Warming up a Strat

Barnezy

And I dont mean Hendrix style.

I was at band rehearsals last night and realised just how bright my Strst is. I knew it was quite bright already and nearly always play with the volume and tone down to take those tiring highs off but then you lose something else I find. 

The pups are a mix. 69 in neck, fat 50 middle and Texas in the bridge. The bridge literally sounds like a telecaster, and I'm not that keen on it. 

Any tips on mods or setup adjustments to take the edge off those highs? If you wanted a warmer fuller strat tone, what pups would you consider? 

octatonic

Roll off the tone pot(s) is what I do.
A slight amount of amp eq change too.

blueskunk

Better balanced pickups. 

meltedbuzzbox

What amp do you have?

Barnezy

Princeton Reverb RI 65, but at band rehearsal it was some cheap Fender thing, not sure the model. 

I think I'm just not a fan of the Texas in the bridge. I'm also not a huge fan of having such different sounding pups in one guitar. 

I guess my question is, if you were going to swap out pups and wanted that warmer vintage old pup sound, what would you look at. Also any upgrades to pots etc that are recommended? 

stimpsonslostson

Have you got a tone pot on the bridge? If not, that’d help. 

monquixote

I have mine wired so the bridge has a tone control and the mid and neck have the other that lets you balance them a bit more.

If you want to replace the pickup you cant go wrong with oil city.

tone1

I’ve done the blender mod on my strat. If you’re on the bridge and you feel it’s a bit bright, you can roll in varying amounts of neck Pickup. Combined with the single tone control it works really well. It may be my imagination, but all of the positions sound better now....

Fuengi

I guess you probably need low output? I have a set of Entwistle AS57's in my Strat and I really like them, they are 6.5K.
Mojo and Oil City also do a fantastic pickup.

meltedbuzzbox

Barnezy said:

Princeton Reverb RI 65, but at band rehearsal it was some cheap Fender thing, not sure the model. 

I think I'm just not a fan of the Texas in the bridge. I'm also not a huge fan of having such different sounding pups in one guitar. 

I guess my question is, if you were going to swap out pups and wanted that warmer vintage old pup sound, what would you look at. Also any upgrades to pots etc that are recommended? 

Alnico 3 magnets will smooth those highs and remove the clack of an alnico 5

If your strat is USA or Mexican it should already have cts pots

maltingsaudio

Quick fix lower the pickup height a bit

richardhomer

A mid-boosting drive pedal set on a low gain setting can help a lot. Texas Specials are awful sounding pick-ups to my ears - Suhr V60lps are good sounding alternatives and Raw Vintage trem springs can help too.

sweepy

Try a brass grounding plate on the bridge pickup, not 100% convinced but it’s cheap and worth a go

lukedlb

maltingsaudio said:

Quick fix lower the pickup height a bit

Yes. 

idiotwindow

Pure nickel strings.
EQ pedal of some sort.

guitars4you

I assume you have the bottom tone pot wired to the bridge, or bridge/middle - I know not everyone likes the Texas Special - With the guitar pots on 10, they can be a touch fierce, but I find they are far better with the vol and tone pot rolled of a touch

Do you not get on with any of the p/ups or just the Texas Spec ?

Maybe a crazy answer but no guarantee that what ever someone suggests, and you try, that it will be idea

Enamel winding, formvar windings or even polysol are all vintage, but different character even if some are more subtle than others - Personally I like the 64/65 based models with polysol winding - Most are generally under wound - Again Alnico 11 or 111 over alnico V - With that info and a host of builders the options are to many

You should not require any pot upgrades on a C/Shop Strat - but maybe different value tone caps and/or wiring of tone pots to bridge p/up

mark123

puts tin hat on....
tone control 
and a quick 1 wire mod to make your bridge pickup tone controlable

ESBlonde

Are you normally happy with the tone via your Princeton? If so did you just not get a good setup from the borrowed amp.
I tend to set my amp bright and take off as applicable at the guitar.

mark123

might save you a few £££££s

SteveRobinson

Try a curly lead

Funkfingers

^
Seriously, this. Curly leads eat treble for breakfast.

idiotwindow said:

Pure nickel strings.

String wrap makes a difference. Heavier string gauges might help too.

Barnezy said:

at band rehearsal, it was some cheap Fender thing, not sure the model. 

Stop using the cheap rehearsal room amp.

On the Princeton Reverb, turn off the Bright switch.


If you have been playing guitars with humbuckers or P90s for several days, a Stratocaster will sound obnoxiously bright and wiry by comparison.