Strat Neck Pickup

[JD01]

I sold an old wetsuit for 85 quid the other day and I'm gonna spend it on a strat neck pickup.

So, gimme a recommendation - doesn't have to be for a specific pickup, maybe even just a style - output/magnet etc. If I have any change from my 85 quid (that would be nice), I'll spend it on vol/tone pots and a selector switch.

[muttley]

Strat pickups are probably the least complicated out there and have the fewest options for tweaking. Basically you have a choice of magnets and a choice of output. Most of the decent pickups are handwound and designed to work as a set. In all the strat style guitars I have I now use a twin blade in the neck as that gives you options for both humbucking/single coil and phasing with other pickups.

[JD01]

Strat pickups are probably the least complicated out there and have the fewest options for tweaking. Basically you have a choice of magnets and a choice of output. Most of the decent pickups are handwound and designed to work as a set. In all the strat style guitars I have I now use a twin blade in the neck as that gives you options for both humbucking/single coil and phasing with other pickups.

What you think of this:
https://www.vansonguitars.com/collectio ... oils-rails
Super-cheap, but as you said - basic.

[CeeBee]

John Robson of Youtube fame swears by Vanson pickups.

[JD01]

Cheers - will have a quick look later... Hopefully, he's not too annoying!... but he's a YouTuber.

[muttley]

Strat pickups are probably the least complicated out there and have the fewest options for tweaking. Basically you have a choice of magnets and a choice of output. Most of the decent pickups are handwound and designed to work as a set. In all the strat style guitars I have I now use a twin blade in the neck as that gives you options for both humbucking/single coil and phasing with other pickups.

What you think of this:
https://www.vansonguitars.com/collectio ... oils-rails
Super-cheap, but as you said - basic.

Those are mass produced in the far east and China and are not scatter wound so although they maybe perfectly serviceable they are unlikely to be as open and clear as a scatter wound example.

[JD01]

Once I've got the neck on and got an idea of how it's going to play I'll decide whether to go for expensive pickups or cheap pickups.

[muttley]

Once I've got the neck on and got an idea of how it's going to play I'll decide whether to go for expensive pickups or cheap pickups.

Those ones are about as cheap as they get and TBH I could make them for not much more and I'm willing to bet you would get a lot more versatility and clarity out of them or any hand wound pick up.. Pickups are about the simplest and best bang for buck upgrade you can do in any case so stick them in and you can upgrade down the road to whatever you fancy. Decent pups can really open up a cheap or low end tone, after that it's pots and signal path/shielding etc.

I wouldn't expect anything more than a generic strat pickup tone from whatever you go with, a strat pickup is what it is, which is why I now use twin blades rather than standard strat neck pickups. They give you the generic tone as well as a bunch of other options.