Which pickup fro HSS STRAT BRIDGE PICKUP?

[MAXIFUNK]

I am thinking about replacing the bridge pick up on my Fender American Special HSS Strat.
What got me thinking about this was when I saw the road worn players HSS has a Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates for the bridge.

[MAXIFUNK]

I forgot to mention the singles are Texas Specials Alnico 5's.

[Duffy]

The Fender Deluxe Lonestar strat is one of the nicest sounding strats I've played and it has a full sized HB bridge pup, but the set up is a little different: it has a SD Pearly Gates Plus bridge - which is probably a trembucker size for a fender string spacing but I'm not sure. You can probably check on the SD page for exact string spacing for the regular PG and PG Plus string spacings, and the trembucker version.

The trembucker versions are for tremolo equipped guitars in the bridge position only. They recommend using these if when you measure the total distance between your low E and high E directly over the bridge pickup, the distance is greater than 2 inches. It will only be slightly wider, such as two and one tenth inches. The Custom 5, another super great bridge pickup, is designated as a SH-14 regular humbucker or the TB-14 trembucker spaced humbucker. The Custom Custom SH/TB-11 is also another great pickup and both of these pickups are hot pickups similar to the JB which also comes spaced as a trembucker.

Anyway, here is the way the Lonestar is rigged up, which is pretty cool:


Pickups: 2 Texas Special Single-Coil Strat Pickups (Neck/Mid), 1 Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates Plus Humbucking Pickup (Bridge)
Pickup Switching - 5-Position Blade, Special Switching:
Position 1. Full Bridge Humbucking Pickup (Lead Tone Control)
Position 2. Middle Pickup and Full Bridge Humbucking Pickup (Lead Tone Control)
Position 3. Middle Pickup (Lead Tone Control)
Position 4. Neck and Middle Pickup (Lead and Rhythm Tone Controls)
Position 5. Neck Pickup (Rhythm Tone Control)
Controls: Master Volume, Tone 1. (Neck Pickup) Tone 2. (Bridge Humbucking Pickup and Middle Pickup)


I like the bridge tone control mod on a strat personally because I use the bridge pickup a lot and like to turn down the treble.

Another thing to consider since you are looking at the SD full sized JB bridge pickup is that it is a VERY hot pickup - like 15k. This is cool if you want to hit a tube preamp hard, or when using a high gain amp. It is definitely a great pickup. I have a JB Jr. in a sss strat that is super great sounding. The JB is definitely in another ball park from a normal strat bridge pickup or even a Pearly Gates.

On the other hand I have a Pearly Gates in a couple guitars and it is a great sounding pickup, and, like I mentioned, the Lonestar is to me at least, a great sounding strat. I really like the SD pickups and think they are worth the premium price, but I haven't experimented with too many other pickups.

The Pearly Gates will not be a real hot pickup like some of these others, but would definitely blend in well with the Texas Specials, as on the Lonestar.

I had a Hwy 1 hss with the Atomic Fender humbucker and I didn't think it was that great. I like whatever Fender has put on my Blacktop strat though.

I hope some of this info about the Pearly Gates on the Lonestar and some of the other SD humbuckers and trembuckers is helpful to you if you don't already know all about it. The Custom 5 and the Custom Custom are great sounding too.

By the way your Fender FMT HH tele has a Pearly Gates bridge pup if it's like mine.

[Eric]

Remind me, what's the difference between Texas Specials and Tex Mex pickups? I tend to get those confused, but that's not surprising, as I don't pay particularly close attention to the custom/special/deluxe/ultra nomenclature of Fender and Gibson.

For my money, considering A) you have a HR Deville (not an overly clean amp), and B) the bridge pup is usually used for leads, I'd go for a hot pickup in the bridge like a SD JB.

[wingsdad]

I voted for the Duncan JB, SH-4 on your list, but its correctly spaced model for a Strat is actually the TB-4 Trembucker. It uses Alnico V bar mags like your Tex Spec single coils, so you'll have even magnetic field strength, too. The TB-4 is the stock bridge pup on the G&L Legacy HB, wired to be tapped single coil with a mini-toggle so you can have your standard SSS Strat cake & eat the HSS Strat cake, too. The pup's 4-conductor wiring makes that a snap. It's got slightly stronger bottom & treble ends than an SH-11 Custom Custom (with a bit stronger midrange, less bass and treb than the JB because of the weaker pull of the SH-11's Alnico II mags) which makes it a better Strat mate (IMHO), and using a 250K pot takes some of the glass or brittleness out.

I've sampled the Legacy HB many times over the past few years in the store I frequent, most recently 2 weeks ago, when I acquired via straight-up trade for my '07 MII Washburn Idol WI66PPRO an '08 MIK Schecter Blackjack S-1, the final year they made that particular version of the S-1, sporting a 'Fender' 25.5" Scale like the Legacy, or my '81 STRATand G&L ASAT, vs. the 'Gibson' 24.75" scale of the Idol'. The Idol has/had the Custom Custom, that I'd had rewired to tap the pups via push-pull tone pots, paired with a Duncan SH-1 59 at the neck. The Schecter's stock combo is the JB with the 59, both Alnico V bar mag pups, matching magnetic field strength (thus more even in volume output), wired with a push-pull master tone pot to tap them both to single coil. I much preferred the smoother, cleaner trebs & mids of the JB in either HB or SC mode over the Custom Custom, even though the Alnico II mags of the Custom Custom make it a bit less hot, considering it to be more versatile for my styles.

Either one of them, the SH-4/TB-4 or SH-11/TB-11 (for Strat) would mate well on an HSS Strat. If you want more midrange edge or dirt in your bridge tone w/o a dirt pedal, go TB-11. If you use a pedal or 2 to get the edge, then the TB-4 will offer you more versatility.

[MAXIFUNK]

Thanks for all the great insight............

I have a pearly gates in my HH Tele it has way more volume than the pickup in my Strat but has more treble than I like too but that could just be the whole tele vibe coming through. Sounds real good over driven. The Atomic™ Humbucker has a nice tone not to harsh or too much treble but lacks the volume you would expect from a humbucker.

So the JB sounds like a great option.............. The DiMarzio DP223 PAF Bridge Humbucker 36th Anniversary is in a axe at my favorite GAS Station so I'll have to give it a real good listen.

I just bought some Rose Mariposa single coils for my FSR Strat and if I like them might have to give Rose a shot at the bridge pup.

[sunvalleylaw]

I happen to have a DiMarzio Virtual Hot PAF bridge humbucker I was going to sell, just in case you are interested.

[Eric]

So the JB sounds like a great option.............. The DiMarzio DP223 PAF Bridge Humbucker 36th Anniversary is in a axe at my favorite GAS Station so I'll have to give it a real good listen.
I've heard great things about the 36th anniversary pups, but I think they're geared toward more of a PAF sound (I guess you could figure that, given the name, huh?). I've never actually heard/played one, so I'm curious to hear what you think about all of these if you happen to give them a listen.

Out of curiosity, what do you have in the bridge of the strat right now?

[Duffy]

It seems that Rose pickups outsources some of their pickups, such as the Mariposas, and hand winds some of the others.

The site says there have been three different revisions of the Mariposas having to do with different source manufacturers and differing designs that were settled upon.

I wouldn't be surprised if they are better than GFS pickups.

Some of the Rose pickups sound interesting, but the hand wound ones are not cheap and in the same price range as Seymour Duncans, if not more, and they don't see to make any hot humbuckers or noiseless single coils sized.

I would be interested in hearing further about the Rose pickups. I know Toneriders and Keystones get great feedback, consistently.



I still think the choice to get a Seymour Duncan JB bridge humbucker is a great idea. You know you will be getting an awesome pickup, especially if you like a hot but passive pickup that sounds super great and strong thru a good tube amp and maintains some noticeable smoothness at the same time.

[MAXIFUNK]

Eric, It has a a fender Atmoic humbucker in it right now.



Duffy the ones I bought are USA made hand wound by the owner Ken himself, he over wound them for me.
If they say USA MADE they are handmade in the Bay area.
More to follow once they are installed.

Rose Mariposa over wound Strat pickups
Neck 8500, 6.3K
Middle 8700, 6.4K
Bridge 9 000, 6.6K

[Duffy]

That's interesting Maxi, because I just checked the website and they said the Mariposas are outsourced and that there were three versions so far, all of them different with pictures of each. I know they make some hand wound ones but don't know much about them. There doesn't seem to be much description on the website of the individual pickups, quite unlike the superflous bloated yammering on the GFS page; I think I'd like to see some more details. Also the sound clips are all done thru different rigs, for the most part, instead of playing each pickup thru the same set up so that we can compare each sound acording to a bassline.

Sounds like you got a special set and I'm glad you are satisfied with them.

I had the Atomic humbucker too, and should have replaced it.

[MAXIFUNK]

That's interesting Maxi, because I just checked the website and they said the Mariposas are outsourced and that there were three versions so far, all of them different with pictures of each. I know they make some hand wound ones but don't know much about them. There doesn't seem to be much description on the website of the individual pickups, quite unlike the superflous bloated yammering on the GFS page; I think I'd like to see some more details. Also the sound clips are all done thru different rigs, for the most part, instead of playing each pickup thru the same set up so that we can compare each sound acording to a bassline.

Sounds like you got a special set and I'm glad you are satisfied with them.

I had the Atomic humbucker too, and should have replaced it.

http://www.rosepickups.com/apps/webstore/products/show/2383491

"MARIPOSA" Premium Set USA Wound! 1 week build time

This set covers a lot of tones!

Clean, Glassy, Organic, and ready to rock!

VERY distinct tones from each postion.

Useable MIDDLE position!

Careful with the Bridge pickup! It's ready to rock. Add an overdrive and it sings!

This must be the least expensive hand wound set of pickups in the USA!

Features:

-Alnico V Rods

-Vintage Fiber Bobbins

-Braided Lead Wires

-Hand Scattered 42 AWG wire

In the box:

3 pickups, 3 covers, height adjustment screws and springs

$69.99

[Tig]

Maxi, you might check with the guys who own Hell Bender guitars that have great sounding Bare Knuckles pickups.
http://www.bareknucklepickups.co.uk/main/pickups.php?cat=humbuckers

[Duffy]

Oh yeah Maxi now I remember reading that. Those seem way better than the outsourced ones.