What pick-ups?

[tommyh]

Folks,

For some reason I developed a nostalgic fascination for this overlooked period in Fender history which culminated in me acquiring my own HM Strat the other weekend. It's teal, r/n, H/S/S, Kahler spyder, 'splash' logo. SN E827418 - so I'm guessing at 1988? The guy I got it from had it since the early 1990s so it's original and, aside from slot's cut in the bridge string retainers, in not bad condition. The neck is ridiculously wide & flat (!) It has that bullet-proof 'acrylic' paintwork (similar to my '80s JV Squeir) so there is not a lot of resonance from the wood. In fact it doesn't seem to sustain that much - I will fiddle with the set-up but any obvious advice?

The humbucker I do not think is a DiMarzio Super 3. It has normal slugs & screws, a slightly rough textured top, no holes in the bobbins and the base-plate is unmarked (I have a couple of '80s Hamers that have OEM DiMarzios and they are enscribed on the base-plate) and a DC resistance of ~13Kohms. It is identical to those in several of the HM Strat pictures so I think it's original and I am therefore guessing that this is a Fender Humbucker? Does anyone know anything about these?

The single coils appear to be 'standard' Fender non-staggered. They seem a bit characterless to me - have quite a nice 'funky' sound...but this is a HM Strat!

So, at last, my question - what pick-ups might be good replacements? (As far as HM goes - much more '80s EVH than modern 'death-metal'). For single coils I was thinking about Seymour Duncan Quaterpounders (I love those big pole pieces!) - what do you think? What humbucker would match? The current one is OK but a bit light on low end - any ideas?

By the way, I'm in the UK so something pretty mainline (ie available on eBay - where the guitar came from!) would be suitable.

Cheers, T.

[fenderbender1017]

If you want to sell your pick ups I will buy them

[fenderbender1017]

go to dimorzios web sight they have a ton of really cool sounding stuff to pick from

[xion100]

I'd put 2 DiMarzio Cruisers in it.

[heem6]

Hey Tommy,
Welcome to the forum and congrats on the new HM. Not sure what pickup is in there (pics might help) but it is definitely not a Super 3. Those run 25.80k resistance, much different than yours.

I love the Super 3 and would definitely give that a try. If you want more of the EVH sound with a big bottom though, go for the Seymour Duncan Custom Custom. Be sure to perform the "Doc's Mod" to your TBX tone control pots - you can find it on the main site under Wiring Diagrams on the Background page.

[tommyh]

Hi guys, thanks for the suggestions, do keep them coming. Sorry fenderbender1017, I would plan to keep the originals anyway. heem6 - the humbucker is exactly the same as the one near the top of the galleries page, in the red HM which is refinished in black. It has one height adjustment screw on the treble side but 2 on the bass side - which is why I guess it's Fender as they did this with the humbuckers (eg Tele Thinline). Thanks for the info on the Doc's Mod which I hadn't seen. Actually the TBX system works quite well, I guess this would make it a bit brighter? I was thinking though I might put a treble bleed capacitor on the volume pot as, like other strats, it does tend to 'drop dead' a bit when you wind the volume down. Cheers, T.