Versatile Strat Pickups

[afman916]

Hi all - looking to finally get into electrics after having spent the past 4 years learning on an acoustic.  Long story short I've found I much prefer a wider fretboard due to some fat fingertips, so I'm going to be going the DIY route with a Warmoth build.

In spec'ing one out last night just to get an idea, I realized just how many pickup options are out there, even outside of the options listed when going through Warmoth's builder tool.  Trouble is, I don't really know the first place to start in determining what pickups will most likely be best for me. Fully understanding they're easy enough to swap out, but if I can get it mostly right the first time....

I listen to and enjoy a wide range of musicians/sounds when it comes to strats, and the music I think I'd most like to learn will be stuff from Clapton, John Mayer, RHCP, Eric Johnson, Hendrix, SRV, The Strokes, Pink Floyd, etc...yeah. So I guess what I'm hoping is that I'll be able to piece together a set that can help me nail a few different sounds.

In doing some research on this last night I found a few people that mentioned effects/amps play a larger part in this, so if pickup selection truly is a small piece of the puzzle then let me know. 

Looking forward to getting started on my build!

 

[DuckBaloo]

It's relatively easy to generalize vintage Fender PU's, ...

• Mid-'50s = Lower output, squeaky clean, bright, glassy; "Buddy Holly in a box"
• Late '50s/early '60s = Higher output (relatively speaker), hotter, more mids; SRV, Texas and Chicago blues; this is probably the most copied era
• Late '60s/'70s = Lower output, very neutral, but still offers that signature Strat cleans; Hendrix, Pink Floyd, Mayer, RHCP

...but once we introduce after-market and modem RI PUs it becomes a lot more diverse. By far the more popular options generally are a little hotter than most vintage PUs (hence the popularity of the '59-'62 PUs). It's really a personal choice.

 

[stratamania]

Other things to consider. Do you want traditional single coils that can be noisy or go for noiseless or active pickups...

 

[zebra]

Going by the performers you listed, it sounds like you're going for a pretty general/traditional Strat sound...

Bill Lawrence has a nice selection of single coils, some noiseless, some not.
I don't have any Strat versions, but I have a noiseless Tele set, and they're great.
They used to have a long turn-around time, but I think they've been improving their internal processes and speeding things up a bit in the last few years.
Great quality at a great price. 

I think one of the biggest versatility considerations on a strat is using a humbucker in the bridge.  If you get a full-size humbucker with mismatched coils, you can get both a full HB and classic SC sound and not too much difference in volume, which some folks find to be really useful. 

Another possibility is using an active mid-boost.  I had an older Clapton Strat with Lace Sensors that had a mid-boost, and it was pretty great in terms of opening up more sounds. 

 

[Strat Avenger]

Nothing beats dimarzio Area series. And they don't hum.

 

[Senor Blues]

These:
https://lawingmusicalproducts.com/zseries-strat-sets/z-core-5-vintage-hot-set

Watch the videos

 

[afman916]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys - off to do some research/watch videos! And to be honest I'm not even sure what noiseless pickups do (aside from the obvious). So I'll do some reading up on that as well.  If anyone has a good primer on stat/single coil pickups, would love a link!