Strat Pickups

[Playerizor]

I have a 88' Japanese Strat that I would like to start using for jazz. The pick ups are not original, not sure what they are, but I don't like them.

Any suggestions would be helpful.

Thanks,

[Peter C]

Things I have done to my mid-80s Japanese Strat over the years, off the top of my head:

Put a twin coil pickup of choice in the neck position. Mine is a twin blade, but I don't remember the brand. I also did the "500k pot" conversion.

Try flatwounds: D'Addario Chromes seem to have decent output.

Play around with pickup height and the tone control

Block the tremolo

Keep the guitar volume below max, using the amp's volume control


....

[John A.]

I have a 88' Japanese Strat that I would like to start using for jazz. The pick ups are not original, not sure what they are, but I don't like them.

Any suggestions would be helpful.

Thanks,

What don’t you like about them? It would also be helpful to know what kind they are (maybe take off the pickguard and look at the bottom of the pickups to see if there’s any kind of label or markings). Also, are you looking to stay with single coils, or looking for some sort of humbucker?

[osloutah]

If you want clean I’d go for noiseless Fralins:

Lindy Fralin Split Blade Pickups - Hum Free Single Coil Tone

I just got rid of a strat that came loaded with them, and the whole rig was marvelous. If I had to have one guitar with a sound that could be shaped however I wished, that would have been it. But then groundhog day hit and I remembered that I hate strats and never end up keeping them.

Best of luck on your quest!

[Stringswinger]

I would go with either a neck humbucker or stacked coil noiseless.

[Cunamara]

I have a home-assembled Stratishcaster that has had many different pickups in it over the last 30 years. Currently it has a Strat sized pickup in the neck position and PAF sized pickups in the other two, but the neck position pickup sounds especially wonderful and works very well for jazz. It is a Wilde L280S stacked humbucking pickup with 250k pots and .047 cap, treating it as a direct replacement (the other two are L90 pickups that see 500k pots and .022 caps through a perhaps unnecessarily complicated wiring situation).

Noisefree Strat – Bill and Becky Wilde Pickups

I have really liked all of my Bill 'n' Becky pickups, especially the 280 series for Strat and Tele.

[lammie200]

I have never tried the Wilde pickups but they have always interested me. If you want to open your wallet I suggest a Kinman Kick in the Arse set. I have tried active EMG SAVs and passive Lace Holy Grail sets previously. The passive Kinmans are what I really wanted all along. Noiseless, low string pull, balanced, and full sounding without the ice pick. Not cheap though.

[Hammertone]

It's a strat. Rout a swimming pool under the guard and go nutz.

[Playerizor]

Thanks for all the advise, I think the Kinmans look very interesting.

I have hum bucker guitars so I wouldn't want to put them in a Strat. Thanks for the advise though.

[rpjazzguitar]

I used a Seymour Duncan Lil 59 Humbucker in the neck position and left the other two stock.

The middle p/u gives me a single coil sound if I want it, which I rarely do.

The HB gives me pretty much the sound I'm looking for, but that doesn't predict it for anyone else.

I think the Lil 59 can be coil split, but I didn't bother.

[lammie200]

...I think the Kinmans look very interesting...

I have the KITA set in my Strat partscaster and a Thick set in my Jazzmaster partscaster. From my experience Kinman pickups are exactly as advertised. He has put a lot of effort into R & D. I think that there was time when Fender was offering Kinmans on some higher priced models. Maybe it was custom shop models - I don't remember. They are expensive though. Worth repeating that.

[DawgBone]

Fat 50's would probably get a nice jazz sound, they are a little richer. All of the CS Fender pickups are pretty good. I got good a real good sound with a Klein Epic '56 set. Seems like all of his sets are pretty swell sounding. I don't play strats anymore though...

[Bobby Timmons]

If you're going to stick with single coil form factor, you still have to choose between true single coils, stax, or single coil size humbers. Each have their pros.

[jzucker]

i love my bardens. I have them in my strat and tele. They get really nice pseudo vintage tones but with a lot more fatness. It sort of sounds like a CC pickup for jazz