HSS Recommendation

maltingsaudio

It’s been a long while since I’ve bought replacement pick ups but just got a secondhand Eggle New York and it’s pickups are severely lacking in definition . Nb they aren’t the original ones. So my immediate thought was Seymour Duncan custom custom for the bridge and Dimarzio HS1 for middle and neck if they still make them. 

So floor open for recommendations on this theme

ICBM

Oil City, and ask Ash for recommendations based on the exact sound you want.

For what it's worth I don't think the Custom Custom is a very defined pickup, and I don't like mixing brands in the same guitar!

xscaramanga

I've just put a custom Oil City in my Strat. I bought it off a Fretboarder, and it's based on the Eruption model. I think it's awesome because if you back it away from the strings, it really starts to sound like a Strat bridge pickup (though not thin or weedy), which makes it blend well with the other pickups. I don't even have it set for coil split and it still does a convincing quack in the bridge/middle position. When you move it closer to the strings it fattens up a fair bit, but that ability to impersonate a big single coil could be handy in a Strat.

Or you could buy the Bare Knuckle VHII I had before the Oil City! Still a great pickup, just more mid than I wanted in an already middy guitar.

Musicwolf

I put a Bare Knuckle VHII in my Strat along with a pair of, from memory, Irish Tour single coils.  I started out intending to just put the VHII in the bridge alongside the stock Fender single coils (it's a 2009 US Standard) but got lazy and ordered a pre-wired scratch plate.  The VHII has an aged nickel cover, the Irish Tours have steel base plates (on BK's recommendation).

Really happy with the sounds once I'd found the right heights.  Nicely balanced.

I'm back playing my Eggle Berlin Pro which has the original SDs.  If I were to change them I think that I'd go for VHII's in that as well.

Lestratcaster

Sorry to hijack this thread but I am too looking for a neck and a middle pickup (a JB humbucker is going in the bridge) suggestion for my strat upgrade (see my other thread).

Have checked out the BKP Irish Tour and Slow Hand online, they sound very nice!

I guess the sound I'm gong for is that blues-y rock tone, Gilmour/Clapton-esque, keeping the Stratty sound! So warm and not too harsh on the highs on the cleans. But still some snap for funk parts, say.

maltingsaudio

Interesting so far thanks guys, you see my 2 main guitars are my Berlin pro hence the Seymour, although fairly convinced mine has Kent’s in, and my Silhouette hence the HS1’s. The Silhouette also has a fastrack in the bridge which is outstanding so that’s where I’m going with the New York

Lestratcaster

Musicwolf said:

I put a Bare Knuckle VHII in my Strat along with a pair of, from memory, Irish Tour single coils.  I started out intending to just put the VHII in the bridge alongside the stock Fender single coils (it's a 2009 US Standard) but got lazy and ordered a pre-wired scratch plate.  The VHII has an aged nickel cover, the Irish Tours have steel base plates (on BK's recommendation).

Really happy with the sounds once I'd found the right heights.  Nicely balanced.

I'm back playing my Eggle Berlin Pro which has the original SDs.  If I were to change them I think that I'd go for VHII's in that as well.

Bet that sounds nice! How much difference does putting a base plate under the single coils make?

Musicwolf

Lestratcaster said:

Bet that sounds nice! How much difference does putting a base plate under the single coils make?

That's a difficult one to answer as you can't tell what percentage of the change in tone is coming from the choice of pickup, the base plate, the set up or from confirmation bias (your paying £75 to £130 per pickup - of course you are going to think that they're better than what you just took off).

I went off the advice of BK (I think that it was a zero cost option, so nothing in it for them).  It took me a while to get the best out of the whole set.  Initially I was raising the action of the guitar a touch when I heard a noticeable improvement.  I then dropped the pickups bit by bit and it just got better and better.  It's the humbucker that I'm most happy with.

Lestratcaster

Musicwolf said:

Lestratcaster said:

Bet that sounds nice! How much difference does putting a base plate under the single coils make?

That's a difficult one to answer as you can't tell what percentage of the change in tone is coming from the choice of pickup, the base plate, the set up or from confirmation bias (your paying £75 to £130 per pickup - of course you are going to think that they're better than what you just took off).

I went off the advice of BK (I think that it was a zero cost option, so nothing in it for them).  It took me a while to get the best out of the whole set.  Initially I was raising the action of the guitar a touch when I heard a noticeable improvement.  I then dropped the pickups bit by bit and it just got better and better.  It's the humbucker that I'm most happy with.

Yes I'm doing something similar to yourself just a different brand of humbucker.

I thin all BKP single coil sets come with a base plate option anyway and I've seen it adds a bit more bottom end and fullness which is exactly what I need. I usually have my action low-ish so raising that would affect my playing a bit!

If I do go for the brand its a choice out of the Irish Tours and Slow Hand I think.