What are everyone's favourite Single Coils?

ChaosJunky135

Hey guys, i am getting to the final stages of a hand built strat i am working on and that means choosing pickups. Simply wondering what everyone would recommend as i have always been a humbucker person. Not looking for high output, Been looking at lace sensor golds which i have heard good things about but just wondering what everyone would recommend. 
Thanks in advance all

Lebarque

Tried plenty. Rocketfire Total 60's remain in my strat.

thegummy

Recently listened to a lot of demos to compare as I was thinking about replacing my Strat pickups with non-staggered pole piece pickups and I settled on the Bare Knuckle Apaches as being the best sounding to me (ended up just sticking with the staggered ones I have).

Note: I don't have experience with them myself, I just preferred the sound from demos.

Edit: The ones I stuck with are Fender CS Fat 50s which I really like the sound of too, albeit different sounding to the Apaches.

robinbowes

I've got Kinman pickups on all my Fender instruments. Impersonator '54 on my strat, AVn Blues set in my 12-string, and a Broadcaster set in my Tele.

R.

Funkfingers

ChaosJunky135 said:

Been looking at lace sensor golds ... just wondering what everyone would recommend. 

If you are hooked on the idea of Lace Sensors, I suggest their Holy Grail series. The polepiece configuration is an important factor in the Stratocaster sound. The regular Sensors hold up well under extreme gain but fall short on *quack* and *ping*.

Beyond that, any recommendation would need to be based on hearing the unamplified guitar. 

HAL9000

Haven’t got a lot of experience in this type of thing, but am very pleased with the OilCity StoneTones in my Strat. After discussing my requirements, OilCity recommended (and fitted) a baseplate to the bridge pickup in my set. Something worth considering as bridge pickups in Strats can often sound a bit thin, and a baseplate just gives it that extra kick.

TheMarlin

Gretsch Hilotrons or Mojo Goldfoils. 

Kebabkid

Fralin Blues Specials with baseplate.

Clear, defined with all the quack and spank on cleans but they work wonderfully well through different gain structures 

mistercharlie

Fender’s CS69s. Low-is output, but they still sound fat and hairy. Pair with a bass-cut pot on the guitar and they’ll sound good into any amp. I l-o-v-e mine. 

paulnb57

Tried a few in my Original 50's Strat and settled on Fat 50’s in the neck and middle with a BK Sinner with backplate at the bridge, In another Strat I have Mojo 60's, also very nice.....

downbytheriver

Creamery S90s - stunning sound. More stratty? Custom Shop 69s. Off the wall but a Custom Shop staple from a while back? CS 69 in the neck, Fat Fifties RWRP in the middle and Texas Special in the bridge.  

Prepare to spend much money in the search for the grail... 

paulnb57

downbytheriver said:

Prepare to spend much money in the search for the grail... 

Wisdom!

munckee

The best strat pickups I have heard are custom shop 57/62's as found in classic player 50s strats, very low output but lovely sound.

octatonic

Suhr ML's do it for me.

west

V60lp's or lollar blackface .....  would like to try the ml's one day ....

Lebarque

@west I've got a set of Suhr FL's (old name for ML's) kicking around somewhere if you fancy them?

CloudNine

Lebarque said:

Tried plenty. Rocketfire Total 60's remain in my strat.

Likewise. It's very hard to imagine better Strat pickups.

west

cheers Lbq im ok at the mo' thanks , im pretty happy with the v60lp lollar imperial bridge and suhr ssc , im needing to get me humbucking requirments sorted out with a collings soco lc or i35lc its taking ages to find the right one s/h  ...  i will give you a shout if anything changes

p90fool

downbytheriver said:

Prepare to spend much money in the search for the grail... 

Or prepare to not bother. Most properly made vintage output Strat pickups are much of a muchness - a hair more bottom end here, a touch less mids there.

The trick is in balancing outputs between your pickups and having a decent bridge and trem block. 

Then you'll find it might not work well with the rest of your entirely humbucker based rig, so you'll need the odd tweak to pedals or whatever there.  

Spending £150 a time on half a dozen sets of inseperable pickups will not get you there, learning how to play a Strat will. 

downbytheriver

p90fool said:

downbytheriver said:

Prepare to spend much money in the search for the grail... 

Or prepare to not bother. Most properly made vintage output Strat pickups are much of a muchness - a hair more bottom end here, a touch less mids there.

The trick is in balancing outputs between your pickups and having a decent bridge and trem block. 

Then you'll find it might not work well with the rest of your entirely humbucker based rig, so you'll need the odd tweak to pedals or whatever there.  

Spending £150 a time on half a dozen sets of inseperable pickups will not get you there, learning how to play a Strat will. 

There is a great deal of sense contained within this

Lebarque

CloudNine said:

Lebarque said:

Tried plenty. Rocketfire Total 60's remain in my strat.

Likewise. It's very hard to imagine better Strat pickups.

@CloudNine ;  Aha, another fan! Quite rare this side of the pond I believe. I've never seen a decent demo of them, so they remain fairly low-key.