Second Hand Fender Strat Mex pick ups verses Tonerider/Iron Gear etc

Jetfire

Looking at the endless list of pick ups, Ive decided to just get something to get me started as I dont know really what I like in terms of pick ups. Would a second hand set of Fender Mexican pick ups be something to consider or are the budget tonerider, iron gear etc abit better (and potentially a wider choice)

What say you?

ICBM

Strat or Tele? I have a set of Mexican Tele pickups for sale, cheap... they're fine really, although not as 'vintage' sounding as something a bit posher.

skullfunkerry

I don't know about better, as I'm not really a Strat or Tele kind of guy, but pretty much every pickup I've had from Irongear or Tonerider has been absolutely superb

Jetfire

Sorry @ICBM , I meant Strat. 

@skullfunkerry thats good to know! 

PonchoGreg

Don't know what your budget is (or even what sort of mex pickups you're looking at, and what they go for) but I have had two different sets of toneriders in a couple of classic series strats and for me they were an improvement. Hell, I replaced "proper" fender 57/62 pickups with tonerider pure vintage pickups...

It's all down to preference ultimately. For me the tonerider sounded a bit beefier (but still in the low wind, vintage camp) and the benefit is that their bridge pickups are a bit hotter, which really helps on a strat. Quality-wise, nothing to worry about, they're about as well put together as some boutique pickups I've had.

You won't get quite the same depth of tone, touch sensitivity as proper handwound pickups, but it's not night and day (and considerably cheaper)

Funkfingers

If you are fussy about Stratocaster tones, any single coil pickup with a plastic bobbin is going to disappoint in the long term.

Check out demonstrations of Alegree Old Timer Formvar Fifties pickups. Maybe, invest in a steel baseplate for the bridge position pickup.

For a 9.5" fingerboard radius, I recommend replacement pickups with equal length rod magnet polepieces.

I currently have a surfeit of Oil City Pickups replacements for Stratocaster but no black covers of the correct pole hole spacing. These are on order but might not arrive until February. 

Jetfire

Actually there's a cracking demo on the @Alegree pick ups website, I may have to have a word.. 

DrJazzTap

I bought a secondhand texmex pickup to put in the rossi tele (middle position). I was a bit underwhelmed by it in all honesty. 
The bridge was a dimarzio chopper and the neck was an oil city. I thought the old city sounded the best tbh. Overall the sounds it was a mismatched bunch. 
I would go with tonegear or irongear to start off with. 

Funkfingers

Jetfire said:

I've decided to just get something to get me started as I don't know really what I like in terms of pick ups.

What say you?

Is the object of the exercise to make your Blacktop HH Stratocaster sound more like a conventional SSS model? 

Would your musical needs be met by adding a couple of pseudo-Strat sounds to your Ibanez RGA guitars?

The latter involves changing the selector switch.

Options include;
the John Petrucci circuit - Neck, Inside Coils, Bridge.
The DiMarzio/Ibanez five-way HH circuit - Neck (series), Neck (parallel), Neck + Bridge, Inside Coils, Bridge.
Schaller Megaswitch M circuit HH10 (same as Ibanez but with a more compact switch).

Jetfire

Funkfingers said:

Jetfire said:

I've decided to just get something to get me started as I don't know really what I like in terms of pick ups.

What say you?

Is the object of the exercise to make your Blacktop HH Stratocaster sound more like a conventional SSS model? 

Would your musical needs be met by adding a couple of pseudo-Strat sounds to your Ibanez RGA guitars?

The latter involves changing the selector switch.

Options include;
the John Petrucci circuit - Neck, Inside Coils, Bridge.
The DiMarzio/Ibanez five-way HH circuit - Neck (series), Neck (parallel), Neck + Bridge, Inside Coils, Bridge.
Schaller Megaswitch M circuit HH10 (same as Ibanez but with a more compact switch).

My RGAs are essentially my rock and metal guitars (along with my 26.5 scale and 28 inch scale but they will mainly sit in alt tunings, natch)

I have my Tele which I use more at the moment for learning/teaching on and I fancy having a traditional strat (mainly as I've never had a SSS before) and swap the loaded scratch plate as and when I see fit

munckee

I don't think I have tried tone riders, axes r us pickups are not too bad and are reasonably price. I would recommend Alegree's stuff.  @poopot thought highly of pribora pickups which are cheap on Ebay I seem to remember.

CasperCaster

I've had both Toneriders and Iron Gear pickups and would recommend either over most stock Mexican Fender pickups. Personally, I don't mind the Fender TexMex pickups but most other Fender plastic bobbin pickups leave me cold. Toneriders or Iron Gear are excellent - I currently have an Iron Gear Vintage 6TS Bridge and Pig Iron neck and middle in a Strat - classic Strat tones and the bridge is not too brittle. I like the look of the Alegree Old Timer Formvar 50's Strat pickups too, though I haven't had the opportunity to try them yet. 

Switch625

Interesting thread... I've got a Mexican player Strat and was thinking of upgrading to one of the USA sets... but now I'm thinking of giving Iron Gear or Toneriders a go after reading the feedback here.

Cirrus

I've had Tonerider City Limits in my 2001 mex strat since 2009, I like them a lot. Bridge can be a tad sharp but... it's a Strat bridge. I remember considering them an improvement over the stock pickups at the time but honestly it's so long ago, I just need to trust my assesment at the time.

boogieman

I think the standard Fender Mex pickups sound absolutely fine in a Tele, not ever had them in a Strat though. 

My two Strats have Tonerider Classic Blues and Fender 60s customs fitted. The Customs definitely sound better but the Toneriders are decent enough, especially for the money. 

Funkfingers

Jetfire said:

I have my Tele which I use more at the moment for learning/teaching on 

Again, you could get a Stratty "in-between" sound from the Telecaster for the price of a fancy selector switch and a capacitor.

Depending on how your bridge is grounded, a Schaller Megaswitch M offers five sounds whilst a Freeway 3B3 offers six.

Jetfire

Funkfingers said:

Jetfire said:

I have my Tele which I use more at the moment for learning/teaching on 

Again, you could get a Stratty "in-between" sound from the Telecaster for the price of a fancy selector switch and a capacitor.

Depending on how your bridge is grounded, a Schaller Megaswitch M offers five sounds whilst a Freeway 3B3 offers six.

Or I could, just build a loaded scratch plate for my strat, leave my tele be a Tele and have some flexibility.  Its great having 2 downtuned guitars, 2 rock guitars in standard tuning and two guitars with single coils.

For me, keeping things simple is better (if not slightly more expensive). 

thegummy

If it's a Mexican "Standard" Strat, the pickups will be ceramic magnet so IMO will sound distinctly different to the classic Strat sound.

If it's a Player or a vintage reissue that has proper alnico magnet pickups, I'd say they were as good as something like Tonerider. Maybe even as good as posher brands but that's another story.

You might want to find some sound comparisons to see what you think of the sound difference but to me, using ceramic magnets for Strat pickups makes a very significant difference to the sound.

As far as I'm aware, no company makes vintage/standard output Strat pickups choosing ceramic magnet for quality - only for cost cutting. Whereas with hot humbuckers, or even high output Strat pickups, it's a deliberate choice.

This thread reminds me I need to get round to selling some Strat pickups, just been too ill recently to be bothered with it all.

prowla

Cirrus said:

I've had Tonerider City Limits in my 2001 mex strat since 2009, I like them a lot. Bridge can be a tad sharp but... it's a Strat bridge. I remember considering them an improvement over the stock pickups at the time but honestly it's so long ago, I just need to trust my assesment at the time.

This partscaster (MIM body, Warmoth neck) has Tonerider City Limits neck and mid pickups, with a Seymour Duncan JB humbucker at the bridge; the Toneriders are excellent.