Fender Strat single coil (bridge) favorites

I wasn't talking about his current signature guitar.
On Made In Japan and Machine Head he didn't have those yet.
And, although I like HSS strats, for the true start sound, I prefer a single coil in the bridge.
And after having tried almost anything available, I settled on the Kinmans.
The Hx-85 of the Woodstock Plus set is more like a P-90
The Scoop is less fat, a bit brighter and gets me closest to the early Blackmore sound.
The Scoop was formerly called the Blackmore Set but this is now replaced by Impersonators E69.
These are a tad brighter and have a bit more sparkle.
All three sound great but I think the E69 will give you the best of both worlds.
Check out Burg's demo of the E-69- clean and with dirt
okay wow. thanks for pointing this one out. This looks/sounds impressive and might be the one for me. great demo by @Burgs
 
Heard? The man is one of my guitar heroes. Gave me a lifelong thirst for middle eastern scales and Rainbow Rising is the best Blackmore album EVER!!!


Well, like every 70's guitar player he was always looking for hotter pickups. His current signature guitar has Seymour Duncan SSL-4's, which have 13,4K output, which puts them firmly in way hotter then your average single coil pickup territory, together with humbuckers.
And those pickups have been around since then along with the FS1 and SDS1 both high output. All the first replacement pickups were just about output.
 
Seymour Duncan started in 1976.
So I guess Blackmore's strats still had the original pups around '72.
And you're right about the high output pickups.
I installed an invader in my strat back in '83 ;)
 
Question for you guys: I'm quite interested in the Kinman e69 impersonator and I keep seeing comparisons to the Dimarzio Area 61's out there. they seem to be in the same wheelhouse. Now, supposedly the Kinmans are better but will they be 2x the cost better is what im' wondering? For where I live the Dimarzios can be had for half of what I'd spend on the Kinman bridge after currency conversion etc.
 
Question for you guys: I'm quite interested in the Kinman e69 impersonator and I keep seeing comparisons to the Dimarzio Area 61's out there. they seem to be in the same wheelhouse. Now, supposedly the Kinmans are better but will they be 2x the cost better is what im' wondering? For where I live the Dimarzios can be had for half of what I'd spend on the Kinman bridge after currency conversion etc.
I can't really answer your question other than to say Kinman makes exceptional pickups. Yea, they're coming from AUS and you pay for all that ocean they have to cross, but they really do have amazing technology. Resale value on them is good too if you decide you don't like them.
 
I really like my Area 61. I connected the bottom tone pot to the bridge pickup. This helps give some more control.
Haven’t tried the Kinman pickups so I can’t give a comparison.
 
Can't help you either. I didn't try the DiMarzio.
But perhaps you could look for a second hand DiMarzio or Kinman.
So you could try that first and sell it without loosing any or too much money if you don't like it.
 
I have the Kinman Blues set that has the Scn bridge pickup as well as a set of DImarzios with the Virtual Solo in the bridge (Virtual Blues in the middle and neck). I really like the tone of the Kinmans, they are the closest I've been able to find that sounds like a true single coil without the hum. I compared them to a set of Fender Custom Shop 54's and it was difficult to tell a difference between the two sets.

That said, I needed more output for the music I've been playing which is why I went with the Dimarzios. They don't offer the same true single coil tone as the Kinmans but they are definitely close enough. That's not to say the DImarzios don't sound like single coils, they sound very strat-like to me but not as authentic as the Kinmans. If you're comparing single coils side-by-side you may find the difference worth it to go with the Kinmans. If you aren't that particular and just want the single coil vibe, Dimarzio will do the job quite well.

Listen to Lincoln Brewster's Worship stuff to get an idea of the tones that Dimarzios are capable of.

I like most of Dimarzios offerings over anything similar Seymour Duncan has to offer. SD, in my opinion, are great at generic tones; if you were considering SD or Kinman, it would be Kinman hands down to me. There's just something about DImarzio's tone that really seems to be more natural.
 
Question for you guys: I'm quite interested in the Kinman e69 impersonator and I keep seeing comparisons to the Dimarzio Area 61's out there. they seem to be in the same wheelhouse. Now, supposedly the Kinmans are better but will they be 2x the cost better is what im' wondering? For where I live the Dimarzios can be had for half of what I'd spend on the Kinman bridge after currency conversion etc.
I know nothing first hand about Dimarzio pups & , ...only the noiseless(humless) Traditional Mark III set from Kinman.
I am quite pleased with there sound\quietness and ease of installation with there full featured K9 Harness & controls.
My suggestion is to explore their website. They offer something like thirteen versions of single coil Strat type pickups as well as Humbucker/P90 variants also. If you go with there solderless "no fuss no muss" K series Harness then installation is a snap.
Pricey - yes but ...

 
Seymour Duncan started in 1976.
So I guess Blackmore's strats still had the original pups around '72.
And you're right about the high output pickups.
I installed an invader in my strat back in '83 ;)
Wikipedia has it that up to the early Rainbow period he still has stock pickups but then he began to experiment with overwound stock Fender pickups. And then the aftermarket pickup industry came along. So he seemed highly interested in getting more gain. This was the guy who used a tape deck as a preamp in addition to a treble booster to get more gain when using with his 200W Marshall Major amps. But I reckon overwinding stock pickups was sort of a DIY thing in the 70's, which was how Seymour Duncan got started long before he opened his business.

Odd that it took until EVH before the idea to throw in a humbucker for a bridge became popular. I reckon that until then Strats were routed for SSS only probably played a role in it. A few other enterprising gents seem to have done it before, but seems to have taken for EVH for it to become popular.
 
Wikipedia has it that up to the early Rainbow period he still has stock pickups but then he began to experiment with overwound stock Fender pickups. And then the aftermarket pickup industry came along. So he seemed highly interested in getting more gain. This was the guy who used a tape deck as a preamp in addition to a treble booster to get more gain when using with his 200W Marshall Major amps. But I reckon overwinding stock pickups was sort of a DIY thing in the 70's, which was how Seymour Duncan got started long before he opened his business.

Odd that it took until EVH before the idea to throw in a humbucker for a bridge became popular. I reckon that until then Strats were routed for SSS only probably played a role in it. A few other enterprising gents seem to have done it before, but seems to have taken for EVH for it to become popular.
People put 'buckers in the neck spot in Telecasters pretty often way back when. I have seen early Chicago performances with Terry Kath playing one set up that way. The neck pickup was used a lot more often for soloing then....
 
That said, I needed more output for the music I've been playing which is why I went with the Dimarzios. They don't offer the same true single coil tone as the Kinmans but they are definitely close enough. That's not to say the DImarzios don't sound like single coils, they sound very strat-like to me but not as authentic as the Kinmans. If you're comparing single coils side-by-side you may find the difference worth it to go with the Kinmans. If you aren't that particular and just want the single coil vibe, Dimarzio will do the job quite well.
Pretty much feel the same way about the DiMarzio’s, my Strat has an Area 61 in the bridge and 2 Area 58’s, they do the job well. But lately I have had the itch to put real singles back in. Never tried the Kinmen’s, maybe in the future.
Have also had Fender’s noiseless offering N3’s and they have the flavor of a single but a little mid heavy and although they have chime not as much as the DiMarzio. But I have also read Fender has sent out guitars with N3’s, some had 250K pots and some 500K pots. Like they could not make up their minds. I had 250’s with mind. They do sound good though. I still have the pick guard should really through in some 500k pots and give them another whirl.
 
People put 'buckers in the neck spot in Telecasters pretty often way back when. I have seen early Chicago performances with Terry Kath playing one set up that way. The neck pickup was used a lot more often for soloing then....
I tend to prefer to use the neck pickup for soloing as well. Bridge for hi gain rhythm, neck for leads and cleans.
 
In a world where youtubers have their own guitar brands, I wouldn't mind to get a Fractal guitar 😁
Yeah... make it so that the pickup selector also functions as a controller, and I can make the amp settings change depending on which pickup I select.

To the point of the thread, I don't like the HSS strats I've played, because you compromise on pots. Either you pick the 250k pot to match the single coils, or a 500k pot to match the humbucker, and when you split the coil you compromise again. Is there a wiring setup or system out there that fully addresses this issue?
 
Yeah... make it so that the pickup selector also functions as a controller, and I can make the amp settings change depending on which pickup I select.

To the point of the thread, I don't like the HSS strats I've played, because you compromise on pots. Either you pick the 250k pot to match the single coils, or a 500k pot to match the humbucker, and when you split the coil you compromise again. Is there a wiring setup or system out there that fully addresses this issue?
Suhr does it properly, Google the wiring diagram for Suhr HSS
 
So my Kinman E69 is being delivered today! I can't seem to find a simple color wiring diagram that corresponds with Fender. Two wires. Can anyone tell me? i just plan a basic wire splice and need to match right wires. I've looked online but there are just a lot of more complex diagrams out there.
 
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