Putting New Pickups in My Strat

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R.
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[RossCampbellGuitarist]

Ok guys, let's huddle up and discuss this together as a team.

1) I will admit that this IS an unfair comparison of the pickups. Why? The Axe-Fx patch used on all clips was tailored towards the Fender CS pickups - the low end is cranked up to compensate for the lack of Bass and treble-heavy sound of those pickups. The DiMarzio's obviously have the opposite thing going on in terms of their EQ. I should have mentioned that the settings were not changed at all throughout the process - or better yet I SHOULD have changed them to compliment the new PU's. Sorry DiMarzio, I'll do better in the future!

2) Please do watch my last Instagram Improv video (linked at the end). No one has said a bad word (yet anyway) about the tone in that video, and I'm using the DiMarzio's on all guitar tracks with the neck and neck + middle positions. In fact I got a few compliments about the tone on Instagram.

3) Yes it's a custom shop guitar and the custom shop pickups sound great, but they just don't work for me personally. Not long after I bought the guitar I did a session in a local studio and the pickups really did not like that there was so much electrical equipment (outboard gear) in the control room, so it hummed like hell during the recording. Luckily I was able to use the noise-gate on the Axe-Fx. If not I would have had to have used the studio's guitars. That was a recording I did with a friend, so much more relaxed than your usual 'professional' session - not that I'm some big-shot session guy or anything, but it really wouldn't bode well for me if I turned up with gear that sounds like it's broken on a 'real' session. You just can't be wasting time on stuff like that when people are paying for studio time.

4) They look unconventional. Yes I know, but they make me want to play the guitar much more than I used to. Before I changed them I spent increasingly more time playing my Tele and Les Paul.

5) Big picture - it really doesn't matter. I don't understand why people are claiming to feel 'hurt' that I put new pickups in a guitar that I own 🤔There are bigger things to worry about in the world guys!

Anyway, in my next video I'll be turning my Les Paul into a headless guitar. Stay tuned ;)

[MrSpeed-ltgr]

Forget the guitar snobs. I put a hot rails in my Strat. And I’m a hard rocker. I now absolutely love my Strat. It’s become my main workhorse.

[xosis]

Im a guitar tech, as well as doing session work. I am definitely not a guitar snob, and believe that you should do what is necessary for your guitar to be 100% enjoyable.I have a 71 Strat that I’ve moded myself, and love it. Super versatile. Seymore Duncan Hot rail in the bridge with Fender vintage noiseless in neck and middle. Since you already got over the challenge of doing your first soldering job on your guitar. Your next project should be this. What’s missing on that guitar is 500k pots, that humbuckers need, on the volume and tones instead of the 250k that come with single coil guitars. You need to change them, I can hear it. That’s where that weird, slightly congested sound comes from. It has nothing to do with changing settings on your AxeFX, or your amp, you shouldn’t have to. Over tweaking makes for weird sounds. The 250k pots are acting like a blanket, not letting the natural presence and treble of the pickups come through. You’re actually not hearing what the pickups really sound like, believe me. DiMarzio makes great custom audio taper 500k pots. Don’t get linear taper, audio taper pots have near infinite difference from position to position on the volume and tone knobs. Especially the volume. Have a high gain lead sound, and roll down to get a wide variety of rhythm tones. Get them, and install them, the guitar is obviously worth that upgrade. The result will be a truly world class, high end sounding versatile guitar.You’ll thank me.

[tommyvercetti]

I did the exact same thing to my reissue Strat, and have absolutely 0 regrets. Fuck what haters say, it's your guitar!

[Augrills]

That bridge pickup sounds a million times better, dude. I’m doing a hot rail in my Strat. I want to keep the neck and middle. I think what I like about the neck pickup is that it’s a bit thin and vintage sounding

[badalicemusic]

Ross, it’s YOUR guitar. How much it costs and what brand it is is irrelevant. Please do whatever you like to it that makes it perfect for you and your needs😊👍🏻

[sadzidsmajkic]

It's great that you went with Dimarzio Cruisers. Andy Timmons is by far the best sounding guitarist to me both live and studio, I always loved his tone it's just amazing.

[thess]

My son has a G&L Legacy and the guitar comes with a separate bass and treble knob and when you roll the treble about half way off it gives it a humcker vibe and it sounds sweet 👌

[mlugin]

Last week i modded my Strat too. It‘s a USA Deluxe from 2002. It‘s a HSS setup with some Humbucker and two noiseless Pickups.
I usually never play the „Stratty“ music styles. I never quite liked the combination of the humbucker with the noiseless, they just didn’t match. It was my first good guitar when i started playing. Now after 20 years i decided change the pups.
I put the following pups in:
Seymore Duncan Invader (Full humby) in the bridge. Seymore Duncan little 59 in the middle, Seymore Dunvan Hot Rails in the neck.
Now i love it like i never have before. It‘s my go to guitar again. I like to switch in between pups, they don‘t mismatch in output. I play more distorted now. I play Megadeth wirh it at the moment 😁 also in cleans thes sound organic and thick. I absolutely live it.
The fretboard is a 9.5‘ radius, so it‘s almost shreddy.
I play it more than my ESP E2 M1 at the moment (but thats because i left the strat in standard tuning and the esp is in C standard.
I hav to even drill a bit into the pickup cavity to be able to swtup the invader pup. But i reall don‘t care, i‘ll never sell the strat anyways

[GDxl]

They both sound great man! I have 3 strats and 2 have all single coils, the other has all hot rails. It’s ur guitar do what you want with it! Don’t listen to people who say “your strat tone is gone” blah blah blah. What ever sounds good to you the guitar player is what matters most!

[Alex-ceol]

Thanks for this video. These pickups are a nice choice for a good balance of power and hum cancelling without completely losing the "stratiness", especially in the in-between positions. Sound great. For anyone reading this who is wondering about his potentiometer values, pause the video at 6:07 and you can see that he's still using the original 250k CTS pots. A good choice to tame some of the high end from the SD in the bridge position and also the value recommended by Dimarzio for the Cruiser. He's also using a DP186 (Cruiser Neck) in both neck and middle positions. You could also use a DP187 (Cruiser Bridge), but it might be a bit boomy in neck position due to the increased bass response over the DP186.

[fenthedog]

I prefer the Fender tone in all the positions TBH, its just my opinion, both sounded great. glad you like the new sound. I've changed mine in guitars in the past and had mixed results.

[earlspearl]

I have been using the DiMarzio twin bades for about ten years now and the broad range of them is great . also they have a professional sound . you will be more and more happy with them as time goes on . I have the Tele bridge ToneZone and it fit right in my guitar with no mods .

[JbfMusicGuitar]

Always good to do a bit of modding! If you like the way it feels and plays and want to tweak the sound, swapping the pickups is a smart move :)

[pauldoyne]

My Strat Plus from the early nineties came with Lace Sensor pickups. These guitars were Fenders big comeback after the CBS days. The workers bought the company. Clapton used them. and the rest, as they say, is history. Since then Fender have produced their own noiseless pickups, but the Lace Sensors have never been equaled.
I think you should give them a go.

[charliepayne]

I initially thought that you had vandalized that beautiful guitar...! Until you played it with the new pickups installed. Sounds flipping great, good job...

[gonzowarrior]

9:48 wow that super distortion sounds good

[merman]

Good job! I have a modern made in Japan guitar with H-S-S configuration that put in an AT-1 and 2 Cruisers, and a Schaller megaswitch, ( you can set up any combination). I finally have it wired perfectly so that in positions 2 & 4 one of the coils in each pickup is shorted out giving me the Quack like a strat but all positions dead quiet. It took a lot of re-soldering different schematics to get it correctly shorting the correct coils, but I learned a lot, and have now done the same on a few other guitars, but a lot quicker. With the standard Strat 5 way, like in your custom shop, in 2 & 4 you are getting 4 coils, which is nice and full, but will lack the quack. Enjoyed your video.

[MayheM_]

Unless it's a rare and valuable model, you should be able to do whatever you want to your own guitar. I'm a tinkerer at heart, and see nothing wrong with modding your own axe. Both sets of pickups sound good in a different way.

[jade]

Good for you Ross! You made the guitar sound right for you.
I'm putting Strat pickups in my les paul!!