Putting New Pickups in My Strat 

Ok guys, let's huddle up and discuss this together as a team. 1) I will admit that this IS an unfair comparison of the pickups. Why? The Axe-Fx patch used on all clips was tailored towards the Fender CS pickups - the low end is cranked up to compensate for the lack of Bass and treble-heavy sound of those pickups. The DiMarzio's obviously have the opposite thing going on in terms of their EQ. I should have mentioned that the settings were not changed at all throughout the process - or better yet I SHOULD have changed them to compliment the new PU's. Sorry DiMarzio, I'll do better in the future! 2) Please do watch my last Instagram Improv video (linked at the end). No one has said a bad word (yet anyway) about the tone in that video, and I'm using the DiMarzio's on all guitar tracks with the neck and neck + middle positions. In fact I got a few compliments about the tone on Instagram. 3) Yes it's a custom shop guitar and the custom shop pickups sound great, but they just don't work for me personally. Not long after I bought the guitar I did a session in a local studio and the pickups really did not like that there was so much electrical equipment (outboard gear) in the control room, so it hummed like hell during the recording. Luckily I was able to use the noise-gate on the Axe-Fx. If not I would have had to have used the studio's guitars. That was a recording I did with a friend, so much more relaxed than your usual 'professional' session - not that I'm some big-shot session guy or anything, but it really wouldn't bode well for me if I turned up with gear that sounds like it's broken on a 'real' session. You just can't be wasting time on stuff like that when people are paying for studio time. 4) They look unconventional. Yes I know, but they make me want to play the guitar much more than I used to. Before I changed them I spent increasingly more time playing my Tele and Les Paul. 5) Big picture - it really doesn't matter. I don't understand why people are claiming to feel 'hurt' that I put new pickups in a guitar that I own 🤔There are bigger things to worry about in the world guys! Anyway, in my next video I'll be turning my Les Paul into a headless guitar. Stay tuned ;)

Forget the guitar snobs. I put a hot rails in my Strat. And I’m a hard rocker. I now absolutely love my Strat. It’s become my main workhorse.

Im a guitar tech, as well as doing session work. I am definitely not a guitar snob, and believe that you should do what is necessary for your guitar to be 100% enjoyable.I have a 71 Strat that I’ve moded myself, and love it. Super versatile. Seymore Duncan Hot rail in the bridge with Fender vintage noiseless in neck and middle. Since you already got over the challenge of doing your first soldering job on your guitar. Your next project should be this. What’s missing on that guitar is 500k pots , that humbuckers need, on the volume and tones instead of the 250k that come with single coil guitars. You need to change them, I can hear it. That’s where that weird, slightly congested sound comes from. It has nothing to do with changing settings on your AxeFX, or your amp, you shouldn’t have to. Over tweaking makes for weird sounds. The 250k pots are acting like a blanket , not letting the natural presence and treble of the pickups come through. You’re actually not hearing what the pickups really sound like, believe me. DiMarzio makes great custom audio taper 500k pots. Don’t get linear taper, audio taper pots have near infinite difference from position to position on the volume and tone knobs. Especially the volume. Have a high gain lead sound, and roll down to get a wide variety of rhythm tones. Get them, and install them, the guitar is obviously worth that upgrade. The result will be a truly world class, high end sounding versatile guitar.You’ll thank me.

Ross, it’s YOUR guitar. How much it costs and what brand it is is irrelevant. Please do whatever you like to it that makes it perfect for you and your needs😊👍🏻

I did the exact same thing to my reissue Strat, and have absolutely 0 regrets. Fuck what haters say, it's your guitar!

That bridge pickup sounds a million times better, dude. I’m doing a hot rail in my Strat. I want to keep the neck and middle. I think what I like about the neck pickup is that it’s a bit thin and vintage sounding

It's great that you went with Dimarzio Cruisers. Andy Timmons is by far the best sounding guitarist to me both live and studio, I always loved his tone it's just amazing.

They both sound great man! I have 3 strats and 2 have all single coils, the other has all hot rails. It’s ur guitar do what you want with it! Don’t listen to people who say “your strat tone is gone” blah blah blah. What ever sounds good to you the guitar player is what matters most!

Thanks for this video. These pickups are a nice choice for a good balance of power and hum cancelling without completely losing the "stratiness", especially in the in-between positions. Sound great. For anyone reading this who is wondering about his potentiometer values, pause the video at 6:07 and you can see that he's still using the original 250k CTS pots. A good choice to tame some of the high end from the SD in the bridge position and also the value recommended by Dimarzio for the Cruiser. He's also using a DP186 (Cruiser Neck) in both neck and middle positions. You could also use a DP187 (Cruiser Bridge), but it might be a bit boomy in neck position due to the increased bass response over the DP186.

Last week i modded my Strat too. It‘s a USA Deluxe from 2002. It‘s a HSS setup with some Humbucker and two noiseless Pickups. I usually never play the „Stratty“ music styles. I never quite liked the combination of the humbucker with the noiseless, they just didn’t match. It was my first good guitar when i started playing. Now after 20 years i decided change the pups. I put the following pups in: Seymore Duncan Invader (Full humby) in the bridge. Seymore Duncan little 59 in the middle, Seymore Dunvan Hot Rails in the neck. Now i love it like i never have before. It‘s my go to guitar again. I like to switch in between pups, they don‘t mismatch in output. I play more distorted now. I play Megadeth wirh it at the moment 😁 also in cleans thes sound organic and thick. I absolutely live it. The fretboard is a 9.5‘ radius, so it‘s almost shreddy. I play it more than my ESP E2 M1 at the moment (but thats because i left the strat in standard tuning and the esp is in C standard. I hav to even drill a bit into the pickup cavity to be able to swtup the invader pup. But i reall don‘t care, i‘ll never sell the strat anyways

I prefer the Fender tone in all the positions TBH, its just my opinion, both sounded great. glad you like the new sound. I've changed mine in guitars in the past and had mixed results.

Those hotrails sound great! Ignore the haters, it’s your guitar, mod it to suit your needs!

9:48 wow that super distortion sounds good

I have been using the DiMarzio twin bades for about ten years now and the broad range of them is great . also they have a professional sound . you will be more and more happy with them as time goes on . I have the Tele bridge ToneZone and it fit right in my guitar with no mods .

Great video and great playing. Personally I would have kept the neck and middle Fender CS pickups and just went with the super distortion in the bridge. The Fender pickups sound a lot better imo. In the bridge the Super Distortion was definitely the right choice though. But if you like the humbuckers in the neck and middle better then that's all that matters!

Always good to do a bit of modding! If you like the way it feels and plays and want to tweak the sound, swapping the pickups is a smart move :)

My son has a G&L Legacy and the guitar comes with a separate bass and treble knob and when you roll the treble about half way off it gives it a humcker vibe and it sounds sweet 👌

Good for you Ross! You made the guitar sound right for you. I'm putting Strat pickups in my les paul!!

"excuse the sloppy playing" he says, while playing flawlessly

I initially thought that you had vandalized that beautiful guitar...! Until you played it with the new pickups installed. Sounds flipping great, good job...

I love your playing, I think it's phenomenal. For my taste, I would put the fender single coils back into that Strat and then take the DiMarzios and put them into another guitar. Maybe get a Mexican Strat and take the single coils out of that and put the DiMarzios in. Either way, do what makes you the happiest and what best supports your style of music. You're an awesome player and I dig your channel!

Sounds fantastic, Ross! Many years ago, I bought a 70's white Strat that had a Dimarzio Super Distortion bridge pickup. Man that guitar was so hot and it really sang. I"ve never gotten a better sound for soloing. I foolishly let that guitar go, and have regretted it ever since. I just purchased a Player Plus Strat (Tequila Sunrise finish), which arrived today (11/3/21). It's an awesome guitar and it has some really nice Fender noiseless pickups. But I'm really excited to swap out the bridge pickup for a Dimarzio Super Distortion S. The Dimarzios are so reasonably priced, and to my ear, sound better than pickups that are far more expensive.

I bought my very first pickup which im waiting for as we speak. Never modded a guitar, but now i have started. For my MIM strat i have bought locking tuners and a Seymore Duncan SHR-1 Hot rail bridge pick up. I recieved a new pickup plate because the one i got when i bought it had 2 dents on it that i did not like. First time i did change a pickupguard(plate but now i know how and it's was quite easy. Then i removed 1 outta 3 springs and set .07s on it ( which made it amazing to play and i feel the intonation was perfect after the change of strings from .09s which it came with. So my plan is to take the tuners on the Fender Strat that i currently have and put them on a Affinity Squier Telecaster i just bought, and put the Fender locking tuners on the MiM Strat, keeping the 07s on it and keeping the 09s on the telecaster. I tried Vintage american tele, Pro series Tele, MiM Tele, and Squier aff Tele, and i actually liked the Squier the best all over so i choose that over the others and it was also the cheapest so i was surprised over how good it is. I like the punch, i like the bite, i like the sound of both the pickups, they are very rich for a Squier in my opinion. I might want to mod both pickups just because i get addicted to modding and i want to personalize it 100% but not sure what pick ups i would want for my tele, but maybe DiMarzio Tone Zones for the Tele. On the Mid and Neck for the Strat, i have yet decided which ones to put, maybe i set it up with some other SD to keep it only SD, or i try to mix it with some of the nice EMG pick ups. Also planning on modding my Fretless Fender J bass with EMG-J pickups. And when i have done all that, i want a Fretted P bass from Fender, and an Ibanez RG550 Genesis DY. Then i would prolly mod the P-bass from Fender, but when it comes to the Ibanez, i don't know.. kinda like how that one sounds out of the box, sort of gives me a Paul Gilbert Vibe. What is your opinion on whats good pickups for Telecaster, Stratocaster and Fender Fretless J-bass?

Unless it's a rare and valuable model, you should be able to do whatever you want to your own guitar. I'm a tinkerer at heart, and see nothing wrong with modding your own axe. Both sets of pickups sound good in a different way.

I think the neck and middle destroy the Stratiness because they flatten the tone profile but I agree with a hotter bridge for better sustain with gain… unless you want The Edge or Knopfler.

Good job! I have a modern made in Japan guitar with H-S-S configuration that put in an AT-1 and 2 Cruisers, and a Schaller megaswitch,( you can set up any combination). I finally have it wired perfectly so that in positions 2 & 4 one of the coils in each pickup is shorted out giving me the Quack like a strat but all positions dead quiet. It took a lot of re-soldering different schematics to get it correctly shorting the correct coils, but I learned a lot, and have now done the same on a few other guitars, but a lot quicker. With the standard Strat 5 way, like in your custom shop, in 2 & 4 you are getting 4 coils, which is nice and full, but will lack the quack. Enjoyed your video.

I had planned to gut my Steinway grand piano and stuff it with a bunch of ducks that quack at different pitches when the little hammers hit them but your video is giving me second thoughts...

My Strat Plus from the early nineties came with Lace Sensor pickups. These guitars were Fenders big comeback after the CBS days. The workers bought the company. Clapton used them. and the rest,as they say, is history. Since then Fender have produced their own noiseless pickups, but the Lace Sensors have never been equaled. I think you should give them a go.

Hey Ross doesn't matter what you play or what the pu config is, your playing and tone is always spot on. I watched your latest video and saw the change in pu's. I was about to comment about the new pu's then this video popped up. I have an '88 American made strat I've had for over 20 years and I have the same pu's except I went for the Andy T bridge. Some places I played the noise was horrible especially in some with dimmers. The cruiser pu's are pretty low power and very little difference from the stock pu's. The tone is great and no noise. Just my opinion but it works for me. Keep those great vids coming.

I think that sounds great. I have Texas specials in mine. They sound good for Blues, not really great for anything else.

Peck ups! Vantage voese peck ups. Noice accent there

I think a Strat should sound like a Strat for the most part and I’ve got 3 ,,,,however I’ve just installed a Seymour Duncan hot rail to the bridge on my 2012 USA Standard ,the middle and neck are Texas Specials. I believe the hot-rail gives me the bite I was missing and the variation I wanted for a do it all guitar. So I’m delighted with mine. Cheers for the vid

You're a great player. Great tone and VERY CLEAN execution.

Thank you for the video, especially the side-by-side comparison. In 2009 I started playing my guitar again after a lengthy absence. I dropped my Fender Jaguar off at the local guitar shop to get it fretted, and have some work done to it, while I was hiking in the Adirondacks. I play quasi-gothic (early-80's Cure, Joy Division, Bauhaus)-esque music. I only keep the neck pickup enabled on my Jaguar. I asked their guitar tech about changing the pickups. He got back to me a day or two later about the Cruiser pickups. Recently I was starting to regret that pickup change, until I heard your side-by-side before and after comparison. Now my faith has been renewed in the Dimarzio Cruiser pickups in my guitar.

Yes, I agree the middle and neck are very bright, screechy. No doubt the tone circuit can be modified with 500 k pots and a 0.0223 capacitor on the tone pot for the neck and middle pickups, tone1.

You can get of melodic rocking tones and 80s shredding heavenly soaring singing tones!

😮wow so amazed by the cruisers, they really sound like single coils!!! Just fatter, not too much, not too less, on spot. But it still chimes like a single coiled alnico. And ofcourse no hum. Just one thing, I think the bridge is better with the cruiser too, the SD is too hot, so the bridge middle position is not stratty, while the neck middle is still very stratty. Thanks for your beautiful playing and the way you play really represents the stratiness so I really know how stratty the cruiser can be

Your original Strat Neck is glorious! I'd put it back in and use a Tonezone in the bridge. I replaced the JBjr in my bridge with a Hotrails and then a Tone zone The TZ is perfect for Hard Rock The Cruiser doesn't like Basswood ( it's too Boxey)

i like when you stare into the camera and bend the sting real hard.

First off great playing M8! I have been a DiMarzio endorser for decades, believe me I have tweaked everything. The Cruisers are GREAT pickups (especially after mods) They can get MUCH closer to the single tone: 1st: Change the volume pot to 500K 2nd: Lower the pickups a lot more , till you get the similar balance to the single. (Lower the thicker strings more) 3rd Change the tone pots to 500K, (or use no load pots to remove tone from circuit when on 10) With these changes, they WILL have the air, feel, the attack, the sparkle and tone that so many said were missing. Yes, you can alter the settings on your rig too. I will add one more thing. If you have not tried the Chopper in the bridge, DO TRY IT! Chopper in bridge is like a P90 on VIAGRA!!! It has the balls AND the pronounced Strat attack, (that is missing with the Super Distortion) Harry Jacobson

Fantastic video. Tbh I'm dimarzio fun for years but the fender neck pup sounded awesomeat 15-15 I think

An HHH strat with my favourite kind of Humbuckers? Imma go do this right now.

Thank you for posting some clean hot rail sounds so many other people are just posting videos with tons of dirt on top.

I'm surprised more strat players don't wire these in parallel with a 500k tone and volume. You'll get a lot of chime back.

This is also my plan. I have a Strat with similar abilitys in mind. And when you have something what belong to everyone, make it to something it belongs to you. Thank you for your video.

Fender have been putting humbuckers, and noiseless stacks in their high end USA Deluxe and Elite Strats for decades, so I don't see the problem with swapping out single coils that hum if they're not to your liking.

Can you send me those pick ups🙌 I have the opposite problem, I've just bought a second hand strat with dmarzios in

Been a lace Sensor player for years and never looked back. They cover anything.

If you have a strat(any strat at any price point) things are simple:Yank the noisy singles out and get a set of dimarzio areas or any kinman set in there.....the end.....now if you wire them as master volume ,master tone and blender pot then you can have even more combos of sounds to play with but realistically....that ll make ur strat the ultimate workhorse....not only pristine vintage tone but also able to withstand any gain stage without losing character.....and of course without noise.

Cool man! I did the same but went chopper in the bridge, cruiser in the middle and Fast Track 1 on the neck. I am super happy with the outcome. Everything sounds fatter and has more punch and is hum free. It still sounds Stratty in my opinion, just fatter and louder which is what I wanted with that Strat (but a more traditional is also in the house of course :-)). Except for their names, I really like these DiMarzio pickups. They are great value for the money too IMHO.

That strat sounds incredible . ...so warm and full.

I’m in a similar situation. I have some vintage voiced alnico single coils in my current strat and I play loud and with enough gain that I get too much feedback. I am on the fence about getting a rail humbucker because I was sold on the special wiring in my strat but, I think I am gonna go with my gut and swap my bridge pickup only though. I want that extra power to be able to play more modern metal stuff but, I want to retain the nice middle and neck for low gain and clean situations.

sounds great! the last two bridge/neck comparison totally sold the pickups to me. great buy!

my absolute favorite teacher and youtube guitarist! love your course man, keep it up :D

the DiMarzio PAF 59 is outstanding

Crazy because it still sounds like a fender on clean with the neck and middle really aurprised at how those dimarzio pickups sounded just a little hotter very nice man very nice cant wait to do ehat I want to on my fender strat because zi just cant get over how strats feel they are my favorite feeling guitar and I got one that came out amazing the neck feels so damn good everything came set up perfectly cant wait to put the 59 jb and the jimi sig duncans but you def did a great job picking out those pickups they sound much better with distortion and overdrive just like you wanted and that bridge has a thick sound for a bridge pickup very nice wont pierce the ears so badly

I love tuning in to your videos. It's obviously your guitar and do with it what you please, but the single coils sang beautifully as they were. I thought I'd be more impressed with the new ones though, but nope.... it was perfect as it was. I DO love the fact that you left in some of the sloppy playing after the editting process. 👍👍👍some people would have you believe that their playing is perfect!!!!!

The rails sound really great solo, the combination neck-middle sounds perfect. The combination bridge-middle has lost the quack. I think, that the super distortion is too hot, it dominates the middle pu too strong. Maybe the CHOPPER would be better, it sounds more like an old PAF and it is not as loud as the super distortion. I've made this experience with a Nashville Tele, with the CHOPPER T in the bridge. Wonderful combination and the quack stays.

Great choice in pickups. I'd choose those as well if I had a stock strat. As far as I know, single coil pickups have always been noisy. Humbuckers cancel the noise; Hence, the name HUMbucker.

World class soldering job and the soldering iron can also double as a wood burning kit. Nothing like custom after market pickups. Being humbuckers, are they dead quiet? Without previous experience I too replaced the stock American Pro Jazz pickups with Lollar's. Big, fat, round sound. Maybe a little more hum neck and bridge but they are big single coils.

Thanks for the video. Found it while doing some research into swapping out the pickups on my Strat. Love the guitar, never been fond of the pickups... I have no bones about making it exactly what I want... bridge is blocked and when the frets wore out I had them replaced with stainless... big difference. To me anyhow. Regards

Dimarzio great sounds!!

Sounds pretty good to me. If you want brighter tone you can use three 500k controls and a treble bleed circuit. From the video, your soldering looks a bit sketchy, so you might want to reheat the ground connection with a clean soldering iron and some fresh solder.

Forget the pickups....I love your playing...just fabulous...and the pickups do sound really nice.

Although not great or experienced at electronics/soldering, I'm more glad for your real musical ability. Sounds great result.

Ross ignore the guitar strat egghead fanatics, that sound is what I been looking for! Thanks for the video!

Congrats on the soldering job! Pickups sound great!

Rosewood fretboard would make it a 60's reissue. Prior to 1961, there was only maple fretboards.

I have 2 Strats. 2018 American Professional 3 tone sunburst, and a 2019 American Professional LTD natural aged finish. I love both of them! The only thing I changed was the pickups, and 250k pots to Dimarzio DP218CM super distortion s in the bridge, and love the sound a lot better! Next week I’ll be adding the Dimarzio DP184 Chopper to my 2018 Strat to turn it into my Hot Rod guitar.

I love having all single coils in a start and all hot rails. What helped with me for having a too bright and noisy single coil bridge tone was lowering the bridge pick up and messing with the tone knobs and amp tones as well.

I had a deluxe strat from 2008 and I stripped of stock pickguard and installed a tortoise one filled with Seymour Duncan everything axe set. I also had push pull for neck on/off so I can use 3 or bridge neck combi. the guitar has become workhorse in my studio. The stock pickups had a middle nasal frequency disturbing my wish for playing and it's gone.

Choose what you like to get the sound that best suits you and no one else.

My baseline for testing guitars is a tube amp, no patches, no pedals, no effects. This signal is so juiced up that only the comparison at the end is truly informative. You might consider starting with that next time.

You play awesome dude!

Clean sounds good not great, but as soon as you put the high gain, those PUs really fucken kick ass. Dope vid M8!

That is a very expensive guitar, if you extract the pickguard with all the electronics in it, you can get good money, or you can keep it if you want to put it back and sell the guitar, you can buy pickguards with all the components installed from Dimarzio, is solderless easy to install

thanks for a great video! I would've left the cs pickups in there, they look and sound ten times better.

I had lots of strats and nearly all bridge I've hot rails in, but can't understand why people want to change out all pickups as you start to lose the signature spank quack ? Tone is subjective I know, I do like the tone of the super distortion s bridge sounds full n meaty thanks for your upload 👍🙏🐈

Ross, what OD/amp/pedal..are you using at the beginning of the video? Its an absolutely beautifully perfect sound!

If you want to go back to a more vintage sound but want to keep the hum away, I recommend DiMarzio HS-2's, a full set. I've never gotten tired of the sound of these pickups. FWIW

Great video. I bought an American Strat and HATED the way the bridge pickup sounded. Just bought a seymour duncan hotrails for replacement.

Man I can't believe that in such expensive instruments there is no shielding except on the underside of the pickguard.

Sounds like that Fender middle PU is not reverse wound reverse polarity just like the vintage 50's/60's setups bc there was only a 3 way sw so it didn't matter. The 5 way came in 1976 or so. But RWRP PUs did come from Fender in '58 with the Jazzmaster I heard.

You rule man! Thank you for an amazing review...

Nice choice on the pickups. I went with FT-1s in neck and middle, and a Lace Alumitone humbucker in the bridge for my strat and just love it. I say, if you want the ability to instantly shut your hum down, look no further. DiMarzio pulled that off well with these. How's that Cruizer treating you?

thank god for this video. i've been looking for a proper comparison for this kind of mod.

Good choice imo. I honestly think that if you get older, you probably like the stock fender pickup sound more since you get less sensitive to high frequencies. I'm very sensitive to sibilant tones and strats with stock pickups just don't sound good to me at all. Id do the same upgrade...

ya... if you see two rails, it's humbucker. Just like a classic humbucker has two pickups stacked. Also... think about in the future swapping out the black bridge pickup Damn... I kinda want a red strat now. Something so 80's and sexy about it.

250K 500K?

good job doing it by yourself. and i just watched the instagram video and the dimarzios sound so much better in that video than in this youtube video. sounds like you got your pedal and equipment settings dialed in for the new pickups. way to go kid!

Preferred the single coil sound a lot. The new pickups have more punch but appear muddy. For all good modellers (like Axe-FX, Kemper, Helix) I prefer vintage PUs however. Typically I also prefer full size HBs over SC size HBs regarding muddiness.

You never swapped the pots for the middle and neck right ? Dmarzio recommends swapping them to 500 for best results

Andi Timmons also uses the Cruiser PU and has a fantastic Clean - Breakup sound- so you can´t go wrong. Very nice Video - thanks!

Thanks for the video man ! Exactly what I was looking fore ! :D

Sounds awesome

Good sound my freind .. in the neck position I prefer Fast Track 1 ... : ) 🤟

I prefer the Fender pups by far and for many reasons 😉

Sounds great! Awesome playing!

Great video, really enjoyed it! If I ever get a guitar with single-coils i'll definitely grab some of these Dimarzio's.

Keep on rocking