I have an American Strat with Fender P/Us in it but I am not sure which type they are, a Strat copy with American Standard Fender P/Us in it and a Les Paul Studio with P-90s.

I put a Duncan Screamin Lil Demon in my American Strat for when I play something harder than blues but the other P/Us fall flat on their face when I go from the demon to the stock fenders. I have been trying to decide whether to put hotter P/Us in the neck and middle. I am thinking a Lil 59er in the neck and a Duckbucker in the middle.

I want to get a Gibson SG but I do not have the cash right now.

Should I beef up my Strat for harder stuff, use my copy for when I want strat tone and wait till I get the money for an SG. Or should I put the original bridge P/U back in the American and not worry about making the others hot and still wait until I get the money for an SG?

I say beef up your strat man. It is the the cheapist way to get the most tone you can till you buy your gibby. Make sure to check out all the SD rail pickups. The vintage rail and cool rail are awsome (they are actually my fav along with the hot rail) Good Luck

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Otto

Judas Priest and Iron Maiden ceated some of the heaviest music to come out of the 70's and 80's. The guitarists from both bands played strats!

Cool!

Thanks for the advice. I love the Lil Demon so I am going to beef up the rest of the pickups.

What kind of tone do you get out of the cool rails? I am thinking of one of those or a duckbucker in the middle.

A strat bridge PU can be thin - if you go back to the single coil, try wiring it to the vol pot.

Meanwhile...you have the Demon - what you'll get with a higher gain pickup is better ability to grab harmonics, a little more edge to your pick attack - basically, you trade openness and clarity for some compression and harmonics. That said the Demon is not real high output but you are a bit past PAF territory. THink 57 classic in an SG. Yes a '59 would match with it well. you could even put the demon in the neck & get a higher-output pickup like the mini JB or Tone Zone S from Dimarzio.

All that said the mini-humbuckers sound different from their big brothers - a bit touchier in the attack, more sensitive to string height, not as much grind IMHO. Another thing you could consider is this - if the body is routed for H-S-H (most are) then convert to a double fat strat. It means trading your Demon, but you could get some bucks for it on the Seymour Duncan forum trading post. Maybe even a flat out trade. WIth a H-H pickguard your options are really endless - if you want to get heavy, bright, whatever. I have a couple strats with humbuckers and they are GREAT for rock. Try a Duncan Custom or JB.

My advice is to leave your American Strat alone ~ Don't mess with it. If you want to experiment with "sounds" then use the strat copy for that. You don't wear your best clothes to clean out the barn.

This thread is 4 years old.Do you really think the OP is still listening?

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Bill