gdgross
Experienced
So I've got two HSS strats. One is a partscaster with kinman Avn-69s in the neck and middle and a semi-traditional tremolo (actually a trem-king if anyone's familiar with it). It's been my main guitar for several years now. I'd say the avn-69s are hot for strat pickups and have plenty of bass, maybe a tiny bit much.
I'm just getting together the second strat after refinishing. It's a (was) a Japanese made foto finish that I just refinished to a bumblebee yellow with a black pickguard. It actually looks pretty cool. This one is also HSS, and has a floyd rose tremolo and locking nut on the neck. There's a seymour duncan humbucker in the bridge, which is just perfect for the Richie Sambora/Steve Stevens/etc tones. Love it.
The neck and middle, though...I have lace sensor holy grails in the neck and middle. They sound pretty good and spanky to my ears, but man are they thin! (Is this what the old strats from the 50's sounded like? I had no idea; never having played one.)
I do really like their tone but it also seems I need to get them really close to the strings to get the output I'm used to from the kinmans and bridge HBs. And I'd definitely like a little more bass. Maybe the kinmans are just more bassy pickups in general, and that's what my ears have gotten used to?
Any suggestions? Pickup height? Different pickups? My ideal strat tone in my brain is closer to the Lace sensor holy grails than the avn-69s, but somewhere in the middle. Lets say like the holy grails, but with more bass/balls.
Also, it may be heresy to some, but I definitely need to use noise canceling pickups. I have a regular gig that wreaks havoc with my singles, true singles buzz like crazy, even in a well-shielded guitar. I think it's the light dimmers or something, but it's really awful with true singles. Noiseless pickups were the only thing that saved me.
I'm just getting together the second strat after refinishing. It's a (was) a Japanese made foto finish that I just refinished to a bumblebee yellow with a black pickguard. It actually looks pretty cool. This one is also HSS, and has a floyd rose tremolo and locking nut on the neck. There's a seymour duncan humbucker in the bridge, which is just perfect for the Richie Sambora/Steve Stevens/etc tones. Love it.
The neck and middle, though...I have lace sensor holy grails in the neck and middle. They sound pretty good and spanky to my ears, but man are they thin! (Is this what the old strats from the 50's sounded like? I had no idea; never having played one.)
I do really like their tone but it also seems I need to get them really close to the strings to get the output I'm used to from the kinmans and bridge HBs. And I'd definitely like a little more bass. Maybe the kinmans are just more bassy pickups in general, and that's what my ears have gotten used to?
Any suggestions? Pickup height? Different pickups? My ideal strat tone in my brain is closer to the Lace sensor holy grails than the avn-69s, but somewhere in the middle. Lets say like the holy grails, but with more bass/balls.
Also, it may be heresy to some, but I definitely need to use noise canceling pickups. I have a regular gig that wreaks havoc with my singles, true singles buzz like crazy, even in a well-shielded guitar. I think it's the light dimmers or something, but it's really awful with true singles. Noiseless pickups were the only thing that saved me.