Strat pick-up question.

Voxman

ICBM said:

I would second the above, and add one massively overlooked solution… use the middle pickup instead .

I honestly have no idea why so few people seem to like it, to me it's the best sounding pickup on the guitar and the one that's most naturally 'right' if you're used to humbuckers.

It's actually noticeable how many well-known Strat players do use it, if you watch live footage.

+1 - I like the neck too off course, and the 'mid' positions, but the middle p/up gives a nice balance of chunkiness without being too bright or too bass heavy.  On my 2010 Limited Edition Standard I have Delta Tone that allows a 'no load' tone control for the middle & bridge p/ups that lets you have tonal control of the bridge p/up that you don't get with normal strat wiring. 

It's also worth stating the blindingly obvious that different guitars are suited to different musical styles - even different versions of the same marque.  Yesterday & today I've taken out my original 1969 maple-neck hardtail Strat because I've not played it for a while (it's too valuable to take out to gigs or rehearsals, but it can't cover all the tones I need anyway).  

Yesterday I plugged it into my Laney Cub with a bit of delay & tube-screamer/Marshall Guvn'r and some uni-vibe here & there, and spent a pleasant hour or so playing Hendrix stuff (it's perfectly vintage correct for that type of stuff - Hendrix used a 69 too, also which, as is mine, had a maple capped neck).  I particularly love Hendrix' less full-on stuff like Little Wing, The Wind Cries Mary, Hey Joe because of his wonderful touch, phrasing, note/chord selections, and overall tone.  

Today, I was in Dire Straits mood - this time put the '69 through my Laney VC30-210 (gorgeous clean channel) with some delay, Boss CS3 compressor, and EQ, and it just nails classic Knopfler tones from the first Dire straits album inc. Sultans, Southbound Again, Six blade knife etc) and delivers a warmth of tone but with a 'snap' that I can't get from my 2010 Strat that's a bit 'brasher' by comparison.   But for more aggressive stuff, the 2010 Standard with its hotter bridge p/up can do stuff that my '69 isn't quite right for.  

But back to post topic - I'm a big fan of the middle p/up on its own for certain things - its perfect for playing stuff like 'La Bamba' etc. where you want a mixture of 'ooomph' but with a slightly 'warmer' more musical tone that you can't get from the bridge or neck p/up.

exocet

fftc said:

Lot's more to go on so thanks folks.

The trem is currently blocked with some nice hunks of ash. Not sure what the trem block is made of (it's light grey) but it shouldn't matter so much as it's blocked.
The bridge pick-up is affected by the rear tone pot. At 10 it really is treble trouble! I'm tending to use the neck pup on both the Strat and the Lester.
I'll have a wee play up the dusty end unplugged and see if I can hear a difference between the two. Certainly strumming chords unplugged both sound equally nice to me.
I have recently got a Tube Screamer mini so more of a play with that might produce some results. At the moment though a combination of domestic circumstances and playing ability have me using phones and an Amplug most of the time. New THR10C on its way so will have to get acquainted with that and what sounds I can find with the 2 guitars. Cranking a valve amp to the max is not going to happen at home so if that's the only way to get a tone I like then I'll just have to accept it won't happen! Hopefully not though.
Music wise it's blues and classic rock stuff just now. While I enjoy listening to other genres I'm not attempting to play them on guitar for now.

I find the Strat and the THR10C to be a very good combination. You'll get some great drive tones out if the "Mini" setting and the Deluxe is very good for clean. I don't know how this amp does it but it appears to roll off excess highs at the front end (pre distortion stage) (I put it down to digital filtering but I'm probably wrong). The upshot is that I find that it works very well with Strats in all pickup positions.

sev112

I've got a Roadhouse MIM strat with Texas Specials (which I love)

ive started using the middle more and more.  There is so much brightness and sparkle available that it serves a really good purpose

CasperCaster

Personally, for tone, I am not a big fan of the two post trems. I've said before that I think vintage trems sound more authoritative and deliver more low mids. But the superior tuning stability of the two post trems can't be ignored, so the first thing I would suggest is a different trem block, probably brass. Kevin Hurley on eBay makes nice ones complete with a stainless steel arm for under £40, which have got to sound better than the tapered 'high mass/ fused copper' or whatever cheap material it is that Fender used for the US Std. I'd also start by swapping the bridge pickup to something with a few more winds and a steel baseplate - I picked up a secondhand SD Twangbanger for £35 a few months ago and love it, and there are quite a few other pickups with baseplates available too, as others have suggested. And ditch the Delta tone/ no-load/ Tbx pots if it has them. A decent Strat pickup through a regular 250k pot just sounds right, especially with the lower tone control dedicated to the bridge pickup.

Cabicular

Screamin Demon single coil sized humbuckernwas the standard fit out for my strats
not a high gain pickup despite the name and the George Lynch connection
more like a PAF type 

fftc

Just wanted to re-visit this topic as I have had a revelation recently and it may be of interest to others.

I got the THR10C mentioned above, and while it has been great with the P90 Lester, and laterally a PRS Bernie, I was still not able to get sounds I liked with the Strat. So it has just sat in the case and not been played as I didn't want to get sucked into the rabbit hole of pick-up swaps.

So the revelation was a new amp. I bought a '57 Custom Champ and now the Strat is vying for first place again. I am getting Strat tones, but they are no longer thin Strat tones. It sounds fantastic, as do my other two guitars tbf, but different characters each. Couldn't be happier with the purchase. Not only did I get a new amp, but it feels like I got a new guitar thrown in for free!

Funkfingers

There is not very much to the circuit of the 5F1. Hence, most of the signal that you feed it gets through. 

With the Yamaha THR10C, I would expect a Stratocaster to need different control settings to your P90 and humbucker-equiped guitars. 

The other difference that you may notice is in the dynamic range. The valve amplifier should be more reactive to your playing than the modeller.

thomasw88

A few years ago I ha a set or rio grande pickups. They had a set with bigger pole pieces and sounded biiiiiiigggg.. Not sure I liked them but might be what you are after.

Tbh a strat sounds like a strat. Stick it on the neck pickup and it all makes sense. 

Putting a base plate on the bridge and wiring it to the tone pot helps as well. 

ICBM

Funkfingers said:

There is not very much to the circuit of the 5F1. Hence, most of the signal that you feed it gets through.

Actually, to be technical, *none* of the signal you feed it gets through... ever, in any amp. The signal from the guitar pickup goes into the first valve (or transistor) stage, and produces a voltage between the grid and the cathode (or current between the base and emitter, in a transistor). That controls a current from the plate to the cathode (or collector to emitter in a transistor) which is *entirely* produced by the amp's power supply.

I understand why people think simple amps are the 'purest', but that's not really true. They usually generate more harmonic distortion even when they're not actually overdriving, which is what the more complex circuitry in more sophisticated amps was originally designed to get rid of. We just happen to like the happy accident of the type of harmonics those simple valve amps produce... try a very simple transistor amp and you might think otherwise .

Sorry, thread hijack .

(And I do very much like the 5F1 circuit, although I think it sounds much better with a bigger speaker.)

RandallFlagg

Fattening a Strat is part pickups but more amp I would say. Strat will all tone controls at zero and slowly work up. A duller tone at low volume will sound fat and warm at gig volume. Dial back your guitar tone controls a bit as well.

I hear a lot of overly bright Strat tones on Youtube but Chris Buck knows how to make one sound pretty fat and warm.