Bridge pup recommendations....??

[Geezer]

My "#1" is a '97 Ibanez "Strat" w/ a Humbucker in the bridge position.

I love the tone of the neck pup, & the combo of neck & bridge is also great, but the bridge pup by itself is thin & skinny sounding....I never use the bridge alone, without another pup along with it. I want to be able to use the bridge pup all by itself!

I need a full size HB bridge pickup that will be fat & warm, not too hot (but slightly "bluesily" so) & clean up nicely when the volume is rolled back.
SD Pearly gates? JB?

Any suggestions that you have experience with?

TIA, Geez'r

[FYL]

My two faves in a modern Strat : Fralin Unbucker and Suhr DSV.

[tubenit]

DaGeezer,

I use a StewMac GoldenAge humbucker neck and a DiMarzio Air Classic bridge on this guitar on the left. I am very pleased with both of them.  The Air Classic is considered "vintage output".    8.62k/226 output

You can hear the AirClassic pickup thru the 56T w/VVR at 1:56 on this tune:
http://www.soundclick.com/player/single_player.cfm?songid=7971197&q=hi&newref=1

Prior to that I was playing another guitar with DiMarzio FastTrack1 and Cruiser pickups which I absolutely LOVE!

http://dimarzio.com/site/#/pickups/

I also have a DiMarzio AirNorton that I am not using that you can have for FREE if you have an interest in it. IF your bridge pickup has it's own volume, that might work out for you?  It was somewhat hotter than I wanted but does have a big tone that is warm. The Air Norton is considered "medium ouput".  12.58k/270 output

With respect, Tubenit

EDIT:  My son uses SD  JB bridge pickup & I thought it sounded pretty good but prefer the Air Class.  His guitar is the homemade PRS-style that he built by himself.

[bluesbear]

It's all subjective, of course, but I love SD '59's in any position. Supposedly, Seymour Duncan took the pickups from Jeff Beck's '59 Les Paul and copied them exactly. They sound like it! For $10 extra, you can get it with 4 conductor wiring so you can split it and still get the bridge/middle quack. I'm a bit odd so I have the HB in the neck position on my homemade strat. We do a lot of Allman Bros type stuff and our originals are of the same sort so I get more use out of the neck position.
Dave

[G._Hoffman]

My favorite bridge humbucker is probably the Fralin Unbucker, but I would have a very hard time suggesting the Pearly Gates was a bad choice - I've probably used more Pearly Gate bridge pickups in guitars I've sold than any other pickup.  REALLY great pickup.

The JB is a little hot for my taste, and just pushes the amp too much.  I don't find I have the dynamic control I want with a pickup that hot, and they tend to kind of scoop the mids in a way I'm not too fond of.  Still, it is a great pickup, and is easily the most popular after market pickup on the market, and for good reason.  It just doesn't really work for me and the way I like to play.


Gabriel

[jjasilli]

Fralin Unbucker  Ditto Ditto Ditto Ditto

[imaradiostar]

I once had a neck position JB Junior in the bridge position on my strat- it was great because it was a better match for the single coils and was a little brighter than the bridge version would have been. I'd imagine this concept would apply to other pickup types as well.

What about some kind of a filtertron style? Should be a much better match to the other pickups.

jamie

[G._Hoffman]

Filtertrons (or at least, the TV Jones clones I've used) are brighter like a single coil, but they are also remarkably hot pickups.  A more "vintage" output Unbucker would probably be a better match.  If you were going to go that route, I'd order it directly from Lindy, and tell him what you are interested in.  He is remarkably good at winding things so they fit your expectations, in my experience - and I've been using a lot of his pickups lately!


Gabriel