Best Pickups For Squire Strat $150

[OllieS]

Hi,

I Have been playing guitar for years now but am pretty nooby in the technical side of pickups. Anyway my strat sounds a bit bland, with no real crunch (quack?), I play some rock mostly with a little distortion, nothing really too heavy. So I was looking for a set of new pickups preferably around the £100 ($155)mark, and thought it was best to ask before wasting my money on something that I won't be happy with.

Thanks in advance.

[Andrew Lamprecht]

A set of Fender 69s... they are pretty great pickups.... only $120 new... you could get them used for less though...

I just put a pair of humbuckers (SD 59s) in my Squier and it's great. I love it.

[Andrew Lamprecht]

Welcome to the forum btw.

[Funkfingers]

Which exact variant of Squier Stratocaster do you have? (There have been SOOOOOOOOO many.) What amplification and/or pedals do you use?

[Jocelyn]

If you looking at humbuckers you cannot go wrong with a set of 59s. take them in 4 conductor cable though.

[indie folk guy]

Yeah I'd say before deciding on pickups tell us what your exact guitar, effects, and amp you are using. Exactly what you are playing. And what type of strat tone if you know of one you are going for there are dozens of variations over the years. Do you like the tone of the guitar unplugged or do you feel something is missing there? You may need a pickup to compensate for what isn't naturally happen. So there are a lot of variables to consider. Every piece of wood is different as is every player, what they play, and their tonal objectives.

Do you prefer more of a Buddy Holly strat sound or a Stevie Ray Vaughn (obviously this is just one example of many).

If you can afford it my favorite strat pickups are the Seymour Duncan Antiquities Texas Hot set. The Surfers are also really nice.

Of course if you can afford them Lindy Fralin and Jason Lollar make some fantastic pickups as well.

[stratneck2]

The Best Kept Secret !!!!! Bill Lawrence pickups, The Keystones arre to die for, and if you go for few more $$$ , the Noisless L200 0r 290.....Blows most Boutike away !!!!!
ther is set on TGP, selling for $70.....

[OllieS]

The strat and amp are: http://www.fender.com/en-GB/products...tno=0301605006

It just goes directly to the amp, no pedals etc. I like playing stuff like Bon Jovi, Joe Satriani as well as some Sum 41 sort of stuff.

Thanks for all the feedback guys this forum sure is active!

[indie folk guy]

In all honesty what you describe I think you'd be better off with a humbucker sized single coil check out Seymour Duncan's Everything Axe set they are pretty cool.

You may also like DiMarzio's Virtual Vintage line they have some thicker sounding pickups that are more like PAF's and P90's.

Just keep in mind that with that guitar you will definitely want to get a good setup (I'd suggest fretwork, intonation, and a new nut I use polished bone). That amp isn't the greatest either it is adequate for practicing but to hear a night and day difference you may want to upgrade your amp to something else at some point.

[Andrew Lamprecht]

Before spending money on pickups you should think about upgrading your amp....

[OllieS]

In all honesty what you describe I think you'd be better off with a humbucker sized single coil check out Seymour Duncan's Everything Axe set they are pretty cool.

You may also like DiMarzio's Virtual Vintage line they have some thicker sounding pickups that are more like PAF's and P90's.

Just keep in mind that with that guitar you will definitely want to get a good setup (I'd suggest fretwork, intonation, and a new nut I use polished bone). That amp isn't the greatest either it is adequate for practicing but to hear a night and day difference you may want to upgrade your amp to something else at some point.

Before spending money on pickups you should think about upgrading your amp....

Ok thanks for the advice guys looks like my budget Is gonna stretch to a new amp and a Seymour Duncan's Everything Axe set! xD Thanks for the advice guys really appreciate it!

[OllieS]

Would amp be any good, or very similar to the one I have got? http://www.gak.co.uk/en/fender-frontman-25r/2439

[indie folk guy]

Well it's up to you though try to check out some of the tone clips on the dimarzio and duncan sites and listen to vids on youtubes of whatever pickups you are interested in.

The music you describe isn't really traditional stratty music so I would be lenient to suggest you the strat pickups I like.

When I think of a good vintage correct strat pickup I think buddy holly, buddy guy, trower, hendrix, srv, clapton, etc.

Satch, Sum 41, etc are definitely more of the hotter strat/humbucker realm.

But let your ears be the judge.

But please get that guitar setup if you haven't yet. QC is a joke at Squier they don't setup a lot of those Affinitys well. A good setup will make the guitar not only sound better but make it easier and more enjoyable to play. If you are already getting pickups installed you may as well pay a good luthier to do the bone nut and setup work while he has it taken apart.

[OllieS]

Well it's up to you though try to check out some of the tone clips on the dimarzio and duncan sites and listen to vids on youtubes of whatever pickups you are interested in.

The music you describe isn't really traditional stratty music so I would be lenient to suggest you the strat pickups I like.

When I think of a good vintage correct strat pickup I think buddy holly, buddy guy, trower, hendrix, srv, clapton, etc.

Satch, Sum 41, etc are definitely more of the hotter strat/humbucker realm.

But let your ears be the judge.

But please get that guitar setup if you haven't yet. QC is a joke at Squier they don't setup a lot of those Affinitys well. A good setup will make the guitar not only sound better but make it easier and more enjoyable to play. If you are already getting pickups installed you may as well pay a good luthier to do the bone nut and setup work while he has it taken apart.

Ok I'll take it into my local music shop some time this week, what should I say, please could you properly set up my guitar? Thanks

[indie folk guy]

search for a local guitar tech/luthier in your area tell them you'd like to get your guitar setup (frets dressed and crowned, bone nut made, and intonated) tell them you are thinking about upgrading pickups. The setup work should be done before upgrading pickups or your amp. A full setup will level all your frets, dress them, crown them, and polish them (so there won't be any more sharp edges, divots, frets popping out etc) your hands will thank you and your guitar will be able to intonate better. The action, truss rod, and intonation will further improve your tone and playability. Putting the strings at an appropriate height and giving the neck proper relief. With the action lowered your guitar will be easier to play. You should also be able to reduce string breakage this way. Most techs that do setup work will also adjust your pickup heights so it's possible that your guitar might not be that bad how it is, it probably just came poorly setup from the factory (this isn't uncommon for a guitar, regardless of price point). Expect to invest about $150 for this work depending on where you go.

Personally I'd suggest a budget Fender tube amp such as a Pro Jr, Blues Jr, or Excelsior. Egnater Tweakers are nice. You could even go with a Vox AC15. But basically expect to spend $300-$600 to get into decent amp territory.

If you don't want to quite drop that kinda cash a Fender Mustang III would be money much better spent imho. Although it's a solid state modelling amp the fx and amp sounds are both stellar and you can tweak everything on the amp itself or via usb with the fender fuse software. You should be able to get everything you need from classic cleans to modern crunch with that amp.

Until you can really spend like $300-$500 on an amp and invest in getting your guitar setup and pickups upgraded you should probably just keep things the way they are because you really won't notice the improvements.

Every guitar needs setup work including the expensive american made instruments. It's like changing the oil in your car or rotating your tires. Once you setup your instrument and you know your technique is sound would be the time that I'd look into upgrading your gear. Because you'll have a better idea of what you want. You can't really try out pickups before buying them. So you really should listen to examples on pickup company's websites to get a feel for how they subtley change the tone of your instrument. Just remember you can spend all the money in the world on pedals, pickups, amps, and guitars at the end of the day the tone is in your fingers and your soul. If you can't get that piece of the equation down you are throwing money away.

A pickup upgrade will not make you a better player, likewise upgrading an amp, a guitar etc won't.

[Varg]

Is there a problem with your guitar setup? If not, I wouldn't take it in just yet, they will charge you the price of a new amp to hand it back to you much the same and you'll still be playing through that crappy little am (for what it's worth, those little Squier/Fender amps are alright, I think, but their tiny speaker makes them pretty much unusable).

You're in the UK, right, so take a look on your local Gumtree for amps. You will find something there, used, for a really decent price. Something like a Marshall Valvestate 20W would be ideal for Bon Jovi, Satch etc with that guitar and should only cost you about £50 at most.
In the future you can look at upgrading the pickups to something hotter like SSL-5s or Hot Rails or something along those lines.

[Kramer Guy]

If you're on a low budget and want to swap out all of the pups in your squier, then you have 2 options IMO.

1. Fender Tex Mex - Look on E-Bay where most sellers have them brand new for around 60 bucks a set

2. Go to Musician's Friend.com and type in Musician's Gear. Go to pickups and check out the Single coil Duncan Detonators at 30 bucks each . They have a output of around I think 11.0 or so . I bought the Humbucker version for my ESP LTD M-15 and it was a great deal.

[indie folk guy]

Is there a problem with your guitar setup? If not, I wouldn't take it in just yet, they will charge you the price of a new amp to hand it back to you much the same and you'll still be playing through that crappy little am (for what it's worth, those little Squier/Fender amps are alright, I think, but their tiny speaker makes them pretty much unusable).

You're in the UK, right, so take a look on your local Gumtree for amps. You will find something there, used, for a really decent price. Something like a Marshall Valvestate 20W would be ideal for Bon Jovi, Satch etc with that guitar and should only cost you about £50 at most.
In the future you can look at upgrading the pickups to something hotter like SSL-5s or Hot Rails or something along those lines.

if you don't understand the importance of a setup please don't spread false information around. No matter what gear you buy having an instrument setup the way I described will trump any other gear you invest in. I do setup work and it is very time consuming when done properly, so some tech screwed you over, if someone handed me back my guitar how I dropped it off I'd tell them to do their job or they weren't getting paid, it's simple.

It sounds like we are dealing with a beginner based on the gear and on the questions being asked. I'm trying to get him something that will inspire him to continue playing.

Chances are the polished bone nut coupled with proper fretwork, intonation, string and pickup heights, action, etc will make the guitar sound AND PLAY noticeably better.

I build/repair guitars and play guitar for a living. I'm not just some bedroom wanker throwing out meaningless advice. I use boutique made to order gear. I have tens of thousands of dollars invested in gear and my business. If you want to enjoy your investment setup your guitar. Nothing I suggested can't be done yourself with the right tools and knowledge but I wouldn't advise doing that work on your own not knowing what you are doing because you will undoubtedly make things worse. This setup work should be done on every guitar. Sadly most popular manufacturers don't do this prior to shipping a guitar for a number of reasons mainly the expense since not every player uses the same strings, type of setup, etc. You can spend $2k on a Gibson and have it come out of the factory setup like crap on a stick.

You can upgrade pickups and an amp at the same time but if the player doesn't play with proper technique or the instrument doesn't intonate and isn't easy to play what difference did that money make? So now you have a cheap squier strat with upgraded pickups, bad frets, a whacky neck, a tremolo that isn't setup properly, etc which all boil down to a guitar that plays badly and is inherently out of tune.

So why spend $150 for pickups, hundreds on a better amp, etc when the guitar is still the problem? Or the player could be the problem? Sometimes the right answer isn't always the most fun answer. There is no shame in admitting that you or your instrument are problematic. It just shows the reality that we are human and that modern manufacturing comes at a price.

So rather than assuming his guitar is setup well (which I'd bet money on it not being setup properly) invest in this one time job. Your ears and fingers will thank you.

[Varg]

if you don't understand the importance of a setup please don't spread false information around. No matter what gear you buy having an instrument setup the way I described will trump any other gear you invest in. I do setup work and it is very time consuming when done properly, so some tech screwed you over, if someone handed me back my guitar how I dropped it off I'd tell them to do their job or they weren't getting paid, it's simple.

It sounds like we are dealing with a beginner based on the gear and on the questions being asked. I'm trying to get him something that will inspire him to continue playing.

Chances are the polished bone nut coupled with proper fretwork, intonation, string and pickup heights, action, etc will make the guitar sound AND PLAY noticeably better.

I build/repair guitars and play guitar for a living. I'm not just some bedroom wanker throwing out meaningless advice. I use boutique made to order gear. I have tens of thousands of dollars invested in gear and my business. If you want to enjoy your investment setup your guitar. Nothing I suggested can't be done yourself with the right tools and knowledge but I wouldn't advise doing that work on your own not knowing what you are doing because you will undoubtedly make things worse. This setup work should be done on every guitar. Sadly most popular manufacturers don't do this prior to shipping a guitar for a number of reasons mainly the expense since not every player uses the same strings, type of setup, etc. You can spend $2k on a Gibson and have it come out of the factory setup like crap on a stick.

You can upgrade pickups and an amp at the same time but if the player doesn't play with proper technique or the instrument doesn't intonate and isn't easy to play what difference did that money make? So now you have a cheap squier strat with upgraded pickups, bad frets, a whacky neck, a tremolo that isn't setup properly, etc which all boil down to a guitar that plays badly and is inherently out of tune.

So why spend $150 for pickups, hundreds on a better amp, etc when the guitar is still the problem? Or the player could be the problem? Sometimes the right answer isn't always the most fun answer. There is no shame in admitting that you or your instrument are problematic. It just shows the reality that we are human and that modern manufacturing comes at a price.

So rather than assuming his guitar is setup well (which I'd bet money on it not being setup properly) invest in this one time job. Your ears and fingers will thank you.

I see. You want this guy to get a "polished bone nut", on a Squier Affinity Strat (which probably cost less than such a nut being fitted), to play into that little tiny amp of his which would still sound terrible even if Dave Gilmour or Mark Knopfler plugged their strats into it?



And you think spending all that money on this lovely "polished bone nut", only to hear his guitar sound exactly the same will actually inspire him.



Yes. Alright then. Getting a better amp that will really help his beginners guitar sound a lot more like Bon Jovi and Satch is a stupid idea, how silly of me.

[indie folk guy]

A bone nut should cost $40 between parts and labor.

A full setup should cost between $50-$150 depending on how much work is done and who is doing it.

I have played Squier strats before dude you can make them sound fine, I actually do this for a living unlike you. If you can't make that guitar and crappy amp sound good than the problem is you as a player not the gear. And unlike what you are saying no matter what gear you are using this stuff should be done on whatever you are playing. Whether it be a custom shop fender with a $10k pricetag or a squier affinity strat.

I'm just saying that how about instead of investing in more expensive stuff focus on the basics like having a guitar that is in tune and is easy to play, having a player that knows how to properly play, and THEN invest in a better amp, better pickups etc. when they actually know what they need/want to take them the rest of the way there.

Unlike you I have an understanding of how to get good tone, I can sound good no matter what I am playing because I know how to play and I know how to maximize even a cheap guitars potential by doing setup work. I have Xaviere guitars that I paid $150 that I play onstage alongside USA G&L, Heritage, and PRS guitars.

When people pay you to work on their instruments and you get paid to gig than you can try to argue with my advice. In the meantime stop arguing with me. You aren't changing my opinion and you aren't going to disprove me with utter ignorance on the subject.

But my point is anyone that knows two things about guitars would be doing someone like this a disservice by changing pickups and not suggesting a bone nut (which will improve tuning and tone) and a full setup you are just leaving the guitar to still sound like crap. The OP doesn't even seem to know what this setup work is so for the few years they've played the guitar has never been adjusted to compensate for playing style, string gauge, years of wear to the frets, action adjusted as seasons change (temp/humidity), etc. It's also never been intonated so that means that the guitar isn't even in tune.

Another mod you can make cheaply is to change your tremolo block to brass or stainless steel.

Don't mistake your Squier as just being a piece of junk guitar because they aren't junk they just aren't well setup from the factory. Most that I've done work on have good sounding pieces of wood and decent necks.