#167070  by ej9901
 
I'm interested in swapping out the pickups in my strat and was wondering some good pickups to get an Alligator sort of tone.

I know the body was from a '57 strat, but am unsure about whether it had the original pickups. I know Jerry love to swap out his pickups, so I am curious if the 57/62 set or the vintage 59 sets from Fender would be sufficient to achieve those sort of tones.
 #167071  by Hitime
 
Hello ,if you don't have a stratoblaster in your guitar you should get that first. d allen voodoo 69s are good , Jerry used stock fender pickups until77/78 ? I have heard plenty of people liking the fender cs69s i think any thing with a 5.8 of resistance or close and you would be happy .I came across a box of strat pickups and picked ones with the 5.8 range and played them for years then switched to voo doo 69s and they both sound great anyway a blaster and good single coils in the 5.8 range and you would be stoked.I am sure the pickups in the box of parts i mentioned were nothing special no vintage or custom shop just the right resistance.
 #167072  by Seabass
 
New information on Alligator suggests it was a ‘55 strat (body and neck) with alnico 3 pickups. Hitime is right though, a stratoblaster goes a long way in the tone quest. That and any decent strat pickups should give a satisfying sound.
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 #167074  by Searing75
 
D. Allen Voodoo 69’s. Articulate. Sharp. Dimensional. Bam!
 #167075  by lbpesq
 
I’m currently building an Alligator. Right now I’m getting ready to wind the pickups. I’m using a 1950’s stagger, Formvar coated wire with an OD of .0029. I’ll be winding about 8000-8100 turns and shooting for a reading of 5.9-6k which is right there with 50’s Strat PUs. One deviation I’m considering is winding the middle PU RWRP. Those early Fenders had all three pickups wound the same. Winding the middle PU in reverse, with reverse polarity, should have no effect whatsoever on the individual pickup, but it will enable the middle to play nicer with the bridge/neck PUs in the “2” and “4” switch positions. Another deviation I’m considering is a push/pull volume pot that also turns the Stratoblaster on/off.

Bill, tgo
 #167076  by lovetoboogie
 
+1 for the Fender Pure Vintage pickups. The 59's or the 65's will fit the bill.

Meanwhile these look interesting since Alligator has been confirmed to be a 55' Strat. 2 of the pickups in it are original, one has been rewound...

https://www.kleinpickups.com/p-260-1955 ... ckups.aspx
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 #167077  by Jon S.
 
An onboard 'Blaster may be best - my Scarlet Fire Wolf includes one - but if that's not an option for you, this pedal, which is based on the Alembic Stratoblaster circuit,* is superb sounding. For Jerry tone, you'd put it first in your chain.

I own two. One is stock. The second, the builder custom modded for me to actually be on at the lowest setting when "off," and on at the selected boost knob setting when "on" (my initial reason for requesting this was to let me keep the pedal's buffer in the circuit always but I like it for other reasons, too). When A-B'ing it with my onboard 'Blaster, some may hear a difference. When I did the A-B, for me, the difference wasn't significant.

Image
 #167078  by perljam
 
Regarding the boost pedal vs an onboard pre-amp.

Would the major difference be the ability to have the boost effective throughout the range of the guitar's volume knob? I assume that would make a big difference in a live situation. Either that or use a volume pedal after the boost pedal.

I'm currently in the final process of putting together an Alligator "tribute" strat. It will have Warmoth and Callaham with Linsey Fralin pickups, and a blaster clone in it. I'll post about it when done,
 #167079  by Gr8fulCadi
 
ej9901 wrote: Fri Mar 27, 2020 10:58 am I'm interested in swapping out the pickups in my strat and was wondering some good pickups to get an Alligator sort of tone.

I know the body was from a '57 strat, but am unsure about whether it had the original pickups. I know Jerry love to swap out his pickups, so I am curious if the 57/62 set or the vintage 59 sets from Fender would be sufficient to achieve those sort of tones.
Hey there and welcome to the forum. I have a set of Fender CS 69 pickups just sitting on my workbench and practically brand new. They are initialed and dated by Abby. PM me if you are interested. Best of luck!