Bridge Humbuckers in a Strat!

[bubs_42]

Well i'm going to break down and put a Tele Style Pickup in the bridge of my Music Man to get a little more tone and twang. If that doesn't cut it, I'm thinking of routing it for a bridge bucker. Like most Strats the Bridge Pickup is just worthless, but I like the bridge/Middle position tone together. So who is running a Humbucker in their Strat and does it play nice with your single coils?

[Jeff R]

Instead of routing it I'd go with a JB Jr. I got both those sounds you are looking for with one in my Legacy.

[Jakeboy]

I love a good Strat bridge pickup...roll the tone to about 7....lots of classic rock lives in a Strat bridge pup....I would take the bridge pup over the neck.....

'Crazy, huh?

Have Fralin or Rumpel wind you a killer pup to your desire.  Though the tele pup idea is a good one. A fat Broadcaster type would just slay in a Strat!

[RobB]

3 hours ago, bubs_42 said:

Like most Strats the Bridge Pickup is just worthless, but I like the bridge/Middle position tone together. 

Why's that? Because it doesn't sound like a PAF?

[zenmindbeginner]

3 hours ago, Jeff R said:

Instead of routing it I'd go with a JB Jr. I got both those sounds you are looking for with one in my Legacy.

The JB Jr. f**king KILLS!!!

[Bennyboy-UK]

This is what I did...

 

The wiring design picture I came up with was this... I used the warmoth site, and MS paint

 

the idea was to have more control over the bridge pickup and have options - although most of the time I just leave it on HB (both coils in series) really happy with the PATB-1 in there. Mainly because it looks really cool, so there!

[Dave Scepter]

It's not a Strat "but same pickup route" & I put a Seymour Duncan Hot Rail SHR-1 in the bridge position without having to route out the body ~ 

[atquinn]

If you think a "regular" strat bridge pickup is worthless, then you are definitely doing it wrong!

-

Austin

[it's me HHB]

5 minutes ago, atquinn said:

If you think a "regular" strat bridge pickup is worthless, then you are definitely doing it wrong!

-

Austin

It means yer amp sucks

[bubs_42]

Benny that is a killer idea but I only have one tone and one vol to work with. Two tones works great with one wired to the bridge to balance brightness. I don't have that option and the pickups that are in the guitar are killer, I just don't like having a bright thin sound in the bridge. I have not had much luck tone wise with the JBjr or the hotrails for what I think I want to here. I have learned that a Strat is a Strat, but in the past I have had good luck with the SD Twangbanger to every single one I have had (Bought all of them new) is they squeal and feedback. I tried the going with the Fralin Baseplate idea, but the MM Pickup is circuit board style on the back. SO i'm going with the Dimarzio Red Velvet as my first attempt.   

[bubs_42]

14 minutes ago, atquinn said:

If you think a "regular" strat bridge pickup is worthless, then you are definitely doing it wrong!

-

Austin

Different strokes for different folks. I wanted to order the guitar with a bridge humbucker and a hardtail but it was shot down since they are so early in the production run. Although they have done it for artists, but when I got one in my hands, I folded and bought it on the spot. Actually may pick up another 3 singles guitar this weekend. I have not plugged it in yet, but it does have a Hotrails in the bridge. 

[Lockbody]

Go with a Strat bridge pickup with the baseplate. I have a set of Rumpelstiltskin pickups (http://www.rumpelstiltskinpickups.com/strat_pickups.html ) in my Jeff Beck Strat, his Pre-CBS in the neck and middle, and a Broadcaster-like bridge pickup that measures in around 10.5K with a baseplate.

You won't mistake the bridge pickup sound for a vintage Tele, but it does bring the twang, and handles clean, mid-gain tones, and full on Boogie Mk IV Ch3 like nobody's business.

If I had to do all over again, I'd order the bridge pickup at 8-8.5K to make it a little brighter.

[atquinn]

2 hours ago, bubs_42 said:

Different strokes for different folks. I wanted to order the guitar with a bridge humbucker and a hardtail but it was shot down since they are so early in the production run. Although they have done it for artists, but when I got one in my hands, I folded and bought it on the spot. Actually may pick up another 3 singles guitar this weekend. I have not plugged it in yet, but it does have a Hotrails in the bridge. 

Do you have a Cutlass? The one thing that didn't make sense to me about that guitar was not having 2 tone controls. If you have a 3 single-coil setup and you don't have a separate tone for the bridge pickup then that can be rough. And the moment you put a humbucker or singlecoil sized humbucker in there, there goes your traditional single bridge/middle tone (even if you split the humbucker it doesn't sound the same although it can still sound good). Anyway, the Dimarzio Virtual Solo isn't a tele-like pickup, but it is loud and big and still sounds kind of like a single coil, so that might work. Also, if your guitar has their silent circuit, I don't know what affect that will have on what you can put in the bridge. Might be something to check with them about.

-

Austin

[BubbaVO]

9 hours ago, zenmindbeginner said:

The JB Jr. f**king KILLS!!!

This.  

 

as an alternative, the Hotrails can be good too.

[bubs_42]

Yes the Cutlass won me over at first strum. It should be called the Silent'ish Circuit since it cancels hum but sounds more like white noise while letting the singles sound like singles. Has a Buffer built in as well, so everything is crisp. All the pickups are very balanced and the reason I was going for the single coil pickup first with a baseplate was not to stray to far from home plate but get me something more to my liking. Red Velvet is in that 8k range just like the Seymour Duncan Twang Banger. I ordered it with a mint cover so it will match perfectly. 

[RichF]

I went with a Duncan Lil 59 in an ESP 400 series Strat and love it. Split in the bridge/middle position so you still get the traditional Strat in between sound. Full humbucker in the bridge position. One of the tone controls on the bridge pickup to tame some of the highs when needed.

[velorush]

My favorite Strat bridge pickup was a late '90's Texas Special on which I mounted a Fralin base plate and had a tone control with an 0.022 μF orange drop.  Thick and delicious.  Interestingly, I put that exact pickup and control set in another Strat for which I couldn't find a likeable bridge sound and it didn't sound very good.  Bad wood?  Don't know, but it was magic in the original guitar.

I've been considering for a while a double-output bridge pickup such as the one David Allen includes in his Echoes set.  This is a pretty cool idea you could implement with an S-1 switch or a push/pull (or toggle, if you had to).  FF to around 3:07 for a demo of the differences with dirt.

Of course, I no longer have a Strat, so I don't ponder it much these days.

I will say, in the vein of a normal Strat pickup, the Suhr ML Standards were outstanding, even in the bridge of the guitar that didn't sound good with half a dozen other candidates.

 

[crunchee]

The SD P-Rails (bridge and neck position) in my 'doo-awl' TeleStrat/StratoTele sound great in any position (bridge/both/neck on the main pickup switch, mini switches for each pickup for P-90/HB/rail modes), currently it's spoiled me for any want/need for a Strat or Tele.  I don't have a Strat or Tele at the moment to do any A/B comparisons with, but hopefully I'll get that done someday soon.

[django49]

I know this is not the same thing at all, but I finally found the "Strat" sound in my own head when I picked up a PRS 513. Perhaps the key point is that the bridge position (as well as the neck) has two adjacent single coils, and can be switched to activate just one single coil or both wired for either "vintage" or modern" sound. I do not know what pickups are available that might mate well IF you do select to rout the bridge position. As best I know, PRS does NOT sell those pickups separately.

Also, a thumbs up to Crunchee's nomination of the P-Rail. Very useful (IMO) with the caveat that it too would require routing (and adding switching) AND is most useful if you like the P-90 sound, which I consider the best of the 3 tone choices the P-Rail provides.

[mudshark]

Solved the tone control to bridge problem with this FMT Strat....hands down the best Mexican Strat I've played.....Fender Mexico only made these one year and they came in cherry sunburst or tobacco sunburst....paid less than $300 on eBay, and pickups suit me just fine, but then again, I'm not much on pickup swaps.

[LefThanDed]

I always liked Tom Anderson pickups. I believe they make a "stacked coil humbucker" that does not require routing. (Then again I'm the only person I know who liked the Dimarzio Megadrive...)  

[rj2858]

You're so close to the answer.

If you're locked into changing to a Tele bridge p'up, wire it in series to either the neck or middle p'up, (and in parallel with the neck while you're at it) for all the tone you'll ever need.

If you haven't changed out the stock pickup yet, go with that in series and parallel. 

My T-51 with Twang Kings, is set up with a 4 way switch, and the extra position sounds great. I'll soon find out how it sounds in my Daytona that is loaded with Fender Fat 50's p'ups, which has great tone by itself in the bridge position.

[KH Guitar Freak]

Honestly, there are so many options. It really depends on what tone are you really into. On top of the some good suggestions here, you could also try a humbucker wired with a switch to select between series and parallel