Need different Stat pups

[clintj]

There's two standards for how the pole piece heights are set. Modern has the pole for the G lower, vintage has it higher. If you use a wound third string, go with vintage. Plain (unwound) third, go modern.

[M Sarad]

My friend who owns a '62 Strat put in Bill Lawrence blade pickups years ago. It has the SRV tone in spades.
When he bought it in 1970 the original pickups had been replaced

[ras1500]

Since it is a Strat, why not use Fender pickups? I put Fender 57/62's on my MIC Strat, plus upgraded electronic parts. It sounds like a Strat should sound to my old ears.

[Hurricane Bob]

Bought a used set of Crossroads Fat Pups for $70.00 at me local guitar shop. Cant wait to solder em in, will report back with the results--

[Dru Edwards]

Originally Posted by Hurricane Bob

Bought a used set of Crossroads Fat Pups for $70.00 at me local guitar shop. Cant wait to solder em in, will report back with the results--

Congrats! I'm not familiar with Fat Pups so I googled. Looks like a nice set. How did you hear about them? The guitar shop?

[Hurricane Bob]

Wades guitar shop had a used set and recommended them to me so i went with it--I hate soldering!

[Dru Edwards]

Originally Posted by Hurricane Bob

Wades guitar shop had a used set and recommended them to me so i went with it--I hate soldering!

Just remember to tin the wire and if you can have an extra hand to hold the wire in place. Good luck!

[jay7347]

Not cheap, but I love the David Allen Texas Flood pups I put in my SRV strat. Nice and clean.

-jay

[Magnazen]

Probably too late -

but Vanzandt True Vintage are stellar and priced appropriately!

[Blackmore Fan]

If you're after a "vintage" sound, I have a few suggestions for you. I own 4 Strats at the moment, and I wouldn't think of changing the pickups out of any of them.

The ones I own are the Seymour Duncan SSL-1s, the Fender Tex Mex set, the Fender 57/62s, and the Fender "Standard" pickups from a MIA Fender circa 2008.

The thing they all have in common is that they can do "cleans" in spades, but will also handle an overdrive and a distortion pedal thru a tube amp. Many people pretend that single coils can't deliver distortion, but the right ones can. Any of the sets I mentioned can take me to GnR territory if I want to go there, but can deliver "cleans" that are beautiful.

The cheapest set I mentioned is the Fender Tex Mex--when I last looked they're around $80 new. The most expensive set I mentioned is the Seymour Duncan SSL-1s. I paid $150 for them about a year ago--they're probably not much more than that now. The "American Standards" aren't to my knowledge available new, but you can find them used. They wouldn't set you back more than $100 I'm guessing. My set of 57/62s were included as standard on my Fender Strat Classic Player 50s Strat. This set is available from Fender, but the set they sell isn't RWRP whereas the set in my Strat is.

[S.bowman]

Originally Posted by Hurricane Bob

I have wanted a blonde natural Strat for 45 years so I built one. It was more work than I ever imagined, sanded for months, 2 hours a day and yes it is beautiful. The pickups are OK but I want more! Gonna try the Bootstraps?

Being as how you have taken this project through this far, with great results, why not experiment with the pick ups that you have? Larger tone caps will darken the tone. Worth giving a shot, and cheaper than new pickups. Great looking Strat!