Strat pickup combo

[ItsaBass]

Hi,

I am thinking about finally replacing the pickups in my MIM Strat. The guitar is a 2005, alder body, rosewood fretboard. I'd like to discuss the options. What I want at high volume is:

Bridge: twang - Esquire-like honky, Edward G. Robinson mids, with the ability to get a good "ice-pick" and "lo-fi" sound. I want plenty of mid tones for a bit of fullness, but I don't want them at the expense of the high end.

Middle: crunch - half Taylor-era Keith Richards (think "Midnight Rambler"), and half Malcolm Young (think "It's a Long Way to the Top"). Tonally balanced and somewhat warm, but tight and a little dirty. I want this one to be my main pickup - for hard, chunky rhythm.

Neck: chew - LP-Special-like honky, chewy, buttery-ness. When I am digging in, I want highs to be there, but I don't want them to be piercing or clattery...just to provide some structure for the chewy mids to latch onto, if you know what I mean. (Sorry for the crappy description!)

The possibly difficult parts are that 1) I want to be able to get the thing sounding at least somewhat "chimey" like a classic Strat by backing things off a bit. 2) I do not want to alter the stock appearance of the guitar, so they need to be standard Fender-style single coils. No rails, 1/4 Lbs., Li'l Screamin' Demons, etc.

Here are my thoughts, then I would like to hear yours.

I think a Twang Banger is the obvious answer for the bridge.

In the middle, I am thinking either another Twang Banger, or a Five-Two Custom bridge wind.

In the neck: If Twang Banger in the middle, then Five-Two Custom in the neck. If Five-Two Custom in the middle, then the standard wind of the Five-Two.

What do you think?

[totergecko]

hmm...most of the mods I've done have been with humbucking/high-output pickups. if I was gonna go for a nice single coil tone, I'd go with the SSL-1. I've heard a ton of good things about them, and they are what john frusciante (unknowingly) used to get his nice vintage sparkly tones. check out the vault though man. this guy made an entire thread about getting the ultimate stratocaster tone, and he reviewed like a dozen different types of single coil pickups, as well as other parts of the strat. anyone who likes strats or owns one should read that thread actually.