Getting That Strat Sound - A Quick Guide to Stratocaster Pickups

Getting That Strat Sound - A Quick Guide to Stratocaster Pickups

Getting That Strat® Sound

 A Quick Guide to Stratocaster® Pickups

A Basic Guide to getting YOUR tone from your Strat. 

One of the many joys of the humble Stratocaster is that it can be configured a hundred different ways to get just the right tone for your playing style.

We've spent the last decade developing our pro-wired electronics to help you achieve that perfect sound, and fully enjoy playing your guitar.

We've put together this guide for complete beginners, with our top tips on how to make your Strat® sing. 

Single Coils

Single coil pickups will give you clearly articulated tones: think of funk and surf riffs, country twang, and classic rock. A single coil is usually more responsive and dynamic – they respond well to subtle changes in finger pressure. If you’re keen on delay, chorus or reverb pedals, the single coil magnets will pick up these effects beautifully.

There's a lot of choice out there in the single coil pickup market, and differences can be subtle.

There's no right or wrong pickup - only what fits your style of play.

1. TWO SIXTIES: Singles with Added Warmth

A super smooth, balanced pickup set with a touch of punch
for classic blues, jazz and vintage rock.

ObsidianWire have crafted these in
collaboration with a local pickup winder, to create a graduated output that gets hotter as you move through the switch positions.

You get: Balanced Treble, Enhanced Midrange, and Balanced Low End

Pair it with: The Universal Blender, so you can take full advantage of blending those clear neck tones into the warm bridge to create absolute perfection.

AVAILABLE HERE

2. FIVE FIFTIES: Clean, Clean, Clean

Jam-packed full of treble to pick up every nuance in your playing, these are the epitome of the classic 50s sound.

If you’re after low output and a vintage feel, look no further than these.

You get: Emphatic Treble, Low Output and Clean Vintage Tones

Pair it with: Strat Vintage wiring – no fancy business: she might look modern but she sounds like the good ol’ days.

AVAILABLE HERE

3. FIVE SIXTIES: Clearly Punching

The king of versatility. If you're looking for pickups that get hotter as you move from neck to bridge, with the high output that Alnico V were bred for, we've built these just for you.

You get:  Graduated Output, Alnico V
magnets, Chimey Neck and Crunchy Bridge

Pair it with: Strat 7-Way Wiring, for infinite* possibilities: choose exactly when to you want to pull in those neck tones, even mid-riff.

(*Actual infinity not guaranteed.)

AVAILABLE HERE

Humbuckers

What about humbuckers? Humbuckers have two sets of magnets in one pickup, which has several impacts on the sound produced.

These will provide a fuller, warmer tone, when compared to single coil pickups. With two sets of magnets they cancel out
unwanted hum and reduce background noise.

The high output of a humbucker is also ideal for players who want to go all the way to 11 with overdrive and distortion. If you’re a metalhead you probably already know that these are for you.

HSS or HSH

Combining Humbuckers with single coils can be the simple way to achieve the best of both worlds. 

HSS (humbucker, single, single) is the most common layout. The humbucker at the bridge end cancels out hum at the and allows the neck pickup to pull all the fretwork together. This setup gives you the ability to be nimble as you like with your leads, and still find the power you want at the bridge, when you want it.

But also consider HSH - by sandwiching a single coil between two humbuckers, you can make your leads absolutely scream power, giving depth and warmth at the neck end as well as the bridge. You can reserve your middle switch position for the clean sound when you absolutely must.

Leave your options open

For true future-proofing, ObsidianWire Pro-Wired Electronics are built with a handy switch that toggles between HSS and HSH.

So, if you decide to change your neck pickup at any point (which is super easy thanks to the solderless connectors), you don't need to reconfigure your wiring at all - it's as easy as the flick of a switch.

AVAILABLE HERE

Stay tuned for Chapter 2: Wiring...