Your pickup combinations.

Whitecat

For me a P90 in the neck is bliss. With a bridge humbucker it's even better - the middle position is something special on that combo. 

TTBZ

Octafish said:

TTBZ said:

Position 2 & 4 sound horrible. Such a cheesy nasty sound.

I'm really enjoying my Axesrus pickups - neck Late 50s P90 and bridge Purist humbucker. Really versatile and in this instance they sound better than any other pickups I've had in there including Bare Knuckle (Mules and black dogs). I was half expecting them to be rubbish for some reason but they're still hand wound pickups at a reasonable price. I'd say the Purist is like a Mule but a bit hotter and less "blank canvas" sounding if that makes any sense. 

Yep, I'm a fan of Axesrus pickups, great bang for buck. The 50s Daddy'O set sound better than standard Alnicos in the 50s Classic Strat to me. I've also got a great sounding set of their Humbucker sized P90s in a Jazzmaster

My neck one is hum size as well. To me it's not quite as fat as a Bare Knuckle Mississippi Queen but not far off and as a result has better clarity and twang so I'm not too fussed!

p90fool said:

I feel exactly the same, I'm 52 and have been playing Strats since the 70s, all of them, including my latest build, with a 3-way switch. 

I reckon if I ever go back to singlecoils on my strat it'll be with a 3 way as well, just to eliminate the chance of switching to those in between sounds by accident.

hubobulous

• Suhr Aldrich set is excellent
• As already mentioned, the Suhr ML coupled with other Suhr models is also great
• A set of Suhr V60LPs is a wonderful SSS config
• Fred and Paf Pro is stunning
• Norton and Air Norton is also superb
• The Bill Lawrence XL100 and a 59 is awesome

dindude

p90fool said:

impmann said:

richardhomer said:

Brize said:

It's news to me that some people hate the bridge/middle pickup combination on a Strat - one of my favourite tones.

It's a 'trendy' thing to dislike and a way of demonstrating how 'edgy' and 'cool' you are.

No one ever says 'that Les Paul bridge pick-up sound really annoys me - it's so over-used'....

I can't really think of any classic guitar tones which I particularly dislike - just those which don't neccessarily work for me as a player.

TRENDY?

FFS - I'm not 'edgy' or 'cool'. At 46, I've long since given up any hope of ever being either of those adjectives!!

Nope, I just don't like the sound - and never had, yet I love Strats.

I feel exactly the same, I'm 52 and have been playing Strats since the 70s, all of them, including my latest build, with a 3-way switch. 

Im convinced that a lot of the reason people say the Strat bridge pickup is too bright is because they've dialled their amps in to do the "quack" thing on 2 and 4.

Ignore those sounds totally and it's easy to get a big, fat, Blackmore-type bridge pickup tone.  

Wisdom indeed. I don't particularly like the quack sound of a Strat anyhow (its cheesy like over use of chorus), John Mayer is the only person who I think gets something usable out of these positions, and part of the reason for me is they always sound too dark and lacking cut and dynamics compared to the individual pickups. 

If this makes me edgy and cool then I'm a happy 41 year old!

koneguitarist

I like the sound Knopfler gets with in between sounds on Sultans of Swing, sounds great. 
Plus Mike Oldfield got a great tone as well,. Robert Cray. 
I think it's just such a recognisable tone people expect you to play Sultans or Sweet Home Alabama. 

richardhomer

koneguitarist said:

I like the sound Knopfler gets with in between sounds on Sultans of Swing, sounds great. 

There are many great examples of it on the first couple of Dire Straits records - Down To The Waterline in particular - there's a real warmth to his tone on that, even though it's still bright. Later albums featured Schecter guitars with higher output pick-ups which never matched those early Strat through Fender/Music Man amp tones for me - not as sweet sounding. 'Beryl' on MK's last solo album features a lovely example of it as well.

EC used position two a lot in the 70s and early/mid 80s - the Slowhand, Just One Night and Another Ticket albums in particular.

If you look carefully at my profile photo, you might spot where the switch is set on my Strat. It isn't a sound I use all the time - but I like it a lot. In fact I used all 5 positions on that guitar - the bridge pick-up sounds almost like a Black Guard Tele and the neck pick-up is amazing. For driven leads, I often use the middle on its own - which sounds fantastic - almost like the 'both pick-ups on' sound from a 335.

bassbora

I am very fond of Dimarzio Paf Pro in the neck

and Bill Lawrence L-500-XL in the bridge.  I love that combo

historyisjunk

In praise of standard stuff, the Fender Diamond Back Humbucker is a good combination with Fat 50s, as there isn't a huge volume jump when you go from neck or mid to bridge. It's also a very nice humbucker in it's own right for me as it's quite bright. Unfortunately it's not so nice in between with the middle pickup, as I think it's split in that position as standard & to me is a bit flat, a full HB & the right single can be a good combination in that position.
Fat 50's are very nice in their own right too, Fender finally got that right.

My favourite HB is probably a Super 70, but there you go...

I think the SSL5 is a fantastic bridge pickup, probably my favourite Strat pickup, never had one at the neck.
Twangbangers are great too & really beautiful combined with a standard Mex strat pickup in the middle- I personally don't like the Mex pickup on its own, with the Twangbanger it's brilliant..

Also had a "hot" Wilkinson Strat pickup in the neck position, which was really nice.

Regarding the in-between positions, I think it depends on the pickups, if the bridge has got a bit of crank & isn't too bright I like it.  

olafgarten

The Gibson 57 Classics sound great, especially in a hollowbody. Doesn't beat a good P90 Set though.

Although I don't own a Guitar with both, the Oil City Whapping Wharf should technically work very well with a FilterTron in the neck.

Slartibartfarst42

I like all of my pickup combinations for different reasons.

PRS SE Custom 24 - Creamery 'Double Six' in the bridge and Creamery '59 in the neck. Awesome bridge pickup for Metal and the PAF-style neck humbucker offers a lovely creamy contrast.

Fender Stratocaster - Creamery Classic '83 in the bridge, DiMarzio Area 58 in the middle and Creamery Strat90 (a P90 pickup made in standard singlecoil size) in the neck. The Classic '83 absolutely nails that 80's Metal tone and the Strat90 is always an incredible surprise.

Gibson Les Paul - This is a custom set I had handmade to my own specifications. The bridge is an A5 magnet wound with 43AWG wire to about 13.5K so similar to the 498T but so much more articulate without the harsh upper mids and bags of glorious tone. The neck pickup is an A2 magnet wound with 42.5AWG wire to about 8.5K. It has a very PAF feel but the more modern wire makes it far more articulate in the bottom end, especially under gain.

If I had to pick just one, it would be the set I have in my Gibson because they were my own design and worked out perfectly.

p90fool

Regarding in-between Strat sounds, it's worth revisiting the original Sultans of Swing recording with a good Strat in your hands - you quickly realise it's not your average vintage bridge/middle tone, it's heavily biased towards the middle pickup. 

The Sweet Home Alabama thing is easy to replicate, but early Dire Straits is far more elusive until you realise that the middle pickup is way more powerful than the bridge. 

It may have been a replacement or just a mismatched old set, but you can get somewhere near by raising the middle pickup and dropping the bridge pickup quite radically.

It's a fabulous tone, far more subtle than the usual Strat sound. TGP is rife with posters wanting "more quack" when less sounds so much better. 

Octafish

p90fool said:

impmann said:

richardhomer said:

Brize said:

It's news to me that some people hate the bridge/middle pickup combination on a Strat - one of my favourite tones.

It's a 'trendy' thing to dislike and a way of demonstrating how 'edgy' and 'cool' you are.

No one ever says 'that Les Paul bridge pick-up sound really annoys me - it's so over-used'....

I can't really think of any classic guitar tones which I particularly dislike - just those which don't neccessarily work for me as a player.

TRENDY?

FFS - I'm not 'edgy' or 'cool'. At 46, I've long since given up any hope of ever being either of those adjectives!!

Nope, I just don't like the sound - and never had, yet I love Strats.

I feel exactly the same, I'm 52 and have been playing Strats since the 70s, all of them, including my latest build, with a 3-way switch. 

Im convinced that a lot of the reason people say the Strat bridge pickup is too bright is because they've dialled their amps in to do the "quack" thing on 2 and 4.

Ignore those sounds totally and it's easy to get a big, fat, Blackmore-type bridge pickup tone.  

Oh get you being all trendy and edgy

Octafish

p90fool said:

impmann said:

richardhomer said:

Brize said:

It's news to me that some people hate the bridge/middle pickup combination on a Strat - one of my favourite tones.

It's a 'trendy' thing to dislike and a way of demonstrating how 'edgy' and 'cool' you are.

No one ever says 'that Les Paul bridge pick-up sound really annoys me - it's so over-used'....

I can't really think of any classic guitar tones which I particularly dislike - just those which don't neccessarily work for me as a player.

TRENDY?

FFS - I'm not 'edgy' or 'cool'. At 46, I've long since given up any hope of ever being either of those adjectives!!

Nope, I just don't like the sound - and never had, yet I love Strats.

I feel exactly the same, I'm 52 and have been playing Strats since the 70s, all of them, including my latest build, with a 3-way switch. 

Im convinced that a lot of the reason people say the Strat bridge pickup is too bright is because they've dialled their amps in to do the "quack" thing on 2 and 4.

Ignore those sounds totally and it's easy to get a big, fat, Blackmore-type bridge pickup tone.  

Oh get you being all trendy and edgy

Octafish

p90fool said:

impmann said:

richardhomer said:

Brize said:

It's news to me that some people hate the bridge/middle pickup combination on a Strat - one of my favourite tones.

It's a 'trendy' thing to dislike and a way of demonstrating how 'edgy' and 'cool' you are.

No one ever says 'that Les Paul bridge pick-up sound really annoys me - it's so over-used'....

I can't really think of any classic guitar tones which I particularly dislike - just those which don't neccessarily work for me as a player.

TRENDY?

FFS - I'm not 'edgy' or 'cool'. At 46, I've long since given up any hope of ever being either of those adjectives!!

Nope, I just don't like the sound - and never had, yet I love Strats.

I feel exactly the same, I'm 52 and have been playing Strats since the 70s, all of them, including my latest build, with a 3-way switch. 

Im convinced that a lot of the reason people say the Strat bridge pickup is too bright is because they've dialled their amps in to do the "quack" thing on 2 and 4.

Ignore those sounds totally and it's easy to get a big, fat, Blackmore-type bridge pickup tone.  

Are you sure you're not just being trendy and edgy there? Totally agree about the bridge pickup getting ignored, works particularly well with fuzz.