I Put Tim Henson’s MASSIVE Pickups In My Strat 

The best way for not using the 9v battery would be to put the fishman rechargeable pack for strat, that is basically a backplate for the tremolo with a rechargeable battery that use and usb port

I've legitimately been toying with the idea of putting this set in my Player Strat. Perfect timing!!

I love your videos, your guitar journey is so fun to be part of

changing the battery's gonna be fun

Just for future reference, something that has saved me so much time and energy when doing work on the body and not taking off strings, is to capo the first fret, and unbolt the neck. strings stay on but you dont have to deal with strings in the way of taking the pickguard on and off...when you are done bolt the neck back on and just tune a little and you are set

You could try a steel baseplate on the bridge pickup. It's meant to thicken the tone right up and make it a bit more like a Tele pickup. I'm thinking of doing it myself soon.

I put a set in a Les Paul. Was so impressed, I put Fishman loaded (single coil) pick guard and battery pack on a $100 Squire. It sounds amazing

Tim Henson, wow! I love the Muppets! But, I didn't see a single one.

If you wanna try to love the bridgepickup on a strat you should check out Rory Gallagher. He played most of his songs on the bridgepickup and its awesome. Bad Penny from 1982 at Rockpalast (live) is my favourite. :)

Love your videos Mike! Keep up the hustle!

That Steely Dan metal shirt is the only metal shirt I'd ever wear

i have a Fender Black Top strat that is HH, I made a few customizations to, keys, pots, knobs, but most impactful werethe installation of the Seymore Duncan Pearly Gate humbuckers. wow. The 1 and only time I updated pickups & was happy with the change. I would have liked to hear all of the tone options on a clean setting with your guitar. keep up the good work

Fishman do a rechargeable battery pack for the back of the guitar as a trem plate could be worth looking at so you don’t have a battery wedged in there

I have the same MiM, well, an SSH from 2019, same finish. I am loving the way those two pickups look on that finish.

The clean sound is different. I can't say that I like it as much as the original single coils. If you love it, that is all that matters.

Fishman makes a rechargeable battery that takes the place of your trem cover so you don’t have to stuff a battery under your pick guard. 👍

I want that guitar. What y'all did was really cool! Congrats on getting such a cool instrument!

Awesome !! Literally I was going to also place the Tim Henson pickups on my Mexican Strat !!

I have a G&L Tribute series Commanche and I love it. What a fun guitar.

I still think that 2 humbuckers in a Strat is kind of taking away the essence of the Strat. It's not for me but some folks like it. I would be more in favour of the bridge humbucker and 2 single coils as it makes the bridge position better suited for high gain. I solved it by buying another guitar with a HSH configuration :)

When I changed the pickups in my strat and my SoCal I ordered everything. New pots, switches, everything. I have the original pickguard so I can just drop the original back in and boom... if I want to. Maybe a route to go for you too?

Those look like a regular sized humbuckers to me.

The definition on those pickups is awesome!

Nice idea... but do you have easy access to the battery? Ideally you need a battery compartment with a door for easy changes.

I think this is your best tone yet! Congrats mike

Check out the Schecter Nick Johnston Strat if you like the HSS pickup configuration. The specs, overall quality, and one of the sweetest roasted maple necks ever make it a no brainer over a Fender.

I like the Cunife pups better And the battery is gonna be a PITA to change. You should just boost your bridge with a pedal. It was better before.

im a simple man. i see tim henson, i click

I've been primarily playing a G&L S500 since like 2016. It's my favorite guitar next to my Ibanez SLM10 which I got in 2019/2020 and it holds it's own against any strat you put it up against. It's PHENOMENAL

I liked the old sound much better, the new pickups sound stale, artificial, no dynamics or tangibility, did you say they're active? That could be why.

been a sub since 4k subs and its still the same great authentic content. thanks brother keep it up

I've been replacing my bridge pickups with seymour duncan F spaced humbuckers, did my 2 players series with no fitment issues . Doing hotrails on the middle and bridge and demarzio cruiser pickups . If you like the look of regular single coils but want humbucker quiet, setmour duncan YJM Fury pickups are the go to. Nice work, sounds good. I put the 9 v between the trem springs and drilled a hole for the wire . Easier to swap it that way.

Hi Man, the sound is really beautiful, Rue de Paradis approves, a stratocaster with humbuckers always has its excellent sound

why does the "before" sound so much better lmao

I've got a fender strat S-S-H setup only one tone with a coil tap switch in the second tone position from factory... Honey blonde, maple neck & fretboard, 3 ply black pickguard

I know we love the reputable Fenders, Gibsons, Prs, etc. I challege some of ya'll to try few of the Leo Jaymz Brands especially the Tele models and mod them out. They all, TL and LP models are made Mahogany all the way.

I distinctly remember the first time I had the pickups changed in my guitar and could IMMEDIATELY tell the difference in the tone, even as a somewhat newbie player at the time. That sent me down a rabbit hole of experimenting with various different types and combinations of pickups which certainly shaped the kinds of tones I was into for a long time. I haven't actually messed with my guitars for probably over a decade at this point as I already have many different variations that cover a very wide spectrum of playstyles so I do feel like I'm a bit out of the loop when it comes to pickup technology. I do have EMGs in a few of my guitars (one came with them and 2 others I had them swapped in) so I can understand how they give you excellent clarity and volume with little noise but hearing all the things that the Fishman pickups can do tells me that they've continued to evolve because Tim actually has a setting on his guitar that basically makes his electric sound like his nylon-string guitar which is just crazy to me.

Looks like you are ready for a LesPaul )))

There's no lag w/active pickups, so you don't just feel like you're playing faster, you now have an actual advantage w/faster reaction times from the pups & you really are playing faster than you were before.

Cool video. Lots of comments about options :) There are also stacked humbuckers which fit into single coil spaces, but give you more of that humbucker sound. There are a bunch of those options out there so you keep the look, but change the sound. You got a great Polyphany sound out of them - so, they seem to really do what you'd desire of a TH sig pickup.

If you love those pickups, I highly recommend investing in the rechargeable battery pack. I have the classic humbucker’s, and they are amazing!

I need your chops worse than I need the pickups. Sweet guitar!

Ok I ant to run HHH on mine, with a fishman piezo bridge/trem and a triple play pickup too.. That should be a Swiss army knife.. What would I put in the middle! Another bridge or neck which extra pickup should I use for the middle HB? Split actually sounds like a single coil! About time! No volume drop!

There is a company that makes the pickups that you might be looking for. Guitar Fetish has single coils with more UUMPH to them.

Looks amazing with the dual humbuckers.

Was super curious how you were going to do active and passive pickups lol you should look into the rechargeable battery backplate from fishman

I'm gonna be changing pickups in my strat and I'm thinking over using covered blade connectors to the jack because I wanna be able switch pickups easier.

I literally just fitted a hot rail in the bridge of my strat, not the best single coil sized humbucker but it’s made the guitar infinitely more versatile

I appreciate the video and the story as you put it. It's not my kind of tone, i actually preferred the other pickups. But I gravitate towards a Tele which all tend to have a higher frequency range, the Henson buckers seemed to be a tad too muddy for me. I have a Player Tele (i got it a couple months before the Plus's became available) and switched out the pick ups for some Duncan Vintage Stacks, to keep the Tele tone but eliminate the hum because I play in an office with nothing but fluorescent tube lights and a Vox AC15, the hum is obnoxious here. But each guitar is their player's instrument and we all have different preferences when it comes to our tones.

I get so giddy every time I see an update that Mike has posted a new video.

I am also not a single coil person but love Strats. I have an HSS Strat with Suhr Thornbucker Plus in the Bridge, Suhr V60LP single coils and Suhr wiring harness. Sounds a million times better.

like your brand new custom shop hammer bro !

It looks awesome, and it sounds good too.

Loving these "Mike and friends" videos

we have the very same fender player guitar, even the colour, so your videos help me to know what it would be like to change the pickups

If you wanted a heavy bridge, why not go a JB jnr and split it, no pick guard change and a lot less expensive. It sounds really good tho I’d love to know how much it cost all up ?

Nice guitar!

Love your content Mike. Quick question, and apologies if this has been covered before, but what DAW do you use? Thanks!

I have an early 2000s Mexican made strat with the single coil bridge pickup that does not change when using the tone knob (original design) and honestly I like it when put through some effects and EQ, that being said I would prefer to have a fat strat situation on the bridge.

I'm assuming that there is some kind of coil splittage going off there. Am intrigued given that you don't like the single coil bridge why you would bother wiring up beyond a 3 way switch with standard bridge/both/neck setup. Or just go for bridge humbucker 1 vol, worked for EVH. 😂

I had similar issues when I built my Jazzmaster-style kit. Getting the better (than the kit crap) switches and wiring to fit in the body and had to chisel/drill out space.

I did this myself on my guitar, the only thing I regret is installing the 5 way super switch, the voice selection is kind of awkward (on the second position you have the neck pickup engaged and the push pull only works on some positions which is kind of confusing) I would prefer using a 3 way switch and two push pulls.

When will you try a genuine superstrat like the Jackson Soloist, Charvel So Cal, or Ibanez RG 550? Locking trem systems and extra frets feel amazing! As for the battery issue, should’ve just gotten passive humbuckers like Seymour Duncan JB or DiMarzio Super Distortion. Both great pickups that don’t require batteries!

You're the kid in the candy store!!! Cool tones!!!

anybody can solder and unscrew stuff but I get the hesitance. it would be cool to see you upgrade a cheaper one some time so the fear factor is lowered. really cool that you have people that are so helpful around you too for this mod. you can always look up the wiring diagrams online and you can get a soldering station for around 40 bucks that would do you great, you'll want some thin solder and flux (acidic stuff that makes the solder adhere easily). you clearly have stable and capable hands, maybe wear some gloves so you don't get burned but other than that you are perfectly capable and now you've seen someone do it in person can't wait to see what you come up with in the future :-). the guitar sounds great btw :D

Hey Mike. Fishman sells a strat trem spring cover that's a rechargeable battery. If I remember correctly it's like 30-40$ and you can order it off Sweetwater.

..Eric Johnson, Jimi Hendrix, David Gilmore-all make great use of a single coil in the bridge...if you don't have room for a battery,...grab a chisel., need a pickgaurd-make one out of one or more exotic woods...etc, etc....js

Did you have to overroute the bridge and neck pickup slots, or were they already routed for hums in the bridge and neck? Curious because I just got this same guitar and haven't taken off the pickgaurd off.

reading some of the comments i should say i put jim root signature pickups in a squier strat and its now my go to since im playing heavier stuff. it took a little bit of cutting out space and some flipping the output guard to get it in but its great and the tone i get is perfect for what im doing

How do you think it is with a perfectly clean no affects going through your amp? I do like it tho

Where did you end up putting the batteries? Do you have to take off the pick guard to change them or can you charge them somehow?

I used to be a stickler for tradition until i heard how good the HSH Player Strat sounded. I've been thinking of getting a HH or HSH strat to compliment my traditional strat.

The tone is so different. It’s nice and it’s good- it’s a great tone for sure, but it kind of feels like you took out the thing that made it a Strat lol but that’s just me . Either way it was a great vid

The tag on the hammer was so subtly funny

Seymour duncan stacked humbucker will fit right in the bridge pickup space and give you that humbucker tone

Mike maybe I don't have the best speakers to listen to the new config but...to my ear it doesn't sound that good....I put a freeway 10 way switch in my mexi strat and that guitar is much more full sounding without a pickup change.

Have you tried a p94 in the bridge pickup? My favorite pickup overall, tons of growl and bite, midrange similar to a humbucker, but much more clarity like a traditional single coil. I think it might be a great match for an SSH configuration in a strat

I was thinking about doing the same thing but after hearing the sound demo I much prefer the SSS configuration

When I first enountered a G&L guitar in the mid '80s people in my musician circle called them GL guitars, if you look on the headstock it says G (clef) L, I think they got called G&L because there is no clef on a computer keyboard

Warman Destroyer humbuckers.... the only pickup you need. UK... and affordable.

I have some fishman fluence classics I was gonna throw in one of those sonic mustangs but i might throw it in my classic vibe strat after this vid lol

You're the man Mike!

I NEED that Steely Dan shirt. Where can I get it!?

I think you still sound like you with the new pickups! ;) However the important thing is you get the sound you have in your head. Or at least getting closer to the sound... :) I have a mexican strat in which I bench tested many pickups and a couple of wirings. I had to change the 5 way switch a some point because I made too much modifications. I tried many humbuckers at the bridge in this guitar, like 10 or 12 different pickups, mostly high gain pickups. I tried a couple of single coil sets too. Finally I found a good set of single coils I like and I have not looked back since then, a fender eric johnson set with the eric johnson wiring. It is low output a bit but it works with this guitar and me. This guitar gives me the old strat sound I like. I love tweaking/experimenting/geeking with my guitars. In another guitar an old prs ce I had, I tried a couple more humbuckers, in the neck mainly. Through experimentation I found I prefer the traditionnal serie wiring for the humbuckers over the parallel or split modes, although I love the way the prs split (partial split), a lot more than the traditionnal full split. I have settled with the combo 59 neck and jb bridge in my humbucker guitar. But I want to a try a low output unpotted humbuckers, something vintage voiced. Just by curiosity since this is one thing I have not tried yet.

I saw Jimmy Vaughn 2 weeks ago, his playing is pretty strong !

Did you have to cut out any wood to fit in the humbuckers?

Where did you put the battery?

That new pick guard definitely suits the guitar better

You selling the old pickups on reverb?

Whanging the geetar with hammer is very delicate art indeed.

The price tag on the hammer 🤣

Tim Henson

I wish you would talk more about the playing aspect of your guitar journey instead of gear.

I've gotta say though, you could have had a guitar w/all the classic Strat sounds (4th position) in addition to these new tones, if you would have used their single-width pup in the middle, so an HSH config. I also prefer the classic cores over Henson's & I think you would too.

what studio monitors do you use

Sounded better with the "old" pickups

"I Put Tim Henson’s MASSIVE Pickups In My -" ayoooooo! PAUSE!

Hey bro, great playing.

@1:05 what Guitar brand is that?

Love your vids