Strat Question

[DannyBoy]

hey i know alot of guys on here use strats and i just got mine today . i will admit that at present im a little disspointed . but i know most of that is down to the pickups ... the action is low enough and its easy enough to play . but its the pickups which really i cant live with ... im looking to get some lace sensors ... and im looking to have a store pro put them infor me .. and for him to set it up for shred yngwie style . the guitar is a fender Standard Strat ... arctic white body with 3 single coils and a 1 peice maple neck .. its fucking beautiful lol . i might put a picture attatchment if my webcam will pick it up well enough . but yeah .. the question is ... does anyone have any advice for anything i could do myself to make this more of a shredd guitar ? i heard a dude who had a strat who put lace sensors in and it sounded awesome and there was no buzzing . so im going for those ... but any surgestions as to what else might make this a total shred demon are welcome ... im sure you guys all know the feeling of expectations not quite being lived up too .. even though its close lol ... so yeah me stop babbling now ... im open to surgestions chaps n chappettes

[Rid]

Learn to play it with singlecoils
That was how us old ones had to live with
Besides Lace sensors are terrible.....why not get a normal sized humbucker for it??
Or stacked coils??
Duncans or DiMarzio's...

[El_jalepeno]

Now I'm just bragging But this would cure your woes
Seymour Duncan '59 in the bridge
http://www.guitars101.com/forums/attachm...achmentid=9637

Seymour Duncan Custom 5 in the bridge.

[El_jalepeno]

Regarding the pups, they buzz as singles, but if you use two together, like the neck and middle, or bridge and middle, you cancel the hum, hence humbucker. Personally, I really like the neck and middle. Very Hendrix-ish vibe

[stingx]

Originally Posted by El_jalepeno

Now I'm just bragging But this would cure your woes
Seymour Duncan '59 in the bridge
http://www.guitars101.com/forums/attachm...achmentid=9637

Seymour Duncan Custom 5 in the bridge.

EJ is that an American Standard you modified? Pretty guitar, man

[El_jalepeno]

Thank you Sting Actually a Mexican, but it sure do play pretty

[stingx]

Perfect then for my question. I have never owned a strat, have always been a humbucker fan but I want one with SSH and a floyd and since the sound wouldn't be that of a traditional strat, does it matter if I go with a Mexican model? I always thought the only difference was in the electonics really, and maybe some fret dressing. Would you recommend the Mexi models as being good enuff build quailty for recording and/or gigging?

[Rilecomm]

They have vintage style noiseless pick ups (Clapton uses these) but the lace sensor you can choose the type of sound you want from crystal bell-like to red-hot distortion, also noiseless. You also can mix or match the lace sensors to get both types of sound.

[Danny Danzi]

Dan, you're not gonna like this....but believe it or not, a Strat no longer is a Strat once you mess with the pick-ups. I like the hum they get. You can hear this hum on just about every recording...it's become a classic, acceptable, 60 cycle strat hum. LOL! One of my buds has the lace sensors and they sound pretty cool. Not completely noiseless, but way less than the standard strat pick ups. Also, if you drop a humbucker in there, you're losing the strat sound man. Those pick ups Yngwie uses are probably as hot as I would go. Anything more will alter the tone drastically.

Here's the thing dude....people lose sight of what a Strat really is. They mod them so much, they should just buy a friggin' Jackson! Seriously man! I have a few strats with humbuckers in them....and I use a coil tap switch to make them single coil. Though it sounds cool, it still doesn't have that authentic strat sound man. Also, your pc monitor (unless you are using an LCD) will bring that hum out by at least 50% more than if your monitor was off. Some guys that get this noise use gates to eliminate it. In the studio, it can just be deleted away unless it's present in the actual guitar sound while playing.

A smart gate or Rocktron Hush (should be a necessity in your rig anyway) is a great way to keep this under control to an extent. I prefer noise reduction over "gates" as they do not choke your sound. Then again, the smart gate (EVH used this for a long time) is definitely the best of the gate family, as it will not open until a certain threshold of sound is present. But you'd be amazed at how well a Hush unit can control hums and noises of this nature. A few things to think about anyway....good luck with the guitar and congrats!

Danny Danzi

[TheStorm]

You're really probably not going to like this answer: In the 80's I had my own "Frankencaster" picked up from a pawn shop. Heaven knows how many modifications were made on it, but a tech I know said that he thought that very little of it was from the same guitar.

Anyway, this Strat had whatever "noiseless pickups" were around then (I don't think they were "lace" - did they have those in the 70's/80s? I dunno.) I loved the tone of that strat enormously and eventually it became my main ax, for several years. I eventually traded it in, but missed it a lot until I bought a new Strat 3-4 years ago.

My new strat came with stock pickups, of course and I can tell you that they blow the "noiseless" ones away, tone-wise. I'm much happier with 'em than I thought I'd ever be (my original intention was to replace the pickups, too.)

Anyway, I guess my point is, you may want to try the stock pickups for a while. You may be surprised. I certainly was...

id go with el jalepeno's suggestion about the SH-5 duncan. thats the i have in my ibanez....HB,S,S. just get another pickguard with a bucker space and install it.
i set mine up where i could split as well. that SH-5 is particularly power pickup. it has a total impedance of like 14.4 ohms which is really high even for a HB. it has a really thick powerful chunky sound to it. but that also makes for a good single coil when you split it. half of 14 ohms is 7 ohms which is normal single coil impedance...so it wont souind weak and still has strat like tone.
...or you could always drop in some hot rails that fit in the single coil space.

[Rid]

I have one superstrat...it is not really very strat like with that CC at the bridge.
I have an old Tokai....three noisy singlecoils and I love it to death, cannot live without having the real deal.
That is the great thing about having pure classics, they have that classic sound, Les Pauls with normal PAF pickups...not extra hot compressed shredshit pickups, my strat has singlecoils for the same reason, it takes some time to get fat sounds out of it, but in the long run it pays off having a few pure guitars.
That is why I have the Kramer and the Wolfgang, to keep my hotrod side happy.
I grew up playing a deadstock strat...nothing but work

[DannyBoy]

thanks for all the replies its cool to see so many of you wanting to offer cool advice .. as for the dudes who said leave the singe coils cause otherwise it aint a strat .. i actually agree that it aint a proper strat without them .. however .. i only got this thing for its looks and the feel . not the sound . i am forced to play at lower volumes alot . so i need pickups that can give power at those levels . and so maybe the blue lace sensors would be best after all .. i will shop around though .. im also gonna get is scalopped . not as deep as malmsteen . but im still getting it done so i can get a better grip on the strings . will take some getting used to but im ready for it

[El_jalepeno]

Good luck DB, be sure to post some better pics when you get it modded to your liking

[Rid]

Or throw in a set of SA EMG's...that way it is still stratty and quiet..
Had those for a long time in one of my old Tokai's....
Plus a midrange and expander module....like Gilmoure use.