Anyone know of good strat-sized pickup size humbuckers?

**chris32895** · 12-30-2024, 03:31 PM

Was looking for telecaster replacement when I stumbled upon a black 1993 MIJ ST-57 Stratocaster in my local Guitar Center and it was a really killer guitar. I picked it up simply because it's so comfortable and I get along with the neck fantastically. However, I find I don't really like the single-coil pickups for clean playing. The pickups are stock MIJ A5 strat pickups and I'm playing through a Quitler SuperBlock US into a Toob Metro 6.5GP.

I actually have a spare full-sized Seymour Duncan '59 but unfortunately the body is only routed for single coils so I'd like to see if I can stick a humbucker type pickup into the single-coil slot I have to avoid routing out the body. I know of the Seymour Duncan Lil '59 but besides that I'm not really sure. Most pickups of this type seem to be marketed towards gain-type playing in the bridge position and I want a fat(ter) sound in the neck position.

Anyone have any experience with this sort of thing?

**kris** · 12-30-2024, 03:42 PM

are you looking for humbucker in singlecoli size?

**nevershouldhavesoldit** · 12-30-2024, 04:03 PM

Seymour Duncan Cool Rails for Strats - I love 'em!! They're full and jazzy, but they'll also play the blues like they were made at the crossroads.

I know that SD says that they're only for bridge position. But I used a Hot Rails bridge in the neck position for years on a Tele and loved the way it sounded. The problem you might run into is that the outputs won't be exactly balanced whether you put one of these at the neck and use the stock pickups at mid and bridge or use 3 of these. Bridge pickups that come in sets have higher output than neck pickups because string excursion is less back there, so the pickup gets less "stimulation". There's still enough signal to affect the tone when you blend them, but the neck position will be louder than the bridge if you use the exact same pickup in both positions.

I use the neck p/u for pretty much everything, so it doesn't matter to me at all. I even removed the bridge pickup from my ratty old '90s Epi LP.

**Stringswinger** · 12-30-2024, 04:18 PM

Humbuckers in a Strat size pickup almost always are deeper than a Strat pickup. Some Strat bodies are routed deep enough to accept these but many are not,and some Asian made Strat bodies are slimmer than a Strat body should be and there is not enough wood in those bodies to rout for a deeper pickup. If you do not want to do any routing at all, get data on the size of any prospective pickups, measure the existing pickups and make sure they match.

Good luck!

**Jimmy blue note** · 12-30-2024, 05:07 PM

Originally Posted by nevershouldhavesoldit

Seymour Duncan Cool Rails for Strats - I love 'em!! They're full and jazzy, but they'll also play the blues like they were made at the crossroads.

I know that SD says that they're only for bridge position. But I used a Hot Rails bridge in the neck position for years on a Tele and loved the way it sounded. The problem you might run into is that the outputs won't be exactly balanced whether you put one of these at the neck and use the stock pickups at mid and bridge or use 3 of these. Bridge pickups that come in sets have higher output than neck pickups because string excursion is less back there, so the pickup gets less "stimulation". There's still enough signal to affect the tone when you blend them, but the neck position will be louder than the bridge if you use the exact same pickup in both positions.

I use the neck p/u for pretty much everything, so it doesn't matter to me at all. I even removed the bridge pickup from my ratty old '90s Epi LP.

+1 on this recommendation. I buy Chinese Kleins, strats and teles for a jazz guitar clientele and these guys go in step 1 with amazing results.

**Peter C** · 12-30-2024, 05:10 PM

+1 on the "twin-blade" type HB for a Strat neck position. I don't remember the brand of the one I put in my old MIJ Strat but, apart from the proven Seymour Duncan, there are cheaper options from GFS, Artec, Roswell (that may be the one I installed).... which all get good reviews. I also changed out the pot for a "500K" IIRC.

Off the top of my little head, interesting alternatives could be the Lace Sensor (blue?) or an Alumitone from the same brand. I really like the sounds I've heard from the latter.

**Cunamara** · 12-30-2024, 07:25 PM

Wilde/Bill Lawrence noiseless Strat pickups sound great, and nicely priced. I just installed their Microcoil Strat pickups, which are single coil and sound excellent. Much less noise due to the smaller coils.

Edit: In my Strat and Tele with the Microcoils I used 250K pots and .022 caps.

**jads57** · 12-30-2024, 10:44 PM

I second the Becky Wylde Bill Lawrence Blade pickups.The price is very affordable plus I believe they have tone shaping add one?
Just remember that a single coil appeture is narrower than regular humbucker. So it will be closer to a mini Humbucker tome wise.

**chris32895** · 01-01-2025, 04:04 PM

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I was just about to buy a router, humbucker pickup route templates, a new pickguard... until I realized the cost and effort really adds up to essentially gut what is now a vintage nice playing MIJ guitar. I don't want to mess with the mojo it already has and fear routing out wood from the body would change the way the guitar resonates when playing (which I like a lot).

I think I am going to go the route of replacing the pickups with some sort of Seymour Duncan pickups as they should be fairly cheap to find used and there's lots of videos I can find of them being demo'ed. I'm thinking I will go with a hot rails in the bridge (I sometimes like to do high gain playing), vintage rails in the middle, and cool rails in the neck position. I got this idea from watching this guy play and I love every sound he gets:

Will keep updated here the progress I make.

**DRS** · 01-01-2025, 04:09 PM

I have a SD L'il 59 in the bridge of my Strat. Sounds pretty decent like a bridge HB would sound in a rock guitar. But I like the single coil Strat neck sound. It's a timeless classic. I don't see why a Li'l 59 wouldn't sound good in the neck.

**chris32895** · 01-07-2025, 05:02 PM

I ordered the Cool Rails and just installed them. Very warm and even sound however my D string is just ever so quieter than the rest (I'm using a plain G), but it's not a huge issue and I may be able to adjust it out. This is a pretty nice pickup and have no regrets at this time. I'm still using 250k pots but will try with 500k. Funny enough I'm sorta missing the single coil sound of the stock neck pickup but I'm definitely NOT missing the hum and plinky-ness of the high e-string that I just could not dial out.

Sample size of 1 but so far I can recommend this pickup!

**Cunamara** · 01-07-2025, 08:21 PM

Did you go with a set of Cool Rails or did you mix and match like you described?

Have you ever checked out Lorne Lofsky? He uses Cool Rails in his Ibanez Roadstar Strat and gets a great jazz tone.

**enalnitram** · 01-07-2025, 09:17 PM

I am a big Joe Barden (aka JBE) fan. They don’t really sound like anything else, but they are warm and modern, as well as versatile. I have a set in my tele. I have had a strat with their strat set in them. They can do rock or jazz or any style imo.

https://jbepickups.com/products/sdlx-s-style-pickups/

**chris32895** · 01-07-2025, 09:21 PM

Originally Posted by Cunamara

Did you go with a set of Cool Rails or did you mix and match like you described?

Have you ever checked out Lorne Lofsky? He uses Cool Rails in his Ibanez Roadstar Strat and gets a great jazz tone.

I wasn’t sure if I’d really like the cool rails or if the body of my strat would be deep enough so I got a single Cool Rails pickup for the neck. Honestly I really only play clean in the neck position so I may keep it that way for a while.

**jim777** · 01-08-2025, 11:16 AM

I know OP already ordered his pickups, but I do have some sizes for DiMarzio single sized pickups in case anyone wants to keep them handy

Index of /images/dimarzio/

**chris32895** · 02-10-2025, 10:45 AM

Just wanted to give a quick update on this. So, I had the Cool Rails installed for a bit but decided to take them off. I did have a really great warm sounding instrument with them make no mistake, but I found the sound a bit sterile, or dead. Not sure if that's a fair assessment as others really like the pickup and I see why, but that's what I thought of the pickup. I decided to simply re-install the stock strat pickup and play around with it.

I find now I'm good leaving the instrument stock. In fact, I never thought I'd say this, but I find the sound of my strat to be really pretty good for jazz in either positions 1 or 3. I REALLY like the middle position so long as the tone is rolled back. It is SO clear and articulate and balanced. The more I'm playing with pickup I think the more I'm realizing that I'm starting to favor clarity and articulation over general "warmness" when it comes to what makes a good pickup (in regards to jazz/a clean sound). The rest can be dialed back by a combination of the tone knobs and amp settings. As an aside, I swapped the cap out to .047 and didn't like the sound at all so went back to a .022 cap.

My thoughts on getting a good jazz sound from a Stratocaster (this works with MY strat, may not work with yours. Keep in mind mine is a MIJ with a basswood body and maple neck. I suspect the basswood adds a bit of warmth to the sound. YMMV):
1) Keep the pickups low. I keep the bass end all the way down flush with the pickguard and then only adjust the treble end to get my balance. This should avoid too hot of a sound and allow more use of dynamics.
2) If your pickups are vintage-staggered, use a wound g. A plain g I found problematic as it is way too loud relative to the rest of the strings and sounds very woofy. Alternatively, you can adjust the g pole piece very carefully as is outlined in this video (even with the adjustment I find the g loud but this does help):

3) Lock your trem down. I put 5 new springs in the back and screwed that trem clam way down to essentially disable the trem. The guitar does feel slightly more resonant and I suspect this loses some of the strat jangliness.
4) Don't keep your action too low. This is true for all guitars especially if you want a good dynamic range. I like the action a little higher so making the guitar louder with my hands does not cause the instrument to buzz or fart out
5) Roll your tone down. I never go above 5. I keep this with amp controls in mind.
6) Adjust your amp. I rolled my treble way back, added a little bass, and more mids. Not a lot of reverb is needed as the strat has a little natural reverb because of the springs in the back. I use a Quilter Superblock US into a Toob Metro 6.5GP
7) Play with a light touch. Last but definitely not least, your right hand is crucial. If you play hard it will start to sound stratty and kind of like you are in a funk band. I play with a light touch anyways and play about 50/50 fingers and pick. I like to think of the right hand as the first "gain-stage".

Things I found didn't matter:
String gauge: Idk I use 10's and they sound fine enough. I think it's more important that the strings feel good in your hands than they sound the absolute best, especially if you play a lot. I DO think there is benefit to upping the gauge of the high E to get a little more output.
Saddles: Mine came stock with the vintage style bent saddles. Sounds fine but in all fairness I have not tried other saddles and don't really feel the need to.

Anyways, thanks for reading my 2c on using a strat for jazz.

**Cunamara** · 02-10-2025, 03:30 PM

You're by no means the first person to mod a guitar, try it for a while and think "I liked it better the other way." It's all part of the journey!

**Stringswinger** · 02-12-2025, 11:36 AM

Originally Posted by Cunamara

You're by no means the first person to mod a guitar, try it for a while and think "I liked it better the other way." It's all part of the journey!

Yep. You don't know what you have till its gone is often a fact of life. As luck would have it, many guitar mods are easily reversible.

I have three Strats. One has the stock single coils, one has 4th gen Fender Noiseless pups and one has Humbuckers (Duncan 59). They all sound a bit different, so they are like having three different size phillips screw bits for my impact wrench. Having the right took for the job makes getting the job done more easily.

Single coil buzz is always something to think about. Some venues are so noisy that it can interfere with your playing. Using the volume knob (turning down between tunes) is a time tested way to deal with this, but the Hum Debugger pedal works (though it is imperfect) for those who simply want the noise to go away and who are not bothered by a very slight change of tone.

With a solid body, 10's can get a great jazz sound so long as the guitar is set up right.

**Mick-7** · 02-12-2025, 11:50 AM

Originally Posted by nevershouldhavesoldit

Seymour Duncan Cool Rails for Strats - I love 'em!! They're full and jazzy, but they'll also play the blues like they were made at the crossroads.

Lorne Lofsky has one of these in the neck position of his solid body guitar.

**chris32895** · 02-12-2025, 11:59 AM

Forgot to mention in my long post that picking up a Hum Debugger was a game changer for me. Like Stringswinger said, it is not perfect but does get the job done in an acceptable way. The room I use it in is very noisy and I still get some noise even on the strong setting but it's like 90% better.

**John A.** · 02-12-2025, 03:12 PM