher volumes...
Even though it has modding bells and whistles, it is not a Tube amp.
It's mods and settings are to mimic Tube amps and their sound, but they are not.
good as a practice amp where volume disturbance is an issue, but the amount of modulation parameters and effects really categorize the Mustangs as large effect boxes...

Take your guitar as it is with the stock pups and all and go plug into a Champ 600..
Being all tubes, you will hear your guitar as it should sound, crank it, that should give you an idea as to which direction the sound you are searching for is located...Tube Amps....
if you can plug into a 15 to 20 Watt Tube amp, crank that to where the amp is overdriving naturally, not thru a solid state preamp. Just the Tubes being pushed....
An older amp will give you that sound for relatively little expense, you can find good ones at reputable Pawn shops or used gear music shop...
Once again your MIM pups are fine, they will do the job quite well, but you have to first combine them with an amp capable of reproducing their output accurately...
Solid States don't do that, only Tube/valve amps are capable of it.
Then look into pots, upgrade the volume pot perhaps, change a capacitor or two, try swapping the Tone pots which are treble bleeds to TBX pots ( Treble Bass Expander ) which at the mid point of 5... go to 10 in one direction or to 0 in the other direction. One way increases treble the other increases Bass, very different from a standard tone pot which just cuts out the treble and leaves you with a gummy sound..

Go to the sites I posted earlier on this thread and rewire your pups to get different sounds and capabilities from them, such as N+B.
Also do you even have your bridge pup controlled by a tone pot ???
more than likely the two tone pots are just for the Neck and Middle pup, usually the Bridge is without a tone control....

Anyway this is the advice but you seem determined on buying new pups first without dialing in for the sound you wish for by looking at what you have currently....

BTW...If you are going to play Blues, half of your instrument is a Tube Amp, there isn't a decent Blues Player out there playing thru a Solid State Amp....
Check out all Three versions of the Clapton Crossrtoads DVD's.. Nowhere on that stage is anyone playing thru a solid state amp.....Granted a few are boutique amps but most are current Fender Tube amps, very affordable in the used market..

Just to finally add, if you personally know a Blues band guitarist may just be the local tech music store person that plays in a well respected band, ask them to play your guitar thru their set-up...Then listen, you will probably find that it doesn't sound at all like the guitar you know because.......See Above...

Good Luck...

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"C'est parti mon Kiki "

I sure hope B.B. doesn't find out about this.....

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http://www.facebook.com/UCtheband
2012 American Standard Strat Charcoal Froast
2009 Standard Strat Sunburst Brown
Blues Junior Tweed NOS
2007 Line6 Spider Jam

Well my two cents is this. All the pickups mentioned all are very good. However, IMHO I would replace the pot metal tremelo block with a steel block. I bought custom shop '69's for my mim strat, but I replaced the trem assy with a Callaham trm assy. Incredible difference! Kind of like the ceramic pickups now. True no Texas Special or Fat 50's ,but just a steel block (any brand) is cheaper than new pickups and vastly improves these guitars. I'd do this anyways and you can always get different pickups later if you still feel the need. It's easier too.

+1, but I would do both and did on my MIM 60s Classic Series...The tone changed to a more complex midrange pronounce tone (Custom Shop Texas Specials, $125) and the sustained improved with the block (used a Fender US Block) recommended by Retroverbial, but you need to make sure you order the correct one...I don't remember the exact size now, but maybe Arjay will come along, I am sure he has it memorised as I think he has installed a couple.

FWIW

T2

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What time is it? It's Fender Time.

Seriously, if you want to do something and find its expensive, then you should concider doing it when you can afford it

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Dave
T&T

Why not just put a set of used Fender American stock pickups in it. That will save you a bit of money while you decide on the tone you really want. Plus you can probably sell them for what you paid for them later.

The American Stock pickups have a very smooth tone to them, not too bright and not too dark, that should compliment your playing styles.

It depends on the year they came from. 2011 were Tex Mex and 2012 models sported Fat 50's. Before that I cannot remember which pickups they used. Regardless they were not the ceramic pickups used in MIM Standards. Honestly I prefer the Fat 50's, they are great for Blues, Rock, and Old Metal tones.

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RK

2007 Fender Highway 1
2012 American Deluxe
2015 MIM Dave Murray HHH
2010 Fender Blacktop
1987 Fender Avalon Acoustic
2012 Marshall DSL 15 watt head

2011 were Tex-Mex. Were did you see that.. I must have missed it.

Only the hss configuration has tex-mex for single coil pickups. The sss version are american standard pickups in it.

lol, your price range is $150-200 but the Fender sets are too expensive? I paid $125 for a set of Fat 50's just a couple months ago off Amazon.com. Just shop around.

I had a set of CS69's in my Hwy1 and I grew to dislike them. To clean and scooped mids. I really love the Fat 50's set!

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The Tex-Mex HSS model was only available from 2003 to 2007. For 2008 Fender changed all three pickups.

If you are smart you can get a way better upgraded mim strat.

Sell your mim standard strat.
Spend the money you have to search yourself a nice classic player 50s/60s new or used.

Except the pickups you will have custom designed bridge, better electronics/pickups, nicer look... even the older onces have better bridge block also. Ah better tuners also !
Resale value will also be better...

It could be that this way it will even cost you less money then a set of pickups.

Nothing wrong with a mim standard, but the classic player is a big improvement.