These vintage staggered single coils have got to go - replacement suggestions?

[Learning]

So, now that I have a new Warmoth neck with 10-16" fretboard radius, the vintage stagger Fender Vintage Noiseless single coil pickups on my HSS strat are probably no longer appropriate (you could argue they weren't appropriate with the original 12.5" radius fretboard either).

Anyway, what I'm looking for is a drop-in single coil replacement that;

• is flat (or flattish, or adjustable), and
• will play nicely with the existing bridge humbucker

Noiseless or not doesn't bother me too much, but a cream/antique colour option would be nice.

From what I have been able to find, the bridge humbucker is a Fender Twin Head Vintage - an Alnico 5 PAF-style mid-level output humbucker with a 60/40/60 Bass/Mid/Treble balance. I find it a bit reedy when coil split, and will probably swap it out one day, but for the moment I just want to eliminate the staggered single coils without clashing with the Twin Head and ruining the overall sound.

So far I've come up with the Seymour Duncan STK-S4 Classic Stack Plus... and not much else.

Any other suggestions, thoughts?

FWIW, I've also toyed with the idea of throwing the whole HSS thing in the Too Hard Basket and replacing the lot with a Jeff Beck strat loaded pickguard from Stratosphere - it's a SSS setup with Fender Hot Noiseless pickups (which are flat poles). I've heard mixed things about these, however.

 

[AirCap]

Hard to go wrong with some Bill Lawrence L-250's.... Affordable, too.

 

[Learning]

@AirCap Interesting - hadn't heard of those before. I'll look into them.  Cheers!

 

[stratamania]

You could also check out Kinmans which are available with flatter poles.

Some others
Joe Barden S Deluxe
EMGs

 

[Learning]

@stratamania

Both the Kinmans and the JBE look great, especially the JBE HSS set, but I think they might blow the budget for the moment. I'll keep them in mind anyway - I might decide to replace the lot in one go, in which case a calibrated HSS set is infinitely preferable.

I'll probably steer clear of EMGs for this one - I'm assuming I'd need to cut a battery compartment, and I'm not game to do it!

 

[TBurst Std]

Check out Zhangbucker pickups.  He’ll make what you want.  Very good pickups.  I have 2 sets of Dave’s pickups.

http://www.zhangbucker.com/strat-singles.html

 

[Logrinn]

The different Zex coil pickups looks promising in my opinion. Nice sound clips available on their site. And they’re passive, not active.

[youtube]https://youtu.be/_4g8dRy-lHU[/youtube]

[youtube]https://youtu.be/v9X2wwfmpxo[/youtube]

 

[fdesalvo]

I love the Dimarzio 54 Pro (in neck and bridge) and Area 67 in the middle.  Quack city on the notch positions and chewy sparkle everywhere else.

 

[Learning]

@fdesalvo

I've been giving them serious consideration, but it's hard to tell how pronounced the stagger is from the photos.

The other Dimarzio option I've been considering is the full Andy Timmons setup - 2x Cruisers and an AT-1. Not very stratty, but I like the sound all the same.

 

[musicispeace]

Many good suggestions here. For what it is worth I have one guitar with Zhanbucker pickups (an HSS strat) and the single coils pole pieces are quite flat. I'll try to post a photo this weekend but I am working two jobs at the moment. They sound fantastic to me and David asks you to describe what it is you are looking for in each pickup. My coils are his Paul Bunyan strat pickups but flavored to my taste. Not cheap though, and it takes a few weeks for him as a single solo outfit to get through the order list to yours. I have been interested in the Bill Lawrence strat pickups too but hear they take awhile as well. So you may want to decide if a tangible wait works for you. I like Klein a lot but I don't recall if they do flat pole at all and they are also not cheap.

 

[fdesalvo]

@fdesalvo

I've been giving them serious consideration, but it's hard to tell how pronounced the stagger is from the photos.

The other Dimarzio option I've been considering is the full Andy Timmons setup - 2x Cruisers and an AT-1. Not very stratty, but I like the sound all the same.

The pole pieces have some stagger to them, but I've used these with compound radius fret boards, where the arc is quite flat above the pickups and the tone and volume from string-to-string are extremely balanced.  If noise-free is a non-negotiable, I cannot recommend these enough!  In fact, these are leagues better than many expensive custom-winds I've run before (including Fralin and some BK models).

 

[Rick]

Dimarzio area.

 

[AirCap]

If you decide on Bill Lawrence stuff - just order off Squeebay. It's quicker. And if you need a black set - I have a set in stock.