i need to put new pickups on my strat. help?

E-rock · 11-20-2006, 08:40 PM

im looking at putting SD hot rails on, and maybe cool rails too but ive been lookin at EMGs as well and now i dont know what i want. any suggestions? the ultimate sound i want is something similar to Kutless from their Hearts of the Innocent CD. i want to increase my sustain by a bunch and get higher output from my pickups. clarity is obviously a plus too. ummm even if i narrow it down to which ones i want, i dont know what arrangement to go for, so any comment would be help

Ryan Freeland · 11-20-2006, 08:42 PM

What kind of amp do you have?

**thesteve** · 11-20-2006, 08:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Building429_Boy

What kind of amp do you have?

indeed. pickups can help nail tone, but if your amp isn't anywhere near the tone you're looking for in the first place, the heaviest, metalest pickups will still sound like junk.

Let's find out the amp angle first before I send this over to the Guitar forum to talk pickups.

E-rock · 11-20-2006, 08:58 PM

thisis kinda the problem...at home i practice on a Fender G-DEC, but i am playing at church straight through the sound system (SS) and i dont have any specs on it. i have thought about playin my G-DEC thourgh the SS but ihavent acted on it yet, so i may get a new amp but im way to short on funds to think abuot that just yet.

**thesteve** · 11-20-2006, 09:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by E-rock

thisis kinda the problem...at home i practice on a Fender G-DEC, but i am playing at church straight through the sound system (SS) and i dont have any specs on it. i have thought about playin my G-DEC thourgh the SS but ihavent acted on it yet, so i may get a new amp but im way to short on funds to think abuot that just yet.

I don't know much about the GDEC, but running the guitar straight into the sound system is about as far from the tone you want as you can get.

If you're looking for something like a trio of SD HotRails, but you're on a budget, I'd check out these:http://store.guitarfetish.com/casetof3lilk.html My guitarist has one of those in his Strat, and it sounds great...

but like I already said, until you rectify your amplification situation, you're going to be stuck with mediocre at best tone.

E-rock · 11-20-2006, 09:45 PM

once i can get it sorted out with my amp and whatnot, do you think that a trio is the way to go in order to get that pwerful sound?

**thesteve** · 11-20-2006, 09:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by E-rock

once i can get it sorted out with my amp and whatnot, do you think that a trio is the way to go in order to get that pwerful sound?

it will get you a high output and everything, but I can't really tell you for sure if it's going to get the tone you want. So much of tone is going to be determined by the way your amp shapes the tone.

E-rock · 11-20-2006, 09:55 PM

ok. im just making sure that i shouldnt sub in a cool rail or anything like that. thanks for all of your help. i guess thats what ill go with, then. i was lookin at EMGs but im too ignorant of all these things to entertain both thoguht at once. thanks again.

**Rainer.** · 11-20-2006, 09:58 PM

Your final tone is an interaction between all the elements of your rig.

EMGs will give you a different tone than Duncans, which will give a different tone than your stock pickups, however, a different amp will make a much, much bigger difference than just about any pickup change.

E-rock · 11-20-2006, 09:58 PM

another question though....i am looking at the link you gave me...have you ever used anything from this site? cuz ive never heard of them and everything is so oddly inexpensive

Ax · 11-20-2006, 10:03 PM

Guitar Fetish is pretty widely recognized.

E-rock · 11-20-2006, 10:09 PM

o really? i just wanna make sure i would be paying for something that would be worth it and that would be, obviously, a pleasing product.

**thesteve** · 11-20-2006, 10:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by E-rock

o really? i just wanna make sure i would be paying for something that would be worth it and that would be, obviously, a pleasing product.

like I said earlier, my guitarist has one of the "Lil Killers" pickups in his Strat (he didn't get the trio, just a single pickup). He also has one of their other pickups in another guitar of his, and it sounds perfect for what he needed it for.

**Rainer.** · 11-20-2006, 10:18 PM

Pickups are just essentially a coil of copper wire around a magnet, plus some other stuff. Essentially, if a pickup company can keep down labor costs, the pickups can be sold for cheaper.

E-rock · 11-20-2006, 10:41 PM

sorry...i misquoted you. i thought you were talking about seymour duncans at that time. i was, so thats why i thought you were.

and to you rainer: i see...i suppose that youre right. i was just thrown way off guard to see a cheap set of pickups and then hear theyre pretty good.

thanks guys. i suppose im done on this thread.