Classic strat sound possible from Soloist?

[SF audio]

Hey everyone,

First post here - I have an SL1 with a tone zone, SD classic stack ,and JB Jr in the bridge/middle/neck positions. It's been my experience that this guitar is primarily meant for the bridge sound - screaming leads, full rythyms, etc. The middle and neck positions really don't shine that well...IMO.

I don't have a regular strat, and frankly not really a strat guy, so can I get a classic strat sound by changing out the pickups to true single coils? The soloist is naturally bright and sustaining, with the neck thru design and the ebony fingerboard - I don't expect it to sound like a bolt on maple neck type of guitar...that being said, what single coils would sound good in this beast and get me more of the classic "quack"?

thanks

[kelly user]

i dont really think you could because as you know passive pick ups. pick up the sound from the surrounding wood and the wood combo used on soloist and strats are different

[charvel750]

I don't see why not. I mean, a pair of Duncan STK-1's in the neck and mid of a SL-1 gives me all the Strat glass and quack you could need. And with the middle single and bridge pickup you get a "hot" strat tone. Tone is so much more than just the guitar's woods and pickups too. But a JBjr. isn't really what I would use for a classic strat tone.

[SF audio]

I have the duncan STK1 in the middle, and replaced the neck STK1 with the JB jr. I didn't think these pups really sounded good in the soloist. Kinda bland...

I may just decide to throw in some fender single coils and see if it's too my liking, and go from there.

[jacksonaxes]

I think that would be a good place to start, I don't see why you could'nt get some pretty stratty tones with that.

[Bengal65]

On the humbucker, you could put a micro switch in to turn off one of the coils. Then you can get some accurate Strat sounds out of the bridge and middle pickups with the 5 way switch. Or you could wire in one of those Mega switches in place of the 5 way lever switch.

[Grandturk]

EMG SA is real stratty sounding in a Soloist.

[fett]

Just buy Fender Strat pickups from the '70's or '80's on E-Bay. They are all over the place. Real or re-issues. Look at "Loaded Pickquards" on E-Bay. If you want a Fender sound, buy Fender.

[kmanick]

duncan 1/4 pounders are very strat sounding but much higher output.
Still "true" single coil pick ups thought so you will get some noise with them but sound really good.

[JimmyApollo]

Some might argue that the 24-frets shifts the neck pickup out of the classic "Strat neck" position.

[Soap]

Duckbucker

[NextInLine]

Just buy Fender Strat pickups from the '70's or '80's on E-Bay. They are all over the place. Real or re-issues. Look at "Loaded Pickquards" on E-Bay. If you want a Fender sound, buy Fender.

What if he wants the ebony board with sharkies, and the pointy headstock? Together with the Fender sound

[Strat God]

You will have to go with a fairly hot single coil to compete with the JB - I would recommend YJM's in the middle and neck - actual stacked humbuckers so no noise but very "stratty" and these would be able to mix well.

The SL-1 is neck-through and the Strat is a bolt-on neck. You will get close, but it will never sound just like a Strat.

[Bert]

I've been playing a lot of bluesy / classic rock stuff lately in my crappy cover band, so I have been using Van Zandt (Blues & Rock model) single coil pickups in my Jackson bolt ons. They sound very stratty. I think the hollow chamber underneath the pickguard of a "real" strat affects the sound a lot too. So it's only an approximation, but not a bad one. A 24-fret neck-through soloist might sound even less stratty, but probably good enough. A lot of it is how you dial in your amp....

[fett]

What if he wants the ebony board with sharkies, and the pointy headstock? Together with the Fender sound

I'm sure he can figure it out.:ROTF: :ROTF: What's great about Fender, is that all these guys dick with different setups. They load them into a pickguard and they don't like it or want to change. Instead of going through all the hassle of offloading the stuff, they just load another guard and sell the old one.