strat pickup replacement opinions needed

[The Reverend 48]

Here's my three penneth
I was a strat man and tried all the styles of pick ups including EMGs lace sensors hot rails even the clapton boost and came to the conclusion a strat is made for single coils and If I wanted a humbucker sound buy a Les Paul (which I did)...
So my advice is buy a cheap les Paul with a good neck and action and put in the best 'buckers you can afford.....A Vintage Brand Les Paul is around £100.... and you will not need to change the pups cos they are great (and that's comparing them to my Gibson Paul)
The same if you want the strat sound buy a cheap strat and add the best single coils you can afford (my cheap strat stands me at £50 including vintage wound pups)........A squier is around £80......
And to fill the tonal spectrum the same applies to P90's.........
Apart frm the legendary names of Fender and Gibson there are a lot of great guitars out there for a fraction of the price.....
The only reason I keep my '89 Fender strat plus and Gibson Les Paul standard is the Kudos and the fact they are increasing in Value daily.....

[SdC]

Who said I wanted a les paul sound? i already have a les paul for that.
a bucker doesn't change the fundamental tone of the sound; hell I have a hot rail in front and it just sounds like a stratbut richer and thicker, cleaner, much better processable sound.
if it were a bad guitar to start with, tonally, i wouldn't even consider the update.
either way, what i'm looking for is the "sander" sound, even if it meant using a Steinway concert grand with a laundry dryer motor's coils as pickups!

[Sprocket]

You know SDC, Iw as a lil worried how my reply was going to come off, but then I realized you were asking for "opinions"...and alot of us guitarists(Strat and LP players) go for vintage tones and specs. I think I conveyed that in my reply, and I kinda get the same impression from 48's reply as well.
But as soon as you mentioned the Roland unit, I get what your after...

richer and thicker, cleaner, much better processable sound.

...and thats not vintage...or very "Straty"...which is what most of us are after.
So thats why youre getting the opinions like ours, although I cant really speak for 48.

What all is that Roland unit capable of?
Im kinda under the impression you could dial in any kinda tone youd want though, right?

[Davo]

I gave you the wrong link earlier, and dont know what side of the pond you are on but...

http://store.guitarfetish.com/

Sounds like you are looking for a very practical tone machine, and I can dig that.  As far as pups, Ive tried the Neo-vins and they arent bad.  They are hum cancelling and come in different output levels.  They are also very affordable.  They also make rail single coils if you are into that.
  You didnt mention price but I imagine $300 pups are out on a squire.

Also ebay is a good source for American standard pups that can be had cheap, the newer ones are hum cancelling with moderate output.

[The Reverend 48]

SdC I Apologise Man, I got the wrong end of the stick......
Looking Forward to hearing your new tones when you get there

[SdC]

Most of all, I appreciate all your feedback on the matter. I'm also very fond of vintage sound. But what i need now is the tone for the studio. I love the Strat at the more for being able to provide it with a simple electronics upgrade,I'd say customization is a huge part of the Stat's vintage legacy-just look at the huge range of signature models.

[guitarron]

i'll try to send a sample of the duncans classic stacks
quiet and punchy-more output than the stock-still quacky

i also have a stock strat to compare a/b with

been having pc troubles-so i'll do it when possible

[SdC]

.......
What all is that Roland unit capable of?
Im kinda under the impression you could dial in any kinda tone youd want though, right?

Sorry, I missed this question before.
The Roland pickup connects to a "GK" capable device with a 14-pin connector. The first generation of devices were the "GR" series synthesizer (I have the GR-33). These are tone-based synthesizers, producing synthesizer tones (based on the Roland JV series). The new devices are "VG" devices (Virtual Guitar) which indeed model guitar tones, so you can mix/match different guitar types, fx and amps. I recently tried out the VG-99 and it is amazing. But REALLY expensive.
I guess Roland did some research and realized very few guitarists are spending money on making a guitar sound like a piano, but many are looking to get amazing guitar sounds from crap guitars.

[guitarron]

.......
What all is that Roland unit capable of?
Im kinda under the impression you could dial in any kinda tone youd want though, right?

I guess Roland did some research and realized very few guitarists are spending money on making a guitar sound like a piano, but many are looking to get amazing guitar sounds from crap guitars.

good point
i bought a gr33 so i didnt have to lug around a keyboard to gigs-takes up less real estate on the stage too

[SdC]

i bought a gr33 ....

Cool you're the first one i've run into who also has one. It has taken me a few years (on/off) to learn and appreaciate what this little box is capable of. And to adjust my playing accordingly... I also ended up giving the Strat a pretty high action to get myself to play clean and accurate. I still find it difficult to use instruments that have a longer attack; with guitar you're so used to immediate attack.