Pickup assembly change - different sound

Kebabkid

I have 2 Fender Strats, both have *Rosewood necks and Alder bodies but one has 22 frets, a Callaham trem system and block and the other has 21 frets, a bigger neck and it's a hardtail (MIM Robert Cray model).

The guitar I prefer soundwise, largely down to the versatile and great-sounding pickup configuration, is the 22 fret trem-equipped one and it has Fralin Blues in the neck and middle and an SD Little '59 in the bridge. However, it's the Robert Cray one that I prefer the feel, vibe of and I love the fuller neck profile.

Now, there's nowt wrong with the RC soundwise and it's an excellent Strat but I needed more oomph in the bridge pickup and the aged scratchplate, pickup covers and controls made it a tad difficult to get the aesthetic right, especially as the replacement pickups I fancied (stacked HBs) had blades or looked like my Little '59 or and weren't the right colour and it would look out of place.

So, today, I decided to have my tech put the entire Fralin/SD scratchplate assembly in the RC with the hope that it would marry up the things I liked best.

It's worked and I love it so far, but given the guitars are very similar, the RC has turned out a little thicker and darker in sound, like a Strat on steroids, but still spanky, but I'm now getting some feedback. This never happened before with these pickups and it was on a brighter guitar. Pedal and amp settings were the same but of course, I have now adjusted them to suit, but it's still a little prone to feedback.

Will the hard tail make a difference i.e. more resonance and sustain leads to feedback? Would having a trem transfer certain frequencies or take something away? 21 frets over 22 frets? The Callaham system?

I'm just looking for possible answers as the pickups are not microphonic and having taken the plunge and liking it 99%, I'm hoping this works for me or else the RC will go back to what it was.

Note: All being good, *parts might be up for sale soon on Classifieds

Funkfingers

It is possible that the peak resonant frequencies of the guitar body and the pickups coincide and are summed. 

Are the Fralin and Duncan pickups mounted using metal springs or rubber tubing? 

Does the Fralin/Duncan pickguard assembly include an aluminium screening plate?

The adhesive inside the fully enclosed Duncan Li’l ‘buckers sometimes fails, allowing the innards to move and, eventually, drop out completely. Prod the green baseplate to check for waggle.

Kebabkid

Funkfingers said:

It is possible that the peak resonant frequencies of the guitar body and the pickups coincide and are summed. 

Are the Fralin and Duncan pickups mounted using metal springs or rubber tubing? 

Does the Fralin/Duncan pickguard assembly include an aluminium screening plate?

The adhesive inside the fully enclosed Duncan Li’l ‘buckers sometimes fails, allowing the innards to move and, eventually, drop out completely. Prod the green baseplate to check for waggle.

Thanks very much @Funkfingers and regardless of if they remedy things, they're good things to check and put in place and a good starting point

The pickups are mounted using metal springs - would rubber be better/less metallic transfer?
The pickup assembly does not have an aluminum screening plate
I'll check the Little 59 - it's the older type with tape around the sides rather than the full plastic casing - over the years, I've found these ones sound better, less harsh then the newer ones in that casing.

ICBM

If nothing else, this proves conclusively that the amplified sound of an electric guitar is *not* just down to the pickups.

It sounds to me like what Funkfingers said - the resonance of the hardtail body is exaggerating the peak frequency of the pickups and reducing the amount of overall gain needed for feedback.

Kebabkid

ICBM said:

If nothing else, this proves conclusively that the amplified sound of an electric guitar is *not* just down to the pickups.

Indeed