The sound of the Fender Stratocaster is unmistakable! I'm sure you have what you feel to be the quintessential Strat tone in mind as you're reading this! The list of legendary Strat players is almost endless. Hendrix, Clapton, SRV, Trower, Blackmore, Gilmour, Mayer, Beck, Knopfler, Gallagher, Eric Johnson, Nile Rogers... the list goes on and on! 

Rather than attempt to emulate one specific vintage Strat flavor, I've taken the unique approach of creating a set of Strat pickups that I feel celebrates the glory of the vintage Strat tone while improving upon the one area I feel is the Achillies' heel of the Strat. The bridge pickup. Often, it's overly bright and anemic sounding. I wanted to make some subtle changes that provide for a more pleasant and useable bridge pickup. Basically, give it a little more body while taming some of the harsh highs. I do this primarily with a hybrid magnet set. The bass strings (E,A,D) use the standard Alnico 5 rod magnets you'd normally find while the treble strings (G,B,E) employ Alnico 2 rod magnets! The Alnico 5 magnets retain the tighter bass response and crisp highs that you want for a wonderful percussiveness and snappiness while the Alnico 2 magnets soften the attack of the treble strings adding some warmth and softness to the notes while still providing plenty of presence. I've also chosen to use 42AWG Formvar wire for my bridge pickup. Formvar was used prior to March 1964 and although hotly debated, I feel it provides a little softer treble response than Plain Enamel. I've also taken the unique approach of slightly under winding the bridge pickup which gives it an uncompressed openness. By setting the bridge pickup height just a touch higher than you normally would, you compensate for the variance in the output level and the stronger magnetic field adds some focus to the individual notes!

As for the middle and bridge pickup, I’ve followed the “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” approach. I’m using tried and true Alnico 5 magnets and 42AWG Plain Enamel wire to make sure the two & four positions and the neck pickup always deliver THOSE tones… you know the ones I’m thinking of because you’re imagining then right now!

All my bobbins are lacquered dipped prior to winding and then wax potted after winding. Scatter wound to DC resistance values of (approximately) 6.5K bridge, 6.6K Middle and 6.4K Neck.