Hi

I’m thinking of changing the pick ups in my 1997 Fender Strat to give it some kick and make it rock a bit more and also to reduce the noise. The pick ups I have already are the standard stock ones.
I’m thinking of putting a D’marzio chopper in the bridge position. What about the middle and neck positions. Could I leave the standard stock pick ups as they are or would it be better to replace the middle and neck pick ups also? If so what is a good pick up combination?

Thanks guys!

Darren
UK

Is this a American made Strat or a Mexican made strat? There are differences in the pickups. If it's a Mexican strat I'd say replace the pickups, but if it's an American made strat you may not see a large difference.

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My Rig

My Shine So Hard Rig
Rig for my old band
new "solo" music

Its a US strat. So what would be the best pick up combination with Dimarzios?

I have Dimarzios in an American stratocaster and they made a massive diffrence. The best pickup combination is a matter of preference and what exactly you're going for of course. I put the Chopper in the neck because, as the trebliest and lowest output of their high output singles, it would be the closest to typical strat cleans. I have the Air Norton S in the middle and Tone Zone S in the bridge. I like Air Norton for fuzzed out rythms and the Tone Zone for single note riffs, though if I had to do it again I might put the Super Disortion S or Fast Track 2 in the bridge.

The BC-1 neck Chopper middle and BC-2 bridge is another cool combo that Billy Corgan is using now for his more modern distortion (rather then fuzz) sound. Pro track is supposed to be a great neck pickup for dark and bassy cleans, good for barre and open position chords.

If you want to hear the guitar with Dimarzios, we haev our music for free streaming at Jester's Dulcet | Blowing Rock, NC | Rock / Hard Rock / Psychedelic | Music, Lyrics, Songs, and Videos | ReverbNation

The rythm, parts (both fuzz and distortion) in Living Dead are my Dimarzio loaded strat. The dominant (of two) rythm tracks in Bittersweet are that guitar and the final solo in Frozen Falls.

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Talking about wireless pedals...

Pickups will change the character of your tone, but you'd probably be more pleased if you changed your amp. When you say "rock" more do you really mean you want a fat humbucker tone or that piercing single coil sound?

If it's mostly about reducing noise, you should just shield the guitar.

Make sure the pickup height adjustment is correct and try using an OD pedal, maybe a compressor. Try playing through a different amp as said earlier. You may find it isn't the pickups at all.

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Stage Guitars: '80s Thin line LP Custom, '70 LP Standard, '83 Squier Black Headstock Strat w/ Dan Torres pickups, '59 Black Danelectro DC, sometimes others.

Pedal Board: Nady UHF 10 -> TU2 -> Rocktron Big Crush -> 70s MXR Phase 100 -> Cry Baby -> Bad Monkey -> Early '80s Rat -> Early '80s Ibanez CS 9 -> Ibanez DE 7 -> Behringer Dr 100 Stereo Reverb

Stage amps: '63 Blonde Tremolux w/ two original 2X10 cabinets with a '60 Ampeg Rocket/18 watt VTB Marshall clone/ Epi VJ into a Mashall 1965A

Cheers guys! Ive just brought a Seymour Duncan Hotrail. Ill give that a try.